Thing 35! Books 2.0

Plundered from book sutlers in various ports!
Originally uploaded by lunawhimsy

Thing 35 is a very useful one for me. We just finished our third year of the Minnesota West Book Club. There are about 12 people in the group, but not all are able to attend each time. We meet once a month at noon and have more staff people than faculty attending now. This year I have had our selections posted on the sidebar of this blog. After Thing 35, I am happy for new sources such as Reading Group Choices. Now I am also following Twitterlit and Book Browse on Twitter. I also enjoyed looking at Reading Trails and What Should I Read Next?

In the academic library where I work, books are checked out less often now with students preferring to find most reference sources online. Some students still enjoy reading books. This year I remember how happy a student was to find the new book OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell with our NEW BOOKS display. She said that at her public library she would be on a long waiting list for it.

I think that the sites in Thing 35 enhance rather than detract from reading. Before I did the first 23 Things, I had accounts with Library Thing, Shelfari, and Good Reads. I have Shelfari on the sidebar of this blog, and have a link to Library Thing for Thing 14. A friend invited me to use a books application from Facebook, so I plan to add that option after completing Thing 35.

(Thanks to lunawhimsey for orginally loading the photo, "Plundered from book sutlers in various ports" (Flickr)

Thing 31! More Twitter

1. After being on Twitter since February 25th, Thing 31 reminds me of what a novice I am! According to the Five Stages of Twitter article, I might be categorized as a "Presence".

2. I am more of a "Follower" than one who is followed. The ones I follow tend to be more news-related organizations (MPR, MinnPost, New York Times) than individuals. I do enjoy following Esme Murphy of WCCO.

3. Since joining Twitter, I spend less time on Facebook, but still prefer it to Twitter for communicating with people I know. I find it interesting that Facebook changed to have an appearance more like Twitter.

4. I really do not care to know who is tired or hungry.

5. Twitter is great for keeping up with current news - like who won the game. I check Twitter at noon and before going home from work each day.

6. After watching the House and Senate in action, I am enjoying TweetCongress. The members of Congress really depend on their Blackberries when they are on the floor.

7. It has been fun finding other Things on a Stick participants on Twitter, and following their progress.

8. I want to use the Twitter Yellow Pages and explore more of the options in Thing 31 later.

9. The articles for Thing 31 were very interesting. I have saved quite a few Twitter articles in Delicious.

10. After reading about celebrities like Lance Armstrong and Shaquille O'Neal on Twitter (StarTribune, April 3, 2009), I decided to try finding some to follow.

11. One never knows who might show up on Twitter. Today when searching Bemidji State in the Frozen Four, I was surprised to find MnSCU (Minnesota State Colleges & Universities). Now I follow them, and they follow me . . .

12. I notice that I have been reading online newspapers less since being on Twitter. The down side of that may be that I read lots of litle "tweets" about news rather than more in-depth articles.

13. It was fun to be on Twitter when I was on Spring Break in Washington, DC. I commented on what we did each day, and was able to find updates while we were there. Now I follow Ford's Theatre, the National Air and Space Museum and other places where we were that week.

14. I found that my Twitter profile is worth $ 25.00.

15. The Twitter Grader gave me 74 out of 100 possible points.

16. According to a punctuation quiz, I am a comma.

17. I enjoyed some of the sites showing trends with a popular one now being the British singing sensation, Susan Boyle.

18. As it becomes warmer outside, I want to spend more time there rather than with Twitter!