Below is a response I posted to Paul Reynolds on one of the Library Ning sites. It was in response to a discussion we are having about the viability of the Ning, with Ning withdrawing from providing free networks. Paul has said he would be happy to contribute towards making the site a Premium site, but would need to see that it is working and worth it. Current traffic would say it wasn’t.
This has led me to ponder yet again the nature of the New Zealand library profession and social networking. I confess to feeling a little disillusioned and despondent as to where we as a profession are currently, especially with regards to using sites like this and the Ning.
“I can understand why LIANZA would want to concentrate on the LIANZA website. I haven’t heard anything about misgivings/apathy from head office about Ning.
That being said, I despair at times at the lack of professional discourse that is running through the profession. I am beginning to wonder if the lack of discussion here and on other similar sites is a symptom of a wider malaise within the body.
When I have raised the lack of content here and in other places the response I have received has not been encouraging. One reason given for a lack of uptake in the use of Social Networking sites like this is that the list serve [NZ-Libs] works well for people. Yet even on that, apart from maybe one or two bursts in a year, there is no great discourse on professional issues.
I have said it previously. Inactivity breeds inactivity. And live by the maxim Participate or perish. Our burgeoning community is perishing.
So do we as Kiwi Librarians have nothing to say? Are we too small as a profession to engage professionally? Are we really a professional body, or just a group of people working in libraries?
I would love to see this community, heck any community, up and running as a vibrant engaging place where librarians connect. I am just getting disillusioned with whether we here, or LIANZA at the LIANZA website will be able to create it.”
Are we too busy? Or is that a cop out and really we just don’t give a high enough value to professional discourse? Or do we prefer to do our networking face to face? And does that mean that those like myself who don’t have such an opportunity, by dint of being in very small centres, will miss out?
I really, really want to know. Do we as a profession value professional discourse? Are we big enough to maintain a regular discourse? Are we a profession that deals with information and technology, or are we simply a bunch of people who shelve and issue books?
You can answer me here. Or answer me there. Please. Don’t make me beg 
I think Kiwi librarians do perfectly fine at online social networking. There are plenty of Kiwi librarians having conversations on: mailing lists; blogs; Twitter (I have 66 on my list); and even a few on my favourite networking site FriendFeed. The Ning community is more or less a failure, but so’s the international Library 2.0 Ning community. I rather think it’s less about Kiwis and more about Ning, which is the clunkiest forum for social networking it’s ever been my misfortune to encounter.
It might be I am wrong, and just having a downer moment… Maybe my expectations of what a conversation would look like are wrong as well… Tomorrow I might come back and look at this post and thing what was I thinking?
Re: Twitter- That’s one of the few places where I can see a professional level networking actually happening. It’s surprising how informative 140 character tweets from conferences can be…
Re: Friendfeed – I haven’t tried that service. I considered it but thought that since all the other sites I have looked at joining are not fulfilling any expectations why join another?
I think I should sigh off as Eyeore now
If you want to talk to specifically Kiwi librarians then Friendfeed isn’t the place (yet?). But the Library Society of the World is extremely active at http://friendfeed.com/lsw so you can get an idea of whether it’s the sort of conversation you’d be interested in. (Topics wax and wane, of course. Sometimes it’s mostly social stuff; sometimes very web 2.0; sometimes talking about library policies and procedures; sometimes fundraising for a flooded library or a friend’s conference attendance; sometimes making ribbons and putting together a zine.)
Thanks Deborah.. I will have to check it out…
Thanks Deborah – I will check that out too. The amount of NZ conversation on social networking and other professional librarian sites is not huge. I am doing an Open Polytech paper (Info Issues) and we have to join a couple of networks or blogs. To get enough traffic for the coursework, we all need to go onto international websites (altho that is quite interesting reading – guns in libraries and such like).
I just don’t like Ning much. I much prefer blogs, Twitter and to a lesser extent, Friend Feed (which I pop on and off on a regular basis – it’s a box on my iGoogle site for eg.)
I know my colleagues feel they don’t have time for social networking beyond their personal life. For me it’s become part of daily routine – a bit like plugging into the grid of other librarians as we all go to work. I value the conversations we have and the hive mind.
I can’t speak for anyone else but there may be many like me who work at places where you are actively discouraged from participating on any online social network during work hours – it’s not viewed as work-related. When I get home I have my own personal interests to pursue (as well as chores and eating and sleeping) so don’t get on as much as I would like. I think you have to spend a fair bit of time on these sites to get the feel of what the issues are so as to be able to contribute. This may be why there is little conversation.
That’s a shame and remarkably shortsighted. Maybe things will change there?
We are tied similiary too, accept for NZ Libs, however I do network with Ning at home after hours or at Lunchtime, I also read various blogs and respond too. I have several RSS feeds as well and I twitter a bit two LOL.
I agre with Deborah they Kiwi Librarian Social network quite well do given some restraints.