One of the points I like to touch on in my presentations is for interested librarians to find a social space they like and try it — and identify themselves as a librarians or library worker. It goes all the way back to this at ALA Techsource:
Share your bookmarks, feeds of the music you play on your computer, and more via the social tools, and you’ll reap three benefits for sure: presence, learning, and experience.
We talk about presence and libraries a lot, but what about presence for the profession? What do folks expect of their librarians? The stereotype? Have some users even forgotten about us as they search Google and IM with friends for answers? By actively identifying yourself as a librarian and putting yourself out there, you are helping paint the picture of the 21st-century information professional. Try it… Don’t be shy. I am not advocating, however, for anyone to go too far outside of his or her comfort zone in terms of revealing the details of his or her life. Share what works for you.
This then, from my flickr contact cindiann, is most certainly a portrait of a 21st Century information professional. I appreciate the inclusion of the books, her caption that she left “many, many out” and the notes on the picture itself from other folks. It’s part of her series of daily photos – the 365 Days thing you may have seen other flickr folks trying out.
This has the makings of a meme or marketing tool that we could use to market ourselves and our collections online. Thanks Cindiann!