Today, CNN reported on a study that describes increased use of public libraries by young adults, even those who have internet access elsewhere. There are some thought-provoking observations ...

Here is a little bit of information and the link to CNN:

• Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite easy access to Web
• Problem-solving the biggest draw to libraries for young adults
• Library usage is lower among those without Internet access or only dial-up access

See: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/31/internet.libraries.ap/index.html

Yesterday, I had to say "no" to one of our users. He was asking if the library had a scanner that he could use. I'm embarrassed to say that we haven't really considered a library scanner, except for internal use and interlibrary loan. But, lots of people are digitizing documents, using software like PaperPort and flash drives to create organized, portable files. The UI provides scanners in most of its student computer labs, but not here in the College of Law.

A conversation started here today that may end with the purchase of a no-charge scanner for our users. I think it belongs in the reference office for now--that's a secure location for the machine, and it gives our reference librarians a chance to chat with the digitizers. In another library, the scanner might belong right next to the photocopy machine.

Seems to me that once we've lured our digital natives into the library, we need to provide the technology that they expect. And, we can save a tree--or two!

The Oct. 4 issue of USA Today has an article by Janet Kornblum called "Teens: It's Our Facebook." In the article, Kornblum describes the reaction of one teen when her parenting expert and author mom wrote "umamaluvsu" on her Facebook wall. As Tess Lippincott put it, "I definitely don't want her to be posting on my wall and having all my friends being like 'Is that your mom?' It's weird."

At least HER mom wasn't masquerading as a dog. My daughter's friends found some of my early versions of Jolie Vandal the Law Library mascot. "Is your mom on MySpace, pretending to be a dog?" Well, heck, even MySpace wouldn't allocate space to a 2-year-old labradoodle. (What's a librarian mother to do?)

While talking about teens and parents, Kornblum reported some amazing statistics. Facebook counts of active users (those who have used the system in the last 30 days) have increased from 130,000 in 2004 to 43 million in September 2007. Amazing!

I'm new in the social software universe, but somehow I found my way, creating accounts in MySpace and Facebook and even ning.com. But a some point, things got all tangled up as "Jolie Vandal" tried to set up a Law Library mascot site. Jolie seems to be in a couple of different locations and configurations these days. And, she'd like to feel more focused before she invites in a lot of new "Friends" and starts dispensing legal research tips.

Can some of our more experienced Library 2.0 types suggest an approachable "how to" site for beginning social software librarians like me?

Jolie Vandal: The most "fetching" law library mascot in Idaho!

In the current issue of Newsweek, columnist Steven Levy describes some recent research into who's using MySpace and Facebook. I guess it's no surprise, but Cal researcher Dannah Boyd finds that our social networking site choices are related to--social class.

There are some implications for library particiation here. Guess we'd better plan on creating and maintaining sites in both services if we hope to reach a wide variety of digital participants.

Steven Levy's article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010695/site/newsweek/