Yes. I think it might have some of that utility, which is why I think it’s important to get the word out and get people mobilized to use it. To take a resource created for them and use it in a way to serve them that traditional ALA has not. But this is going to take some mass mobilization an effort on behalf of the “people” of ALA. (The ALA proletariat? That’s a nice thought. ) But how do we mobilize people to use a resource such as ALAConnect after they have already felt disenfranchised by the parent organization that is offering the service?

Being able to create the community for the Mobile Computing Interest Group (we almost immediately had more participants indicate interest than the minimum signatures of interest required for the paperwork) and get started right away has been very handy.

On to modifying the by-laws to obviate the need for the paper form!

As I told Jenny Levine, it is great to have a virtual space that “flattens” the ALA hierarchy a bit and allows everyone to get to know each other via the member made communities. It also lets me check out what LITA folks are doing since I don’t have much time to see them at the annual conferences because I am too busy doing GODORT stuff! I think we just need to keep promoting it and encouraging our colleagues to try it out. The learning curve is not too bad and the more you explore, the more you really start getting into it!

One of the problems we’ll encounter with Connect is that we started everyone off with a default preference of no email, so unfortunately the folks you’re friending in the system won’t see that until they log in. You could , however, use the “Send [firstname] a message” link on their profiles to give them a heads up and encourage them to log in.

If you’re having trouble searching for specific people, try using the most unique part of their name (first name or last name) to see if they come up. Some 4,000+ members have excluded themselves from appearing in the member directory, so they won’t appear in Connect. If you have specific searching questions, though, feel free to contact me at jlevine@ala.org.

Areas will be as active as we make them, so feel free to start posting content to your groups. Even better if you make it publicly viewable, because then it will appear on the home page. For example, I’m hoping to start a discussion in the Games and Gaming community today or tomorrow. You can join almost any of the 190 communities, and the only way we’ll get people using the site is to have content for them.

You might also be interested in joining Heads of Public Services Discussion Group (ACRL - Association of College & Research Libraries). Or maybe you want to start a community for expats?

It will take a while for the site to build, but we’ll take all the help we can get.

Jenny