I’ve been reading, I’ve been working, I’ve been getting settled in… I’ve been keeping busy… But I’m still incredibly miserable without my laptop.

This year’s summer reading program feels a little lax compared to last year – it feels like the level of excitement and buzz that was here last year is not being matched this go-around… and I’m wondering why. Our promotions went VERY well, kids seemed very enthusiastic, and I feel like I’ve been really making some connections with people… and while our enrollment in the reading program is up by about 26%, the number of books being read seems as though it will be lower this year than last. However, last year we didn’t count books until the end of the reading program and this year we’re tracking it week by week – so it may be that many readers just haven’t been faithfully recording, or are away on travels… so hopefully counts will be spiking at the last minute.

The other thing I’ve noticed too, is that we were thinking with the gas prices, less people would be traveling out of town, so we were hoping to see higher attendance at special events – but not so – our numbers have been low, across the board. Where have all the people gone? Was their something in promotion that went awry or neglected, are our activities not as interesting this year, or is it an impact from two larger public libraries in neighboring areas airing actual COMMERCIALS on TV for their summer program this year? These are things I’m concerned and thinking about at work.

A few Web 2.0/Library 2.0 things…

First of all, I read a very interesting article written by James Grimmelmann on “The Google Dilemma.” You should go and read it too. I learned  A LOT from this piece and I have a total new appreciation for our First Amendment rights, as well as the inner workings of the internet and search engines. Just… Wow. Definitely food for thought.

I revisited my Twitter account yesterday, and am a little on the fence about how I’ll decide to use it since I’m only a small-town librarian with no illustrious career and I’ve never been to any conferences. It’s times like these I wish I had someone to “chat” with on Twitter.

Also discovered Library Thing: very, very awesome. And addictive. I have posted up all the things I’ve read thus far for 2008 and have done my best to rate and write a review.

Very curious about giving this Flickr thing a try. When I get my laptop back, I am determined to use it regularly for at least a month. How do you use Flickr?

Anyway – back to work!