small talk

I find my experience with facebook and Linkedin much like my experience with cocktail parties, lots of talk and movement, but little to really connect me with folks. As a solo librarian I long for the Annual Meeting so that I can have a real connection with my peers, something that is missing from my daily schedule. I guess it is a basic human need to be mixing among "folks like us". Being of a certain age, I did not grow up with the electronic word but instead needed to grow into the electronic frame of mind. Little did I know that when I signed up for Linkedin more than a year ago I was ahead of curve. I see it as a way to be "out there" professionally and to be a bit more visible than I am working at my desk. I believe that social networking can be used to connect MLA members but there needs to be growth and development on both sides. The technology needs to develop more degrees of revelation for personal information and ways to facilitate connections. Not knowing who is signed on to what tool makes it difficult to make the connection unless it has been done through a former technology...e-mail and even a phone call. Not sure of the age statistics for medical librarians but I would guess that most of us are growing into the Web 2.0 technologies and we need to give ourselves some time to explore and discover the "value" to these technologies. For myself as a solo librarian my days are full at work and so there has never been time for me to "surf" aimlessly, I have too much to do. Evenings I am usually too tired to sit infront of the computer since I have already done that for five hours or more. In time I believe social networking will become more and more common, we just need to give it a chance.
Given the very special nature of the ANA library...professional nursing (non-clinical) and only for headquarters staff, at present I cannot see a value for Facebook or MySpace for the library. As it is now I am afraid to advertise my services for fear of generating more demands on my time as I see project slip away due to neglect. Unless it can be a genuine labor/time saving device, it will need to wait until later.
I was very hesitant to put my name out on the web in Facebook. First off there is the possibility of making it easier for identity theft if someone takes the time to connect the dots. And who of us knows how in some past encounter we may have said or done the wrong thing, or not done the wrong thing, just upset someone. Well this makes it easier for that person to attack us or if they are technologically savey to manipulate our identity and generate ill will. Yes, I believe there are genuine concerns regarding privacy. This may be part of why it is difficult to find out who is on Facebook in the first place, not just the fact that I am an old fart trying to use something that is "cool" technology for younger generation.
I think I covered what I did not like about the Facebook experience. What I did like is that I was able to connect with a friend in Malaysia and Chicago in a new and unique way. I suspect that those connections may lead to others. I also was surprised to find out an old friend is on Facebook and we were able to connect through this experience.