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Greetings, I note the recent enthusiasm for talking about library services and IT concerns in providing them.. This is not the focus for the jESSE list - the 2,000 readers of jESSE are concerned about LIS education in the context of higher education in the US, and abroad. We are not concerned about specific IT applications for providing library services, as the URL in my sig file describes. I have no idea what happened to AUTOCAT (for catalogers), LIBREF (for strange reference questions) or the many other discussion lists devoted to library services in the early days of the Internet and Web. I have no idea what happened to Web4LIB, which tried to apply the Web to library services. I have no idea who (or how) librarians are trying to apply social media to library services, or where these discussions would be announced. While this discussion list (jESSE) survives, it is not concerned with specific library services in any media. Sneaky workaround: "I am teaching an introductory course in LIS for my university's masters program, and know that I have to deal with social media. How are you balancing participation in these services such as Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn with the individual student's needs for privacy?" In the late 1990s, it was easy for a student to set up a web page and keep it fairly private as a student because there was no general access. In social media, the students have to participate in public to gain the experience with these media. How do you balance the need for private learning and public exposure?" Sneaky workaround No. 2: "I am teaching an elective course in LIS for my university's masters program in reference services, and I wish to evaluate the different media through which patrons can contact an information service to ask a question. Can anyone provide me with a framework for the evaluation of options for communication to ask a question available to patrons (telephone, e-mail, twitter, our web page, electronic discussion lists connected to our library, discussion boards connected to our library, Skype, personal appointments in person, personal walk-ins)? The emphasis is on the framework for evaluation, and less on the individual capabilities of these tools. Once the framework for evaluation is established, individual capabilities of tools within these categories can be evaluated." IT applications for library services are of deep concern for provision of services both to students and to the public. Let me point you elsewhere for such discussions. I do note that the American Library Association has adopted the Sympa communication software via e-mail for discussion lists, at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/communicate/emaildiscussionlists/index.cfm and ALA offers a whole cafeteria of discussion lists by subject and ALA organizations at http://lists.ala.org/sympa which includes reference services, cataloging and classification, and legislation, and library management. I would strongly encourage jESSE readers who have interests in these specific library practices to participate in and encourage the development of these community resources within the ALA. This is where these interests in specific library practices belong (AFAICT), as well as whatever discussion groups are offered by the Special Libraries Assn, Medical, Music, Theological, and other specialized assns are participating in the development of electronic communities for their members. I am not saying that any one participant is limited to belonging to one discussion list. Of course not. But I would ask that readers place their questions and concerns in the most appropriate discussion list. I would ask that you separate your social needs (you took a nap today and had a banana) from your professional needs (you wonder if you can undertake a project that your are interested in) from your philosophical needs (you wonder why consistent spelling in the English language is important). The point here is to encourage you to find your community(ies) which share your concerns, and place your questions there. This is not to stamp out your enthusiasm for finding a community of professional readers in which you share an interest. It is rather to encourage you to find a community in which you share interests, via jESSE, the American Library Association, or Facebook, Twitter, or whatever medium fits your social, professional, or intellectual interests, and learn and abide by the rules of those communities. . --gw <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired School of Information Sciences University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA [log in to unmask] http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/ jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>