The "Only Once" Rule

A very organized friend once told me about her Only Once rule. When you receive a piece of mail, touch it only once and decide where it should go. It may go immediately in the trash (ask yourself if you will even truly need it again) or into a file. GTD seems to be somewhat similar to this. I pledge to try this process: collect, process, organize, review, & do. A problem with this is that there's such an array of tasks that we deal with each day, from creating a grocery list to work projects. I am curious, however, if this process can be applied to these various situations. This means that I will need to be somewhat ruthless by asking myself with each new email if I think I will ever need to deal with this again. In most cases, the answer will be no.

What I love about libraries

Why do I work here? I love the library for it's sense of order. I relish the way the books are arranged in chronological order, and that they are easy to find using a system. I also appreciate the fact that someone cleans the shelves periodically. This all seems to be lacking in my home with 4 kids, a dog, and a husband who was not given proper organizational skills by his mother. I'm happy to say that all of my computer files, email included, are now in ship-shape. This means that there are files for emails and documents sharing the same subjects, and access to these items will be speedy and efficient. What was the oldest file I found? All the way back to when I started in January, 2007.

Opinionated Perspective

Week 6, #15: Library 2.0 Manifesto is a critical start to a complicated problem. Really what libraries are facing now may be no different than what they faced at the onset on the information age, when computers and then online information became accessible. But now there is so much more information and options to retrieve it, that a plan to address this is vital. The advantage is given all the advances in computer technology, we are able to train ourselves and each other through technology. That should speed up the solution. Also, we've learned and proven that we won't hold on to the past, but will change with the times. But how? Personally, I think we need a very techno saavy hero to ride in and save us. This would most likely be someone from a generation much younger than the majority of us. I don't feel that OPACs themselves have kept up with user demands. Our users click at the same rate they demand information. Perhaps libraries' survival depends largely on the ability of OPACs to design systems that will interface to access not only materials, but online information as well.

Technorati

Week 6, #14: I am amazed that all this information is organization. I learned from one of my coworkers that there are differences among blogs. Some are done by professional groups and may be very useful, such as book reviews, programming information, etc. Other are personal. I'm not interested in these unless, as she mentioned, they are done by a friend. I did find different results between bloglines, tags, and blog directories. The amount of information is still overwhelming. I suppose if I used these things frequently (there are fulltime bloggers!), I would be completely comfortable with it.

Delicious

Week 6, #13: Finally! A way of organizing this information. Right up my alley, too, with a list of searchable words.

No More Excuses

Week 5, #12: I already see the advantages of Library Elf for a procrastinator like me. That book(s) can sit on the nightstand for days, having been read for some time. I can specify that the "elf" notify me everyday that it is due. This would seem to be especially helpful in an area where we can be part of 3 separate library systems. There must be a famous quote that has to do with the good and bad of too many choices.

Week 5, #11: LibraryThing is great. I'm anxious to really try it out to find some good reads. I posted some of my favorite books. Unfortunately, I have almost as much time to use it thoroughly as I do to read books!