Here's a perfect illustration of the need to track what's being said about your organization online:

• Mustn't Text
  "I can understand a place like a restaurant asking mobile phone talkers to step outside, or a place like a gymnasium asking mobile camera users to please not get strange, but a library threatening to fine people if they use text messaging... that I don't quite understand...?" [JD on MX]
   
• Surf City Libraries Gets Tough on Mobiles
  "The new regulation, which comes into force from 15 September, means that if a phone rings, or if anyone is caught talking or texting, then they will face a stern warning. After the first ticking-off, though, library vistors can expect to receive fines of $250, $500 and $1,000 for repeated offences." [The Register -- in the U.K.!!!]
   
• Use a Cell Phone in a Library, Pay $1,000
  "City leaders of Huntington Beach California adopted an ordinance, which takes effect September 15, that bans all cell phone use in libraries, including talking, text messaging and ringing tones of any kind, reports The Associated Press." [textually.org]

And those links are just for starters (just wait until it hits Slashdot!). I feel bad for the Library because this seems to be mandated by the City (was it requested?), but can you imagine what teenagers must think of them for this? How many young librarians do you think will read that story and still want to work there?

I'm the first person to be annoyed by people talking on cell phones and the ringers, but there are far better compromises than this. After all, the press from the first $1,000 fine is not going to go well, and either it will be dismissed (removing the bite from the bark) or the Library will come out smelling quite badly. It would be far smarter to have a designated area for cell phone use, and it's ridiculous to ban text messaging as long as alerts are silent.

Instead, the Library is becoming the butt of jokes online. Do you think they know what's going on their permanent record?

Everyone is (rightly) talking about Peter Rukavina's homegrown RSS feeds for what he has checked out from his library (and new DVDs). I am overjoyed to see this, but saddened to see that once again users are having to route around library services because we're not providing the service ourselves (Your Honor, the prosecution submits LibraryLookup into evidence as Exhibit A).

I was going to leave the following comment on Aaron's post, but I was getting so agitated that I decided it made more sense to post it on my own site.

Rant: It's true libraries have limited resources, but they already have a vendor for their catalog, and that vendor should be the one leading the way.  Libraries must begin demanding these types of services from the vendors. It's crazy to see users writing code to compensate for a lack of services from library OPACs. Granted RSS has come on relatively quickly, but companies like Innovative and Sirsi need the equivalent of Google Labs in order to react faster to these types of disruptive technologies. If a user can write code to produce an RSS feed from the catalog, certainly the vendor can do even more on the backend.

This is a MAJOR wake-up call for integrated library system vendors, and libraries must force them to follow-through on this. I realize vendors don't have unlimited resources, but they could do a hell of a better job of listening to their customers and tracking trends. I've been trying to talk to Innovative about RSS feeds for MORE THAN 2 YEARS and they have never once contacted me in response to my comments, suggestions, or feedback. I talked about this at length with the ProQuest reps at the Texas Library Association conference, and I never heard back from them, either. In fact, it's embarassing to note that I've talked to several different vendors at various conferences and NONE of them have ever followed up with a response. That's pathetic, and I'm calling them on the carpet about it. From now on, when I go to a conference, I'm going to post the name of every vendor I talk to about RSS and we'll see if any of them have so much as the courtesy to follow up with me afterwards. I don't expect the floor reps to really get what I'm saying, but the promise of "I'll take this back to the home office" no longer holds any water for me without some type of follow-through.

Robert Scoble says, "If you're in PR now and not watching what several hundred of your best customers are saying about you you're at a severe disadvantage." I would expand that quote beyond just PR because there's enough going on in the online world of pagerank, trackback, social networking, and permanently-cached word-of-mouth to warrant tracking your brand no matter what industry/field you are in. Compared to most sectors, the library blogosphere is large, incestuous, and not afraid to speak its mind. It still amazes me to think that companeis devoted to library services don't pay attention to it.

Here's hoping they start. Soon.