You know how people say “but she has a great personality” to describe someone who may not be attractive?

According to this personality profile, I don’t even have that going for me. Great…

The breakdown after the jump.

Reserved
You are somewhat shy, or at least unwilling to spend all your time socializing. With you it’s true that “still waters run deep,” which is why many of your acquaintances never get to know you well.

You are not always ready to talk at the drop of a hat. Whether you’re in the office or at a party, you’re not likely to be found gabbing away in the middle of a group of people.

Solitary
You are a private person, not very comfortable in a big group, and view excessive socializing as a waste of time.

You do not prefer hanging out with others to spending time alone; you do not tend to feel at home in a crowded room, club, stadium, or auditorium.

Passionate
You are in touch with your emotions, and sometimes you react before you think. The good news: you don’t tamp down your feelings. The bad news: you sometimes say or do things that you later wish you could take back.

You do not live your life on an even keel; you do not go for long periods without experiencing some mood swings.

Unsettled
You may be comfortable on your home turf, but you have a tendency to be self-conscious in an unfamiliar environment. While you’re usually at ease with your friends, you can be a little skittish around strangers.

You usually don’t feel at home in unfamiliar settings or with new people. When you get rattled, you don’t necessarily recover instantly.

Discreet
You tend to hold onto your thoughts until you have something important to say, and even then you’re not comfortable imposing your ideas on others unless you know they’re truly interested.

You don’t enjoy talking for the sake of talking, and you have no desire to be the center of attention.

Self-Contained
You like to stick to your own business and leave the power struggles to others; you know who you are and what you believe in, but you don’t see any reason to impose your values on everyone else.

You generally don’t get involved in organizing or motivating people, and you don’t feel the need to always be seen as a big public decision-maker.

Pessimistic
You tend to be a “glass half-empty” kind of person, which for you is simply a realistic outlook. Your feeling is that this world can be a depressing place, and only a fool would think otherwise.

You do not waste your time searching for the silver lining in every cloud, nor do you believe it’s your job to cheer up the people around you with happy talk.

Private
You don’t see the need to share what you’re thinking and feeling with everyone in the world, and you tend to present yourself in a somewhat formal way in order to keep your inmost thoughts to yourself. A high score on the “private” trait is a likely indicator that you are among those who can be happily occupied at home, away from the crowds, but, when the time comes, are equally enthusiastic about packing your bags and taking a trip.

You do not consider yourself a “free spirit,” whatever that may be, and you’re not comfortable expressing yourself without a bit of self-censorship.

Emotional
You let it all hang out, and those around you always know what you’re going through.

You are not isolated from your emotions; no one would call you “cold-blooded,” or even “cool as a cucumber.”

Loose
You feel that a clean, orderly desk is the sign of a person who doesn’t have enough to do. Schedules and “to do” lists feel stifling; you thrive on a sense that anything goes, and know that the world won’t end if you don’t clean up after finishing a job.

You don’t need to know that everything is in its place; it is not empowering to you to feel that the world around you is neat and organized. Mowing down every item on your “to do” list, every day, does not bring you joy.

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Are Wordle clouds passe? I hope not, because they’re one of my favourite information visualizations. This is a sample of the topics that have been discussed on my library’s Twitter feed in the last couple of days.

What kinds of items do you post to your library’s Twitter feed?

This week I’ll be conducting two training sessions for library staff that demonstrate how we use Twitter and other social media tools to interact with library customers. While I’ve trained staff before both at the library and in other organizations where I’ve worked, this presentation has proven to be one of the most difficult ones I’ve ever put together.

The subject matter isn’t especially difficult, and as you’ll see when you look at the slideshow or view a sample handout, I didn’t go into any great detail about Twitter or social media as a whole. I found I wasn’t able to go into great detail because even though I know a lot about Twitter and other methods of social communication, I use them so often that I take them for granted. Because these tools are so commonplace in my life, I struggled with coming up with definitions and an explanation for why I use these tools on a daily basis, and why I’ve focused so much of my professional time on making sure our library has a well-established social media presence.

It felt a bit like being in a relationship with a person that nobody liked or understood, and having to defend your relationship to a room full of disapproving family and friends. I’m hoping for a positive outcome on Tuesday and Thursday when I deliver the lecture.

I used ScreenSteps to create the PDF handout. I’ve written about ScreenSteps before, and other than some pretty restrictive formatting limitations, I haven’t found a better tool for creating training documentation.

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I could’ve done a lengthy text entry about contextual inquiry – the technique used to help you understand how environment, physical limitations, and other factors influence user success – but I decided that I had nothing better to do on this rainy, cold Friday afternoon than spend some time searching for images and putting together a slide show.

I hope you enjoy it.

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I was noodling around the web when I came across Whitney Hess‘ Mentors and Heroes project, where she interviews key members of the UX/ID field and asks them to talk about their mentors and/or heroes, and why these people have influenced the work they do. Being that stealing imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I’m going to be starting a series here on Cecily.info. I’m lining up a few people to start, but if you’re interested in participating, please contact me through the usual channels, or by leaving a message below.

As someone who is new to library land (although I’m not new to information science), I don’t have a mentor just yet. This is in no small part due to the fact that I find it hard to reach out. I’m interested in finding out where others in this field find inspiration, and who they turn to when they need to be reminded why they became librarians/information professionals in the first place.

From Dave Burrows, someone who follows MPOW on Twitter, comes this (awesome) idea about how libraries might use Foursquare, a location-based social network:

I did think of a way the Vancouver Public Library could encourage people to check in a little more than they already do (and thus, hopefully, be reading a book or two more than they normally do).

It’s simple and easy.

Throw up a sign/whiteboard somewhere in the branches that says, for example, “The Mayor of the Central Branch, Dave B., recommends The World According to Garp by John Irving”

Now obviously it could get a little tiring if they had to change these every time someone new became Mayor which is why I would suggest setting a cut-off time. Whoever is mayor as of closing on Sunday night would have their recommendation up for the week.

I have to say I absolutely love this idea, and it’s one I’ve been thinking about quite a bit. I think we’re doing an OK job with Twitter, but beyond that I don’t feel as if we’re really connecting with library patrons on most of our social networking services. Sure, they get our updates, and we occasionally reply back in 140 characters or less, but honestly, there’s really no incentive for people to keep promoting the library on our behalf (unless they’re just library fans and want to be thought of as well-read).

But we – meaning the powers that be and myself – are talking about this now, and are taking a serious look at possibly putting together an incentive for Foursquare users. I can’t say exactly what, when, or if we’ll be able to put an incentive in place, but watch this space. As soon as I know something, you’ll be the first to know.