Feb. 21, 2007
This story courtesy of Future Tense

 E-Mail Addicts: There’s Hope Yet

Do you sleep with your BlackBerry? Do you bring your computer on vacation? Can you not go an hour without checking your e-mail? Well, you may be addicted to e-mail. Don’t worry — you’re not alone. And now there’s a 12-step program that could just cure you. Marsha Egan, an email productivity expert and CEO of Egan Email Solutions, has these tips, courtesy of Reuters:

1. Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes.
2. Commit to keeping your inbox empty.
3. Create files where you can put inbox material that needs to be acted on.
4. Make broad headings for your filing system so that you have to spend less time looking for filed material.
5. Deal immediately with any e-mail that can be handled in two minutes or less; create a file for mails that take longer.
6. Set a target date to empty your in box. Don’t spend more than an hour at a time doing it.
7. Turn off automatic send/receive.
8. Establish regular times to review your e-mail.
9. Involve others in conquering your addiction.
10. Reduce the amount of e-mail you receive.
11. Save time by using only one subject per e-mail; delete extra comments from forwarded e-mail, and make the subject line detailed.
12. Celebrate taking a new approach to e-mail.

A while back our Marketing Director, Nancy Dowd, asked her blog readers for 10 reasons why they love their libraries and got some really terrific answers. Here’ s a quick sample:

“They know the kind of books I like, I find things I didn’t even know I needed or wanted, I couldn’t fit everything I like to read and listen to in my personal library, I can try out something before I buy it, friendly staff, they have computers, comfy chairs, fun place to hang out, I can order my books from home and they are waiting for me when I arrive…�

That was the first step. Now we are putting out a challenge for everyone who loves libraries. Create a stir… a movement… an advocacy campaign as easy as 1,2,3. We’ve put together this video with some clips from people who love libraries to get us started. Take a look, but most importantly leave a comment with YOUR three reasons. Then tag five people who you know also love libraries and ask them to visit the video and leave their three reasons.

The goal is not only to make a “library video” the most viewed, but to set the record for the most comments ever posted to one video on YouTube. Why? Because we have all heard the argument that with Internet there is no need for libraries, so where better to dispel that myth than online on the ever-popular YouTube?

We can’t wait to hear from everyone! You can watch the video here, but you have to go to the “YouTube” address below to leave your comments.

Here’s the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeQI25n8qPQ

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeQI25n8qPQ]