Decisions, decisions

The dreaded cold has thwarted my blogging efforts since last week--you are gone one or two days and suddenly you find out how busy you really are at work! Therefore, I am behind in my 23 Things adventure.

This week the Kansas librarian community is tackling online communities. I have joined my fair share of online communities over the years, but there are a couple I have been wanting to try.

1. Ning has been around for a few years, but only recently gotten a lot of buzz in the library world. It looks like it has potential for outreach to particular library market segments, which would be a nice feature--offer different online communities for your various patrons. A Ning for your book clubs, a Ning for your gamers, etc.
   
   
2. LinkedIn is another site that I have been meaning to tap into. I have been interested to see how it stacks up to Facebook. This site would be used primarily as a professional development tool, which I need--although it may not seem like it, I am a professional. However, it probably does not have much to offer my patrons.
   

Therefore, do I go with a tool that I could use to help my patrons, or one that is geared towards my professional development?

Stay tuned to see what I decided and continue my 23 Things journey...

(Hint the answer is always both.)