My colleague, Dean Giustini, wrote an interesting blog post yesterday, asking the question “why aren’t more Canadian librarians on Twitter?” I wonder this myself. I find Twitter to be a useful tool to share some of what I’m reading and a bit about what I’m thinking, to connect with current colleagues and friends and to meet new ones, and in general to keep abreast of new things and thoughts about technology and social networking. I follow tweeple from the library/information science world, online education world, and other worlds of interest (art, dogs, creativity, news).

Like Dean, I talk about Twitter with friends, and usually get the response that it seems like a waste of time and effort. I’m surprised, too, that Dean’s health information and librarianship students were so unenthusiastic about it. The students I’ve met are young and I would have thought they’d adopt this web 2.0 application with gusto.

To Dean’s list of Canadian library/librarian tweeple, I would add several who work in non-traditional settings, but with a focus on health. Tamara Durec is an independent information professional with a pharmacy background and Shelley Hourston is a program director in a disability advocacy organization, as well as a creativity coach. Other Canadian librarians/information professionals include Stephen Abram and Tim Tripp. I know of numerous others who have Twitter accounts, but don’t post. Perhaps Dean and I can convince them to rev up in this new year. (And thanks, Dean, for the heads up about the Vancouver Public Library Twitter feed; it’s new to me.)