A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

When I signed up for a MySpace account, I was a bit dismayed because it reminded me of a depressingly dingy, low-rent shopping mall. Then I visited MySpace pages created by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County and Steele Creek Library and I became a believer. Their spaces are nothing like the drab default profile pages that MySpace provides when you first sign up. Looking at these sites, I can see the value of building a library presence in MySpace and other virtual environments. They are engaging, informative, and offer teens a safe place to learn and play.

And build you must. MySpace is a do-it-yourself project. Knowledge of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) really comes in handy. (Good thing I've been taking lessons at W3Schools at night). I suspect the boring profile defaults were designed to provoke users into changing them as quickly as possible!

I've been tinkering with my Profile on MySpace thanks to a gem of book I checked out from KCLS: MySpace Visual Quick Tips. I still have a lot of work to do but I am having fun learning!