Trends & Predictions for Libraries 2.0

John Dupuis: My Job in 10 Years: Physical and Virtual Spaces

From Michael Stephen's tametheweb.com:

Ten Tech Trends for Librarians 2007

1. Conversation
2. Convergence
3. Content (User-generated)
4. Redefining LIS Jobs
5. Citizen Journalism
6. We're Human (fostering support, connection, feelings)
7. Openness & Sharing
8. Participation
9. Experience & Play
10. Learn to Learn, Adapt to Change, Scan the horizon

(now don't all of those sound remarkably social??)

You Can Blog!

Julie Anne suggests these articles for their useful tips for people just getting started:

Pam Berger's Are You Blogging Yet? blog resource

or the print version of her article is a pdf you can view here - published in volume 14 #2 of Information Searcher

Avinash Kaushik's Top Ten Blogging Tips & Insights from a Novice Blogger

Libraries supporting local dialogues through blogging

Here's a link to a brief article I recently wrote about finding successful models of library blogs.

--Marcy Sperry

Model of possibilities? Libraries and local online voices (from 6.20.07)

Evaluating the Need for Social Spaces on the Internet in Libraries

"Social networking for the sake of social networking just doesn't cut it. Put simply, we want more from SNS-enabled site than association. If we're going to invest our time into a SNS site, make it worth our while. Make it a game, make it entertaining, make it useful - but don't expect us to come if you think its enough to browse our friends profiles."*

Several months ago, my library director asked me to create a MYSPACE page for the library system (http://www.myspace.com/lamarcountylibrarysystem). Instead of questioning the decision - as I had done so many times before, I quietly complied, created the account (without a single course of direction or purpose as to why) and once I was done, sent an email informing all staff.

A few people have visited the site since then but it wasn't until two weeks ago that anyone even "asked to be our friend". Since its conception, I am the only one who has posted any information. With my regular job duties including but not limited to handling IT issues (e.g., servers, Internet connectivity), along with maintaining the main library website (http://www.lamar.lib.ms.us/) and three of the four branch-level sites, I really didn't have time for such. So the important questions then and now are:

(a) "What exactly was the purpose for this space?"
(b) "Why did we need a MYSPACE account?"
(c) "Who will continue its 'maintenance' in my upcoming departure?"

Without a clear course of direction, technology decisions are often made hastening by public library administrators - who sometimes override their IT staff - in pursue of a cool, yet ultimately "time-consuming and later costly" idea. In the case of my director, she (and a few of her friends) had MYSPACE pages, so that meant the library needed one as well!!! Huh???

In the case of rural public libraries, "reactive" technology decisions are quite costly and implementing a social space is a technology decision. Coolness has never been a good determinant.

Here are a few questions to think about if your organization is seriously considering starting/implementing social spaces.

(1) Is there an audience? Who? How large is that audience?
(2) What are you aiming for through this "social space" (e.g. purpose)?
(3) Are your staff comfortable with technology in general? with the Internet? with social networking sites? They may or may not be as familiar as you might think they are. Will they adapt to such technology?
(4) Who will be responsible for maintenance? Can you afford a staff member spending their time on this?
(5) What is the organization's future course of direction concerning technology, especially in regard to social spaces? In other words, if implementing social spaces is not in your technology plan, then why do it?

Additional Readings:

Crider, J., & Farmer, J. (2007, Spring) Lamar County Library System's Experience with Thin-Client Computing. Mississippi Libraries, 7(1), 21-24. Available online at http://www.misslib.org/

Stephens, M. (2004, November 11). Technoplans vs. Technolust: A well-thought-out technology plan can help libraries stay on course. Retrieved July 25, 2007, from http://www.libraryjournal.com/

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*Social Networking: Five Sites You Need to Know About. Retrieved July 26, 2007, from http://chimprawk.blogspot.com/2006/06/social-networking-five-sites-you-need.html
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Using Facebook at Work

12 ways to use facebook professionally

http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/07/24/12-ways-to-use-facebook-professionally/
Some ideas to use facebook at work and for social networking

Creating a Youth Services Blog

YA blog
http://www.yalibrarian.com/wordpress/2007/07/creating-a-ya-blog/

"Recently my library system decided to start a YA blog. Previously we did not have much of an online presence for our teens and this will hopefully mark a change in the right direction."

Training for Library 2.0

With the Open Source movement, more libraries are posting their training materials online:

The Five Weeks to a Social Library class - written & presented by Meredith Farkas, Chair, Michelle Boule, Karen Coombs, Amanda Etches-Johnson, Ellyssa Kroski, and Dorothea Salo. More about the project here.

• Introduction
• Week 1: Blogs
• Week 2: RSS & Social Bookmarking
• Week 3: Wikis
• Week 4: Social Networking, Flickr & MMOGs
• Week 5: Selling Social Software
• Final Project

This site is listed on our reading for Friday, so you've probably looked at it already -

Learning 2.0: Expanding Minds, Empowering Individuals, Enriching the Community - from The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.

Library 0.1

It's from a show called Øystein & Meg (Øystein & I) produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting television channel (NRK) in 2001.

The Changing Face of Libraries

Looks at the ways libraries are capturing the "long-tail".
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html

International Social Spaces

Here are some examples of what libraries in other countries are doing with social spaces:

The Feminist Library, U.K.
http://www.myspace.com/feministlibrary

London Public Library, Canada
http://www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/static/393

American Libraries on Social Networking Safety

AL recently took a look at the legislation that was proposed in Illinois regarding the use of social networking software in libraries. Illinois Library Association and MySpace collaborated and created bookmarks about keeping children safe online, which is also described in the article. Since it was written, the Illinois legislature has let the proposal die as they struggle to simply pass a budget for the next fiscal year.

Take a look at part of the debate surrounding MySpace and other social networking sites in public and school libraries and see how librarians have mobilized to fight the measure:

Illinois Library Association and MySpace Promote Cybersafety

Just for Fun: Online Acronyms

This is a great source for some well-known and obscure ways of abbreviating what you want to say online. If you want a good laugh, click on the link below:

http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm

The times, they are a changin'?

Remember when politicians walked door to door, asking for your vote? Yeah, neither do I, but this sure ain't the election campaigning I remember from my childhood!

By AMY SCHATZ, The Wall Street Journal May 29, 2007 Tuesday 2:45 PM GMT

BO, U R So Gr8: How a young tech entrepreneur translated Barack Obama into the idiom of Facebook

Copyright 2007 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

Where do we go from here?

When so many social spaces are crowding the internet, how do they capture, and more importantly keep their audiences in the future? This is addressed in the following article:


MySpace, Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites: Hot Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Published: May 03, 2006 in Knowledge@Wharton

MySpace Being Used to Attract Teens to Libraries

School Library Journal recently ran an article about how many libraries are jumping on the MySpace bandwagon to attract teens and make it relevant to their generation.

School Library Journal:
Libraries Use MySpace to Attract Teens: More and more libraries are taking advantage of the popular social networking site
by Joan Oleck, 7/1/2007

Take a look at what's going on in a few libraries around the country:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html

Just for Fun: Library Humor Blogs

I am not going to stay up late(r) doing research on this topic, so it's purely off the top of my head. I'm sure there are lots more out there, but these are what I read. Enjoy!

Librarian Avengers - her "Am I Geeky enough to be a Librarian?" Quiz is here
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette
The Lipstick Librarian
Tales from the "Liberry"
Gouger Library Supplies

and, of course, you can't talk about library humor without including Unshelved

Keeping Track of New Stuff

So you want to join this Library 2.0 scene. But where do you start (besides this lovely blog, of course)? With so many new tools and websites appearing each day, how do you keep track? How do you figure out which ones would be useful for your library or for your work in a library?

Using an RSS Feed Reader/Aggregator to gather information from magazine websites and blogs can be a great first step. There are a variety of different programs and websites that can do this service for you, from software that you download onto your computer to websites that you can visit and organize online (and access anywhere, a major advantage over traditional software in my opinion). Google Reader and Bloglines are two major web versions. Wikipedia has a list of client software here - some can put your feeds into folders in your e-mail in Microsoft Outlook or add other such functionality, but such services usually involve a fee, unlike the web versions.

Newer internet browsers often have tools built in to help you add RSS feeds if they're available on a website - if it isn't obvious, check for guides on your aggregator website or read over this short web tutorial (ignore the references to tendenci and it's pretty universal information).

Now on to the good stuff! Reviews! News! Lots and Lots of information!

Wait. Maybe you don't want quite that much information. Maybe you want information that is useful and already sorted through by someone who really knows what they're talking about.

In that case, I highly recommend Infodoodads for its fun, easy to browse reviews - it's written by a team of six librarians who don't post about every single new thing that comes out. They only cover one item per week per person, an easy amount to bite off if you're just getting started.

Maybe you do want to read everything, though. You can probably find better sources of EVERYTHING than this introductory blog, but here are a few recommendations:

Information Week posts frequent updates and covers lots of gadgets and sites, but has a heavy business focus. Other traditional tech mags, like PC World and PC Magazine and Wired, also offer RSS feeds, sometimes by commentator and subject area.

More bloggers & websites keeping track of Web 2.0 (though not necessarily social software or library uses)
Emily Chang's EHub
FeedMyApp's Web 2.0 Directory
Jane Knight's E-Learning Pick of the Day
Mashable's Social Networking News
Orli Yakuel's Go2Web2
Profy.com
Pulse 2.0

It's very easy to find blogs, just like websites, by searching the Google Blog Search or browsing through blogrolls (lists of outside blogs) on sites you like. Libworm.com is a useful site for searching just library blogs - especially if you're trying to see how anyone else is using a tool or hear what they're saying about it.

Social Bookmarking Tools

How much time do you spend online reading websites? Do you have a hard time remembering where you've been or what you read? When you're talking to someone else about a great site you found, do you wish there was a really easy way to share the link? The purpose of these websites is to help you "tag" and "track" websites you'd like to look at later. Some are intended for personal use, others are more suited to formal academic functions. Play around!

del.icio.us - see what one library is doing to track links by subject headings here
Furl - also lets you "save a copy" of a webpage in case it disappears later
Diigo lets you not only track & tag websites but post notes and highlight information as you read
Digg ranks news stories based on the users tagging them with their social bookmarking tools
Ma.gnolia emphasizes a "prettier design" and more social functionality
Netvouz offers lots of functionality for users who don't want to go through their website
Connotea & CiteULike are more aimed at academic citation, but could be used informally
StumbledUpon uses a toolbar in your internet browser, but also lets you rank sites and send links to other people

Google & Yahoo toolbars also let you bookmark things easily, but don't have the same social aspects as the websites or tools listed above. I'm sure I've missed at least a few of these services, but this should give you more than a good start. As with most Web 2.0 tools, finding one that suits your needs enough that you'll go back to it again should be your main focus if you try them out, but these can also be useful tools if you just want to see how other people are using the internet.

Summarize Web 2.0 in less than 5 minutes

Michael Wesch's The Web is Us/ing Us



Transcripts available here

Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich

You hear the term "internet social spaces" and immediately two things pop into your head: myspace and facebook. So, I asked a cross-section of friends (on facebook no less) what else they thought of when they heard the term. Here is a partial list:
www.youtube.com
www.friendster.com
www.flickr.com
www.hotornot.com
www.theknot.com
www.televisionwithoutpity.com

Another person suggested www.match.com and the like, which had never occurred to me, yet it's the basest reason for socializing - who wants to be alone, right?

Some of these may not have started with the intention of becoming socially interactive, yet they have evolved. Or is it purely the intent of the user? Dig it.

Recent Conferences & Presentations

A lot of good information about "cutting edge" tools and strategies is presented at conferences. Fortunately for us, it is becoming very common to find places on the web where you can view notes, download slides, and even participate in conversations with attendees and presenters after the fact.

ALA's TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium - happening now! (July 2007)

NFAIS's User Generated Content and Social Media (June 29, 2007)

BigWig's Social Software Showcase at ALA Annual 2007 (June 2007)

• David Free's Welcome to the Twitterverse- Twitter, part 1
• David Lee King's Twitter, Part 2: "the fluff"
• Iris Jastram's Introducing Meebo Rooms
• Lichen Rancourt's Library 2.SO?: Why it Matters to Libraries
• Michael Porter's Facebook Developer's Platform: Why Libraries Care - introduction to facebook and its uses for libraries

beyond these presentations, there are posts about audiobooks online, librarything in your catalog, the openlibrary.org proposal, and much, much more

Sessions on Library & Information Resources
(April 2007) a few examples (much more at the link above):

• Chris DeWeese's Google Maps and You: Including a Google Map on your Website
• Jason Griffey's Go Where the Patrons Are: Outreach In the Age of Library 2.0
• Jay Bhatt's Using RSS to Increase User Awareness of E-resources in Academic Libraries
• Rebecca Hedreen's An Online Research Toolkit - Exploring Web 2.0 for Library Research
• Susan Herzog's Blogging 101

January's OCLC Social Software Symposium Jenny Levine's Notes

• Short Video Highlighting major themes
• Jenny Levine's Notes

Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian) is a major voice of Library 2.0 who just joined the ALA in the last year or so. She does a lot of travelling in her current role, and posts her presentation materials here, which is a fabulous resource of great introductory material as well as discussions of new trends. As seen above, she also tends to post notes on her blog when she attends other people's conferences, a very useful resource)

Leigh Estabrook just talked about Clifford Lynch in class - he posts links to his presentations here.