Tame The Web

Bob also outlined some organizational changes–staff across the library were “repurposed” as 8 service points were reduced to 3.

Fox, Mathews and the other folks at Tech took the important step of convening a focus group to ask students what they wanted in the library. The list Bob shared was fascinating:

• Students want a comfortable, attractive space
• Students want refreshments
• Students want access to all types of  information technology in library space
• Students want flexible space for use in the library
• Want to feel ownership of the library

These results lead to the creation of spaces in the Learning Commons East and West that were inspiring, useful and flexible. We talked about creating an experience for students, making the library a memorable place. Bob said one goal would always be to “engage students from the beginning.” I was reminded of the Welcome event Brian write about: poker, DDR, speed dating and more welcomed freshman to the library!

One thing Bob kept emphasizing: 

“We don’t build walls here.”

Read the whole post here.

I have a new post up at ALA TechSource:

http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2008/07/the-ala-annual-tweet-report.html

And, I must confess: I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the ALA Annual 2008 Twitterverse that sprang up for those few days in late June. It fascinated me to see the power of such a simple and, yes, overburdened, tool. Micro-blogging has found a place amongst LIS workers and even through outages and downtime, the tweets from ALA marched on. “I credit Twitter for helping make this my best ALA yet. More connected. Too many people to see, places to be, but I read tweets,” responded Brenda Hough to my tweeted requests for “interviews” for this post. The call via Twitter and at TTW prompted many useful, hilarious and telling responses. Others helped out via comments at TTW and in personal email.

Looking at the tweets and responses, patterns emerge of how the tool was used and how people responded to it.  The functions of Twitter at a conference such as ALA include:

• Reporting On Sessions
• Meeting Up & Making Plans
• Commentary & Transparency
• Finding New Ideas
• Simply Fun Observations & Connections

Read the whole post for an examination of each of those functions. But, also give some attention to some other functions of Twitter: too much noise and the potential to do harm - that’s the “playing nice” part. I think for TechSource I took the happy road, because I was very “up” on how folks were using the tool at ALA. Maybe I should have included a bit about what a colleague calls “the dark side.” I would hate to see people get hurt because of snarky tweets during conference presentations or in general. I always remember something Jessamyn West blogged: Use your powers for good. I hope we use our Twitter powers for good.

Will Richardson read my mind:

Whether it’s some people getting a little snippy from time to time and then other people making a way-too-huge-a-deal about it, or whether it’s two very smart people like Gary and Sheryl blowing out a Tweet-a-minute micro debate about the state of education in this country, or whether it’s people trying to live Tweet hour-long presentations that turn into like 347 updates, I’m finding anything that hints of substance just too scattered, too disjointed to read, even with the wonders ofTweetdeck. It’s like trying to eavesdrop on the conversation of a bunch of people with really bad cell phone reception, hearing a part of one response ’til it cuts out into the other. Frustrating.

And I can’t help feeling like it’s just making all of us, myself included, lazy. We’ve lamented this before, this “fact” that the whole community is blogging less since Twitter, engaging less deeply, it seems. Reading less. Maybe it’s just me (again) or maybe it’s my long term attachment to this blogging thing and my not so major attachment to texting, but it feels like the “conversation” is evolving (or would that be devlolving) into pieces instead of wholes, that the connections and the threads are unraveling, almost literally. That while, on some level, the Twitterverse feels even more connected, in reality it’s breaking some of the connectedness.

Read his whole post here: http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/what-i-hate-about-twitter/

As a response to Will, I think a few things are happening. Lots of folks are using Twitter and talking about how they are using it (guilty here). It’s the tool du jour (or maybe FriendFeed is?). But I also see that many of us have slowed down blogging. Could be summer. Could be other newer tools. it could also be that there are hundreds if not thousands of biblioblogs out there, making the conversation broad and deep but also HUGE to try to follow.

What do you think?

Cindi Trainor writes:

I wanted to highlight this program, which got a good writeup on Library Journal’s LJ Insider blog recently, because it’s done a bit differently, and it’s not about the shiny bits, it’s about people, and it’s about change. Can you feel it? If you attended the BIGWIG session, what did you get out of it? Would you attend other library conference sessions set up this way? What about an entire (un-)conference, where the topics discussed are chosen after the participants show up?

Read the whole post here: http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2008/07/best-in-showcase.html

http://www.flickr.com/groups/tech-shots/

Do you have a great shot of people using technology in your library? Add it to the pool! Photographs submitted to the pool will periodically be selected for inclusion on the American Library Association TechSource blog. 

Photos depicting the use of digital technology in libraries are preferred, but archival photos of other technologies in libraries are also welcome. Be creative!

Please tag your posts accordingly so that other flickr users can find your photos.

The pool will be swept periodically for photos that the Editors deem inappropriate to the pool.

The incredible Cindi Trainor is running this wonderful addition to TS.

Most of us agree that we’re charged with a deeper significance that goes beyond the distribution of popular materials and the provision of internet access. That’s because we exist within the context of the communities we serve. The difference now, as opposed to even five years ago, is that we also operate within a global context that empowers us to quickly recall data and assemble it into our own personal nebulae. In other words, information use has become an expression of self–that’s not something libraries ever accounted for. When I talk about this, I refer to it as the “information experience” because, for the growing number of us who participate in the hive, we build our own network of information and interaction that accompanies us through our lives. We literally construct highly-personalized information frameworks and place a huge amount of personal reliance upon them. Ten years ago, this wasn’t the case.

Read the whole post here: http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2008/06/

http://alatechsource.org/blog

Feed: feeds.feedburner.com/TechsourceBlog

First and foremost, Facebook pages can be used for marketing and outreach to library users. Facebook is the social hub of most campuses today, and students use their profiles to proclaim their identities to their peers. So by becoming a fan of the library’s page, students declare, “hey, I like the library, too.”

Beyond that, the possibilities are endless–it is only limited by what librarians are willing to do, and what users want and need. For example, the British Library page has 688 fans, and includes pictures, videos, events, and comments. At Odum Library where I work, our library’s page gained 19 friends just by word of mouth–no marketing. My hope is that by adding content and a little advertising in the future we will be able to reach more students–especially those who never set foot in the library and never go to the library’s webpage.

I have seen Facebook used for reference, collection development, instruction, technical support, circulation, and a myriad of other things. Again, the only limit is the imagination of the librarian and the desires of the user.

Read the whole interview here.

Dear South Bend Tribune:

I received your letter today asking for more information as to why I canceled my subscription last week. Your letter included a brief questionnaire asking why I stopped the paper and how the customer service was when I called to cancel. Yes, I called to cancel, because I couldn’t find a way to do so online. You might want to make that an option.

I canceled not only because the papers were piling up week to week and sometimes went right into the recycling bin, but also because I realized I was reading only the ads — particularly that big box electronics retailer I enjoy thumbing through every Sunday. These days I get my news mainly through the Web: thus the check-marked box on the questionnaire “I get my news from the Internet.” I think you’re probably seeing more of this type of response.

More specifically, I use an RSS portal page and just recently added a local news and information tab to my collection of automatically updating Web pages.

Read the whole post here: http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2008/01/an-open-letter-to-the-south-bend-tribune1.html

I started Internet training at the St. Joseph County Public Library the same year Jake came to live with me as a 10 month pup. The family that owned him was growing as well, and there was no room for a big Lab puppy with 3 kids and one on the way. So Jake came to Mishawaka and soon found his way into my staff and public classes at SJCPL — nope, Jake never actually made it into the library (although one day he almost did when the Administrators were all off somewhere and we stopped by, but Jake stayed in the car). His presence was so pervasive that a librarian stopped me at a conference in Indianapolis and asked “Is your dog in your presentation this afternoon?”

Read the rest at ALA TechSource Blog…

Maybe the muse speaks most clearly when we examine the policies and rules that have built up over time in some of our institutions. Maybe that makes it easier for the dreams and inspiration to come into focus….

Read the whole post at http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2007/09/xanadu-libraries-seriously.html

You have new Picture Mail!

Originally uploaded by The Shifted Librarian.

Seeing this photo in Jenny’s stream brought back many good memories and reminded me today is Teresa’s last day at ALA TechSource. Back in May, 2005, Jenny and I accepted an invitation from Teresa to dinner while visiting Providence, RI to do a NEASIST event. We’d never met. But something clicked that night and Tersea asked us to write for the Blog. I honestly believe my path in libraryland changed that evening.

Since then, Teresa has edited my blog posts at TS and supported and encouraged me through the writing process for Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software. Last summer, amidst dissertation work and planning my job change, I turned in 29,000 words and she made them make sense! Her graphics magic made all of my TechSource posts shine!

So, best wishes to you, Teresa - I am glad we got to work together. Remember, we’ll always have Providence.

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2007/03/dear-library-of-congress.html

This rocks my world. I want all of my students to read this and ponder not only the future of books and description but the future of libraries.

It is both ironic and poignant that librarians are still worrying about “bibliographic control,” after ceding so much of the same to the companies that now rent them journal access per annum at usurious rates, digitize their book collections into DRM obscurity, or sell them ponderous, antiquated “management” systems that on close inspection do little more than serve as storehouses for the metadata specific to the formats of bygone eras, bold days when we saw our central roles as defenders and curators of our cultural heritage.

YES!

We do need a train–a clue-train. The paper-based book is already a metaphor; books are now born in digital format. The New York Times on my breakfast table is heaving its death rattle, if I listen closely enough. Looking ahead ten, twenty, fifty years, do any of us believe that the issues of access and description will not be driven overwhelmingly by issues related to digital content—some of it in fantastical, ever-mutating new forms (q.v. the networked book forms such as those proposed by The Institute for the Future of the Book)?

Read my interview with Robert Doyle:

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2007/02/thoughtful-advocates-an-ala-techsource-interview-with-ilas-robert-doyle.html

“If people were better informed about social networking sites and knew and used basic Internet safety tips, the cloud of fear may decline.”—Robert Doyle, Executive Director of the Illinois Library Association

ALA TechSource Rockstars

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.
I agree with Michelle! I looked around the table at the incredible folks dining and chatting and told them: “I’m honored to be here.”

For some tips and strategies on dealing with librarians, IT and this 2.0 world, don’t miss Karen Schneider’s most wonderful post at TechSource “IT & Sympathy.”

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2007/01/it-and-sympathy.html

First, if they haven’t told you what they’re up to, sit down with your IT people and ask what their schedule is, and where your needs for new stuff fit in. It would be wise for IT to do this proactively, but they may not think this way, and you can help them get there. You may find out that IT has some pretty important stuff on the docket, pretty far down Maslow’s hierarchy, that you weren’t aware of because it’s not visible or sexy—from some essential upgrade to the network to disaster planning.

Second, do some IT planning on your own. New technology deserves a fair chance at succeeding, and you play a role in its success. Where do you want your department to be six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four months from now? Get it all out on paper, from the most fundamental (upgrade all computers in the public areas) to the most blue-sky (we’re going to open a library branch in Second Life and sell tee-shirts).

“To the librarian I once overheard saying, “It is my personal duty to make sure we have no typos on anything!” I must say: Don’t miss the forest for the trees, Dear Lady. Typos can be corrected, especially online, and focusing too much on those little details may lead to missing the big picture. You’re the one that staff may be e-mailing about, while they wait to launch the new wiki, you are still proofing the proposal for the wiki! A nimble organization can move quickly if not mired in proofing, re-proofing, and proofing one more time a policy change, FAQ, or other document. ”

Read it here…

Please zip over and read my post about Flickr at ALA TechSource.

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/07/flickr-libraries-scary-scary-scary-to-some-folks.html

I ask that you do not make any spur-of-the-moment, reactionary decisions, Flickr’ing Librarians! What I sincerely hope will not happen is the libraries and associations that have started using Flickr will abandon the site because they are scared… come on! Don’t let this type of e-mail campaign derail you. Look at the big picture of how this site and many others are used and can benefit your online presence. Let’s teach our users about the good and bad of online communities, BUT LET’S NOT just close the door and lock it!

Here are links to my two recent Techsource posts where a couple of innovators weigh in on using social software in libraries:

Chad Boeninger on BizWiki: http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/05/wikis-in-the-university-library.html

Margaret Lincoln on the Night Blog: http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/05/introducing-blogs-and-wikis-at-lakeview-high-school.html

At TechSource this week, I ponder the 2.0 Job and charge libraries and library schools to look at their offerings!

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/03/on-the-20-job-description-part-1.html

Good reading at ALA Techsource:

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/03/the-monster-mashup.html

I think I need to say that THIS is OVERDUE!

It may be time for our profession to seriously reconsider the value of the traditional conference, where a conference planning committee asks for conference proposals twelve to eighteen months in advance of the conference. How can library and information conferences—gatherings, happenings, bashes, mashupcamps—better aid and abet quality growth in the library and information science ecosystem? I feel the urge to utter a manifesto coming on:

A conference should try to actually foster and facilitate the discipline, movement, or ecosystem it represents.
It should be as inclusive of that community as possible. Do everything you can to get the rank and file members, as well as the leaders, of your ecosystem to attend.
Let the registrants and attendees help decide on the content and speakers.
Consider a combo conference, where people can attend in-person or online.
Record the conference events, and make them available via the Web.
Mama, don’t let your conferences grow up to be cash cows.

I have a new post at TechSource, with some fascinating comments by Mary Ghikas from ALA:

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/02/on-change-library-20-and-ala.html

Jenny and I will be with the ALA folks this afternoon for a special “Association 2.0″ version of the Roadshow.

And Jessamyn reports about the ALA Council Facebook! Woohoo!

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/02/are-you-dreaming.html

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/02/the-digitally-re-shifted-school-library-a-conversation-with-christopher-harris.html

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/01/on-the-l2-train.html

I’d suggest that librarians not shut themselves off to the discussions taking place. “Library 2.0″ may be a buzz word, but it’s not a weightless one. There is actual work and intelligent discussion that accompanies it. L2 is certainly not about exclusion—quite the opposite. You will do yourself and your organization a great disservice is you embed yourself in a semantic quagmire.

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2005/12/where-do-we-begin-a-library-20-conversation-with-michael-casey.html