Tame The Web

Don’t miss John Blyberg’s LITACamp keynote. It really got me thinking!

He asks some important questions – is our profession sustainable? – and posits that 21st Century Librarianship will be akin to the work of information architects. I think I need to check in with John about these thoughts. Great stuff!

50. Today, the org chart is hyperlinked, not hierarchical. Respect for hands-on knowledge wins over respect for abstract authority.

Today, bloggers from all over the world are responding to the 95 points of the Cluetrain Manifesto, which is ten years old: “Cluetrainplus10 is a project to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the manifesto. On Tuesday April 28, 95 bloggers around the world will each write a blog post on one of the 95 theses.”

I chose #50, above, as one I might comment on because it speaks to the model I’ve been working on in my talks “The Hyperlinked Library” and because it makes me question how we staff and manage our libraries. In fact, it also speaks to LIS education.

Way back in 2006 (years ago in Internet time), I wrote about the Cluetrain often. I was usually commenting on using The Cluetrain Manifesto in my teaching at Dominican and in presentations. I’m still using my “Cluetrain slides” in long versions of “The Hyperlinked Library.”  Looking at the worn volume next to me, it strikes me as funny and brilliant that ten years ago Levine, Locke, Searles and Weinberger locked on to a perfect vision of the future – of where we were headed because of the Internet. The impact on business rings so true these days. And words like transparency, conversation, community, communication and the like were here long before a line up of bloggers at CIL. Flipping through the pages, with multi-colored highlights and scribbled notes to self (oh Lord, can my students even read what I write on their papers?), it strikes me how much this book has influenced my path and lead me to folks like Rheingold, Godin and further works by Weinberger.

The emphasis in the Cluetrain on being human sticks with me as well. “The human voice sounds human.” Stories and storytelling are extensions of this. Sharing is part as well. These things create connections and brings people closer.  Godin says in Tribes that people WANT to belong. People want to connect. I want to hear the story of the lady sitting next to me having tea at Hermit’s Rest at Grand Canyon who strikes up conversation. Turns out her son, who joins us, is director of the Sedona Public Library. The world is tiny, sometimes flat and is full of human stories and human connections.

Thesis #50 has been with me for sometime too. A post I revisited for this anniversary is one of mine at ALA TechSource called “The Hyperlinked Organization: Radical Transparency, Crummy Meetings & Micromanagement” where I urged librarians to do this:

Flatten that Chart Folks

One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is “The company org chart… is a map of whom to avoid.” I worked in the public library a long time and soon realized who you went to in order to get things done and who could take care of something that needed to be fixed. Sometimes, we adapt and seek out those people, and then when they transfer or leave the organization, everyone realizes all the knowledge went out the door with them. 

The best libraries will flatten their organizational charts, break down the layers of “permission” and “channels” to get things done, and look for ways to streamline processes, procedures, and the dreaded policies. These libraries will also have a plan for succession management and knowledge transfer—and not just use these terms as buzzwords to hide behind.

I’m anxious to see more libraries flatten the chart and move toward a more team-based structure. In the model, people might work out of a certain area – reference, technology – but might move to teams or groups, or even locations, as projects demand. The pyramid shape of the org chart would be different – probably still pointy because someone has to ultimately be in charge – but do we really need layers and layers of managers, coordinators, and director positions between our front liners and the decision makers. In this model – very much related to what Michael Casey and I have done in “The Transparent Library” – admin types are hands-on involved not just issuing edicts from an office somewhere in the library. 

Communication flows up and down, via all the methods you’ve seen discussed here and in our literature, including good old face to face. Conversations flows in and out of the library space, involving all staff, users, non-users and everyone else. Meetings WORK, they don’t just exist to give the higher ups something to do. Admit it to yourself only: have you ever let the meeting drone on because it’s almost 5pm?

And – experts and specialists thrive and work hand in hand with librarians. They learn from each other via knowledge exchange and planning. Alan Gray of the Darien library wrote a TTW guest post, including this insight into the library’s structure: “We need great people to make our library a success — we just don’t have any preconditions about who they are, or what degree they do or do not have, just what they stand for, and what they can do.”

What scares me is my JOB is to teach people to be librarians – to get the degree so they can go off and work in libraries. Job security is good right? Libraries without librarians is a scary proposition for many of us!  The model – and I think Darien is a good example of it in the field – has space for all not just librarians. We’ll need coders, marketing gurus, customer service stars and business managers, not just a bunch of folks who went to library school. 

Does this de-value the degree? I think not. Librarians will carry the core values and ethics of the profession. They will convey the mission of what we’ve done in libraries forever to all: staff, user, supporters, governing bodies. But they will also understand that nothing stays the same and innovation should be part of this library’s mission. What’s been called “my mantra” I guess is truly that: Learn to Learn, Adapt to Change, Scan the Horizon, Be Curious, & Bring your Heart with You.

So I guess part of the charge is also back on me – to teach the best I can, to point out the changes in our world since the Cluetrain was published, and to work with my colleagues in LIS edu to change curriculum to create more nimble, flexible learning environments for the librarians who will guide projects and manage collections in this model library.

But the charge is also on you, dear readers. What can you do today to start flattening and changing the chart? What can you do via your long range plan to realign services and people to better serve the interests and needs of your communities?

If you haven’t read The Cluetrain Manifesto – take a look. Or re-read it in 2009 with a new lens. Use it for staff book discussion or your strategic plan. LIS Students, please read it before you graduate. I’m counting on you.

Further Reading:

The Cluetrain is Leaving the Station: A TTW Guest Post by Kay Jacobson

Into a New World of Librarianship

TTW posts tagged Cluetrain 

TechSource Post

Screenshots from “The Hyperlinked Library”  

The Hyperlinked Library by Michael Stephens is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is from the proposal. It frames what we’ll be investigating:

“I believe that this has been one of the most transformational and viral activities to happen globally to libraries in decades.”   Stephen Abram., Stephen’s Lighthouse, February 5, 2008

The genesis of Learning 2.0 began with an article by library futurist Stephen Abram. “Helene Blowers of PLCMC took the article “Things You (or I) Might Want To Do This Year” by SirsiDynix’s Stephen Abram and distilled it down to 23 things that she wanted her staff to understand through hands-on experience,” Hastings noted in a 2007 Library Journal article. Blowers recognized “that librarians need to know how to participate in the new media mix if libraries are to remain relevant,” In Wired magazine’s online companion, Hanly (2007) reported the plan was to include all staff in learning. “Blowers challenged her 550 staffers to become more web savvy. Using free web tools, she designed the program and gave staff members three months to do 23 things.” 

Since 2006, libraries around the world have offered variations of the “23 Things” for their staff based on the all-staff inclusive learning program developed at the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenberg County. At last count, program creator Helene Blowers, now Director of Digital Strategy at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, reported in School Library Journal “the program had easily reached more than 500 libraries in 15 countries in just two short years” (2008b). Recently, Blowers (2009) estimated close to 1000 libraries and organizations have used the program:

Don’t ask me the number of libraries or organizations? With programs having been run by the National Library of Norway, the State Library of Victoria, Maryland public libraries statewide, 23 Things on a Stick for multiple libraries and organizations, I really have no way of knowing the total impact or number of organizations that have adopted the program. But from my delicious links and growing communications folder I can tell you this… the number is definitively over 700 and more then likely hovers somewhere just under 1000 organizations worldwide. 

Created to introduce staff to the emerging “Web 2.0” tools of the day, the programs have evolved as new tools are introduced and various practitioners report on successful implementations of the course. Some have called the program transformational (Abram, 2008) while others have lauded its ability to bring staff together in a common goal: learning emerging technologies. Lewis (2008) noted “the Learning 2.0 program had a great impact on staff, who now know they are capable of learning new technologies.” Gross and Leslie (2008) reported success with the program in an academic library setting but noted “to our knowledge, no formal evaluation of Learning 2.0 has been conducted.  However, the take-up rate among libraries worldwide has been impressive and stands as an endorsement of the program. The accolades from enthusiastic library staff who  have undertaken Learning 2.0, mainly in the USA, can be found on the  biblioblogosphere.”

Replicated across the globe, the program has been touted as a means to not only educate staff about emerging social technologies but as a method of moving libraries forward into a future of 21st century innovation (Lewis, 2008), openness and transparency (Casey & Stephens, 2008). The purpose of this study is to quantify and evaluate the effectiveness of such programs in Australian libraries, focusing on the public library and academic library setting to develop an exemplary model for more libraries to use for staff education.

Abram, S. (2006). 43 Things I might want to do this year. Information Outlook. Retrieved February 26, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_2_10/ai_n16133338

Abram, S. (2008). The 23 Things – Learning 2.0. Stephen’s Lighthouse. Retrieved February 28, 2009 from http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2008/02/the_23_things_l.html

Blowers, H. (2006). Learning 2.0 Powerpoint presented at Internet Librarian, Monterey, CA.

Blowers, H. (2008a). Learning 2.0: Lessons Learned from “Play” Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/hblowers/learning-20-lessons-learned-from-play

Blowers, H. (2008b). “Ten tips about 23 things.” School Library Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2009 from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600689.html

Blowers, H. (2009). WJ hosts 23 Things summit. LibraryBytes. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www.librarybytes.com/2009/02/wj-hosts-23-things-summit.html

Casey, M. & Stephens, M. (2008) “Cheers and Jeers.” Library Journal. Retrieved February 26, 2008 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6539361.html

http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2596

I am eager to get my hands on a copy of Brian’s new book. I think it may be a perfect fit for use in LIS768. I was glad to see his reflective post about the process: (emphasis mine)

I am very grateful that ALA didn’t pressure me to write a 2.0 or social technology book. It would have been a disaster. While those elements are included in the text, the scope is much wider. I worked (struggled) on and off for 2 years on this project. It is very personal. Writing a book is very draining. You feel vulnerable—or at least I do. I spent so many mornings up at 4am gulping down Jone’s Soda, trying to get the words right. This book is really my personal handbook, my personal approach. I feel like I am in a defensive position now, waiting for all the bad reviews to come in. (I’m sure the annoyed librarian will hate it.) Oh and just a note, if you’re looking for a nice cookie-cutter, paint-by-numbers approach to marketing, this isn’t the book for you. In fact, in many ways it isn’t a marketing book at all, but a vision for public service. Here is the final paragraph that really encapsulates the spirit:

“The academic library can become a place for experiences. It is not just for research and reflection, but also for creation, collaboration, design, and display. The library functions as a workshop, a gallery, a museum, a canvas, a stage, a lecture hall, a platform, a case study, and a showcase of student work. The future of libraries isn’t simply about digitizing all of our collections, but rather, it is about providing, encouraging, and staging new types of learning encounters. Instead of using marketing to try to persuade students to use our services, the library becomes the natural setting for academic activities–an environment where scholarship happens.”

I am happy we have good folks like Brian actively working to create this vision of the library of the future.

We’ve said it time and time again as we continue to forefront Library 2.0: Meet the user where they are.

A friend passed this video off to me and I thought it was an excellent argument as to why 2.0 is essential–and most especially in the library field.  We’re technology leaders, and if people are using the technologies (SMS, social networking) we’ve have got to be sure we can keep up and engage users in a way that is seamless within within their lives.

It certainly is a challenge–but not one that is too lofty.  I’ve already seen great examples of SMS reference, Twitter, YouTube and other technology integrations within the library.  Keep moving forward.  Librarians must be prepared for the unprepared future.

This video also might be a helpful *nudge* for reluctant L2.0 staff or administration.

+Katharine

As a soon-to-be graduate of Dominican’s GSLIS program and in need and want of a new job, I watch the job lists pretty closely.  My interest was piqued quickly as I came across a posting for a “Creativity Library Manager” at the University of Nebrask at Omaha.  Part of the post reads:

This newly created position is responsible for developing and operating a unique, experimental library to support creativity in all fields of endeavor. The successful candidate: will identify and select library materials that inspire new ways of thinking; will assist users with materials and extensive, leading-edge technological resources; will provide outreach and promotional programming…

To me it’s outstanding to see libraries proactively seeking to transform their spaces to stimulate the creative processes of students and users.  I know many libraries are taking into consideration what types of environments kindle the innovative spirit and they, too, like the Univeristy of Nebraska at Omaha should be given credit for recognizing the importance of the library as a creative place.

~TTW Contributor Kyle Jones
kylejones.thecorkboard.org

Kay wrote a paper for LIS768 on the Cluetrain ten years later. She graciously allowed me to post an edit here. Thanks Kay! Michael

Today’s economic situation would seemingly make libraries indispensible.  Yet with budget cuts, many libraries are threatened with cut backs and closings.  The natural reaction, based on fear, would be to go into preservation mode.  Instead, libraries need to be moving into innovation mode, viewing this time as a chance to move ahead and connect with the public that hasn’t been using them.  The disenfranchised public wants to know how the library will be relevant to them and what the library is doing to stay relevant.  Why make changes if what you’re doing is good enough?  This seems to have been an attitude of many businesses and libraries in the past decade.  I say that without constant innovation and renewal we end up in a state where fear drives our decisions.

I recently read The Cluetrain Manifesto (www.cluetrain.com) and it opened my eyes to why our economy is in the shape it’s in.  Written nine years ago, The Cluetrain Manifesto might seem like common sense to those of us who read it now, but if you really look at what they’re saying you realize how few companies have adapted or are only now steering their ship on this course.  This is just as evident in the attitude of libraries and librarians today.  Some have hopped on the Cluetrain and others, well - if they’re not careful, they might find themselves with no trains stopping at their station anymore.

My main focus will be libraries, but I thought it was important to stop for a moment and look at a business that truly understands what the Cluetrain is about.  The Cluetrain Manifesto is about more than using the latest social media tools; it is about a fundamental shift in how an organization thinks and acts.  One company that is on board the Cluetrain is Zappos.com.  

Zappos.com (www.zapposcom)  is an online retailer whose About Us page states:  Internally, we have a saying:
We are a service company that happens to sell ________.  Their top 10 principles are listed under their Core Values on their website. 

#2 is Embrace and Drive Change. 

#4 is to be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-minded. 

#6 Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication. 

Does a company like this emerge by chance?  No, first there has to be a commitment to an idea and someone who inspires this idea in others.  For Zappos.com, that person is CEO Tony Hsieh.  Transparency is a fundamental concept to Hsieh.  He not only admits to mistakes, he posts them on his blog, Twitters about them, and speaks about them at conferences.  One thing he feels strongly about is managing company culture, this means having the employees buy in to the core values.  And buy in they do, just looking at their website can show you how much.  There are several blogs one can access (including the CEO and COO’s).  There is a link to find out what Zappos employees are doing right now which takes you to their Twitter page.  They have videos and the Zappos Library of recommended business reading.  

Another thing they have is customer buy in.  Zappos doesn’t advertise.  They are a word of mouth grown company, and that word was created by their customers.  They are invited to post testimonials on the website – video or written.  The main reason for customer loyalty – the customer service representatives are encouraged to take as long as they need to help the customer.  They engage in real conversation – not scripts.  Wow, what a concept and they even use an old fashioned tool – the phone.  Zappos is employing many tools to generate the conversation, but without the Cultural Revolution in how they think about their business, they would just be tools taking up space in the tool box

The many changes that Web 2.0 brought about include the awareness that change is happening.  That is what the Cluetrain is all about and while it was written for businesses, the lessons learned are easily adapted for libraries.  Library 2.0 then is the manifestation of these ideas.  

John Blyberg writes of L2 as “a vital and very real movement” and “an ever-changing amalgam of ideas, dreams, and visions.”  Does he say that L2 is social media?  No, those are some of the tools that can be used, but they are not the only thing that drives L2.   L2 as described by Blyberg is a change in the way libraries do their business.  This includes internal changes, a change in interacting with patrons, with vendors, with other libraries.  And how will these changes occur?  By creating a vision of what your library can be and starting conversations with the people you need to buy into that vision.  Once that vision is shared then action needs to happen and as Blyberg says, “L2 is partially an articulation of the action that is already happening.”

In my own experience serving on short and long range planning committees, I would have to side with Blyberg.  Unless an organization continually renews itself through transformation and/or revolution, it will follow the bell curve into obscurity.  The farther down the curve an organization gets the harder and longer the journey to revitalization.  If libraries are going to be relevant, then they need a vision that continuously embraces and drives change.  They need to be adventurous, creative and open-minded.  Now where have I heard that before?  That’s right; they are some of Zappos.com’s core values.

The libraries of today that are active in vision and conversation are on a journey of transformation. Others are not. Now these libraries might have a mission, but if they have no vision giving them a direction in which to travel, then they will be left at the station when the Cluetrain pulls out.  

Is it fear of change that paralyzes some libraries?  Are they so hide bound in traditions that they don’t realize we’re not asking them to change their mission?  Instead we’re asking them to envision how they foresee carrying that mission out in today’s environment.  Then how do they envision carrying it out in tomorrows?  L2 might be the name of what’s happening today, and tomorrow’s vision could be called something else, but the main point of L2 is to keep moving towards a new future.  

I had breakfast with Meg Canada last weekend, while finishing my teaching duties in St. Paul. She shared with me a post she wrote at her blog called “How Librarians can be the Ultimate Community Managers.”

Meg writes:

What is a Community Manager? My friend, Connie Bensen introduced me to the concept at my first social media gathering. I know she has collaborated on the wikipedia definition, and as a librarian herself, and I hope she agrees with my assertion. Community managers help shape online spaces by representing organizations through starting and/or contributing to discussions. They are social media mavens and power users. Community managers solve problems, offer the best customer service, and give organizations a human face.

I’ll be adding this to the list of emerging LIS jobs. How are we training new librarians to be Community Managers? Did you ever think that might be a role you’d play?

Later she tape into that important bit about the ongoing conversation:

Not enough of us tweet outside our community or seek out our users in other social media. Some success with MySpace and Facebook is promising, but we can’t just friend and fan eachother. We need to connect with our patrons, customers and users in online communities. Historically we may not be known for savvy communication skills, but here’s another opportunity.

Gathering community input is also a key role of librarians. As we plan services, build new facilities, and evolve into our 21st century selves, libraries have to listen to what our community needs. Let’s face it Gen x and y aren’t attending community meetings at the library. The meetings are happening online. Do you Google alerts point to blogs, microblogs, or comments that reflect how patrons feel about the library? Are you listening and responding?

This so ties in to what Cliff Landis and I discussed over on ALA TechSource this summer:

MS: That brings up something that has been on my mind for the past few months as I watch more libraries diving into creating Facebook pages and other sites. What do you think about the Facebook pages for libraries that have a bunch of other librarians as fans? Frankly, it disappoints me. I’ve actually curtailed some of my “fan-ing” of pages lately. I’d rather leave the fandom to the users and watch to see how it goes from outside. How do the users find and adopt the page. What are the patterns of use and what types of outreach builds the community. Tapping into that is most important for understanding user needs.

CL: This is another symptom of librarians talking to each other, saying “Hey! Look at this neat thing I did!” and never involving the users. What do you suppose would happen if the person managing the library page wasn’t a librarian, but a student? (I can already hear the gasps of thousands of librarians.) Let’s face it–we’re control freaks.

And what David Lee King blogged about here.

Wouldn’t you rather be a community manager instead of a control freak?

I am particularly enjoying this slide this morning.

Here are the slides as PDF from the original keynote file.

Links for the presentation today:

Technoplans Vs Technolust at Library Journal 2004

Taming Technolust article at RUSQ: http://www.rusq.org/2008/08/18/taming-technolust/

Links:

ACRL Changing Roles

“Let Go of Control” Cell Phone Sign: http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/1924719853

Brian Herzog’s Signs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/herzogbr/2437165908

The Cluetrain Manifesto: http://www.cluetrain.com

Emerging Technology Committee @ TTW

Michelle Boule on Beta

Prototyping from Brian Mathews

Transparency: The Open Door Director

Trend Map: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ross/1082392674/

Open Source Software:

• Casey Bisson’s LTR
• Karen Schenider on OSS in SLJ “Free for All”

Learning 2.0 & Learn & Play @CML

Be Curious

I can tell a lot of work and thought went into this series of workshops:

http://becoming20.pbwiki.com/

Well done Bobbi & Robin!

I am the guest columnist for RUSQ’s Accidental Technologist this summer. The very cool thing is the full text of the piece is up and online at the RUSQ blog. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I wrote this last January while the snow and wind were raging outside my window – I’m glad it doesn’t seem super dated by now.

http://www.rusq.org/2008/08/18/taming-technolust/

Here are some of my favorite parts:

A fact: new technologies will not save your library. New tech cannot be the center of your mission as an institution. I’m still taken aback when I hear of libraries spending money for technologies without careful planning, an environmental scan of the current landscape, and a complete road map for training, roll out, buy in, and evaluation. When the latest technology hits, are you keen to add it to your library, boosting the coolness factor? For example, buying every librarian on your staff an iPhone as a way to improve reference services is probably not going to be a wise solution. You may have some happy librarians, but that type of technolust does not well serve the organization.

Some of the Ten Steps:

3. Be transparent. Communicate and make decisions via open meetings and weblogs. Michael Casey and I advocate for transparent libraries based on open communication, a true learning organization structure, and quick and hon-est responses to emerging opportunities. “Transparency–putting our cards on the table–allows us to learn and grow, and it lets our community see us for all we are, including our vulnerabilities.”⁴ This is incredibly important for management and administration. You are the ones that need to set the standard for open communication within your institution—walk the walk and talk the talk. I’m reminded of a talk I did at a larger, well-known library system, where five minutes in the director stood up and slipped out the back door. The staff took me out for drinks the night before and one said “we hope she stays to hear you. We can’t do anything without her approval and everything we put out on the Web is vetted through three departments.”
Pilots and prototypes are great if they are just that. Don’t call it a pilot project if it’s already a done deal: signed contracts, “behind the scenes” decisions to go forward, or a “this is the way it’s going to be” attitude will crush any sense of collaborative planning and exploration for the library. It’s a slippery slope to losing good people to other institutions.

5. Spot trends and make them opportunities. Scan the horizon for how technology is changing our world. What does it mean for your AV area if iTunes and Apple are offering downloaded rental movies? What does it mean for your reference desk if thriving online answer sites are helping your students? What does it mean when Starbucks or Panera Bread becomes the wi-fi hangout in town for folks looking for access? Read outside the field—be voracious with tech magazines like Wired and Fast Company. Monitor some tech and culture blogs. Read responses to such technologies as Amazon’s Kindle, and ponder if it’s a fit for your users and your mission. Being a successful trendspotter is one of the most important traits of the twenty-first-century librarian. Be aware, for example, that thriving, helpful virtual communities, open-source software platforms, and a growing irritation with what integrated library system and database vendors provide libraries could converge into a sea change for projects like Koha and Evergreen. Who knows how close we are to that tipping point, but trendspotting librarians will be far ahead of the game.

8. Plan to plan. Instead of willy nilly emerging technology projects, plan to plan. Create timelines and audit progress. This takes project management skills, something LIS educators (like me) should be teaching in depth! We need expertise in bringing projects to completion. Your “Digital Strategies Librarian” or “Director of Innovation and User Experience” should have impeccable management skills and be able to see the big picture. How do you find that person if you don’t have one? Evaluate current jobs and duties of your library staff. What can be done to streamline workflows and free up hours for new duties and new titles. Find who is suitable, then guide projects and people well. Have effective meetings with action items and follow up. I spent more time in meetings when I became a manager in my former job than practically anything else. Planning projects focuses creativity. Meandering meetings sap creativity.

Brian Mathews writes:

Yes, it is CeLIBration time again. Our annual welcome event for freshmen the Saturday before the Fall semester starts. Past CeLIBrations

I have to be honest– I wasn’t really feeling it this year. Don’t get be wrong, we’ve had some great events over the years, but with the wedding and book deadline in September, my heart wasn’t into it. But then I looked at the line up and we have a lot of cool games. This might actually be our best one yet. I am totally in now.

• Dodgeball Tournament
• Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament (there are actually leagues: video)
• Speed Dating
• Poker (not one, not two, but three tournaments this time!)
• Team Trivia
• Project Runway
• DDR & Guitar Hero
• Pizza, Soda, Popcorn

That’s just a taste. Other activities we’re still pulling together include the student Improv group, a live band, student radio station DJ, board games, and a logic competition. Of course I’ll have a full recap later, but I am getting hyped for next weekend.

An interesting note—when this started many years ago it was all about the LAN Party concept—all about video games. We’ve evolved from that. There will still be some videos games, but that’s a very minor part of the attraction. Those appealed to a particular niche but we aim for the whole pie, not just a piece.

What we’ve arrived at is that students enjoy interacting with each other in the physical world too—throwing balls around, laughing, playing cards, etc. A lot of librarians out there are geeked on gaming, but don’t forget about real world games as well.

http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2008/06/sustainable-web.html

Great stuff from the LiB! I especially like her focus on planning, budgets and getting things done!

Palestrant rattled off his ideas...The pair made sense of Palestrant’s fuzzy ideas…Diagrams in hand, Palestrant went to venture-capital funds and returned with $40 million in start-up money. Firms like Humantific, whose founders are designers, apply the same process used in designing sleek MP3 players and ergonomic teakettles to unwieldy intangibles like cell-phone promotions and hospital organization, transforming their effectiveness. Along the way, the field is creating some unusual teamwork between designers and business people.

and

“Kamille Friis, a PhD student at Learning Lab in Denmark, … thesis focused on “Conscious Design Practice as a Strategic Tool.”

Contributor: Lee

Under the direction of the Director, and in cooperation with the Website Coordinator and Manager of Public Information, the Virtual Services Coordinator develops strategies for implementing and delivery of virtual services to the public. The Virtual Services Coordinator works to integrate the Library’s web offerings and to guide the Library’s virtual services efforts toward user-centered services, incorporating new creative approaches that optimize the customer experience, manage content, and provide customer support.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Ensures that all our web services and virtual resources are integrated and designed for ease of use and convenience of patrons
• Provides leadership to engage the user in effective interaction with the Library’s resources. Considers the Skokie Public Library website, SkokieNet, the catalog, databases, eBooks, other online resources, opportunities for Library 2.0, social networking, and enriched content
• Serves on the executive team to develop and integrate virtual services strategies into the overall strategic plan of the Library
• Works in project management capacity in support of Library virtual service objectives
• Works with Library Director and Department Heads to organize workgroups to accomplish objectives
• Assesses use of virtual resources
• Utilizes analytical tools and accesses research to understand customer behaviors and increase the number and length of visits to virtual library resources
• Provides service at public desks
• May promote and participate in staff and patron training for new virtual services and strategies
• May develop content for the Library’s websites

library patron? no., originally uploaded by aaron schmidt.

Aaron writes:

a library employee. everyone i saw minus one was on the OUTSIDE of these desks, not hidden behind.

I am so happy to see this. It’s a perfect example of the evolving library and evolving reference desk. Three cheers to this forward thinking library in Holland.

I’m reminded of recent retail experiences where I stood beside the person helping me as we designed our new front door. I’m reminded of checking into a hotel where the check in desk had been replaces with individual kiosks/stations, where I stood beside the hotel staff checking me in.

Have you tried this in your libraries? Do you want to? Is there resistance to new ways of thinking? Have you “always done it this way.” Look to other countries folks. Look to other businesses and organizations.

Please comment if you are trying this user-friendly, open model at your library.

The nanoHUB takes advantage of several Web 2.0 technologies:
Like YouTube and Digg, nanoHUB consists of user-supplied content.

On the site, users find software, podcasts, PowerPoint lectures and even Flash-based video tutorials.

Contributor: Lee.

Here’s a 1:00 screencast for utipu.com; it’s that easy to download and fire up.

1. Goto http://www.utipu.com/app/download

2. After download, run executable.

3. Launch and press record.

4. Goto http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_upload and upload your video

All together took about 8 minutes from download to upload. This is an easier way, perhaps, than saying:

“Okayyyy….first click on…“

Sorry. No Mac version -but you probably don’t need one. I imagine this killer app already exists in iMovie? in something else?

TTW: Lee LeBlanc

Sarah Long’s 100th podcast with Michael Stephens, originally uploaded by North Suburban Library System (NSLS).

On May 6th, I presented “The Hyperlinked Library” at North Suburban Library System. After the session, I was invited to record a podcast with Sarah Long, the director of NSLS. We also spoke a bit in interview format for her weekly column in The Daily Herald.

Patricia Uttaro, Assistant Director, System Services at the Monroe County Library System in New York, writes:

I’ve been meaning to write to you for awhile to fill you in on activities in the Monroe County Library System since your visit here in 2006.  The system now has an Emerging Technology Committee that just celebrated its first anniversary. At our last meeting, I asked if anyone was ready to drop off the team after a busy year, and the response I got from one and all was “No Way! We’re having way to much fun!”

Via one of the Dom Profs:

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0811.pdf

Just downloaded to read. Looks great so far:

The most profound impact of the Internet is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning. 

I owe Kathryn Greenhill an apology. She tagged me in this meme while I was in Australia and I’ve been catching up ever since we got back.

The meme: Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.

If you’ve heard me speak in the last year or so, you know I always end with three of the statements in the picture. I usually say that “in a nutshell” what I want for my students at Dominican and for any of librarians I talk to is for them to realize what great opportunities there are for libraries and librarians in this ever-changing world:

If we learn to learn, it doesn’t matter that this week’s shiny new tool is Twitter and next week’s even shinier tool is something else. We can still figure it out, use our foundational knowledge to make sense of it and decide if it works in our situation. I teach blogging sure, but the real skill I want my students to get is that they can master any technology/system I put in front of them or their new employers may put in front of them and make it work. Blogging is just the vehicle, like using any of the tools we cover in LIS768.

If we adapt to change, we aren’t thrown every time the world shifts. There’s no knee-jerk  ”I don’t need to know anything about that” or  ”That doesn’t really have anything to do with me” response. Or some other excuse that essentially means “I can’t think about the future” so I’ll point out some more reasons it just won’t work.  We use point one and dive in and figure it out, and then get ready for the next change.

If we scan the horizon, we’re trendspotting for the future. Pondering, for example, what the popularity of a certain technology might do to library service. Or what bigger trends will mean to libraries in the next 10-20 years. 

If we make sure to be curious about the world, it makes all of the above super easy. My friend John Blyberg turned me on to this idea and I think it’s a perfect fit for my philosophy of teaching.

Finally, please remember to bring your heart with you. Yes, it’s touchy-feely but it’s pretty darn important as we move into a more emotion, experience focused world. Social networks even enable us to extend the heart across cyberspace. What happened to some of us in our careers in library land that we lost sight of the heart?  I think getting to bring your heart to work is one of the reasons many of us got into the profession in the first place, and it hurts my heart when I hear some of the stories I hear about the way we work with each other and with our users. . User-centered planning, engaging, exciting spaces and a chance to share, keep or make a story are all part of the heart of libraries – you know, the library should encourage the heart. David Warlick, who I’ve only met once and who made a big impact on me in that short time, turned me on to this idea. 

If my students leave my classes as curious librarians ready to figure out the next big thing and make it work in their libraries, then I am doing my job.

Kathryn, I hope it’s not too late to add to the meme and to pass it forward.

Please see: http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2008/02/25/meme-passion-quilt/

I’ll tag:

• David Warlick
• Helene Blowers
• Amanda Etches-Johnson
• Cindi Trainor
• Peter Bromberg

I recently had a Facebook conversation with Jeff Dawson, director of the Lester Public Library in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. I realized in our back and forth that his experience with creating and extending online presense for his library was the makings for a HOT TTW guest post:

For example, the entire town knew I went to PLA (I think I left town as you were coming in… ). We are now running 2 blogs out of LPL, Blogging LPL is sustaining an average of roughly 3,000 hits a month and rising (I know my mom isn’t the only one looking at the blog). Flickr is the BEST marketing tool, I post photos daily and use them in our blogs, the local paper has used some of them, I’ve been interviewed on the radio because of flickr and now run a biweekly column in the Sunday edition of the Manitowoc Herald Times entitled Library News. The TR City Manager has noted the flickr account in his weekly newspaper column and during televised City Council Meetings. Taking those traditional networking tools – radio, television, and newspaper and aiming them at our Internet Networking devices – MySpace, flickr, etc. just sort of happened and is totally cool!

Jeff agreed and sent me this, culled from his talk at PLA:

In Two Rivers I immediately set up Lester Public Library accounts for Flickr, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter, Ning, Facebook and YouTube. I also created a blog – Blogging LPL – for the library, they are free and I took responsibility for managing these online activities. We have a small dedicated staff and I didn’t want to add to their already full plates. I also wanted to brand Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin as quick as possible on these social networks because there are 3 Lester Public Libraries in the state of Wisconsin.

Jeff

Via Helene Blowers on Flickr:

http://pages.cms.k12.nc.us/superintendent/blog/

I’d like to share an email I sent to all of our 18,000-plus employees this morning. Here it is:

Dear CMS Employees:

When you make a mistake, the best thing to do is just admit it. Folks, we blew it, and I apologize. While the decision to start random background checks for current employees was made with the best of intentions – to keep our students and staff safe – we dropped the ball, big time, in terms of communication and execution.

So where do we go from here? If you haven’t filled out the form, throw it away. If you have filled out the form, ask your supervisor to return it to you so you may destroy it. (To safeguard your identity, I suggest you shred it.)

I will share more information on this topic with you at a later time. Right now, I just want you to know how sorry I am that this was handled so badly. Our employees are the lifeblood of this organization. We count on you, every day, to do what’s right for kids. We need to do what’s right for you as well.

Sincerely,

Peter C. Gorman

That email was one part of a very painful morning for me. Since coming to CMS, I have worked hard to build rapport with all CMS employees — teachers, administrators, staff, support folks. There are so many people in this district who work hard for our kids every day, and I appreciate all that our employees do.

This district has set ambitious goals. Our success in achieving them depends in large part on the trust and support of our employees. My apology to all of them is heartfelt, and I hope that we can move on from this and continue to work together in an atmosphere of trust and respect to do what’s best for kids.

http://www.ala.org/ala/lita/newandnoteworthy/hitechwinner08.cfm

Helene Blowers has been named the winner of the 2008 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology.  Emerald and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association, sponsor the award.
The award recognizes outstanding achievement in communicating to educate practitioners within the library field in library and information technology.  It consists of $1,000 and a certificate of merit.

Helene Blowers is the Director of Digital Strategy for the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, Ohio.  Previous to her current position, she served as the Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), in Charlotte, NC.  She provided leadership for many award winning library services including StoryPlace.org, BookHive.org and Readersclub.org.  But perhaps the best known of her many accomplishments was her role as the architect and developer of  “Learning 2.0: 23 Things”, an online discovery program designed to encourage library staff to explore new technologies.  The application is remarkable for the innovative approach it employs but also for its profound impact on the world of technology training for library staff.  To date, over 200 libraries have created and delivered their own versions, including a number of libraries outside the United States.  Learning 2.0 opens up the world of Web 2.0 to new participants, inviting personal initiative and encouraging experimentation.  All the blog posts and podcasts that were created for the program have been licensed for re-use under Creative Commons, allowing libraries everywhere to create their own Learning 2.0 programs.