Tame The Web

Office Hours: Essential Soft Skills

I for got to post last month’s LJ column here at TTW:

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/02/opinion/michael-stephens/essential-soft-skills/

I would add other soft skills such as intuition, political awareness, and a willingness to make and learn from our mistakes. Transparency is evolving into an even more clearly defined “full frontal” strategy for some corporations—putting it all out there. We should follow suit. Library schools should teach case studies of failed library systems and initiatives. We must study our failures as much as we study our successes. There seems to be an ongoing unwillingness to do this. But in fact some libraries make bad decisions, and we have to admit that in order to learn those corrective lessons.

What soft skills would you add? What traits are needed for 21st-century information work? The crux of the matter is this: these skills should be taught throughout our programs, from the core to electives, practicums, and culminating experiences. Teachers should not only teach these skills, they should model them. It’s a tall order for our evolving curriculum, and assessing skills such as intuition and sensitivity is tough. The yield of such hard work, however, is an evolved institution that trains dynamic, responsive library professionals.

Don’t miss the excellent comments from readers on the LJ site!

Advancing the User Experience: presentation by Monica Harris, OPPL

Advancing the User Experience from Monica Harris

I’m Your Neighbor, Portland, Maine (by TTW contributor Justin Hoenke)

I’m sorry I won’t be in Portland,ME to see the unveiling of the most excellent I’m Your Neighbor, Portland, Maine project that was put together by Kirsten Cappy of Curious City and is a partnership between the Portland Public Library, Congressman Jon Hinck, Maine Humanities Council, NAACP, Portland Branch, and Portland Adult Education.

So what’s it all about?

I’m Your Neighbor, Portland is a Portland, Maine community-wide read and series of public events in designed to promote a sense of community among the diverse people who make the port city their home.

I’m Your Neighbor, Portland is sponsored by the Portland Public Library and funded by the Maine Humanities Council.

Over the last three decades, the city of Portland has seen a significant cultural shift through the arrival of immigrants and refugees from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Here in Maine, we’re blessed with a crop of recent titles, from picture books to young adult novels, that offer both particular cultural details about the lives of recent arrivals to our state and themes to which any reader can relate.

The goal of I’m Your Neighbor, Portland is to engage members of the Greater Portland, Maine community, both new arrivals and long-term residents, in reading books about recent immigrants to Maine and sharing in discussion of differences and commonalities, to build understanding between the two groups.

The series will open with a gala launch on May 25, 2013

Read more about this project here and here.

Good luck to all those involved! I will be watching closely from Chattanooga, TN!

-Post by Justin Hoenke, Tame the Web Contributor

Congrats to Justin Hoenke, 2013 Library Journal Mover & Shaker

Congrats to Justin!

Read all about Justin here: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/03/people/movers-shakers-2013/justin-hoenke-movers-shakers-2013-advocates/

“My goal was to come to Portland [Public Library] and make the teen library a success,” says Justin Hoenke, aka Justin the Librarian—blogger, music enthusiast, “retro video gamer,” and fearless programs creator. “Being a teen can be a crazy thing…. We want to help teens 12–19 find the best path toward adulthood.”

As the first teen librarian hired by Portland (in March 2010), Hoenke is more than meeting his goal. Innovations include Make Music at the Library, a program in which teens create their own tracks and albums (and edit them in Hoenke’s office), and a storytelling-focused “make your own video game” that’s a joint venture with the Telling Room, a local writing organization for young people. [Hoenke recently accepted a position as teen librarian at Chattanooga Public Library.]

As I’ve said on Facebook, I can’t wait to see what wonderful things he does in Chattanooga!

UPDATE: More about Justin’s amazing work here: http://www.slj.com/2013/03/librarians/gaming-guru-up-close-with-justin-the-librarian/

Here is the text of his M&S nomination form:

Reasons for nomination & Describe one event, project, or situation that illustrates your reason for this nomination:

In Justin’s work as Teen Librarian, he strives to deliver excellent, user-focused service, innovative programming, and opportunities for learning and growth for his constituents. Justin has been the driving force behind his library directly engaging with the teen community in Portland. He also shares his ideas and learning with the broader LIS community in a positive and encouraging way.

This nomination includes focus on the most important project or situation in Justin’s work: his innovative projects are all centered around services to teens and the library’s teen advisory board (TAB). Not only does he create innovative programs but he shares with the broader LIS community as part of this goal. Because he is an invited Tame the Web (TTW) contributor, Justin has shared some of his innovative projects and learnings with the TTW readership. These projects include:

Create, Play & Read – Lending Devices to Teens

http://tametheweb.com/2012/02/14/create-play-read-lending-devices-to-teens/

http://tametheweb.com/2012/02/28/create-play-read-lending-devices-to-teens-part-2/

http://tametheweb.com/2012/03/30/create-play-read-lending-devices-to-teens-part-3/

This program to get devices into the hands of the young people PPL serves was conceived and implements by Justin. Throughout the three posts he shares his procedures, critical thinking and his failures. His sharing at TTW provides insights and more for those reading about his experience:

What did I learn from this?

You’re gonna lose items…and it’s ok. It’s all part of the learning process. Libraries lose a lot of materials with high value – think about when an audiobook collection goes missing or a disc needs to be replaced in a multi item set.

The teens have to know that they’re responsible. Fines may not be the best way to do this, but that’s a bigger issue for another time.

eBooks and teens? There’s a limited audience.

Teens want to have an experience.

How will this work next time?

One of the observations I made with the teens that had borrowed the devices was that they were more into using YouTube and the web browser than they were using the apps. A possible solution would be to limit access to YouTube and the web browser and limit the devices to what they were intended for: curated app experience devices

Credit checks/signed applications from parents/etc will not work no matter how hard you try to push this on teens. Teens can barely keep track of what they’re going to do after school, let alone understand what signing a piece of paper means. Perhaps a better way forward is for the people working with these teen patrons in the library to make individual calls on each lender. It may be a good idea for those working in the teen library to take some time to sit down with the teens that potentially want to borrow these devices, show them what they can do, and explain in fuller detail what it means to be “selected” for this program.

Make Music at the Library

http://tametheweb.com/2011/08/08/make-music-at-the-library/

http://tametheweb.com/2011/05/31/made-at-the-library/

Justin worked with a group of teens to write and record a song. This is an outstanding example of a user-focused, creation-based program

Teen Advisory Board

Nominator Peter Bromberg has maintained a document gathering Justin’s ideas and work on teen-centered projects. The document gathers snippets of Justin’s own words, shared via social tools that illustrate his deep commitment to teen library users and the LIS community. He submitted the file for inclusion in this nomination:

Our library really didn’t have much of a teen program before I got here. Lots of books but a lot of outdated stuff, basically no programs, and that’s about it. I’d like to think that I’ve changed that.

Circulation is through the roof we’ve got programs every week, and our name is out there more. People seem to know who our library is and I‘d like to think that I had something to do with that!

I’ve been really big into getting our name out into the library world. When I got here I felt like everyone took an isolationist view on libraries…who cares what else happens in the world, we are fine here in Cape May County.

What have you done to promote library/TAB through social software?

Created a Facebook page

Created a huge presence on Twitter.

Basically, I rely on these two sources to reach out to teens and through my use of these sources I feel like I’ve really connected to teens.

They think of me as a friend and that’s what it is all about!

What new programs have you done that have attracted teen participation?

Teen Advisory Board

Graphic Novel and Manga Club

Library Lock In

An extensive game night program

Open mic nights

How have you helped shift thinking/culture in the library with regard to teens?

I feel like I’ve made the other people I work with see teens as real human beings.

Before I got here, they had this buzzer in the teen room that they buzzed when the teens were being loud. They treated them like wild animals that needed to be punished or something like that.

Now, they talk to the teens. They respect them. They know some of them on a first name basis!

What other wonderful changes have you made?

Positivity. I feel like I bring an energy to the people I work with.

I try to keep spirits up because when spirits are up, good things get done.

Happiness is spread and the world is a better place!

Sharing with the Wider LIS Community

Justin also spends much of his free time sharing his ideas and insights with the broader LIS Community. He tries to share consciously – and does so effectively. When many of his peers are clamoring for recognition and fame, Justin continues to share quietly with the LIS community. His writing extensively about video games in libraries (http://tametheweb.com/2011/08/03/8bitlibrary-com-the-collected-writings-of-justin-hoenke-2/) lead to invitations to speak and share ant national conferences and at a conference this year in Germany. The members of the Zukunftwerkstatt (Future Workshop) in Germany funded Justin’s travel to speak about the importance of games and services to young people at the 2012 Bibliothekartag.

We are pleased to submit this nomination for a dedicated, hard-working and forward thinking librarian. We are nominating him for his relentless innovation in service to teens and his generosity of spirit in sharing the process with librarians all over the world through social media.

Nominators:

Michael Stephens
Assistant Professor
San Jose State University SLIS

Sarah Houghton Jan
Director
San Rafael Public Library

Brian Kenney
Director
White Plains Public Library

Peter Bromberg
Associate Director
Princeton Public Library

Photo: Justin at breakfast with Michael, Seattle, January 2013 via Instagram.

News: The Hyperlinked Library MOOC Fall 2013 Announced

Note from Michael: I am very excited about this project! We’ll be offering a professional development opportunity for FREE to a global audience AND I’ll be co-teaching with Kyle Jones! Thanks to SJSU SLIS for the incredible support and encouragement for this endeavor!

http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/about-slis/news/detail/free-online-course-extends-learning-individuals-across-globe

In an effort to share insight regarding some of the latest trends in the information profession with individuals from across the globe, the San José State University School of Library and Information Science (SJSU SLIS) will be offering a massive open online course (MOOC) in the fall.

The open online course will bring individuals from diverse backgrounds and geographic regions together in an interactive online learning environment. SJSU SLIS award-winning instructors will spearhead this professional development opportunity. The MOOC is available to the public for free, and anyone can register. MOOC students will not receive college credit.

The information school’s first open online course, the Hyperlinked Library MOOC, will begin September 3, 2013, and it explores how libraries are using emerging technologies to serve their communities.

The MOOC parallels content offered in a Hyperlinked Library Seminar taught by assistant professor Dr. Michael Stephens in the fully online Master of Library and Information Science(MLIS) program and fully online Post-Master’s Certificate program at the San José State University School of Library and Information Science. Stephens and SJSU SLIS lecturer Kyle Jones, along with course assistants, will be the instructors for the Hyperlinked Library MOOC.

Stephens has spoken about emerging technologies, innovation, and libraries to audiences in more than 27 states and eight countries, including a research tour of Australia and presentations for the U.S. embassies in Germany and Turkey. He has authored numerous articles, and he currently writes the monthly column “Office Hours” in Library Journal magazine, exploring issues, ideas and emerging trends in library and information science education.

Jones is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and teaches on topics related to digital tools, trends, and controversies. He is the author of several publications, including a book chapter in “The LIS Professional Commons and the Online Networked Practitioner” with Stephens.

The term “Hyperlinked Library” describes how our connected world is transforming 21^stCentury libraries into participatory, playful, and user-centered spaces while upholding traditional values. It encompasses both physical and virtual space, as well as many types of libraries.

For example, during the 2009 Australian School Library Association conference in Perth, Stephens presented the Hyperlinked Library model to teacher librarians. “School librarians could use the model to extend support for learning beyond the walls of the school library and engage with students, teachers and administrators in an open, transparent manner wherever the learning takes place,” wrote Stephens in his Hyperlinked Library TTW whitepaper.

He further explained, “Hyperlinked library services are born from careful trend-spotting, an application of the foundational tenets of librarianship and an informed understanding of emerging technologies? societal and cultural impact.”

More information about the Hyperlinked Library:

Read more about the Hyperlinked Library model on Stephens’ blog, “Tame the Web.
Download the Hyperlinked Library whitepaper written by Stephens.
Watch a recording of Stephens’ Hyperlinked Library presentation at the 2012 California Library Association Conference.

MOOC students will have the opportunity to explore the Hyperlinked Library model through recorded presentations and other content, as well as practical assignments that encourage students to apply what they are learning. For example, students will expand their learning by developing an emerging technologies plan and social media policy. Badges will be awarded as students move through the course, culminating with a certificate of completion.

Stephens developed and created the Hyperlinked Library course over the last few years, drawing on experiences working with libraries located across North America and internationally, including Germany, Australia, Turkey, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. He will pull in global experts and resources as part of the Hyperlinked Library MOOC learning experience.

Individuals interested in registering for the Hyperlinked Library MOOC are encouraged to immediately sign up for the course. An interest list is currently being formed, and the first 400 individuals to sign up will have priority registration.

More on the #hyperlibMOOC from Kyle Jones

Please don’t miss:

http://thecorkboard.org/stephens-and-jones-to-co-teach-a-mooc-version-of-the-hyperlinked-library/

A snippet:

There are a number of reasons this project excites me, and I think it should excite you as a potential student:

The Hyperlinked Library model takes a humanist approach to user services and their intersection with ICTs: this is not a technology course, but it is a critical examination of the dual shaping of LIS professionals and technologies as they work in tandem to serve library users;
Both Michael and I believe in a constructionist approach to learning: this is not a consumption course where the lecture is a vade mecum to hold onto closely. A lecture is only a piece of the learning experience that, in our mind, serves as a foundation for exploration, critical examination, and–most importantly–as the base on which other artifacts are created. As such, the course will be designed in order for students to learn from each other and develop useful products that can inform their daily practices;
The learning management system is a walled garden which restricts the participatory aims of our teaching and denies students the opportunity to share their work and experiences with the world. Using WordPress and a combination of plugins, we’ve been teaching our courses using a blog-based social course system that we’ve developed over a number of years. This system has proven its efficacy time and time again, and reviews from students in their own posts and our course reviews indicate that learning online in an organic social environment has distinct advantages over structured, both in power and in content, learning management systems. We’re excited to create a brand new iteration of our system and to scale it for hundreds of users.

On this last point, I will be leading a cohort of students this summer to build the site. Students will support in the research, development, and deployment of the MOOC. Activities will include: gathering research materials on topics related to MOOCs; participating in the construction of the course site by helping with elements of content strategy and management, information architecture, user experience testing, gamificiation, and design; developing a knowledge base and self-paced instructional materials (e.g., screencasts); and assisting in the instructional design of the teaching and learning experience. I’ve already received a number of inquiries from students about this opportunity and I’m excited to meet them come June.

Blogging Students at the Hyperlinked Library – A Word Cloud Party

We just finished an intensive session of my Hyperlinked Library class – a full semester taught in seven weeks. the students were GREAT and really took on the hard work. One of the students created wordclouds of all of the class blogs to celebrate the end of our journey. He called it a word cloud party. Take a look:

http://thehyperlinkedlibrary.org/hyperlib-i/ceobk/2013/03/14/wordcloud-party/

Here’s a very public shout out to the students of #hyperlib-i! Great work!

Maker Day in Chattanooga: a 3D Printing Event

Cluetrain Brilliance

“Imagine a world where everyone was constantly learning, a world where what you wondered was more interesting than what you knew, and curiosity counted for more than certain knowledge. Imagine a world where what you gave away was more valuable than what you held back, where joy was not a dirty word, where play was not forbidden after your eleventh birthday.”

Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger. (2001). The Cluetrain manifesto: The end of business as usual.

Announcing PREFAB – Library Website Service

Are you struggling with an unfriendly or dated library Website? Not have the staff or big budget to do a lengthy overhaul? Look no further than PREFAB. Do not miss this incredible offering from Aaron Schmidt and Amanada Etches, aka INFLUX:

http://weareinflux.com/prefab

PREFAB
THE LIBRARY WEBSITE SERVICE

Prefab is a ready-to-launch website designed for libraries.

Based on years of library user research, our template gives you everything you need to create a fantastic library website.

With Prefab, you won’t even need to worry about hosting.

We’ve designed an amazing library website so you don’t have to.

THIS IS PREFAB and it is really great
WORKS ON ALL DEVICES
Your Prefab site will look great at any size: mobile, tablet, or desktop.

PERSONALIZE YOUR PREFAB

Six color options
Easily integrate your contact, location, and ILS details
Use your library logo
Upload your own CSS

Take a look at the demo: http://helloprefab.com

Take a look at the links above for the demo and more information. I am very impressed with this service offered by folks who truly understand libraries and user research. AND they get usability and UX design like no others. Other features include: Hosting, Domain setup help, Backend training, Events calendar, Logo & identity development, Custom color palette and IA & content work.

Note from Michael: TTW is not a clearinghouse for vendor ads and will never have ads or any sort of monetization. I wholeheartedly believe in the work of INFLUX and also recognize a service such as this can fill a need of many libraries.

Tame The Web

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