Over and Out…

Time to wrap up for the term. Well it’s been a definite learning experience for me – I came into this course with a major chip on my shoulder about blogging, experience with wikis and IM, but nothing else. Now I have hands-on experience with RSS, social networking, and social tagging! The great thing is I might be able to actually apply a good deal of this knowledge in my job.

As for the software I’ve been exposed to, there are some I will definitely not use again. I probably won’t keep my MySpace account going. Yes, I’ve made a friend or two, but I have a hard enough time keeping up with my real friends, and find that there really isn’t much information of value to me keep me interested. I may continue to tag using delicious – I usually end up with a million bookmarks each term as I do research, so this is a far more effective means of organizing them (and it’s a good source of discovery as well). I have always been a fan of wikis, and will probably continue to use them. RSS is a great tool, but I suffer greatly from information overload, so I will have to use it wisely and sparingly, otherwise I will become overwhelmed and just ignore all the great information that comes my way.

Blogs are an interesting tool I think I’ve learned the most about this term. I have been trying t think of interesting ways in integrating them into a library website other than just using it for news and events. On a personal level, I have toyed with the idea of starting a family bog – a central place where family members can post announcements news, thoughts, photos etc. With 25 aunts and uncles, 36 cousins (and that doesn’t include the kids my generation has started having – and that’s just one side of the family, too) it can be hard to keep abreast of what all of them are doing. I wonder if Flickr might be a good tool to use, but that is still up for discussion. The main point, is that I can see past my original prejudice that blogs are cyber-soapboxes for the vain and obnoxious. Now I realize they are actually useful information tools.

The distance ed. experience has been fairly positive. This was my second distance ed class, and the blogging set up was certainly more conducive to conversation between cyber-classmates (as opposed to a message board – which is what I’ll be using for next term’s online class). There was definitely a lot of work each week, and it was a bit hard to keep up, but overall it has been a pretty good experience. The readings were fine, but the case studies were probably more useful to me… I prefer seeing actual application of concepts rather than just reading about them. I like how Amanda was available chat – and she always responded to my e-mails rather quickly (in many ways she was actually more accessible than some instructors on campus).

That’s it, I think!

Happy Holidays!

what is the point?

Does social software belong in the library? I would probably answer a qualified yes. Why a qualified yes instead of a resounding, emphatic or decidedly assured yes? Because like any tool or technology, it depends on how it is applied and used in the library to further its services and mission.

As I’ve said in many posts throughout the term, and as was said in several of our readings, using web 2.0 technologies for the sake of being on the cutting edge serves little purpose if it isn’t use effectively. A blog that isn’t interactive and merely serves as a content management toll for library news and events, is hardly a shining example of effective implementation of social software (it isn’t social at all!). I would also question if news and events is really the best content for a blog, especially it that’s the only content that’s available. Libraries love to promote it’s “happenings”, but I suspect patrons are really focussed on accessing resources when visiting a library website.

On the other hand, a blog that provides a medium for feedback and interaction, which promotes the library’s mission, is a great example of social software supporting the library and its patrons. Using the blog as a reader’s advisor service/bookclub/reading suggestion page is a great idea. Using it as a feedback mechanism or a means of providing access to new resources (new books, RSS feeds, journals, websites, etc), is great. Using a blog as a means to allow students and researchers the opportunity to share resources is also a great idea. All incarnations are social and speak directly to the library’s purpose. Any other social software implementation should be thought about in the same way – that is, the library should ask itself, “how will this tool further our mandate and serve our patrons?” (although some have suggested that the library's role is to promote itself - fair enough). While the title of this post seems negative, and down on social software, all I am really trying to say is that no matter what tool, program or service a library attempts to implement, it should ultimately serve to further its goals and services, not merely replace them.

Of all the social software we’ve examined this term there are very few that I would say don’t belong in a library. Blogs, wikis, IM, and RSS are perhaps the easiest and most accessible tools to implement – they’re often free, or at least fairly cheap, easy to implement and maintain. Of the four, I firmly believe that wikis are best used as an internal communication and knowledge management tool, rather than a means of developing a knowledge-based community amongst patrons. The others, social bookmarking/tagging, folksonomies, social networking, podcasting etc., while all great tools, could be more complicated to implement in a meaningful way, and perhaps have more far reaching implications in terms of staff input, upkeep and potentially cost. But like anything else, if done effectively, will go a long way to serve the library’s community.

IM reference newbie

I was glad to get some information on podcasting this week. I had often seen and heard discussion about it, but had very little experience or knowledge of it. What captured my attention this week was using instant messaging (IM) in libraries.

My interest in IM stems primarily from the fact that one of the libraries I am doing reference at this term on co-op just launched a new IM reference service. So far, my experience consists of answering one reference question via IM, but it was certainly an eye-opening experience.

My initial reaction to the IM service was largely positive – much like the literature says, it is a great opportunity to have patrons reach us “where they are”. Patrons can reach us in person, via e-mail over then phone. Why not extend that one step further?

After about 5 or 6 reference shifts since the launch of the new service, my chance finally came .. my first IM! It was odd, brief and the “session” ended leaving me think that I really didn’t engage in a proper reference interview and was probably not very helpful.

Communicating via this medium was so vastly different than a face-to-face reference situation. Everything was in snippets or “sound bites”. I had no context whatsoever… no non-verbal communication, no tone. It was all very officious and to the point (which can actually be a good thing). Perhaps it will take more practice more interactions to actually be good at IM reference.

The bottom line – communication of any kind is constrained by the nature of the medium in which it takes place. I wonder what the quality and extent of the service can actually be provided via IM? I like the idea of being able to quickly answer questions and students not needing to make a trip to the desk to see me. Then again, I worry that the brevity of it will rend towards shortening or stifling of the reference interview. I doubt IM was ever intended for in-depth drawn out conversations (Reference isn’t always in-depth either I suppose). Maybe its brevity is ideal for reference. I really don’t know.I haven’t had enough experience with it yet. But I’d love to hear experiences of anyone else who has IM reference experience.

MySpace is in My Face...

After going through the readings and checking out some of the case studies, it I clear that several libraries are trying to address an important question – how do libraries reach teens? In a public library this is probably a major issue. I suspect, however, that meeting teens “where they are” is probably being taken a bit too literally. I look at what teens are doing/talking about when they are on MySpace and what libraries are trying to accomplish with MySpace, and I wonder if there the libraries are stretching the value f these social networks beyond what is actually taking place. Teens are using it to chat (about who knows what – I can’t quite claim to know the mind of a teenager) to socialize, etc. Perhaps we could go as far as to say they are taking a break from the rigours and stresses of everyday life (school, work, parents, etc) and are reaching out to fellow teens. Is the library invading that space? Can’t teens go someplace where “institutions” aren’t trying to “reach them” and provide them with information? On the other end of things, would teenagers automatically go to MySpace as a way to find information/books/ research? I agree with notion that teens may feel more comfortable communicating in the informality of that environment rather than the formal environment of a library or library website. But I am simply not convinced that a MySpace profile is going to draw more teenagers into demonstrating an interest in reading or in the library.

That’s public libraries – academic libraries – is another issue altogether. When I look at what social networks and what libraries might be trying to accomplish with them, it reminds me somewhat of a Learning Commons (See Guelph and Carleton as examples) - A physical space where students can come to find information, get help and share information and resources, and if they’re anything like the LC at U Guelph-Humber, they come to socialize. It seems like social networking is attempting to move that experience into the cyber world rather than focussing on creating community on campus itself. Although, I can see how this might be useful for PT students.

I’ve had a look at the various examples of library social networking environments and my first impression is “Whoa – that’s a lot of content on one page.” It is a bit overwhelming. I suspect teens visual spatial orientation is probably better equipped to handle this format than mine is though. I do like My Own Café - once I got over being overwhelmed with information and choices, I enjoyed looking through it – it seemed like it would be useful and is reasonably well organized.

As Meredith Farkas points out, I have to agree, that most libraries aren’t doing a tremendous job of using their space – too much news and announcements orientation. Social networks are meant to be interactive and I think I agree with Farkas that one of the best examples is Crossett Library’s Facebook space – patrons actually provide suggestions and the library follows through… novel idea (no pun intended).

DIY librarianship?

I can’t help but wonder what folksonomies and social tagging mean for librarianship as a profession. As mentioned in the wiki presentation, in some circles, there is a reluctance to embrace collective knowledge as it takes control of information away from librarians and places it into the collective hands of the patrons. I imagine the same can be said of folksonomies. Librarians are supposed to be experts on organizing information, and creating and maintaining information access systems. This brings with it a series of problems, many of which Quintarelli and Kroski outline in detail, namely they are generally not intuitive, do not use natural language, requires experts to maintain and requires the user to be an expert in order to navigate the system. Folksonomies seem to rectify some of these issues – experts are no longer required…we can all participate in a classification system: it’s DIY librarianship! What does that do to the value of our profession?

Going through the literature, neither system seems to be ideal. Pros and cons are dutifully outlined, folksonomies and taxonomies are compared and contrasted at length, but I am still left asking which one is a better system? Does a classification system really need to be either or? The economic imperative of folksonomies is certainly mentioned throughout the readings, but saving money is of little value if it renders the basic service inoperable and ineffective. Lawley’s article seems to make the most sense – dismissing either system out of hand is probably not a good idea. Instead finding a hybrid system may represent a great way to present beginner and advanced researchers with a range of search options that will improve the overall functionality of an information access system – how that looks or functions from a ILS perspective is another matter altogether.

The one thing that continues to puzzle me as far as integrating folksonomies into OPACs or any library system is the personal incentive to tag. I can fully understand the organizational imperative to integrate folksonomies into an OPAC system, but what would be the immediate benefit to the user? del.icio.us offers a personal collection of tags that allows individuals to “collect” series of resources – if OPACs or library services do not accommodate a function like this, what would be the benefit to users to participate in tagging (I know some people believe that patrons are essentially eager to participate in collective systems – I am not convinced).

See y'all soon...

I am taking a break from blogging this week... I might comment... I might not...
Catch ya next week!!!!

Wonderful World of Wikis...

I’ve been “exposed” to wikis on several occasions now. I’ve set up a few and I’ve contributed to few. By and large I really like them, both technically and philosophically. I like the notion of a group of users (or a community if you prefer) coming together in a single space to create a consensus-based body of knowledge (I do recognize that knowledge is a fairly fluid thing that is not purely fact based). The mark-up language used in wikis is pretty easy to learn (it’s really just a handful or tags or code – although I suspect if you already know HTML, you’ll probably catch on to the wiki mark up a little faster). The simple mark-up facilitates the organic nature of wikis – it can start out one place and meander, grow and expand in a variety of directions – and it’s pretty much up to the community that contributes to it.

Setting up wikis can be another experience altogether though. The lis757wikimania wiki on pbwiki was extremely easy to get going (please feel free to go in there and mess around). Working with locally installed wikis can be a little tricky, especially if you’re not all that familiar with the language that supports it (e.g. ASP or Perl). I’ve installed and set up TWiki and ModWiki as part of another class project and I can tell you it was a frustrating experience --- rewarding and productive, but frustrating.

Looking back at some of the blogs I’ve some across in this course, I have to ask why they chose blogs instead of a wiki (or vice versa)? Take Western Springs History as an example. It seems as though the WSH is attempting to collect information in order to create a body of knowledge. Seems like a project for a wiki to me. Then again, if the goal is to create a community based on anecdotal and factual information on the community perhaps a blog is a better idea.

As another example Central Piedmont Community College’s Bookmark’s blog as compared to Princeton’s Booklover’s Wiki. Both are essentially using different technology to achieve the same result – present / collect patron generated book reviews – in a way it acts as a tool to augment readers advisory service. Is one technology more suited than another in this case? Is the primary goal to create a body of knowledge or exchange ideas? (I would argue that there isn’t a whole lot of the latter happening in either the blog or the wiki).

It makes me wonder which technology is best to use in some situations.

Catching up on RSS…

It’s a miracle.. I made it work – I managed to get a feed on my site (check out the sidebar). I tired both Feed2JS and RSS2HTML. I have to say, I had a much easier time with FEED2JS. I was able to go through the entire RSS2HTML process and be presented with a URL. However, when I tried to embed the feed into my side bar, the process broke down (I tried a few different strategies, but none worked). The best I was able to do was create a link to the URL. FEED2JS, presented me with a whole lot of terms I didn’t quite understand, yet I was able to generate script allowing me to create a lovely embedded RSS feed into my blog! Outstanding. Once I got over the intimidation factor, it was simple!!! A great tool I may try to employ in any of my future websites.

I also used this OPML generator to combine about 4 different feeds. The process was quite easy, and importing it into Blogger was simple enough. I wasn’t overly impressed with the tool – as an idea, I think it’s probably great for heavy RSS users. Again, I immediately recoil at the notion of having that much information streamed to me. But, I think libraries like University of Manitoba, who offer a wealth of feeds, are doing their patrons a service by providing access to a tool that will help patrons organize their feeds is a great thing.

Overall I think RSS is a great tool for libraries. Looking through the readings, I was struck by one particular quote in McKiernan’s article (although he was quoting Roddy MacLeod) – we’re really not breaking new ground, we’re using technology to improve or expand existing services. RSS feeds appear to be an extension of existing efforts – linking patrons with resources, giving them the tools to find relevant and meaningful information to meet their information needs. Despite whatever information overload issues I might have, being able to have the information delivered to me rather than seeking it out everyday, is still a more efficient way to go.

From what I can tell, there seems to be 2 basic types of feeds: those that have been created for the user that encompass a broad yet topically specific range of information usually from a single source, and those that are self-directed, the result of a specific search string created by the user (like EBSCO or PROQUEST feeds as an example). For my part, I think I prefer a more self-directed feed – one that allows me the opportunity to have specific information or topics I am interested in “fed” to me. I would find the former overwhelming and would worry I would spend so much time sifting through all the entries in order to find the “gems” I am specifically interested in. Both are valuable resources, and have their place in the library… in both cases, information literacy and librarianship skills are important for effective use of avaialble resources.

RSS : Information partnership?

I found it a bit funny to see it referred to as Rich Site Summary as I always called it Real Simple Syndication – I know they are both correct.

I have to admit I haven’t been that excited about using checking Bloglines for the class feeds. Sorry – I guess I just prefer to go into the LIS757 blog and pick and choose entries to read a comment (No I haven’t read every single blog entry – I am a horrible human being!) There are 2 things at work here that are probably worth noting:

First, I really don’t like the layout of Bloglines. I can’t say exactly why – maybe it’s the colour scheme, typeface – I don’t know. Perhaps I am going through a period of technological acclimation. I did check out Netvibes and RoJo . I really like RoJo – the set up was clean and well organized: reading the headlines seemed easy and navigation ultra-simple. Netvibe freaked me out when I opened it up – the font was so small I could barely read it and it presented so much information at once… which brings me to my second point, I am lazy. RSS both works for me and against me in this regard. It saves me the work of having to conduct the same searches over and over again, but I fear I suffer from information overload. Can I really be expected to read that much? Do I have the time or energy?

That’s a personal use perspective. From the librarian perspective, I really enjoyed checking out the case studies. I have to admit I have seen RSS available on many a site, but have by and large ignored it.

It seems as though libraries spend a good deal of time trying to deliver and disseminate the information that patrons/clients need, when they need it. It’s not that easy to stay on top of every resource and every topic. And there is always the risk that we’ll provide information to those who really don’t want it. Whether it’s new acquisitions, literacy events, news, subject-based discussions, RSS provides an excellent self-service approach to disseminating information.

I know of a few libraries that have set up student specific subject guides/feeds (i.e. if you’re enrolled in class X, you MUST be interested in this information – so here you go). It’s one way to go, certainly. But this approach takes away individual choice and the opportunity for patrons to take responsibility for their own information needs. It’s easy enough to tell ourselves, as a profession that “we know what’s good for you”, but instead of spoon-feeding patrons information, RSS, in a way, allows us to partner with patrons to meet their information needs.

Build it and they will blog...

After checking out the reading list week, I immediately gravitated towards Darlene Fichter's article - it was like a familiar face, having read and frequently referred to her article on Wikis:

Fichter, Darlene. “Using Wikis to Support Online Collaboration in Libraries.” Information Outlook 10.1 (January 2006): 30-31.

I imagine it's on the reading list in the coming weeks. If not - it's worth checking out. Fichter provides some practical approaches to integrating Web 2.0 technologies into library services - simple straightforward explanations with concrete examples. I was also glad to see that I wasn’t totally off base suggesting that blogs could be used by libraries to build related communities – academic discussion or book clubs or the like. I thought I might have been daft...maybe I wasn’t.

Interestingly enough, I attended a Web 2.0 debate of sorts today - it was positioned in a mock debate of sorts with 2 extremes, those who are dead set against integrate Web 2.0 into library services and those who were gung ho and wanted to radically transform the library using blogs, wikis, socially tagged OPACs and the like. The debate was so extreme that it was kind of absurd in a way, but it brought out the obvious point: the technologies are out there, and they're going to be part of library services in some capacity, but to what extent they will transform the current library service landscape will depend on the willingness and ability of libraries to meet user needs, and the extent to which users embrace new level of services - what will work well will vary from library to library.

As far as blogs are concerned, how do you integrate blogs (or any Web 2.0 element) into library services in a meaningful way? And meaningful to whom: librarians and professional staff, or the patrons? It's more than just putting the blog in place - it needs to be used by the library's community, promoted so that it's widely participation in; it requires guidelines and usage policies, and it requires monitoring to ensure those policies are followed; it requires educating users how to use the blog, and it requires an information literacy program so users are able to discern reliable information from. Ultimately, the blog should accomplish something that's is of value to the community the library serves and works to further the library's mission.
If you put the blog in place will it flourish on it's own? Do patrons have a burning desire to develop a community-based information-sharing network? It's more than just finding a great new pc. of software and using it - with the work that goes into planning, promoting and sustaining a blog, it ought to meet a need or demand for new level of service, or fulfil a community building need of some kind. In other words – enrich the library experience, not just be a clever new tool for delivering the same old information patrons would get anyway. I am not convinced that is what is happening based on the blogs I’ve seen, but I suspect as the use of blogs in libraries evolves, so will the role they play in the library community.

participation isn't a one-way street...

The more I think about the blogs I've seen on many library sites, the more I wonder why bother using a blog? In most cases, but definitely not all, the library has used the blog as a communication tool - letting patrons know about up-coming events, the goings-on in the library, etc. So why do they need a blog to do that? Why not a what's new page? It would accomplish the same thing. Are they jumping on the techno-trend bandwagon? (look... we have a blog...ooooh aaaaah - you could have one too, here's how...). It make me wonder ... blogs are social software, and as such should be, well, "social" - interactive and participatory. Most of the blogs I've seen seem to be involved in top-down, one-way dissemination of information. What's interactive or social about that? I suppose patrons can comment when they want to, but how do you get them to? What does it take? Do we actually want them to or are libraries using blogs as their own organizational soap box? I dunno.... (I say that quite often I am noticing).

Blogs like the GSU are good examples of participatory blogs, and but could you say that it's highly participated in?

How do you get your patrons to participate in your blog? I'm not convinced that's what many library blogs are actually trying to accomplish...

HOW DO TAKE YOUR BLOG TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

I guess I'll do my readings now....