My IT Department Always Says No

Ouch. This was a remark that I heard several times at ALA and one that really bothered me. I don’t think that your IT department should be holding your library system back. Actually the opposite – as my IT department manager says, we should be leading the library system in making technology-related decisions.

But there are some considerations that come into play. A must-read for people in IT, as well as librarians, is Michael Stephens’ article Into a new world of librarianship.

Without a firm foundation in the mission and goals of the institution, new technologies are not implemented for the sake of coolness and status. Technology is put to the test: Does it meet the users need in a new or improved way? Does it create a useful service for putting users together with the information and experience they seek?

One of the most often repeated concerns in an IT department is why are we doing this? Is it just because its the latest and greatest thing? But here’s the thing. If the IT department doesn’t keep up with the changes that are happening so rapidly in the way libraries are communicating and collaborating with their customers, then how can they know why these services are important? How can they prepare for offering these services, and even more important, how can they prepare to support them in the long run?

There needs to be a balance between saying the cautious NO to keep things manageable and sane from the IT perspective, and saying YES to technology that leads the library system into the future with a good plan for new services; services that meet the mission of the library on the front end but also have well-thought out support for the back end.

Instant Messaging in the Library

One of the benefits of IM reference is the fact that it creates a means of social interaction and community between librarys and potential customers out in the online places where our customers are working and playing.

Many of these people are teens and IM is a good way to engage them but the September 2004 Pew Internet/American Life report, How Americans Use IM [pdf], reports that 53 million adults were using IM. At the time, 24% of them were doing more IM than email. No doubt this has grown.

The real magic happens when library users add the library’s screen name to their buddy list. Then the library is a presence in their lives whenever they’re online and have their IM program running. Let me repeat that. Through IM, you can be available to your users, among their trusted peers, when they’re operating online.

Here are some good talking points for people who want to bring up the idea of doing IM.

Libraries using IM

Things our library can do with RSS

Do you have other ideas?!

1. RSS feeds from the library catalog – searches to watch, favorite subject headings, favorite authors, new books, etc.
2. RSS feeds from library databases – searches to watch, etc.
3. That “what I have checked out” thing…
4. Library Calendar of Events feed
5. RSS feed of area happenings, coming from the library’s website
6. Updates on a library building project
7. Feeds from Flickr on building projects, library desks, “what do you have checked out?”

Ways To Use flickr @ the Library

One benefit of using Flickr and tagging your photos with your library’s name and location is that it helps people find the library in the great pool of all the photos in Flickr. Maybe someone is searching Flickr for their hometown and they discover images of the library and they learn about the library services and programs that they didn’t know about.

 

Do you have other ideas about how BCPL could use Flickr?! Post your ideas as comments to this post.

 

1. Publicize EVENTS at your library with candid photos of activities and participants.
2. Present a collection of HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS of a city, community, area, or building – how about your own library?
3. Highlight OUTREACH SERVICES such as a bookmobile or delivery vehicle, along with outreach staff and drivers.
4. Publicize a GAMING tournament or other teen event.
5. Show photographs from an AUTHOR SIGNING at your library.
6. Show the BANNED BOOKS DISPLAYS at your library.
7. Promote and share a CONFERENCE OR WORKSHOP.
8. Provide a VIRTUAL TOUR of your library facility.
9. Share photos of PARTIES AND CELEBRATIONS at the library.
10. Show pictures of regular COMMUNITY MEETINGS held at your library.
11. Provide a gallery of LIBRARY STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS.
12. Create WIKIS OR INSTRUCTIONAL WEB SITES for staff on library technical topics.
13. Promote your Friends group’s FUNDRAISERS and BOOK SALES.
14. Create a VIRTUAL TRAVELOGUE of your city or town.
15. Post pictures of your ADMINISTRATORS OR LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
16. Show BOOK COVERS for reading lists or Readers’ Advisory blogs.
17. Get community leaders to pose for READ posters!!!

Fact: flickr’s Community Rules and Terms of Service are quite clear. They disallow offensive images of the type described in the e-mail. Moreover, libraries are already required to block content that is harmful to minors under the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). The pending internet safety legislation called DOPA, which potentially affects flickr and other social networking sites, is redundant and unnecessary.

Fact: Currently, hundreds of libraries — public, academic, school, and special libraries across the world — use flickr to enhance web services to their various constituencies.Educate yourself, your staff, your board of trustees, and governing agencies about social sites, like flickr, and the issues surrounding them. Educate your patrons and your community about the good — and bad — of flickr and other social software sites. Sit down at a library computer with any patron who has a concern, and demonstrate the site to the patron. Let them see the benefits first hand.

These ideas were originally posted by Michael Stephens in his Tame the Web blog, http://tametheweb.com/library_20web_20/flickr_rocks_my_world/.

BCPL is tagged at Flickr for these photos, http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=BCPL&w=all . Maybe there are other ways we could use Flickr to reach out to our BCPL customers. 

Week 6, Thing 14: Discover Technorati and learn how tags work with blogs

This afternoon I’ve been playing with Technorati. I use WordPress for my blog so when I tag my posts with whatever categories are relevant, they are picked up in Technorati as tags. I added the category “mdlearn2” to my post about Thing 13, and it appears in Technorati when I do a search for mdlearn2.

This picture is of the tag results page in Technorati. Very cool to have the posts, blogs, videos, etc. for your search terms all pulled together in one place. Wouldn’t this be helpful for researching a topic?

I tried searching for the keyword “Learning 2.0.” From the search results page you get tabs for Quick View, Posts, Blogs, Videos, Photos, Music and Events. The search results under each tab are different: I get individual posts under the Posts tab. I didn’t get any blogs listed under the Blogs tab (Blog directory) although I guess there would have been if they had existed. the Quick View tab gives me search results for “Learning 2.0”, including a video that Helene Blowers created.

Private and public bookmarks

Bookmarks saved with your buttons are public by default, but imported bookmarks are private by default. If you see “not shared” next to a bookmark, that means it is a private bookmark and only you can see it. Note: if you’re logged out, you won’t be able to see your private bookmarks either.

To change a private bookmark to public (so that everyone else can see it), click the “share” link next to it.

To change a public bookmark to private, first enable private saving in your settings. Then edit your bookmark, check the do not share box, and save it. While saving a new bookmark, you can also check the do not share box to make that bookmark private.

Notes in Social Bookmarking on Del.icio.us

I learned that you can add notes to your bookmark by highlighting some text from the web page you’re bookmarking. That would be useful for writing a paper, or memo, or just general research. 

Top Technology Trends for 2007 or We’re toast if we don’t grasp the full potential

I attended the Top Technology Trends meeting at ALA Annual 2007 on Sunday, June23rd.  The trends are less about the technology and more about the outcome – the collaboration and community that comes from using the technology. The “toys”, the things we’re learning about in the 23 Things program and more, are just tools we use to accomplish the goal.

1)     Open source software is no longer just for the techie community. It can be used by libraries to replace their ILS, to add content to an ILS, for wikis, blogs and many other things.

2)     Shore-up the back-end

John Blyberg said, “We can create a demand for the long tail, we have to be able to support it.” We can add these cool new services but we have to remember that new content needs to be continuously added to blogs to keep them interesting and current; wikis need to be maintained; support needs to be available from technology support departments in the form of people who know about and can support the cool new services, the hardware for these services to live on, and the software to run them. And there has to be the time to do all of this. 

 Joan F. Williams also said that we have to remember not to implement a new technology and then abandon it. Don’t stop once your new technology is implemented. There are a lot of libraries out there who have implemented blogs but have since abandoned them. Learn from the mistakes and the successes of your new technology and take it a bit further. Do more with it.

3)     ILS systems need to be more modular.

John Blyberg would like to see a trend toward vendor interoperability where we could take the “best of breed” and “mash” them up to build a better ILS for the future. Roy Tennant actually forsees the demise of the catalog as we push the ILS back and use new tools such as Primo, Encore and World Cat Local.

4)   End User as Content Producer Karen Coombs says that currently more than 62% of all US households own digital cameras. As Flickr, Blip.tv, YouTube and other web-based services offer a place for users to store and share their content, what happens if these services disappear? Who is taking responsibility for preserving the cultural memory of our society in digital format? What can libraries do to collect digital objects of value to local history and cultural memory? One possibility is what is being done by the National Library of Australia as part of the Picture Australia Project.

5)   The line between desktop and web applications becoming more blurred. Karen Coombs sees the line between desktop and web applications becoming more blurred.

6)      Grasp the potential of the new technology and use it to its best advantage. Joan F. Williams said that you don’t gain the advantage of using new technology if you’re just replacing the old tool with a new one. We have to grasp the potential of the new technology and use it to its best advantage. For example, if you buy a cell phone with a camera but still only use it as a phone, then you haven’t gained anything. Why bother having the new phone at all? A lot of systems are doing the 23 Things program. Even though the technology scares some people, we need to be able to grasp its full potential. “We’re toast if we don’t grasp the full potential.”

7)     The nature of the library website as a place will change just like the physical library is changing. It will become more interactive and collaborative as mashups of library data increase and are used directly instead of visiting the library website. Everyone felt that the library website would still be necessary.

8)     You might want to watch Meredith Farkas’ presentation of her top trends, http://s2.video.blip.tv/0330000525303/Librarianmer-MeredithsTopTechTrends705.swf . 

9) Check out the archives for LITA’s top technology trends to see trends posted by those members of the committee who couldn’t make the program at ALA this year.

Week 6, Thing 13: Tagging and Del.icio.us

I found this good explanation of the difference between tagging and categories.

Aaron Brazell says in his post “Tag, Your it! Leveraging Tagging for your blog,” that categories are structured and tags are unstructured.

“The main difference between categories and tags is the way they organize content. Categories use the “tree” style concept that is probably the easiest to envision. You may have a series of categories such as “News”, “Music”, “Tech” with subcategories nested under those categories. The News category might have subcategories like “Politics”, “Main Stream Media”, and “Iraq” and the Music category might have subcategories like “Melbourne Bands” or “CD Reviews”.

In this way, content is organized in a structural way. Every entry has a bucket to go in and in this way, content can be easily maintained.

However, tagging provides more of a granular way of organizing content and it follows more of a “brain storage” approach.”

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/27/tag-youre-it-leveraging-tagging-for-your-blog/

The tutorial for De.li.cious is pretty good – it tells me exactly how to use it to my advantage. I’ll try her directions for greenhouse gardening, colonial genealogy and maybe for my trip to Europe this fall. And of course for Library 2.0.

Week 5, Thing 12: Roll your own search tool with Rollyo

So far I’m not too thrilled with Rollyo. I couldn’t figure out how to add it to my WordPress blog. I have a feeling that WordPress just work well with this code. Here’s a link to my “My London” search, http://rollyo.com/nellkatz/my_london/ . That was also difficult to find (or maybe I hadn’t had enough coffee yet).