The Future of Library Catalogs | Library Links

Using touchscreen technology, this new OPAC may open doors of all kinds to library patrons with limited technology and reading literacy. Warning: One cover image in this video is NSFW.

Applying Social Media Tools to Public Library Reference Service | Library Links

Here’s a list of thirteen annotated sources worth reading for those interested in learning more (or anything) about social media. This list was developed for my reference services library school class.

1. Godin, S. (2009, December 3). Is it too late to catch up?. Message posted to http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
   Squidoo.com is a popular website which allows its users to create “lenses,” which essentially function as user-created subject guides to the Internet. Seth Godin, Squidoo’s founder, recently wrote a blog outlining his ideas on how companies can teach themselves all there is to know about social media when starting literally from scratch. The first point of note regarding this post is that it was written under the assumption that the social media learners in question have little money to spend in the learning process. Some of his ideas, however, include offering “small bonuses” to employees for activities like launching a personal blog. Godin makes several useful suggestions in this prescription for Web 2.0 virgins.
2. King, David Lee. (2003, September 12). David Lee King’s Blog. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from http://www.davidleeking.com/
   David Lee King is the author of Designing the Digital Experience and is the Digital Branch and Services Manager for the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. His over twenty years of experience in web design, information technology, and library technology are evident in each post published. Not only does he blog on the subjects of social media and emerging technological and web trends, he also blogs about Web 2.0 as it pertains to libraries specifically. Davidleeking.com does a good job of integrating a blog and professional website into one, cohesive entity. Tabs at the top of each page lead the reader to information about Mr. King, his presentation schedule, publications, musical work, book, and videoblog.
3. PascoLibraries.org. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2009, from http://pascolibraries.org/
   The Pasco County Library Cooperative’s website, entitled PascoLibraries.org, is a good website. However, it is also an example of a library website that has attempted to include as much content as possible, to the potential detriment of site quality. A prominent feature of the site is its tabular format, but unique to this site is a subset of tabs that appear when hovering over one of the static tabs’ names. This is an interesting approach to library website design, but could be confusing to new Internet users. Were the information more intuitively laid out and some unnecessary pages removed (such as the Google Street View-powered 360-degree tours of each branch), PascoLibraries.org may be ultimately more usable.
4. King, David Lee, et al. (n.d.). Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Retrieved from http://www.tscpl.org
   The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library website is an excellent model for other libraries to look to when considering designing or redesigning their websites. Tabs are featured prominently in the site’s design, and they are laid out horizontally at the top of the page, as expected from any website opting to use a tabular format. From left to right, the tabs are labeled: home, catalog, subject guides, research, services, programs & classes, kids, and teens. Other prominent site features include a catalog module in the upper lefthand corner, a flash animation-based module used to highlight events and blog posts, more in-depth site navigation links at the bottom of the page, and logo-based links to the library’s social media sites. Additionally, the site is available in forty-one languages via Google Translate.
5. WordPress. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.wordpress.com
   WordPress is the most flexible blogging platform that is both free and widely implemented by a variety of personal and professional bloggers. Using a service like WordPress that is available for anyone to use independently of their work environment facilitates employee use outside of the workplace, which can lead to increased employee engagement in for-work blogs. WordPress blogs are very customizable through “themes” and “widgets,” which enable users to choose a preferred layout/color scheme and include additional content modules, respectively. WordPress is also a great way to manage multiple blogs with a single log-in and multiple content contributors, each with their own log-in. A lesser known facet of WordPress is its for-pay service, which enables users to pay a monthly fee in order to access options like customizable CSS and domain names.
6. Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.twitter.com
   Twitter is a social networking website designed to facilitate microblogging. As the term indicates, microblogging is the name for blogging on a very small scale, in one hundred and forty characters or less. Other microblogging sites like Flutter offer different character limits, but for whatever reason, Twitter has captured the attention of many more users than its competitors. Features that are now known as essential functions of Twitter were actually developed by Twitter users to enhance its usability. A few examples of popular ancillary Twitter sites are: bit.ly (a URL shortener), TwitPic (a service that allows you to upload images and automatically generates short URLS that may be included in Tweets), and TwitterFeed (a site that automatically forwards RSS feeds to a user’s Twitter account in Twitter-friendly format). As you can see, all of these sites are designed to help you maximize the power of the limited number of available characters in each Tweet.
7. Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.facebook.com
   Facebook was originally developed by two Ivy League graduates as an exclusively collegiate social network. Facebook is constantly evolving the way in which it facilitates social networking. Over the years, features such as event promotion and RSVP management, third party applications, and digital photo albums have been added to the laundry list of activities available on Facebook. Since 2006, when it became available for non-university and international users, its user base has grown exponentially. In recent years, Facebook has become known as an incredibly powerful social networking, event promotion, advertising, public relations, and marketing tool.
8. PBWorks. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.pbworks.com
   PBWorks, formerly PBWiki, is a wiki service that offers both for-pay and free versions. Wikis are often used for project management as they allow for easy content editing and interlinking of related information, and PBWorks provides its users with an easy-to-use interface that features a WYSIWYG editor. Unique editions of PBWorks are available for general, legal, and academic project management. Their basic, academic edition is free, allows up to 100 users and 2 GB of storage. Another, free wiki provider should be considered if a wiki is desired for an organization consisting of more than a couple of dozen people as they will likely exceed the free storage ceiling in short order.
9. Social Media Governance Policy Database. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php
   The Social Media Governance Policy Database is a website that links to, as of December 2009, one hundred and ten different social media governance policies. A resource like this database is incredibly valuable for companies developing a social media presence for the first time, and it’s just as valuable for companies looking to streamline their efforts and allow more employees to participate in social media efforts. A more efficient layout would benefit the Social Media Governance Policy Database, though its current interface is sufficient. The great, rather meta, quality to this resource is the ability for users to submit links to their own social media policies, to be reviewed by the site’s curators. This site is a participatory database about participatory technology.
10. Google Wave. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.google.com/wave
    While still very much in beta, Google Wave is the latest tool developed by Google. Google Wave is a free tool that can be used to manage projects in real time. It offers instant messaging-like collaboration, document sharing and editing, photo sharing, blogging content directly from Wave to Blogger, and much more. Some of its most convenient features are its iPhone-style automatic spell check and its automatic hyperlink-recognizing capability (www.google.com automatically becomes a hyperlink to Google opening in a new page or tab), fondly known as “linky” by the Google Wave development team. The biggest drawbacks to Google Wave, in this author’s experience, are finding a way to actually use Google Wave. An explanation for this stems in its current status as a beta technology. Users must receive an invitation to be able to use it. Luckily, as of December 2009, Wavers with invites to spare are not all that few or far between.
11. RSS Tutorial. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://www.w3schools.com/rss/default.asp
    RSS, commonly known as “Rich Site Summary” or “Really Simple Syndication,” is a way for heavy Internet users to gather information relevant to their interests by subscribing to a site’s feed using an RSS feed aggregator. RSS is written in XML. This RSS tutorial, developed by w3schools.com, is designed to help aspiring web designers learn how to develop HTML code for their websites that will generate an RSS feed of items. The first pages of the tutorial are comprised of an introduction to RSS technology and its history. The following pages cover RSS syntax, as well as channel and item elements (types of XML tags). The final “chapters” in the tutorial cover publishing and reading RSS feeds. This RSS Tutorial is a good introduction for designers with functional HTML/XML knowledge interested in learning the technology.
12. Jeanneney, Jean Noel. (2007). Google and the myth of universal knowledge. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
    From 2002-2007, Jean-Noel Jeanneney was the president of the Bibliotheque nationale de France. During just three weeks in his tenure there, he wrote this 90-page book to offer up a case against what we now know as Google Books, from a European, non-Anglophone perspective. There was a lack of emphases on the author’s part in regard to the solution to problems presented by Google Books, though he did make a limited case in favor of non-Anglophone countries banding together to digitize works in every other languages. The issue with this title was its focus on America’s status as a capitalist country and Google’s status as a for-profit enterprise. These are facts most of the book’s audience would presumably be familiar with.
13. Rosenberg, Scott. (2009). Say everything: How blogging began, what it’s becoming, and why it matters. New York: Crown Publishers.
    Say Everything is a lengthy book regarding the history of blogging and an explanation of why it has become so important in our modern world. Scott Rosenberg, co-founder of Salon.com, is not a first-time author and his knowledge of blogging is illustrated and proven credible on every page. The book outlines the rise of blogging from its roots in some of the first hand-coded websites produced in Midwestern basements to the conception of the term “blog” to its current socioeconomic powerhouse status. Long-winded at times, Say Anything should be reserved for the very dedicated social medialite interested in learning a bit of history.

Library Links | Phone Booth Library in UK

I found a very  surprising library link in my Inhabitat feed this morning. Inhabitat is a green living blog full of the latest green gadgets and eco-friendly lifestyle tips. Today, they posted a story about a UK town’s reaction to losing their bookmobile, as well as their iconic red phone booth: upcycling it. Rather than filling it with people, they’re filling it with books!

image: Inhabitat.com

More on this story:

• Phone Booth Library – PRI’s The World
• Hail, Brittania – Moby Lives
• Ringing the Changes: Phone Box Becomes Mini-Library – The Guardian

Library Links | Libraries, Porn, Bandwidth

From Library Journal 11/24/09, Faced with Too Little Bandwidth, Some Libraries Limit Streaming Media, Porn.

… according to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, and a few, at least, are cutting back on the amount of bandwidth for streaming media to assure that the integrated library system (ILS) and other functions remain robust.

Having worked as a computer center supervisor for some time at an urban, public library, I understand the need for making room for the “ILS and other functions.” The majority of my patrons come in to watch feature-length, streaming films from their native countries on YouTube, play RPGs, watch music videos, and take online exams for higher education. We need every bit of bandwidth we can spare when we’ve got 30+ machines running at full speed.

It seems to me that limiting bandwidth flirts with violating the ALA Code of Ethics. The first point in the eight-point Code mentions providing equitable access to library resources, and I believe that as long as all patrons’ streaming media bandwidth is the same, choices to limit it are fine. However, the Code of Ethics also tells us to, “uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources,” and “We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.” Based on the Code, is limiting access to bandwidth a moral gray area? I’m not sure.

Further Reading:

• Increase Your Library’s Bandwidth, The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog
• ALA Study on Library Internet Bandwidth Issues

UPDATE:

• The Library Journal Blog had two related articles on this topic today:

1. Broadband Stimulus Programs Should Take Libraries More into Account
2. Gates Foundation Boosts Library Broadband Efforts

Library Links | Social Media Hesitancy

• The Social Media Marketing Blog has a great post entitled “Fear and Loathing in Social Media” that really manages to articulate, in a fun and accessible way, a lot of the reasons companies fear social media. Even in my handful of years working as a social media administrator, I have found a lot of the hesitancies in the article to be nearly universal truths. There is nothing worse than being offered a job as a social media expert and finding that your boss(es) won’t let you do your job for fear of creating more work for fellow employees, or even worse, for fear of the DREADED TYPO. I could go on.
• An interview with Ted Stauderman, the Director of Marketing Services and E-Commerce at Calvert Investments, regarding the adoption of social media and digital marketing strategies. A bit corporate, but interesting for die-hard social medialites.

Library Links | SLA to ASKPro Name Change

• A word from the Special Libraries Association Chief Executive Officer, Janice R. Lachance, explaining “Why This is the Right Name” for the SLA.
• SLA NAME CHANGE INITIATIVE: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE by SLA member Ann Sweeney, Division Cabinet Chair-Elect; Chair, International Relations Section, Social Science Division.
• SLA Proposes Name Change to AskPro at LibraryJournal.com
• SLA –> AskPro? at Library Juice
• WHAT’S IN A NAME: SLA VS. ASKPRO at Library Attack

Lachance does a nice job of saying that special librarians are underpaid, underappreciated members of organizations, but she ends the piece with the following:

When you cast your vote on the proposed name change, I ask you to consider not whether you like the name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals, but whether it does a better job than SLA in conveying your value to organizations that hire people like you.

My problem is with the name “ASKPro,” and it’s a large enough issue that I’m willing to remain a squeaky wheel on the issue. Honestly, this sounds like something a marketing team of acid-wash jeans-clad thirty-somethings would come up with circa 1993. I was under the impression that we’re (I’m the Secretary for the Wayne State University SLA, btw) trying to change our name to seem more relevant to corporate and other bosses/CEOs. This name change is designed to help us keep our jobs, ascertain funding for travelling to SLA conferences, and other things. ASKPro is ridiculous, in my humble opinion.

If there was another name for SLA that would appeal to every member, I believe it would have been identified some time over the past one hundred years.

Are you kidding me with this, Madame-SLA-CEO? Honestly, the organization is a century old. We’re a huge bunch of people, and it’s going to be hard to satisfy everyone. At least let’s avoid sounding like we know nothing about marketing. Let’s get over finding a “snappy” acronym while we’re at it. A more straightforward option might be the American Society for Strategic Knowledge and Information Professionals. ASSKIP – Ass kip? Ask ip? Is it the “ass” we’re avoiding?

My proposal: American Society for Strategic Knowledge and Information Specialists: ASS-KIS[s]

###

An excerpt from Sweeny’s (the second) article:

That is the essence of “strategic knowledge”—a term demonstrated by the extensive research to resonate most effectively with our clients/patrons and employers. Our professional identities compel us to value and respect research.

To serve and sustain our profession, our association, and its individual members most effectively, we must align ourselves for the challenges of the 21st century. For many years, members have overwhelmingly indicated a desire for a new name; and now we have the research to enable us to move forward with a change. The details of the Alignment Project have been publicized for more than a year and available to members and the public.

The selection of Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals comes directly from the research results.

Whether the association’s name is changed this year or not, we must proceed to align ourselves and our organization for the new century.

Still, I urge you to vote (November 16 – December 9) in favor of the name change. Broaden your perspective. Look to the future.

I agree that the SLA needs to look to the future, but ASKPro isn’t accomplishing this! As special librarians, we need to be marketing ourselves, and even our professional associations, to a sometimes corporate, inevitably ignorant audience. The battle we must fight is one to maintain our small departments, back closets, and cramped offices. Everyone agrees that we need to prove ourselves relevant. All kidding (and ASS-KISsing) asside, ASKPro is a bad decision.

I believe that a second vote to change the name to something other than ASKPro should occur if ASKPro receives anything less than 60% approval. More consideration needs to be given to what precisely the name will become. ASKPro is simply not the right way to go.

Library Links | Turning The Pages Online

You’ll need a flash player to view these, but if you’ve ever needed an excuse to download the plugin, here it is. According to the Turning the Pages Online website:

Using touchscreen technology and animation software, the digitized images of rare and beautiful historic books in the biomedical sciences are offered at kiosks at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Visitors may ‘touch and turn’ these pages in a highly realistic way. They can zoom in on the pages for more detail, read or listen to explanations of the text, and (in some cases) access additional information on the books in the form of curators’ notes.

Now we offer Turning The Pages for the enjoyment of home users with an Internet connection. This Web version has been created via Macromedia Flash MX.

Initially only available in kiosks located in the National Library of Medicine’s Visitors Center and the History of Medicine Division, the Turing The Pages (TTP) technology is now available online. TTP Online is only available, however, for six titles so far. The project has been in development since 2001.

If you’ve only got a few seconds, it’s worth your time to turn the pages on Robert Hooke’s Micrographia. You can do more than turn from page 1 to 2 with this title. You’re able to fold out the oversize pages for a full view. Awesome.

Additional Reading:

• http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp.php
• see body hyperlinks for other sites of interest

Library Links | BFI & UKFC Proposed Merger

• BFI: Merger proposed for flagship film bodies
• Screendaily.com: UKFC and BFI merger proposed
• Variety: U.K. looks to merge UKFC, BFI
• Bigger Picture Research: Some thoughts on the UKFC and BFI merger
• BFIwatch: UKFC and BFI merger proposed

British Film Minister Siôn Simon made the announcement August 20, 2009.

Library Links | Learning to Teach Through Video

• In the Library with the Lead Pipe: Learning to Teach Through Video

Rather than briefly outlining how to install CamStudio on a PC, the post sought to convince readers that thought must be put into the construction of educational video content for it to be effective. The highlights were 6 principles of multimedia learning, including a set of very relevant hyperlinks to other online articles on the subject of multimedia learning theory. They also rationalize taking the time to prepare videos ahead of time, rather than simply sitting down and pressing record on one’s screencast software. The final really valuable bit of information included is a list of recommended software for creating one’s own instructional videos at low or no cost. Most definitely worth the read.

Library Links | RUSA Professional Guidelines for Reference and User Services Librarians

• RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) Professional Guidelines for Reference and User Services Librarians: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/professional.cfm

My undergraduate degree is in Telecommunication, and a topic we consistently covered was that of usability, generally in regard to websites and telecommunication technology, but I think that it’s applicable here. What’s interesting is that, to me, a Reference Librarian is analogous to a computer user interface. Often, what separates a Reference Librarian from a patron is their knowledge of and ability to utilize databases and other reference tools (even when it’s just Google we’re talking about). This separation is what makes their job necessary and important, and not many people possess the ability or motivation to find a lot of information on their own. Why would a “normal person” know all that a reference librarian knows?

Reference Librarians may be analogous to a computer or database interface in function, but I don’t see Reference Librarians being replaced any time soon. The problem with many databases often lies in their low usability. They require, for many patrons, a human specially trained in information access to understand what they’re seeking because they don’t know how to speak the database’s language. Reference Librarians do.