The PLA Blog » Web 2.0

Internet Librarian 2009- Meredith Hammons

m.hammons — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:04:02 +0000

Here is the thrilling conclusion of my afternoon immersed in Web 2.0. This session was entitled “Sneaking the Social Web Into Your Library and Going Beyond 23 Things”. The first part of the session was presented by Lori Reed, of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Despite the fact that I grew up in Charlotte and now work in a public library, I was unaware of the 23 Things model that the PLCMC used to educate their staff on technology. I blame the fact that I worked in a very small academic library for 8 years previous to my current job. If you are as ignorant as I was, you can find out more here: plcmclearning.blogspot.com. Basically, the program taught staff to use Web 2.0 tools by using them: staff created Facebook accounts, set up RSS feeds, etc. The library also offered prizes for completion. Lori discussed what the PLCMC is doing now that the 23 things initiative has been completed. Due to budget cutbacks, there are no prizes and subsequently less participation for their Learning 2.1 program (where guest bloggers post on various topics). However, Lori did recommend how a library could create learning plan for staff. The steps are: 1) Identify a need. 2) Research the need. 3) Identify an audience. 4) Identify objectives. 5) Create a message. 6) Find the right platform/tools. 7) Implement Evaluate.
The second part of the session focused on the sneaking aspect of getting one’s library staff to use Web 2.0 tools. The first speaker was Bobbi Newman of the Chatahoochee Valley Libraries. She advocated taking the focus off the technology/tools and placing it onto the patrons. Another strategy is to make it as easy as possible for people to use (i.e. don’t start with something complicated). 3) Reward people for doing what you want them to do. These rewards can be prizes, but with no budget, you can also make people feel good about themselves (e.g.giving statistics showing how patron service has been improved due to their work.) Erin Downey-Howerton of the Johnson County Libraries in Kansas continued this theme, of illustrating how she had used Web 2.0 to meet needs. For example, children’s librarians who wanted to add links to educational materials to the library website needed to contact IT. Erin instituted the use of delicious.com, which allowed them to add the links themselves. Another example was collecting stats on the use of homework centers using googledocs, rather than compiling stats at the end of the month or sending individual e-mails, which had been leading to confusion and missed deadlines. A third example was using wetpaint.com as a wiki for a library committee, in order to provide one place for all documents to be shared. Previously, the documents had been saved in three different places on a common drive. The last example was that librarians had been sending each other e-mails to recommend books. Erin created an account for the library on goodreads. com so that there was a central place with an RSS feed for people to get one notice once a week of books recommended by their colleagues.
I found this session incredibly helpful. Our library is in the midst of a major website redesign and are unable to get IT to set up a wiki until that project is complete. Learning about wetpaint.com showed me a way that I can use wiki technology before that happens. Also, the emphasis on both patron focus and on meeting needs (particularly in making things simpler and easier) gives me necessary information on how to overcome some of the resistance to technology I meet among my staff.

Internet Librarian 2009

m.hammons — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:33:38 +0000

I spent the afternoon yesterday at 4 different sessions under the category Social Media: Leveraging Web 2.0.
I’ll break up my blog entries for each session.
The first one was called “Micro Interactions, Conversations and Customers.”
This session was largely about how to maximize interaction on social media resources. The first speaker, David Lee King of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, recommended the following
1) Say the stuff in your head (if it’s controversial, people will respond)
2) You have to give to get (if you don’t keep posting things, no one will respond) 3) Ask and ye shall receive. (People love to be asked questions). 4) Listen first. (Hear what people are saying in their comments. 5) Dangle a carrot (offer an incentive to participate – waive an overdue fine, give some free printing, etc.) King’s other suggestion was to connect with your local online community. Often these are people who don’t yet come into the library, but have an interest and ideas on how to get others on board. The other part of this session, led by Amy Kearns and Julie Strange, focused on how to use Twitter to reach patrons. They gave the example of the CEO of Zappos who frequently tweets and thus builds a rapport with customers and potential customers. The two presenters also emphasized the importance of connecting with your patrons – basing tweets on the kinds of questions asked and embedding the tweet stream in some place where patrons already are (one example was a college library that scrolled their tweet stream on large screens in the library). Strange pointed out that there were several uses of Twitter for libraries: reference, customer service, broadcasting events, getting feedback, and professional networking. One example given for customer service was the ability to respond to customer complaints quickly. If a patron tweets about a bad experience at the library, it can be quickly corrected before it permeates the web. These presentations emphasized how useful tools such as Twitter can be, and that using them effectively does require an investment of time.

From Hype to Help: Making a Difference with New Technologies

Rick Roche — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:15:01 +0000

Michael Porter of WebJunction and Janie Hermann of Library Garden and Princeton Public Library, New Jersey, combined to discuss how new technologies can help libraries build and serve communities.

Marilyn Mason introduced them. She also told us to watch for newly expanded and redesigned services on Webjunction that we will see in the next few weeks.

Porter began with a quick, entertaining, and relevant look at social sites on the Internet, focusing on applications that libraries are already making.

YouTube – there are already 3650 public library related videos loaded on this popular social video site. Getting the camera and learning to make the videos is the harder part. Loading them to YouTube is easy. Members of the audience concurred.
Amazon’s Wish Lists for Libraries – 380 public libraries are utilizing this service with readers donating fully processed books instead of just buying books for their home library.
Meebo – for monitoring instant messages. You can see multiple accounts on one screen.
Flickr – Posting a picture a day is a way to show the many services of the library. These photos could be sent to clients by RSS.
Del.icio.us – make public your web recommendation lists

Porter talked about how essential having MySpace and FaceBook accounts and having them link to all your libraries other web sites, including Flickr or other social offerings. “Be where the user is” is the goal and way to stay relevant.

Hermann talked about the importance of staff technical training and resources to help the library establish a training program. Princeton Public Library does something that I had not heard of before – combining public and staff technical classes. Much of what the staff need to learn is the same as what the public is learning for Web 2.0, so one set of classes can often cover both public programming and staff training. PPL has 25 established classes covering various computer and Internet topics.

PPL also has Data Bites programs, which are lunch time talks about databases, open to the staff and the public. On the first Tuesday night of the month, it has Technology Talks with invited speakers who cover current computer and web topics.

She then talked about other sources of online training that staff can tap. She recommended WebJunction, OPAL, and Neal Schuman PEN courses. When the library asks a staff member to take these, she said the library should be sure to schedule adequate off-desk time for them.

Hermann also recommended making screencasts or slidecasts for staff or public instruction. Wink and CamStudio are free. Camtasia is a popular fee-based software for creating online instruction.

About library websites, she said that we should always be redesigning them.

The program ended with a virtual presentation of Ning.com by Stephanie Gerdling, which is used for building online social networks. Some technical glitches lessened the impact of this portion of the otherwise helpful program.

Online CE Freebies: Web 2.0 & Security

Andrea Mercado — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:30:36 +0000

10 Ways to Make Your Library Great in 2008—via Web 2.0
1/16/08 11 AM-12 PM PT / 2-3 PM ET (registration is optional)
Excellent note: WebJunction’s webinars are now closed captioned in real time as well as in the recorded archive.

As you think about your resolutions for the New Year, why not resolve to make your library a great educational asset within your community? This webinar will show you how to leverage social networking tools such as del.icio.us and Librarything to enable knowledge sharing and create collections of information around professional development. Ten key themes are presented to empower library staff as well as to increase a library’s value within the community. Presented by guest speaker Ed Rossman, adult services librarian at Shaker Heights Public Library and author of Castles Against Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments.

Be Safe, Not Sorry: Protecting Your Data
PC Magazine Learning Center self-paced course, four 30-minute webcasts

Are you doing everything you can to protect your data? Malware—from viruses to spyware—continues to plague many businesses, not to mention internal security threats. Does your small business have a holistic security strategy in place?

Don’t have a plan to secure your business data? Let the expert editorial staff of PC Magazine teach you everything you need to know. Attend this course of four dynamic online webcast lessons each of which includes practical downloadable coursework.

Even though we aren’t “businesses” per se, libraries are large organizations dealing with computers — public and staff — and their issues. This course, which you can do at your own pace, offers something a bit deeper than your average article about vanilla virus protection, and will give you excellent fodder for your next coffee with the tech folks.

Banned Books Week hits MySpace, Facebook, and Second Life

Andrea Mercado — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:17:55 +0000

American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is pulling out all the stops with this year’s Banned Books Week, September 29–October 6, 2007, by taking the show on the digital road, so to speak, with events and official listings in Web 2.0 spaces like MySpace (no account required to view), Facebook (you need an account to view and join the Banned Books Week group), and Second Life.

For many, these spaces are still unexplored territory. The events of Banned Books Week are a good reason to get yourself oriented and try things out before things get really rockin’ at the kick-off party in Second Life on Saturday, September 29 at 6pm Second Life, which is the same as Pacific Standard Time. The links below are my recommendations for tutorials to help you get started.

Remember, you don’t want to wait until 5 minutes before the party next Saturday to log into Second Life for the first time, or to take advantage of the discussions and networking happening on Facebook, so give yourself ample time to set up accounts and explore!

MySpace:

You won’t need an account on MySpace to view the information on the Banned Books Week MySpace page, but if you want to add comments to the page, you will need to log in as a member.
eHow: How to Get Started Using MySpace: A basic step-by-step on how to sign up for an account and get started. You can see all of the how-to articles, which are a quick and easy read, in the eHow MySpace section.

Facebook:

Take a quick tour: Created by Facebook, click on each of the aspects in the right-hand navigation to get your bearings before you create your account and jump on in.
A beginner’s guide to Facebook for non-profits: A great basic overview of Facebook and how to get your network on *and* increase visibility in your community by understanding how people use it.
How to use Facebook without Losing Your Job over it: Good, basic tips on security and use, with a good bit of an insight to just how open the information culture is on Facebook.
12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally: It’s not just for kids!

Second Life:

You will need to create a free account as well as download and install the free software on your computer before you can log into Second Life. This can take a little while, so give yourself time to get it up and running.
Spend time on Orientation Island: Which is where you land after you log in the first time, and it’s really worth going through all the exercises. If you’re going into Second Life for a specific event, be sure to log in at an earlier date and time to get yourself oriented and play with your avatar.
Natalia’s Getting Started in Second Life Guide: This list of tip guides helps you get your bearings, customize your avatar (the digital version of yourself in Second Life), move around, teleport (a quick and easy form of transportation to events), and more. It also gives you some cultural tips and etiquette bits to help you grow from n00b (newbie) to an advanced beginner.
Top 10 Second Life Tutorial Videos on YouTube and Google: I like this collection of video tutorials because they give you practical tips and a real sense of the Second Life culture. Watch them in order, or pick and choose the ones you need, and they’ll help you explore the virtual world with greater understanding.

Have questions? Want help or a tour? Don’t hesitate to post in the comments here.