David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Random Thought #2

By

Another thought, probably originating from listening to Abram:

Our next big set of customers are kids and teens right now. I could even stretch that out a bit to include 20-somethings. Are we really marketing to them?

Right now, most public library websites have a page or so devoted to kids, and the same for teens. Then we toss in the 20-something with his dad, his older brother, and his grandma – all run-of-the-mill adults.

Look at 10 library websites, then tell me… are they marketed to young adults, kids, or teens? No (well ok – don’t look at aadl.org – anything else is up for grabs, though).

And yet – we all talk about getting more teens into the library. And we should be talking about keeping them when they become parents in the next ten years.

So – maybe our websites (for starters) should be a bit more hip? Interactive? Fun? Attractive? etc….

Random Thought #1

By

[Update: not so random after all – I probably heard Stephen Abram say this at Internet Librarian]

As I’m starting to re-write our website plan, I’m having some random thoughts… they don’t necessarily go in the plan, but might be useful nonetheless. So I’m posting them as they come.

Random Thought #1: Go where your customers already are, and be prepared to meet them with the information they need.

The second part of that statement might be difficult – then again, if we have well-rounded librarians, we should at least be able to track down said info.

First part of the statement – where are our customers? Here’s a beginning list:

  1. in the library
  2. at home
  3. on the phone
  4. in the classroom
  5. on the web
  6. in a meeting
  7. at the mall
  8. etc

My point? Can a library patron reach your library via phone, email, chat, IM, SMS, etc?

How about this – your customers are in school… how do you meet them? Your customers are at the cafe around the corner. How do you meet them? Your customers are working in the corporate office across the street. How do you meet them? Your customers are using Flickr/LibraryThing/Furl/del.icio.us/my yahoo/etc – How do you meet them?

Messy Desk (a videoblog post)

By

messydeskYes, another video (third one, actually – here are links to my first [warning: “just testing” silliness] and second [warning: big file], for those extremely interested sorts). My library recently purchased a digital camcorder and video editing software with the ultimate of recording events, area attractions, etc (that is, if we actually have TIME to do any of these cool things).

But for starters, someone has to learn the equipment! When I learn new hardware/software, I like to … well … play a little.

So – here’s an exciting video of me cleaning up my office cube. Hollywood, watch out!

(nitty-gritty details: 1:35, 8mg wmv file)

videoblog vlog

Tagging, Linking and Commenting as Marketing Tools

By

Jenny Levine is so cool. She just gave me a nifty idea that I’m going to share with you.

Short version – she added a tag to a flickr image of mine, and left a comment.

Long version:

  1. I wrote this blog post
  2. I created a flickr image to go with the post
  3. Jenny added a tag to the flickr image – she’s set up as a “friend” (good call, too, Jenny!)
  4. She left a comment with the flickr image that mentioned my original blog post, link included

Point? That’s one awesome way to market my blog and my blog post. Now, people searching Flickr for library 2.0 or web 2.0 will not only find my image – my original post is now accessible to them, as well, via the link. It’s even accessible via Technorati, because Technorati searches Flickr tags.

Implications for libraries? This type of simple marketing is something libraries can do now:

  • Take photos of your teen gaming events, dump those images into Flickr, and comment/link back to your events page describing similar future events.
  • Set up a Blogger blog, start posting new events, services, and resources, and link back to those things… now you’re searchable in Google, Blogspot, etc.
  • Set up a social bookmarking tool like del.icio.us, and link back to your library’s awesome topic-driven subject guide – now you’ve made yourself accessible in del.icio.us – and, according to their about page – “Everything on del.icio.us is someone’s favorite” – the implication being the these links are “trusted sources.”

[Now, take a step back from all the geekery involved for a sec] When a library REALLY wants to market themselves – what do they have to do? Print more bookmarks? Make a dandy book display? No – they have to leave the library and visit others… they have to present at community group meetings, schools, teacher in-services, faculty senate meetings, etc. They have to, in essence, make themselves known.

[Now back to the geekery] In our current changing digital environment, the stuff I discussed above is a way to leave the library and make oneself known in the larger digital world. It’s a way to grab someone, in their environment, and introduce them to the library and the amazing services and resources we have.

Think about it.

web2.0 library2.0