David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Not a Destination

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I’ve been working on an upcoming presentation, and I was looking for a way to discuss the concept of web as platform and how that might impact libraries… and came up with this:

Before Web 2.0

Before web 2.0, people came to the library to do stuff at the library – they came in to check out books, read magazines, do research, etc. Even with computer use and the “old web,” they still came to the library and probably thought they were doing stuff at the library. The library was a destination – a place to visit.

After Web 2.0

But with the advent of web 2.0 and especially with the concept of web as platform, this has changed. Now, people come to the library to access the web… and then [digitally] go somewhere else. They aren’t really using the library’s resources (well, other than the internet line). They possibly think of themselves as going somewhere else – be that Runescape or Facebook, YouTube or various blogs.In this emerging model, the library is no longer a destination.Instead, the library provides access to a destination… outside of the library!

Just a little shift to ponder!

Facebook and Libraries

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Ryan Deschamps at The Other Librarian recently posted about Facebook and libraries. It’s a thought-provoking article – go read it! Here are some tidbits from the article:

“So let me start with the Facebook library search application. It is fine, but my opinion is that few people besides librarians are going to add the applications to their profiles. The technology is Web 2.0, but the strategy is still Library 1.0.”

and

“… the model is still, “I am librarian. I can help. Come to me (ie. my Facebook page) and I will serve.” The applications, though offering marginally better service for little cost, are not taking advantage of what Facebook offers its clients.”

Then Ryan goes on to discuss his thoughts on what might work for libraries in Facebook. I agree with him – sticking the same ole library 1.0 stuff (in this case, a bad ILS search interface) into a 2.0 tool (i.e., Facebook) doesn’t make one hip, cool, or popular. Another example? Putting excruciating bibliographic instruction seminars on the intricacies of database searching on YouTube. I’ve seen some of those. They aren’t watched.

But if putting the traditional library into 2.0 tools doesn’t work, well then… what does? From Ryan again: “A Facebook application should be something your average person wants to show their friends.” He goes on: “In the end, the reason students will say they do not want to see librarians and educators on Facebook is that the culture of Libraries clashes with the culture of Facebook … If we can establish rapport with the Facebook community, we will matter to them.” Ryan then provides thoughts on the Facebook culture.

So… how do you learn a new tool’s culture? By PLAYING with it. Experiencing it. Using it. Play with Facebook. Gather 100 friends and see what happens. Connect to some Facebook apps, join some Facebook groups. Poke people. Browse – see who’s using Facebook in your neck of the woods. Then figure out what you can add that those people (your customers, after all) might find interesting or useful.

10 Questions to Ask New Administrators

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Pretend for a second that your organization is hiring a new administrator – a library director, assistant/deputy director, or something similar. What 2.0 questions might you ask? Here’s a list of 10 questions from the Logic+Emotion blog to ask a marketing agency executive:

  1. Do you read blogs. Which ones?
  2. Do you have a personal blog? What’s it about?
  3. Do you participate in at least one social network? Which one?
  4. Have you ever uploaded a video online? What did you use to do it?
  5. What’s your favorite search engine. Why?
  6. Have you ever used an online classified service like craigslist?
  7. Besides making phone calls, how else do you use your mobile phone?
  8. Have you ever registered a domain name?
  9. Do you use social bookmarks or tagging?
  10. Do you use a feed reader of some sort? Which one? Why?

The author goes on to explain: “You are looking for a sense of understanding that only comes with experiencing something for yourself … It’s not important to have done everything in this list, but it’s critical to have done SOME of it.” The goal is to find a basic level of understanding, to find (in this case) a marketing executive that gets new media, new media outlets, and understands how customers digitally interact.

Now – think back to that library administrator. How might he/she answer these questions? Better yet – HOW would you want these questions answered?

Something to think about…

Question for you guys/gals about the newness of Library 2.0

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OK – so every once in awhile, I see someone mention in a blog, in an article, or even in passing, that some of the concepts grouped under the moniker of Library 2.0 aren’t really all that new – even that it’s business as usual… just under a new name.

I’m thinking it might be fun to tackle that one head-on (cause I’m a glutton for punishment, if nothing else). But to do that, I need some examples. What should be covered here? For example, I’ve heard people say “we’ve always been about change” or “libraries have always had changes.” I have also heard some librarians state “we’ve always been user-focused – what’s different now?”

Those are they types of things I’m looking for… so. If you have some good examples of questions you’ve heard or posts/articles you’ve read that state that Library 2.0 is “same as it ever was” please leave them in the comments to this post!

Thanks!

Q&A From My SirsiDynix Webcast

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The SirsiDynix Institute presentation I gave with Thad Hartman on August 14 went well! Here’s a link to the presentation (audio and screencast/video). As usual with these webcasts, there wasn’t enough time to get to all the questions at the end, but Sirsi/Dynix sent me the questions that were asked and here they are, with answers:

Question: Do you have use statistics to share with us for your online / digital initiatives? e.g. How much use or users?

Answer: Not yet – our new site isn’t up yet! On our current website, we have approximately 30,000 visits per month. We get an additional 30,000 visits on our various public blogs.

Question: How can a reluctant director be convinced to offer computer classes in the library? He feels that other than catalog instruction, computer classes are not the purpose of the library.

Answer: Placing gobs of patron requests for computer classes in front of manager’s and director’s and board member’s faces is one way to do it. Admin likes numbers.

Question: What sort of staff involvement is required to maintain physical and digital displays, blogs, etc.

And

Question: How much staff time is spent on the digital side of this project?

Answer: On the digital side – we have a number of staff working on our digital branch. We have:

  • Two full-time web workers, one focused on design and maintenance, and one focused on programming
  • We have a “Creative Group” made up of the two web workers and our two graphic designers. They focus on design and access issues
  • We have a Digital Branch Taskforce make up of about 10 staff who are making decisions on the redesign
  • And – we have all of our library staff, who will potentially be content developers (some already are).

Question: David, if you remember can you post the public library with the community wiki, so we can have a look please?

Answer: It’s the SCRLD Wiki Project, at http://www.scrldwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page – created by the Stevens County Rural Library District. Here’s what they say about the project: “The wiki project is dedicated to creating an online wiki guide to Stevens County, Washington, USA. We hope that all of you who know and love the area will contribute your knowledge to the wiki and all our visitors may learn more about Stevens County. If you like this site, please tell your friends! The more people who get involved, the better this guide will be.”

Question: Some communities, probably mostly in schools, are reluctant to embrace 2.0 technologies. How does a librarian change those attitudes?

Answer: Ultimately, you might not be able to change the school’s attitudes. You can certainly meet with school officials and show them “the rest of the story.” For example – if you block MySpace, and the local public library has a MySpace presence, the school is ultimately blocking the library (and that’s certainly NOT their intent). So education is one good way to tackle it.

Also simply providing access to 2.0 technologies yourself is a great way to tackle it – kids can’t get to 2.0 sites at school, but they can learn about them and use them at the library. You could even partner with teachers to do this – for example, my library has partnered with a local high school on Second Life projects – they supply the kids, we supply the PCs and the SL island.

Question: I have seen a lot of interesting ideas on the digital branch. How do you check if your clients use these new ideas? And how do you know they like it?

Answer: We ask and we observe. Asking = focus groups (which we are holding in September). Observing = watching what patrons use on your library’s public computers. At my library, we see patrons using FaceBook MySpace, gaming sites, YouTube, Meebo (a web-based instant messaging service), etc. – so we know they are familiar with 2.0 tools.

Question: I browsed the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library website during your presentation, and I noticed that one way you connect to your users is by encouraging them to complete a reading interest survey and then providing them with a customized, personalized reading list. Has this been well-received by your users?

Answer: Yes! It’s a great service, and the patrons that are using it really like it. And like most libraries, I don’t think we have heavily marketed that service – but then, we are in the midst of writing a new marketing plan, too – so this will hopefully change.

Question: How often do you have to scrub comments – moderate?

Answer: We currently moderate all comments – I’m not certain how often we have to edit them (I don’t think we generally have to edit).

Question: How much have you used social networking sites, such as Facebook, to promote library services and to achieve the goals of your library? Please give examples, if any.

Answer: We currently use MySpace (here, here, here, and here), YouTube, and Flickr. One big goal of our library is to create a Digital Branch, and we are using these tools to help us do that.

And… don’t forget that this presentation was the first in a two-part series! Next up on September 18: Dump the Org. Chart: Get `Er Done!: Management for a 2.0 Library by Gina Millsap and Rob Banks.