LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

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Custom Flip Mino HD, originally uploaded by jblyberg.

Hotter than hot. Did you know you could do a custom skin on a Mino? Very nice example of Darien Library doing just that with the library logo.

Remember this from November 2007:

Save our Small Libraries!

http://sospl.blogspot.com/

Dear Michael:

I want to tell you about my new blog. Aside from the standard issues that Librarians face here in Indiana we have a new one that has the potential for disastrous consequences for small public libraries here in Indiana.

A large issue, which I feel is being played down by some, is the consolidation of all public libraries in the state. Few Librarians and taxpayers alike feel that this is going to be a beneficial change. Currently there are 238 libraries. The consolidation of public libraries would mean that there are 92.

Somehow I got the bright idea of starting a blog to effectively disseminate the information that was blowing through my Inbox everyday. There simply was no place to gather all of the relevant information and opinions in one tidy little spot for all to see and comment upon.

Stephen Boggs

Looks like Stephen ran out of steam on his blog but the issue continues to be a concern and the proposed consolidation of Indiana libraries is getting more discussion here and there. LJ reports on the issue and quotes the director of my former library:

Don Napoli, director of the St. Joseph County Public Library and one of the few library directors to publicly support consolidation, told LJ, “Nobody wants to lose their boards, nobody wants to lose control of their own library.” Though his is a county library in name, only about 11 of 32 current county libraries cover the full county; one community with a separate library in St. Joseph County directly borders the central city of South Bend.

As for Swanson’s concerns, Napoli suggested, “They might get a better library… It’s more likely that we could build a new branch for them before they’re going to afford it.” He acknowledged that, statewide, there probably wouldn’t be much cost savings from consolidation, but “I think it’ll result in better libraries.”

He said it was natural for library leaders to want to keep local control. “But if they’re thinking the status quo is going to stay the way it is, they’re wrong,” he said. Also, said Napoli, library leaders should come up with an alternative that the governor and state legislature would accept—and that would have the support of all libraries.

Beyond consolidiation, unelected library boards will have trouble maintaining fiscal autonomy, as the commission has recommended that all library budgets be approved by local governments. “They may be able to retain their boards, but they’re not going to have taxing authority,” Napoli predicted.

I had breakfast with Meg Canada last weekend, while finishing my teaching duties in St. Paul. She shared with me a post she wrote at her blog called “How Librarians can be the Ultimate Community Managers.”

Meg writes:

What is a Community Manager? My friend, Connie Bensen introduced me to the concept at my first social media gathering. I know she has collaborated on the wikipedia definition, and as a librarian herself, and I hope she agrees with my assertion. Community managers help shape online spaces by representing organizations through starting and/or contributing to discussions. They are social media mavens and power users. Community managers solve problems, offer the best customer service, and give organizations a human face.

I’ll be adding this to the list of emerging LIS jobs. How are we training new librarians to be Community Managers? Did you ever think that might be a role you’d play?

Later she tape into that important bit about the ongoing conversation:

Not enough of us tweet outside our community or seek out our users in other social media. Some success with MySpace and Facebook is promising, but we can’t just friend and fan eachother. We need to connect with our patrons, customers and users in online communities. Historically we may not be known for savvy communication skills, but here’s another opportunity.

Gathering community input is also a key role of librarians. As we plan services, build new facilities, and evolve into our 21st century selves, libraries have to listen to what our community needs. Let’s face it Gen x and y aren’t attending community meetings at the library. The meetings are happening online. Do you Google alerts point to blogs, microblogs, or comments that reflect how patrons feel about the library? Are you listening and responding?

This so ties in to what Cliff Landis and I discussed over on ALA TechSource this summer:

MS: That brings up something that has been on my mind for the past few months as I watch more libraries diving into creating Facebook pages and other sites. What do you think about the Facebook pages for libraries that have a bunch of other librarians as fans? Frankly, it disappoints me. I’ve actually curtailed some of my “fan-ing” of pages lately. I’d rather leave the fandom to the users and watch to see how it goes from outside. How do the users find and adopt the page. What are the patterns of use and what types of outreach builds the community. Tapping into that is most important for understanding user needs.

CL: This is another symptom of librarians talking to each other, saying “Hey! Look at this neat thing I did!” and never involving the users. What do you suppose would happen if the person managing the library page wasn’t a librarian, but a student? (I can already hear the gasps of thousands of librarians.) Let’s face it–we’re control freaks.

And what David Lee King blogged about here.

Wouldn’t you rather be a community manager instead of a control freak?

A School Librarian writes:

Dear Michael -  I sat down with a bunch of my middle school students as they came into the library today and we talked about how we could transform our little public school library into a fabulous space for them. They had great ideas, and I shared some of YOUR ideas with them. I think we will begin changing things next week (I’ll ask permission from the boss after it’s done!).

Do you or your readers know of any “safe” photo sharing sites like FlickR that we might be able to access in schools. My District still blocks FLickR, Google images, iTunes, any social networking sites, etc. I have only been successful so far in getting edublogs.org unblocked… working on podcasting next… Again - one step at a time. …and I’d love to help create such a site if there is a way to do it!

Readers?

Really - I’m hooked on HBO’s True Blood!

But in Libraryland, the excitement is also building via this new blog “Bella’s Book Club,” a blog celebrating all things Twilight and counting down to the premiere of the film.

Created by Deb Noggle, the blog offers video clips, reviews, and engagement with the mebers of the book club. The good folks at ACPL sent this story along about the blog from Deb herself:

So, we started a book group for Twilight Fans called, “Bella’s Book Club”, named after the main character.  My concept for this was to bridge the gap for these teens by introducing them to other books that are similar in nature to their beloved Twilight books.  I also created blog, http://bellabookclub.blogspot.com/ for the kids to chat about the books we are reading on, and it also contains video and news updates about Twilight stuff.  Well, last month, we were reading a  YA book called Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith.  One of the teens contacted the author and told her about our book club.  She responded by offering to send autographed bookmarks and goodies to the teens in the book club.  I gave her the library’s address and also asked if she might say a few words about her book on our blog, because it would mean so much to the teens.    Cynthia Leitich Smith commented on the blog, and complimented us for the site.  She also noted that we should watch her blog, “Cynsations”, http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2008/10/bellas-book-club-readergirlz-ya-authors.html  for an announcement about our Bella’s Book Club blog!!!  Yesterday, on her site, she said:   Visit Bella’s Book Club: a real book club at the Allen County Public Library, Tecumseh Branch, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
You can check out and comment on their post on Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008)(Listening Library, 2008)! Peek: “The book is cleverly written, and sectioned into portions like a restaurant menu. Clearly, the author intends for us to savor and enjoy the ‘meal’ as we digest this book!”

See also discussions of Blood and Chocolate (film and novel), the Vampire Kisses series, and more. Upcoming topics include The Vampire Diaries, the Twilight series, the Blue Bloods series and many more.
  And now, we’ve received a comments from people who were led to our site from her site.  We have 13 followers of the blog right now, including people from outside of Allen County.  We even have a blog follower from Bringelly, New South Wales, Australia!  I think that it’s pretty cool that this all started from one of our teens!

I’m taught my last weekend of LIS768 in St. Paul at the College of St. Catherine last week. The final Saturday of class is always group project day. Take a look:

One group developed a Ning for librarians: The Library Lounge. They also gave a presentation of background info and their findings from theexperience.

Another group developed a library liaison portal for a fictional economics department using Pageflakes. Their presentation details the background of the prototype.

The next group learned Drupal to develop a Website for a small library in Minnesota in a project called “Extreme Library Makeover: Web Site Edition.” They started with this very small site hosted at the library system and proposed a complete redo with Drupal. The results of their learning is here (hosted at TTW).

Finally, two soon to be library media specialists proposed a revamped curriculum for 4th to 8th grade that tied using social tools to current learning goals. The presentation, with links to examples and prototypes, is here.

I am grading their final papers today - papers on academic law libraries and social technologies, the Cluetrain and reputation online, to name a few. Good stuff! If you want to check in on their class blogging, all of the LIS768 CSC bloggers are listed here.

I have a new post up at ALA TechSource:

http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2008/11/a-commons-experience.html

The Commons puts students at the center. The idea of student-centered innovation was a theme woven throughout the commons field trips. The commons did not make it any easier for the librarians or to enforce library policies. In fact, Stacy Greenwell of the University was happy to tell me that they made it easier for students to use their cell phones in “the Hub.” “Yes, that’s right—at the Hub we actually installed infrastructure to make it easier for students to use cell phones. We actually encourage cell phone use. Truly the Hub is a No Shushing Zone.”

The Commons is built with student involvement. Stacy Greenwell of “the Hub” told me that along with the innovations the librarians wanted at UK,  “we sought student input throughout the planning process”.  Bob Seal highlighted the ways his librarians discovered students needed: space, access to technology, and ease of use.

The Commons is a welcoming, useful gathering place. The folks at Indiana University South Bend started with a specific goal: to be a welcoming center on campus. Michele Russo detailed this idea when it came to the desk: “The new service desk was also designed to send a welcoming message.  It allows space for librarians, IT consultants, and multimedia specialists to work at one of two levels.” The Zones at Georgia Tech included flexible “anything and everything” spaces. Faculty might give a lecture in the morning, folowed by a DDR tournament in the afternoon and video creation in the evening.

The Commons makes connections. These connections might be between students, betweeen students and library staff, or between students and the various faculty and staff that may use the space as well. Dean of Library Services Michele Russo at IUSB said: “We envisioned making the Library a true teaching-learning-research center by creating an Information Commons where content, technology, and services provided by reference librarians, technology assistants, and multimedia specialists were available to students and faculty in one place.”

The Commons is a relevant, required space on campus. At Georgia Tech, we ooh’ed and ahh’ed all over Zones 1, 2 and 3 as though on a tour at Disneyland, but Associate Director Bob Fox’s message was loud and clear: “We don’t build walls here.” The spaces, created by innovative library staff and student focus groups, are that central, all purpose place (with access to needed resources and technology) that Rose addressed in her article. The larger the investment of planning, input and participants, the higher the return on use and support. How could spaces like those in my 2008 Information/Learning Commons Field trips not be considered required and relevant spaces for the university setting?

Read the whole post at ALA TS.

Via Jessamyn and a slew of emails this weekend from TTW Readers:

http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/OCLC_Policy_Change

I need to catch up on all of these posts. Jessamyn suggested this one as 

http://www.betaversion.org/~stefano/linotype/news/220/

So, OCLC decides to update its data licensing policy after 21 years because, quote: “The Guidelineshave also been frequently faulted for their ambiguity about WorldCat data sharing rights and conditions.”

Having had to deal with such ambiguity myself when discussing about releasing the Barton Library data from the MIT Libraries, I have to say that I very much welcomed any sort of update in clarification and a more modern and up-to-date licensing agreement between OCLC and its members libraries, if only to focus more precisely what is wrong with it.

Some people believe that OCLC is a thing of the past, created in an era where data interchange and inter-librarian communication was hard, more expensive and much harder to coordinate and destined to succumb to some cheaper and higher quality grass-root approach that will emerge spontaneously on the internet.

I personally don’t subscribe to that vision: I’ve witnessed with my own eyes the Apache Group turning into the Apache Software Foundation and growing from a few tens of people to thousands, from a relatively unknown bunch of geeks to a pillar of the web ecosystem, a business-school subject and a poster child for modern bottom-up self-organization.

My point being that any grass-root approach that will get big enough to take on OCLC on the metadata collection and redistribution service that libraries need will have to incorporate under the pressure of its users (if only for legal liability protection) and will have to find an answer to the same set of problems (policy, governance, financial sustainability) that OCLC has.

So, OCLC, or another non-profit entity, is necessary to exist in this space, no matter how the data is generated and what license regulates its sharing.

Unfortunately, OCLC itself seems to be believe they are a thing of the past, that they are going to fall victim of the drop of data distribution and coordination costs, much like the record industry, and that they have to fight with their teeth to avoid to succumb to the web-powered winter of data monopolies.

I don’t see any other explanation for a policy that prevents people from competing with them, with data they don’t own and that others contributed to them: if they thought their existence was not in danger, and their membership loyal, why would they want to prevent others from competing with them?

Last time somebody tried a similar anti-competitive move, BitKeeper comes to mind, it unleashed a tremendous amount of frustration-generated creative effort that not only displaced and totally evaporated BitKeeper’s position in that market overnight, but also reshaped the entire market because of some of the innovation that was created in the process.

It is true that OCLC’s monopoly position in this market is eroding: it is only a matter of time geek techy librarians catalyze enough coordination to eventually re-route even just a tiny fraction of the cataloging effort of librarians around the world to another data pool, one that feels more like an open Library of Congress and less like a librarian version of Microsoft.

That last line is wonderful. I am aching for the time when the “geek techy librarians” coordinate enough to make some really big changes in library land: with OCLC, with vendors, with the ILS providers. Indeed.

Read the whole post. it’s a good one.

We recently presented a workshop in London at Internet Librarian International, based on our writings here, and realized that throughout the columns we’ve identified a set of mile markers for the journey toward transparency.

Give everyone an avenue to talk. 
Play nice and be constructive. 
Grow and develop your support community. 
Be willing to accept anonymity. 
Tell the truth. Lies don’t work. 
Focus on user-driven policy, not driving users away. 

Read the whole column here.

Don’t miss Jen Waller’s Flickr sets of her travels to various libraries in The Netherlands. I’ll be using these in future classes for sure!

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Shanachies are in Perth, originally uploaded by sirexkat.

The Shanchies are visiting Australia! Follow them at:

http://www.shanachietour.com/

Via Brett Kochendorfer

Google Friend Connect lets you grow traffic by easily adding social features to your website. This means means more people engaging more deeply with your website — and with each other. In this video, Google Product Marketing Manager Mendel Chuang gives a short introduction to Google Friend Connect.

Very interesting -especially the bit about ease of sign on via any number of services and adding the Friend Connect to your site takes no programming skills whatsoever. Looks like ratings, friends and comments can easily be integrated. Ways it might affect libraries:

• Folks will come to expect this type of functionality more and more. Sites that aren’t “friendly” might not be the most popular.
• Some libraries will experiment with this as an easy to configure “buy it now” (for free) social option for their sites.
• This could become a popular add on for many Biblioblogs.
• It certainly positions Google to have even more integration into what we do on the Web.

Take a look at the video. What other uses do you see? What misuses do you see?

http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20081113

Did the authors read my tweets about yesterday’s program?

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LPL Flashdrives, originally uploaded by Lester Public Library.

512K Thumb Drives, Friends of Lester Public Library Fundraiser, $15.00 each, comes in pink, black, green, red, and blue. Purchase at the circulation desk. Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin

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Library Services Hierarchy, originally uploaded by herzogbr.

Take a look:

http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2008/11/13/what-is-necessary-what-is-possible

Not that any of this is rocket science, or isn’t discernible by anyone else that works in a library. I think I did this as an exercise to illustrate patron-centricness. When it comes to library services, everything we offer should be addressing a need from “up the chain.” Offering services just because we can, or because it’s something being pushed on us from “below,” doesn’t justify that service. If a service doesn’t address a patron need, then should we really be offering it?

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youtube contest for high school students, originally uploaded by pollyalida.

Good example of generating interest and promotion about “Ask a Librarian.” Hey Tampa folks, you should have told me about this last week. I’ll add it to my talks.

Fascinating article in SLJ from David Loertscher:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6610496.html

Last year, when I thought of revising my book Taxonomies of the School Library Media Program (Hi Willow, 2000), I realized that I had pushed the traditional model of school libraries about as far as it could go. We don’t need a revision. We need a reinvention. Experts say that the rank and file of any profession can’t re-create itself because it’s too enmeshed in the status quo. We’re more hopeful.

What has to happen for school libraries to become relevant? If we want to connect with the latest generation of learners and teachers, we have to totally redesign the library from the vantage point of our users—our thinking has to do a 180-degree flip. In short, it’s time for school libraries to become a lot less like Microsoft and a lot more like Google. With this notion in mind, I collaborated with two of my colleagues, Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan, Canadian educational consultants, to develop an idea we’re calling the school library learning commons.

This is great! The learning commons taken to the school media center. Loertscher continues and offers some advice for “flipping:” (emphasis mine)

Thinking differently—and creatively—is never easy. Here are some exercises to help you make a 180-degree switch.

Resolve to think like a patron rather than a provider, a customer rather than a store owner. For example, right now your library is probably open throughout the school day. Imagine what it would mean to students and teachers if it were open 24/7, 365 days a year.

Let’s say each student is currently allowed to check out two books. What if each child could check out an unlimited number of books or download digital or audiobooks to their Kindle or iTough device anytime they wished?

In some schools, students only get credit for reading books in the Accelerated Reader program. How about giving them credit for reading everything and anything?

Many of today’s students read textbooks and take notes in class. Imagine a learning environment in which the multimedia world of information fed individual students’ needs, and where on-demand digital textbooks/multimedia/databases are available 24/7 and under the control of the user.

Here’s another 180-degree flip: a typical classroom assignment and library Web site are examples of one-way communication. Adults tell learners what to do, how to do it, and where to find information. But in the new learning commons, homework assignments and library Web sites offer two-way communication.

How? It’s easy. The teacher posts assignments on a blog that’s linked through an RSS feed to individual students in the class, each of whom can access the blog through an iGoogle page or another personal home page. When an assignment is given, everyone—teachers, librarians, students, and other specialists—can comment, coach, suggest, recommend, and discover together, and push everyone toward excellence. Content flows in and out of students’ iGoogle pages via RSS feeds to help them complete their assignments and work together constructively. Involve the tech director in developing this system, and watch the barriers fall.

Let me pick myself up off the floor.  This is what I imagine our schools could be like in a world where the barriers are down and teachers are using the tools. I would suggest anyone involved with school libraries take a look at this article.

Don’t miss this article from Sarah Houghton-Jan and Aaron Schmidt:

http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov08/Schmidt_Houghton-Jan.shtml

While there are many quick, one-time things you can do to make your content findable, we’ll address those later. First, we have to make sure that there’s a reason to promote your library and its website. If you’re not offering relevant services or interesting content on your site, there’s really nothing to promote.

The most important and effective thing you can do to make your content findable and to draw people back is the most difficult: Make a good website. Creating a website is ridiculously easy, and it takes about 5 minutes to start a blog. Filling such sites with interesting content, however, takes skill, effort, and inspiration. Anyone can hit the “publish” button, but to learn about the interests of your community and to systematically present relevant content takes time. This is what you must do.

One way to approach the issue of content is to use the strengths of your library’s staff. Perhaps you have employees who are passionate about romance novels or get wired about fixing computers. This excitement will show through if you have them talk about their interests online. One great thing about public libraries is that almost anything in the world is within their scope of interest. Highlighting the expertise of individuals in your library not only can produce interesting content, but it can also illuminate the humans in your facility. This helps build relationships, one of the most important things librarians can do to promote themselves. Good content makes your website more findable because the better your content is, the more people will talk about it and link to it. These links are the lifeblood of Google’s PageRank. And you want links. Badly.

I’ll be adding this to course readings!

Kathryn Greenhill reports on Liz Wilkinson, University of Auckland, presenting at the LIANZA 2008 conference:

 I was very impressed with an information literacy package she had helped to design. Te Punga uses online graphic novels and simulations to introduce students to the library catalogue.

I was even more impressed with her philosophy behind the design - and I have tried to capture this in this movie, Information Literacy: Seven ways to think outside the box. She was very gracious about being filmed with no rehearsal time, and I’m very grateful to her and the University Of Auckland for allowing me to use her words and screenshots from Te Punga in the movie.

Here are her main points:

1. Literacy beyond text
2. Student centred, not library centred
3. Outside experts
4. Involve students
5. Use students’ environments
6. Learning by doing
7. Make students feel at home

How are we addressing these important points in our university libraries? I can identify good examples for all 7 above from some of my travels and visits to various university libraries this year. Which ones have you tapped into?

Great stuff:

Tips to Make a University Student Blogging Program Successful

You Can Never Have Enough Feedback

The final step to a successful student blogging program is to constantly pursue feedback. Successful bloggers utilize user feedback to improve their writing and focus on topics that their readers would be interested in. Ask prospective students, current students, alumni, and staff to give their impressions of these blogs and suggestions of what they would like to see. Some of my best blog entries were inspired by e-mails from readers who asked what I had to say on a topic that interested them. Readers enjoy being a part of the conversation and having their feedback valued.

No Amount of PR is Better Than Happy Students

Any university that is afraid of giving their students a voice knows that their students have negative things to say. Blogging should always be honest and transparent. Therefore, any university considering a student blogging program should give their students good things to talk about.

Do Not Stop At Text

Blogs are a great start for giving prospective students an honest look into your college or university, but it does not have to stop at text. Pictures are very important and readers love them. Encourage bloggers to share pictures in their entries whether they are hosted on their own blog or through an online service such as Flickr [1] (www.flickr.com). You could also encourage student photographers to host an official photoblog. Finally, consider audio blogging (podcasting) and video blogging; two far more difficult but innovative ways to reach prospective students. The web provides a wealth of options for PR, and the benefits are waiting for those universities brave enough to take advantage of them.

This counters the universities still trying to control the message and the voice with useful advice and a “why it works” viewpoint.