Connecting Librarian

I am very big on efficiency, including ensuring that our information flow from our library is used as effectively as possible.

Our library has five blogs, four of which are hosted by Blogger. To make the most of this content, to ensure that people are seeing it when they don’t know about the blogs (and many don’t, regardless of how much we promote them), we feed each of them to our library homepage. (the fifth is already there)

We were wondering how effective this was and started doing some statistical analysis. Up until recently, we only counted visits to the actual blogs at  Blogger and to our news blog on Drupal.  The statistics were better for some than for others, but one of our blogs was quite low and it was getting a bit discouraging, when you considered the effort that went into creating both the blog and the regular content that goes into it.

So I took another look at the blog content and how it was being used in various locations.  Between readers of the actual blogs (counted using Google Analytics), subscribers (using Feedburner) and then reads of the blog posts on our website (counted using Drupal Statistics), we found that our blog content was being read by anything up to 300% more than just at the blogs alone!  Quite eye-opening really.

And this doesn’t count the people who just scan read the summary of each post as it appears on the library’s homepage. The Drupal only counts a read when the post title is clicked on and the reader goes to the full-text of the posts (which is also on the website).

So we have this great content, being utilised in numerous locations and getting a much wider audience, with little effort from library staff, due to the joy of RSS feeds. (gotta love em).

Then back in August, Brian Herzog posted on his blog Swiss Army Librarian – Visualising the flow of my library’s information online and I pounced on that idea.  His flowchart came after their Facebook page launch and so I created one for our library, to help convince our management that we should launch our Facebook page.  Their reasonable concern was that it would be too staff-intensive for too little return. The flowchart was designed to show that staff time would be minimal and after some guidelines on management of the page were created, we got the go ahead to launch.

Here’s the flowchart I created:

We could have automated the process further, by posting the feed from our library news blog straight to Facebook, but decided against it. Instead, we post that content to our Wall, in a bit more of a casual voice, which gives us the opportunity to engage more personally with our Facebook page and our fans.

The flowchart has also given us some areas to consider improving in and things to consider if we ever expand our online presences to include sites like Twitter, Google Plus and others. (after all, who knows what the next big online thing will be!)

Can we use this concept for other information flows?  I am thinking of doing one for my personal presences, seeing where I can maybe get a more consistent message out on my various networks.  But that’s a task for another day.

How does your library’s online information flow work?  Would love to hear any ideas you have that might help us change or improve ours.

And thanks Brian for the awesome idea!

Couldn’t get to a power or get my laptop out in this crowded session, so had to use treeware and now is the first chance to type this up. This session was Monday morning, so sorry for the delay.

Karen Huffman spoke of her experiences at National Geographic (NG). Web 2.0 is what we are already in, it’s where our users are and where our desktops are going. Adapt, adopt or die. We envision Web 2.0 in different ways, but are all still figuring it out and have different ways of applying the same solutions.

NG has RSS and podcasting hosted externally. Started with RSS feeds posted on a simple web page, then using Magpie RSS and php, they started streaming RSS to the homepage. Started with current content and recorded it as podcasts, then educated their users. Relaunched podcasts into iTunes and NG is now rated at No. 8. Have a staff news area which includes RSS feeds from NG blogs.

They use Newsgator for intranet news feeds instead of the external Bloglines. Newsgator can give mobile access to feeds which staff can access via their Blackberrys.

They are investigating Google gadgets to enhance their website. One gadget they are using on the their intranet is a Word Press plugin which shows a thumbnail image of the commenter on their blog comments. Simplified wiki page creation with a widget that gives them a “Create a new project” button. Also investigating Mind mapping software, including Gliffy and Mind Manager. They are also using Google Maps and Google Earth mashups in their Women Explorers wiki and BioBlitz projects as well as mapping out recipients of NG grants.

Lessons learned:

• need the right people on board
• work in the white spaces
• collaboration
• understand organic culture
• prototype ideas, keep it simple
• communicate
• adapt if the strategy doesn’t match needs

Derek Willis from Washington.com spoke on creating browsable data with Django.

Information gap includes:

• what doesn’t make it into the news
• the data you don’t use
• what you can do about it

Can search it and searching is fun, but what happens when you don’t have a clear search term – are your users good searchers?

Django users a python web framework, takes data and puts it on the web. It is open source and automated as much as possible. More info and software available at http://www.djangoproject.com/ Presently django is used to run chicagocrime.org – a database of crime reported in Chicago and several Washington Post projects including the congressional votes database, Faces of the fallen and Recipe Finder. It is mainly browsable, although it can be free text searched or browsed/searched by category.

Need the Python script language on a web server, a database such as MySql. It runs on all operating systems and is free. Advantages include control over your data, using your data is easier, has built in admin interface, plus it supports syndication, generic views, authorisation, forms, file uploads and is used for about 15 smaller newspapers around the US.

Things to do to make it happen:

• become or find a geek
• scavenge for hardware
• think about your data

Give your users the value in the information you already have.

RSS is still a very hot topic as most things we see on the Net has an RSS component. (presentation at stevenmcohen.pbwiki.com/CIL2007/)

Steven M. Cohen loves Google Reader as his feed reader. Took us on a touring demo, very intuitive and easy to use. Windows Vista comes with a feed icon on the desktop. It calls it News, not RSS. Its not the name that matters, but what it can do. IE7.0 (a copy of Firefox), has a feedreader on their browser. Don’t go to browse web sites anymore, the websites come to him.

Whats cool – Libworm! Searches the biblioblogosphere – library blogs and library feeds. Much better than Google Blog search and Technorati for library related content. You can then get an RSS feed for the search results and get it updated to your feed reader.

Page to RSS, you put in a URL and it scans and creates a HTML page of the content from which you can get an RSS feed. It then updates everytime the page changes – unfortunately that includes the change of the date.

News feeds – Techmeme lists the hot topics in the tech community. Open Congress takes all the data related to congress, ie. bills, senators, news, issues etc and gave them all RSS feeds.

Justia – can follow all legal proceedings once a docket number is assigned.

RSS feeds in the library catalogue – using Library of Congress Subject headings, each of which as its own RSS link. Can also use it for new databases. And use it when databases are updated, down or have improved content.

Library Thing has RSS feeds throughout. Very cool.

Twitter is a buzz throughout the conference. Twitter is a cross between blogging, instant messaging and social networking on crack. Each page comes with an RSS feed. Steven thinks stuff will appear in Twitter via RSS. New site – RSS 2 twitter will allow you to sign up to a feed through the site and when it gets updated, it goes to your twitter page and creates a title and a link. Also check out Tumblr (tumblr.com) Can share a photo, a link, a post etc but right clicking on Share to Tumblr. There is an RSS feed to this, and then redirect the RSS feed to Twitter.

News readers will change soon. Steven predicts that Twitter will be the new feedreader.

Steven’s top 12 tools:
Internet Archive – http://www.archive.org – see what websites used to look like and say
Snapper – http://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2703/ – use it to take a selection of your screen as a screen shot
Browster – http://www.browster.com/ – open a link in a new mini browser
BugMeNot – http://www.bugmenot.com/ – get passwords for
TinyURL – http://www.tinyurl.com/
GoogleGroups – http://groups.google.com/
CiteBite – http://www.citebite.com/
Picnik – http://www.picnik.com – link directly to quotes in Web pages using a quote and URL by creating a unique URL
Missing-Auctions – http://www.missing-auctions.com – search for misspelled auctions and eBay typos
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com
Meebo – http://www.meebo.com
PBwiki – http://www.pbwiki.com

I think I am finally settling into the idea that I am a blogger (not just a wannabe) and that people want to read what I blog. So I think I’ll start having a bit more fun with this adventure. Its been a gradual process, 18 months to be exact, but with encouragement from all sides, I am ready to make some changes.

First change has been the template I am using for this blog. I liked the original dark colours, they were a bit mysterious and made me feel a little on the dark side, allowing me to hide myself away in anonymity. But now I don’t feel the need to be anonymous, as I am doing things as a result of blogging that I wouldn’t have been asked to or felt comfortable doing before. The new lighter look of my blog is a reflection of this. Its also a lot easier to read!

I am also happier about starting to play around with things, so for example I have a link to my RSS feed at the top of the page and have updated my links – I have too many in my feed reader to put them all here, so I have just listed key ones. I have also included a feature that Kathryn at Librarians Matter put me onto – an Odeo Voicemail option. Click the link and as long as you have a microphone, you can record a voice mail message for me. I will then get an email to tell me I have a message and will go to Odeo and listen to it. Its free, cute and I hope its the beginning of new features (toys) that I will be able to use as I continue my learning journey. Hope you will continue along with me.

Kate Wilson and Chelsea Harper then reported on their study of the Blog and Wiki landscape in Australia as of June 2006. Limited literature available on this topic, so most of their info came from a study run from Apr – Jun 06.

Blogs and wikis are being used for reference database/manuals, public resource guides, managing teams/project knowledge, marketing and communication with clients, current awareness and professional development.

Results – 18% of libraries had a blog, 11% had a wiki. Blogs – 47% public library, 45% special library, 22% university library. Wikis, the figures were 33%, 45%, 11%. Most blogs were external, most wikis were not. Blogs were mainly used for client communications, wikis for internal workflows. Other purposes were marketing, organisation of events, professional development, reference services and other.

Most organisations don’t have a blog or wiki policy. The main reasons for not blogging or using wikis were time, finances and technical knowledge or support. Can check out more on the report at: http;//www.seedwiki.com/wiki/libraryblogswikis/

Leona Jennings from Gold Coast City Council took us through the implementation of RFID at Gold Coast’s 14 libraries and 2 mobiles.

Timeline – Expression of interest Dec 04. Business case approved May 05. RFT Nov 05. Contract Mar 06. Main tagging commenced May 06. Aug 06 – first library live. Oct 06 – main rollout. Jan 07 – last library went live.

Didn’t want the complications of running 2 systems at the same time, especially with floating collections, so wanted it to be instituted in as short a time as possible. Done over 12 months, but over 2 financial years to spread the cost.

Why RFID – for staff efficiencies, to allow staff to spend more time with the users and on public programs. Efficiencies gained through self serve checkouts. Aim to get 35% of loans through self-checkout.

Benefits: efficiency gains, OH&S benefits, greater accountability of assets, increased customer satisfaction (due to shorter queues, more services etc).

Challenges: to tag with minimal disruptions, enthuse staff and stakeholders, review and revise circulation and collection policies, to install, over 7 months.

Recruited a team of 12 from their casual pool to work as tagging teams – minimal impact on branch operations. Worked in teams of 3, rotating tasks and monitoring each other – worked well.

Bought a tagging station for acquisitions, hired 4 others for retrospective tagging in the branches. Changed security case type on AV at the same time. Took 5 months to tag.

Problems: – overachievement, teams were competitive and completed the job too quickly which meant they had to go back and do all the returned, non-tagged items. Tagging alone came out of the first year’s budget. Rest came out of 2nd years.

Concerns about job losses were alleviated, some questions but no great concern about privacy. At this stage, no tags on membership cards and no self checkin. Involved staff in demos and once 3M contracted, all staff saw a demo were continually updated with visits and an intranet page, which had FAQs, updates, progress chart and user guides hightlighting the self-serve aspects. All reviewed circ and collection policies were in place before going live.

Each branch had one day of hardware installation. Next day was staff training and as soon as they were trained, went live. Exception was the self-serve units which remained for staff access and training until the 3rd day. Of 14 libraries, 8 have self serve units, more units to go in this year. Some libraries will have 2, smaller branches and mobiles none.

Too early for full impact, initial feedback is that checkin is happening more quickly, getting back on shelf quicker and queues are shorter. As of 31st Dec, 28% of loans went through self-serve. Staff are able to spend better quality time with patrons and they now have more time to stop and think and be proactive. Expect to be able to do more staff training, provide more customer services and now focus some time and effort on their website.

Colin Bates and Bernie Lingham from Deakin spoke about Electronic Information Literacy using multiple technologies. They began with a video of a session, showing us what they were talking about – always helpful.

Bernie spoke first on Ellimuniate Live – a trial synchronous web conferencing package, which enables librarians to run information literacy sessions for distance and other students who can’t make it into the library for the in-house sessions. The package uses software, which Deakin provides to students, microphones and headphones/speakers to enable moderators to communicate with up to 10 students at a time, whilst delivering a class. No formal evaluations were taken on the classes, however informal feedback from students has been very positive. They felt confident to do the tasks themselves afterwards and enjoyed having the training delivered in a form and at a time that was convenient for them. Only concern from the moderators side was the low participation rates, with sometimes only 1/2 the booked students, attending the session. The only technical problem was the need for JavaStart and firewall issues, which were the reasons for some non-attendance.

Colin then spoke on how the library was using Deakin’s portal to push library service to students and faculty. All need to sign into the portal to access their email and includes 30 tabs linking to different resources. The uni sought more library content available via RSS which could be presented on the portal. The Library channel has a quick catalogue search, but focuses mainly on online journal content through RSS feeds. It aims to supplement the library webpage and draw attention to the library’s online journals. Content was selected on the basis of likely interest, historical use, user requests and availability of RSS with topics including news, current affairs, general interest and news journals etc. Why RSS in the portal? Already authenticated, simple for the naive user and value adding. User response? 13-35% increase in subscriptions from Oct-Dec 2006.

Yes I know its only been a day since I blogged on Week 3, but I’m fast and I’m trying to catch up!

I love RSS feeds. I already have feeds to about 50 blogs coming into Thunderbird, my email client (same guys did the Firefox browser, which I also love). I have also set up an RSS feed (with help) for my libraries blog, so I think its a wonderful invention.

This exercise required us to set up a Bloglines account. I know many bloggers who use Bloglines as their feed reader, but I hadn’t set up an account as I was happy using Thunderbird as my feed reader. However, I have set up an account with feeds from Flickr, which is new for me, as well as some other favourites. I will continue to use it, not only to stay familiar, but to help me out when I travel. I am going to Sydney in late Jan and then overseas in April for several weeks – at those times I will add my must read feeds to Bloglines so I can access them anywhere.

However, in general I will stick with Thunderbird. Its so easy to check your feeds and catch up when you are checking your email (and as I monitor 4 email accounts, that’s a regular task!).

I subscribe to the RSS feed from Digg. For those of you unaware of Digg, here’s what they say about themselves on their website:

“Digg is a user driven social content website. Ok, so what the heck does that mean? Well, everything on digg is submitted by the digg user community (that would be you). After you submit content, other digg users read your submission and digg what they like best. If your story rocks and receives enough diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of digg visitors to see.”

Now I am a very slack Digg user, I only subscribe to the RSS feed, which delivers the top stories from the Digg homepage. I have yet to join up or submit anything, I guess I haven’t found anything worthy of submission, so haven’t felt the need and I don’t have the time to troll the stories and digg the ones I like, I leave that job to dedicated others. I am a fan though and it took great restraint for me not to use “I dig Digg” as the title of this blog entry.

I read a Digg post today that celebrated a milestone -

Digg Hits One Million Story Submissions!

That’s a lot of story submissions, a very small proportion of which, if ever gets the diggs needed to get it to the front page. Not bad for just over 2 years of existence.

I get anywhere between 50 and 100 posts each day from Digg, most of which I delete because they are generally of little or no interest to me. Many are plain fun, some are fascinating, some are very weird and others very informative.

So what do I get out of Digg? For me personally, of the posts I do check out, I get a lot of laughter, some great information and an awareness of what’s going on in the world. Some news I read on Digg, before I hear it elsewhere. Others I never hear about anywhere else other than Digg, especially US focussed stories, as I am in Australia. For example, the recent case of James Kim – CNet editor.

Digg also gives me an insight into popular culture. Stories only get onto the front page and then I get the RSS feed, if they get a lot of diggs. For them to get a lot of diggs, either the people posting the stories have to know a lot of people who they encourage to digg their entry, or it is an entry of great interest to a wide variety of people. Either way, its something that’s of interest to a lot of people and therefore I think that I, as a public librarian, should be aware of.

Its also one of the few RSS feeds that I get that is not library related and therefore helps to keep me in touch with life outside of the LIS profession.

If you want to know more about Digg, check out their website or the the blog entry “Beginner’s guide to Digg” from ProNet Advertising.

So thanks to Digg and all their members who post and digg those entries for me to reap the benefits. Here’s looking to the next million story posts. Long may you digg!