Connecting Librarian

Big Stuff – Library Challenges – Stephen Abram – Sirsi-Dynix Institute

We need to tell good stories – tell each other about the good things that happen, not the bad, which is what we usually do.

Stephen said that our stuff is awesome, we are in good standing amongst the libraries of the world. We need to let go of the nostalgia. Change has been really slow relatively speaking, especially compared to the baby busters. Big changes coming, which will be fun if you like riding a roller coaster.

What are we going to do to get good results for our users – how can we negate the skewed results of search engine optimisation – where anyone can make sure their content, true or not, lists high in results.

Some people have 40 year careers. Ensure it is 40 years of incrementally better years, not just the same thing year after year. Choose to make the difference. You need to put your meat in the game = professionals commit.

Libraries matter – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants is just one example. Stephen gave a long list of examples where librarians are making a real difference, doing things that get people connected to the net and to the information they need, saving money, saving lives, saving our culture and our history and so much more. We need to tell our government about the competitive edge that libraries give Australia. Who do you think built Yahoo – librarians were pulled in to make it work.

What is the competitive advantage we have in our environment? The difference between us the internet is us – sensitive, intelligent, helpful – we are not a list. Put ourselves out there, with photo and social networking profile. Show who we are as well as what we can do.

DREAM BIG – start small, but dream big.

We dont know every little moment of truth that happens in the library. We can be the human touch for people. We may never know the difference we make to each individual.

Democracies persist because of libraries. Its not coincidence that libraries are often the first casualty of war. Librarians protect freedom of information, giving access to all, regardless of what our opinion of it is – we are truly bipartisan.

We have to learn the things that are making a difference, improving service to our users. If you dont want to learn, then get out of the profession.

We are a global profession, a bottomless network. Every librarian has hundreds of moments of truth, where we fight for our freedom, save lives, cure disease, challenge poverty and ignorance. Not dreaming 08, but dreaming big. Say yes every chance you get, encourage others and dont get discouraged. Those who say it cant be done, get out of the way of those who are already doing the impossible.

We are about books, we dont have to advertise that, what we do need to advertise is that we have people who can help you with just about anything. Show who we are and what we can do.

Web 2.0 is about things you can do and people you know. When you go online do you see people you know. You need to be where your users are, otherwise you are on a march to irrelevance.

Stuff will change faster now – by 2020, all content ever created will fit on an iPod. Video games outsell most content combined, ringtones are huge! Pocket size devices will dominate, the devices coming out are about having ubiquitous access on your person.

New? Semantic web, the cloud, no choice search engines, GIS oriented search, virtually unlimited fulltext books, streaming media and spoken word search, personalisation 3.0, microblogging, registries and so much more.

Normal now is RSS, blogs, YouTube, social networks tagging, wikis, SEO and GIS. If libraries arent involved in that, then they are behind. Resist the library culture of poverty, victimisation, risk aversion and passive resistance. We have to pass the chasm of early adopters and into the space of early majority. We have a technology lifecycle, we have to get on the curve early and stay there.

If we dont get into social networking, then we are going to miss it when they progress to the next stage – this is just the tip of the iceberg.

So what should libraries be paying attention to? The user-centred universe, be more open to users paths. A few things to do right away – the time is now! Need to play, pilot, trial, experiment. Mobile is important, confirm your presence, be where your users are, how your presence appear – personal,, professional; get good at the cloud (where users are going), play at e-books, get serious at literacy (dont use that term for users) and check out XML, get serious about e-learning, care about our cultures, just expand, know that most physical objects are dead, get real about influence, the next generation content.

Humans are our competitive edge. Be open to lifelong learning, our careers have seasons, need to have reciprocal mentoring – peers, be important, we can invent the future and make a difference. Just have some fun! Dream big!

Web archiving in a Web 2.0 world – Edgar Crook – NLA

NLA has 3 main methodologies for web archiving.

Pandora Archive has developed a world class archive of Australian websites, using PANDA, their digital archiving system. PANDA is a distributed system, so their partners can also use it. Other international library archiving systems are based on or similar to PANDA. They have developed persistent naming scheme and have arrangements with archiving and indexing agencies. As of 1st July 2008, it contained 19307 titles over 53 million files adding up to 2.2 TB of data (now over 2.4TB). Files can be a single PDF page, or an entire website. Over 50% of their files are government publications, but they also archived academic journals, blogs, podcasts and more. It is selective, because of the restrictions on staff resources etc. They have chosen their titles carefully and try to choose sustainable sources.

Domain name harvests – once a year, for between 3 and 6 weeks and in conjunction with the Internet Archive. In 2008, they are looking at crawling a billion files. Copyright is a major drawback. The websites are crawled by the Internet Archive and the files are then sent to the NLA. There are gaps where the website publisher bans bots, and the crawler also cant follow embedded links, so there are gaps in the domain harvests. There is also issues with Australian websites without the .au in their name. Data is not publicly available at this time, although it is being use by researchers.

Archive It – is an Internet Archive product, where you can pay money to have your website archived. Sites archived using this process include the PNG governmental and research institute websites the 2007 general election – including content from YouTube an MySpace, Cambodian election 2008, Burmese monk uprising 2007 and more. There are restrictions in that you cant recapture missed files and cant present it the way you want.
Still working on arrangements with other Web 2.0 content, ie. Bebo, Flickr, Facebook etc.

Librarians should think to tell Pandora about resources they should be archiving. Take responsibility for your web presence, make sure it remains or is archived elsewhere.

Will not be making PANDAs version 4, but in future will be working with international partners to develop a new backbone to the system.

Unpacking the indigenous knowledge centre concept – Jason M Gibson

Idea of a national indigenous knowledge centre was flagged at the 20/20 summit, with the idea of regional centres in support was favourably supported.

Inspiration has come from Mexico and other countries. Suspicion has been aroused by these centres as they seem to appear in countries where indigenous culture has been exploited or neglected.

In Central Australia alone there are 5 regions, with up to 20 languages in each region. Such a centre has to cater to them all.

NTL started testing this idea out nine years ago. Three remote communities were chosen to trial the knowledge centre concept. Had a vision of a physical space which would be interpretive, keeping, a museum, a library etc, the aim to improve access relevant to local communities and with the ability to assist in creating and hosting new content.

Several pilot services were launched but have not been sustained. In 2004, the Our Story database was launched and this has been successful. Research showed that the Our Story database had stimulated communities to conduct further research, including through the use ditigal resources.

Tea Tree Gully has had quite a successful result, with stories, place names, oral histories and much more. Internet access, books and information are available in a centre open 5 days a week. The community has taken ownership of their centre.

Indigenous knowledge had not been acknowledge as a legitimate structure until the 1980s. Indigenous peoples persisted in its maintenance and creation regardless. The need is now for improved access to information in its many and varied formats.

(session ran over time, so had to leave to get to next session)

Who are the virtual visitors to the library and what are they doing? Dr Vivienne Waller

Working on research project with SLV – called the Searchers. Looking at purpose of public libraries in 21 century and implications of technology. Interested in current searching practices – looking at who goes where for what.

Back in 1995, Mercer found that most people would use their library to find something out. Pew Project 2007 found that the public library accounted for just over 10%. Internet was the overwhelming leader.

Top Australian reference sites were Wikipedia and then the Bureau of Meteorology, followed by various answer websites such as Ask.

Stats show that the top 20 websites account for nearly 60% of hits, but the long tail – the other 40% was made up of over 3,000 websites.

SLV – 1 million visits to the building, 22 million to the website (2006/07) (all SLV domains).

Research on SLV main website – www.slv.vic.gov.au, included research on the long tail. They used Hitwise data – could use Google Analytics for smaller websites. Hitwise data includes demographic data, 40% of ISPs send their data to Hitwise as well as recording their traffic.

More than average visitors to the SLV website come from educated singles, families maintaining the rural economy, young affluent singles and sharers in the city, wealthiest families in the exclusive suburbs. Under-represented are the most other categories.

Victoria accounts for about 63% of virtual visitors, NSW for 17% and other most states between 1 and 3%. The top 10 referrers included Google, Yahoo, Picture Australia, National Library and Wikipedia.

Top 10 sites only account for 51%, what are some of the other 49% sites? The categories of site in the long tail include search engines (40%), library (about 15%), with more from computer and internet sites (eg. social networking sites).

Where do they go afterwards? Much more came from search engines, but a lesser proportion return to them. Hope that means they found what they are looking for.

Results on searches that led to the slv website – top 10 searches, 22% – variations on state library of victoria. The other 78% of searches came from over 15,000 terms and fell mainly into the categories of history, place, reference, buidling and books/authors.

Did searchers find what they were looking for? Rough estimate using upstream and downstream traffic and images, suggests that 50% of people found what they wanted an moved onto other sites.

Important to take advantage of web log data, but some questions can only be answered by detailed survey and analysis.

Question: how can we tell if users have used the guides on our websites. Can tag those pages with the Google Analytics code – if all pages are tagged, can track their progress through your website. Can track where people are geographically as well.

Question: was there any work done on people using the databases. Currently doing work on who is using the catalogue – tricky to measure the databases, because that is not content hosted by SLV.

Question: could Hitwise data be used to help measure programs aimed at people who are underrepresented. Yes it could be in principal, but data must be paid for. If data is very localised, would be better to survey individuals.

I am a borderline Gen Xer.  Depending on which study you look at, I am sometimes listed as a Baby Boomer.  Labels don’t matter all that much, but I have always felt more affinity to Gen Xers and it always made me feel a little bit younger to label myself as such too.

But recently I have been feeling like I’m not much of a Gen X-er either, especially in relation to what others of my generation seemed to be focussed on.  Quite often I feel more of a digital native like my kids, I am soooo comfortable with most technology.   I game like they do, although my regular gaming is more online board games (which is definitely in line with my demographic), although I do get with the kids and play X-Box or Nintendo DS on the odd occasion.

I guess I am a bit like the person who migrates to a new country and just goes overboard in embracing their new home.  They learn the national anthem, try to live like a person in that country does, picks up the lingo etc – they basically begin a love affair with their new home and I guess that is what I have been like with Web 2.0.  And that has helped me to feel more like a digital native than an immigrant.

So what’s the problem?  I think its that the shine is going off the relationship a bit.  Probably for a few different reasons.

Firstly, the development of Web 2.0 tools seems to have slowed down.  Twitter, which I love is probably the last big thing I jumped on board with.  I signed up to Friend Feed, but for an organised person such as myself, I just find it to chaotic to work through.  Everything else considered Web 2.0 has been around for a while, some like blogs have been around for over 10 years!  Where’s the next big thing to catch my interest again?

Secondly, even though I am well entrenched in Web 2.0, most of my workmates, friends and family aren’t and I get so frustrated with this.  They don’t see these tools and their potential the way that I do and I can’t find the way to help them to do so.  I spoke to a new staff member whose former workplace didn’t even have a website!  Everyone still seems a long way behind and I feel like I’ve been in those space for a long time too.  When is it all going to catch up?

Maybe I’m just tired, maybe I need a holiday (coming up in 4 weeks, yay!) or maybe its all just in my head.  Would love to hear what you guys have to say on the topic, are you experiencing the same types of things?

It was my birthday the other day. Unfortunately I had a staff meeting and an appointment on that day which was my day off, as well as the regular school drop off, pickup and swimming lessons. So it wasn’t a day to relax. However, it was a day I learnt a bit about myself that I guess I have known, but never really realised and it was a day filled with many moments of happiness, many of which had some sort of electronic origin.

I’m a Gen Xer, a control freak (but not a perfectionist), task oriented and I love music. My work involves virtual services for my public library, which I just love. This is just some background to give context to the rest of this story.

My staff meeting was our Information Services team. The meeting is only quarterly, so I didn’t want to miss it and I do enjoy what we cover and the people I work with on this team. However, my biggest moment of joy in this meeting was sharing an achievement involving solving the issue of being able to search our catalogue from outside of our OPAC. Its been something that I have been working towards, on and off, since we got our new ILMS over 12 months ago and which came together in a very short time due to some timely and very helpful assistance from a colleague at another of our consortia libraries. (Thanks again Maryanne).

Another moment of joy during the day was when I was driving home from my appointment and one of my favourite songs came on the CD player. The volume went up on the music and whilst driving, I was bopping away in my car and singing my heart out (I’m not a bad singer…). I didn’t care what other drivers saw or thought, I was just enjoying the moment, which combined my joy of driving with my love of music. (don’t worry, I didn’t break any road rules or run anyone off the road)

After getting home, I chilled out for a short time, firstly online. I ended up with a small smile on my face for the rest of the day, because of all the lovely birthday wishes I received, both through email and through Facebook. Thanks to both my email and Facebook friends. It was a small thing, but I really did appreciate the few moments that you took to send me a quick greeting. After that I spent the last little time I had spare before getting going with kids and birthday dinner, to watch some of my favourite episodes of one of my favourite TV shows.

I spend lots of time in the electronic environment. Driving my car, working on virtual services, listening to music, spending time online whether in games, social networks, watching TV and more. And I really enjoy it. I always knew I spent a lot of time on computer, in my car and on TV, but didn’t really realise until that day how many moments of joy they provide me. It makes me think that I may be more digital native than I realised.

I have been so busy lately, surprisingly so, but in a good way.  After doing a 10 minute showcase at VALA, I have done a presentation on Web 2.0 for Innov8 – a vendor organised information seminar. I also have coming in the next few weeks “Beyond blogs and wikis” at the ALIES conference and a lecture to post-grad students at RMIT on what my library is doing with Web 2.0 tools.  On the off chance you are interested in any of these, click on the Presentations tab at the top of my blog and you will find them  embedded there (after they have been presented).

Not that this post is about self-publicising, because its not.  The feedback I had from  Innov8 was that attendees had already heard about a lot of things that I had presented on, but that my presentation helped them understand what they are, in an straightforward manner and in a context (libraries) that they could relate to.

It made me realise that when you are on the cutting edge, things that are old news to you are still very new to most others.  Which leads to the question – how long until everyone (or at the least the majority – in particular our users or potential users) understands this new technology and how can we speed up the process?

I guess I am doing my bit professionally by doing these presentations.  We are doing the same at my library by running Learning 2.0 for staff and offering public seminars on eBay, online image sharing, downloading music etc.  We are also utilising the technology – we have 2 blogs, a Flickr account, are using del.icio.us links, Google maps, web polls, offering RSS feeds and more.  We are getting interest in these initiatives, but take up is relatively slow in relation to home PC internet access, so is it because we are not offering the right things, or because people aren’t aware of or know how to best use these tools?  If its the latter, what can we do to inform them? (if its the former, we’ll do something about that too – our web polls will help us to figure out which it is, if not both)

I guess another question is why would our users want/need to understand these things?  I don’t really have a good answer to this one – just 2 thoughts. I think this is the way of the world now and more and more of our users and potential users will be expecting their local library to be doing it.  And as communities are spending more time online, this is an even more important service that libraries should be providing to best serve our users.

Am I expecting too much? Not everyone is  a techie of one degree or another, but although Web 2.0 is technology based, its more about collaboration and contribution, so I don’t think so.  Technology fear could be hampering, as we found out as a result of my library’s  Learning 2.0 program.  Some staff who had been reluctant of, or not interested in using Web 2.0 tools have taken to them and are using them in library services with great enthusiasm.  A little familiarity in this case breeds improved library service!

In the meantime, I would really appreciate your feedback on these questions.  Your responses might just help to solve some of these challenges for me and my library.  In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging away, in my professional development and in my library service.

Here’s the notes from the afternoon session of Michael Stephen’s visit to Melbourne. Over 70 librarian, mostly not all from public libraries were presented with an interesting and informative session, with plenty of inspiration to take back to their libraries.

World is changing, especially in the last few years.  Its getting smaller, collaboration is happening on a scale that would not have been possible before.  It has changed the way we comunicate.

Web 2.0 is open, decentralised and participatory. Commonalities are open, participatrory, tags, comments, RSS, APIs.

Library job descriptions are also changing as a result. Just look at recent job advertisements – these positions did not exist a few years ago, because the technologies didn’t exist.  This is one way our profession is responding to these changes.

Open Source software is growing fast – it levels the playing field a bit, but requires staff and other resources to use and manage.  eg. Open Office, Inkscape, Trillian and Pidgin.  Open Office duplicates the functions of Microsoft Office (offer to ours users as an alternative?).

Surveying best practices:

Blogs – how many libraries have blogs?  Worth thinking about adopting if you don’t already have one.  Its a software tool, a content management system which is organised and archived chronologically by date.  With a blog, its all automatic without having to go through bureaucracy.  Newest news is at the top of the page, where your users eyes are going to land first. All you need is software, server space (can be hosted) and some HTML, time to blog and something to say.  What to say? – what’s new, programs and materials, new resources, conference reports – some librarians put their conference notes on their library’s public blog.  Blogging can be used to promote your content, ie databases, its fast easy and cheap and you can promote conversation.  Lamson Library uses Scriblio to get their Web Opac out in a blog.

Best practices – look around at other library blog and check out what features of them that you like. Find your voice/mission – what is your goal, how do you want to say it, listen to your users responses. Focus on content – configure it then let it work for you, focus on interesting content, reach out by covering users interests. Design – make it seamless between your library website and blog, make sure its always usable, keep your software current.  Share authorship – spread out the blogging, agree on voice and mission.  Post often and be succinct – keep it simple, make it printable. Have a style guide and train your staff to blog – give them help sheets on tagging etc.  Make sure they have time to do it!  Incorporate the blog into your site as well as possible and link to the catalogue as often as you can – link it to your homepage. Be transparent – blog your projects and plans, listen and respond to your users comments.  Use the blog as a platform for videos, images, RSS feeds,news, customize widgets.

For Librarian Bloggers – cite your sources and links, post often but have something to say, invest time, post your passions, blog nice, learn about your blog application – spam filters are necessary, information feeds in, flickr images fed in, polls etc.

Blogs can create the voice of the library, administrators should be involved, enable comments, participate!

Podcasting – easy to create with some simple open source tools ie. Audacity (OSS), iTunes, Garageband. Podcasts are syndicated via RSS – search iTunes for libraries. Kankakee Public Library podcasts their author visits.  All you need is a computer, Audacity and a microphone.

Best practices – use free tools like Audacity, involve staff who are interested and capable, monitor time and use (be sure you are getting ROI), podcast news, speakers, stories and more, current awareness, offer a place for others to try it!  Give users a place to record their own podcast!  or some other form of studio (ie video etc).

RSS – take content from one place and have it available in another place. Some ILMS offer RSS feeds on new additions to the catalogue – ie. books, videos/DVDs, audio etc.  RSS feeds can be the most time consuming thing you can learn about – saves you having to visit different blogs, you can use an RSS aggregator to have the content delivered to you.  With RSS you can keep up to date and put your library content in other locations.  Hennepin hacked their catalogue to provide RSS feeds for user generated searches – click through and place holds.  RSS has taken the place of SDI. eg. RSS feed of animal books on RSPCA website.

Best practices – decide if you want to build a portal or provide RSS feeds – train staff and users, ask vendors for feeds, develop a policy of displaying RSS on your website. Have a what is this for RSS on your website and embed the Common Craft videos from YouTube.

Wikis – an easy web page.  Mostly WYSIWYG, but some need basic coding (related to HTML). SJCPL found that most people were using local content more, so when they revised and created their subject wikis, those are the heading they retained. Don’t even have to use the word wiki in its use.

Best practices – play with a wiki (ie. PBWiki), monitor changes to the wiki, use it in classes and instruction.  Policy manuals, group edits on a report are common library uses.  SJCPL had a no wiki, where they recorded when they said no to users.  Each month they were reviewed and analysed to see where policy changes might be of use.

Instant messaging – usually text, but can be voice or video. All IM systems have a presence awareness system. “Faster IM” Computer in Libraries 2006 Stephens, M. “It can be cost effective means for any library to have a virtual reference presence in virtual spaces where our users already live!”  FASTER – Flow, ask questions, software, training, ease of use, return on investment (is high).  Meebo allows you to access multiple IM accounts via an online interface, or insert a widget into your webpage and allow users to IM you without an IM address (library has to have one).  Meebo benefits – no viruses, multiple services at once, voicemail for the web.

Best practices – promote the service, add you IM to your publicity, use a consistent naming scheme for all clients, use away messages effectively, use all your resources to answer questions.

Make IM part of your policy – fold it in to the reference desk duties.   People are usually happy to wait when the library is busy.

Flickr – a way of putting a human face on the library (photos). Another example of a social network, enabling tags, comments and being fed into other sites via links, widgets etc. Can use a flickr set for a library tour – including behind the scenes.

Best practices – allow flickr to be accessed on your public computers, tag-note-comment, create a useful profile page for your library, tell stories, make the library human,capture events-buildings, speakers, be mindful of little people etc.  Use it to be out there – experiment with Flickr toys too!

The Big Picture – best practices for social software
Meet the mission – convey the mission.  Ground your use of social software in the mission and vision of your library.  Use it to further the library mission and to meet your long range plan. (Maraine Valley College podcast page)

Prototype – great for roadblock builders, use it for education and planning, it demonstrates a need. Create a sandbox and get staff to play with it.  Use Ning to create a social network. (do it at State level for our library sector?).

Comments – enable it, moderate if needed, participate and ask vendors to give us this functionality.

Invite participation – allow comments, offer RSS feeds, aks surveys to do something – surveys, polls etc.

Give physical services a virtual space – ie. give the book club a blog, do an audio tour of the library.

Create social spaces for real time access to the tools – ImaginOn – Studio I for animation, make stations available for podcasting, video creation, blogging.

Be human tell stories – we have great stories to tell in libraries.  ie. Storypalooza – Gail Borden Library  YouTube contest – Denver Public Library.

Replace or remove outdated methods – NetFlix, Book Swim (mail delivery of items).  Topeka and Shawnee County Library mails holds to users – have a budget line for this.

Admin buy-in and use is PRICELESS.  Josie Parker at AADL and Louise Berry at Darien both blog.  But Staff buy in makes it HAPPEN!  Getting staff buy in can be helped by a Learning 2.0 program.  Also LISTEN to your staff and get their buyin.
Extra info coming from questions:

Sample policies may be available through Web Junction or the Library Success Wiki.

Seed your social sight with entries or comments to set the tone.

Michael says the future of our catalogues will incorporate both formal library subject headings as well as users tags.

Need to seriously consider how we want our presence to be available on the converged device ie. mobile phone.  iPhone is allowing normal web page browsing, next generation of phones should be the same.

Cross promotion between neighbouring facilities – Dutch example of library having recipe of the month and food market across the road displaying the ingredients for that recipe.

I was very happy to be able to attend a day of presentations by Michael Stephens of Tame the Web today. I met Michael for breakfast one morning towards the end of my study tour last year, so it was wonderful to renew our acquaintance. Although the time was all too short, it was great to catch up.

Anyway, here’s the notes I took – Michael will post the slides to his blog – Tame the Web.

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Suffering is optional in this session.

Jesse Hauk Shera quote – “that society will determine what the library of the future will be.”

World has shifted in the last few years, beginning with the dot.com bust.  Web rebooted itself, more interactive and social.

Recommended “Cluetrain Manifesto” which is available online for free.

Continous computing – Roush “Social machines” – Web as platform, wifi is ubiquitous, devices are converging and connecting.i

Time Magazine – “You control the information age” – not libraries.

Recommended “Everthing is miscellaneous”.

Many descriptions of Web 2.0 – 2 Michael focusses on – harvesting collective intelligence and rich user experiences.

Web 2.0? – Live Web or as Michael says “Find others like you”.  Friending etc.  No 1 social site that Michael uses is Flickr – he is an image based person, so he loves it.  Can track his travels from his Flickr account.  Can also find him at Last FM – tracks what he is listening to on his Mac.  Michael has also has a Facebook profile.

Can make anything you want with image generators.

This is where we live – people are spending a lot of their social lives online – not just for the internet addict.  Lots of these sites, more and more being created every day.
All these sites are open, participatory and are about access.

Shared the Library 2.0 definition by Casey & Savistinuk – most important “physical and virtual services” and “consistently evaluating”.

Check out the Perceptions of Libraries and Information Sources and Sharing, privacy and trust in the networked world reports from OCLC.
96% of people had walked into a public library at least onece, 51% used IM and 30% had never heard of databases.  Users want seamless service and self-service options – think Google. They want seamless – not silos. Our websites are little versions of the library – they shouldn’t be.  “Books” are the library brand.  Only 1% surveyed used the library as their search starting point.   Why not visiting the library website – didn’t know it existed, other sites have better info, can’t find the site.Brian Mathews – social network will be ubiquitous – will expect it everywhere they go online – be able to tag, leave comments or reviews, wherever they go.

Pew Internet found that 36% of adults used Wikipedia. 8% were on it on any one day.  Make sure your library is on Wikipedia, including in the geographic area entries (ie. Council, suburbs, town etc). Add content, links – give it more value.

ACRL – put out a report (check slides) – need to do 3 things:
Evolve – reference signs have gone – welcome, ask here (Allen County), round tables for collaboration, transparent reference desk, with comfy chairs and flat screens and also IM service (NC library state uni), (MSN most popular in Australia). Dublin Library used PageFlakes to create a portal with feeds to the information you give it.  Georgia Tech Library did a welcome celebration free pizza, speed dating, music, poker, games, DDR, drama and more. (again Brian Mathews)  Didn’t talk about library resources, want them to find the library on their own.  YPRL using tablets for reference.  LC launched The Commons – a project with Flickr – hosting photos and inviting comments and tags.

Let go of control – (used the warning sign generator). If we don’t, we could lose both users and staff.  What stories are these libraries telling?   Showed signs banning phones – we should be banning the more concerning bad behaviour, not the technology.  Things we do can now go around the world – with a phone and a quick picture, then to Flickr and a blog and its publicised wider than your local library. PLCMC – Rules for the Loft – Respect yourself, respect others, respect the space.  Casey and Stephens – understand the people who are breaking the rules (Transparency column).  Walk through the library with users eyes – a teen even.

Be visible – Wyoming mud flap girl – caused controversy but was aimed at getting truckers in to borrow their audio books. Laptop Librarian – offers assistance in the dining hall. Librarian visits Panera cafe and offers library service, signs up members etc, answers questions.

“Cluetrain Manifesto” published in 1999, but foretold the advent of social networking. We can rally together online, make changes together online, share and discuss content online.  Cluetrain says Markets are conversations, Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy – and can go around the chain of command, get information out to people – ie. hacks to DRM.  Libraries can now communicate directly with teir users. Web is a little bit broken – hyperlinked organisation can be the same thing. Learn who to go around to get things done.

Organisational Chart – the hyperlinked library is more team based (although still need leadership), but it is focussed around the user, not a pyramid.

Technology is just a tool it is not going to save your library.  We need to understand technolust and should not be putting resources into things are users don’t want or will not use.

Transparency: technology storm – ie. locked down library website, technology plans without staff buy-in, siege mentality due to concerns about privacy, security etc – NO LONGER FLIES!

People want to talk to each other – open and honest conversations, open and honest decisions, speaking in a human voice.  Conversations among human beings sound human- we recognise PR speak. Make the library as flat as possible – Darien Library circ staff are blogging and buying for the collection – they know what the users are borrowing and requesting – even sending them to the Book Expo.  Going to the field – visit the front lines, examine different staffing models, develop big picture understanding (management). SJCPL has 30 bloggers contributing content to their blog, AADL website is blog based, State Librarian of Kansas is blogging her travels around her state.  Outside eg. Chief of Police in Nebraska is blogging – talking about crime, but in a human way and responding to comments, having a conversation.

Most important – Say Yes!

The Library tell stories:
Look for stories about the library and also give your users the chance to tell their stories. Gwinnett Library “Rock the Shelves 2005″ on Flickr. National Library photos on Flickr. Storypalooza – make a video about the library and reading, put the video on the library website. (Gail Borden Library).
“Participatory Culutre” – Jenkin quote “consumers are transformed into participants”. Ohio Uni library tour podcasts, done by librarian and another by a student. Hennenpin County Book Space.

The Library is user driven:
Get out of the users way – don’t create problems.   Karen Schneider – The user is not broken. Our systems are a little bit broken when it comes to engaging the user. They want the information in the easiest way possible.  User driven service is user-centred, can involve the users, ask them what they want (link on website – prizes offered.  Listen to your users and to your front-line staff – they know the story of the library.  5 Factors to Consider – does it place a barrier between the user and the service, is it born from complaints from librarians or users, does it add more rules, does it make more work for the user or the librarian, does it involve damage control begin you even begin? eg. SJCPL Subject wiki – public can’t edit but can sugest. Biz Wiki – Ohio U.

Engage your users: Facebook search box – UIUC and Hennepin. Comments on the catalogue (Hennepin) and also Book Space.

Let them drive, let them participate, let them create.  Amazon now has user generated video reviews. Competitions on your social networking space.  Pew Internet study showed that 57% of US teens that created content online. Rest don’t have the technology at home to be able to do this. Might be well serving our users to come and create content to put online.  ie. podcasting station, place to blog etc.  AADL Tag Cloud shows the most popular searches on their catalogue. Hennepin County – images of reading Harry Potter.  Privacy concerns allayed by agreeing to terms of use and having it as opt-in.

Library uses trends as opportunities: social network federation – networks will be converging, be able to talk between networks – may come from one of the social networks or from a third party. Choosing among trends: good signs are that everyone is doing it, its being asked for, most importantly its fun!
Trendspotting – hand out current magazines and ask staff to look for trends that we may be able to tap into.  Our jobs are changing – both in content and in title.  Trend: citizen journalism – mobile phones and blogs can spread news which in turn can change everything.  Challenge of how these tools are challenging privacy, reputation and more. There are legal implications which are still being explored.  We can be educators in how to deal with our online presence – if its out there.  Google your library or chedck Technorati to find conversations about your library that you may not know is happening. Open source software is a trend, but its free as in kittens,not free as in beer – need resources to adapt it and keep it going.  Emerging Tech Group – group of staff who regularly meet to discuss new tech and how it may be used in the library (use a blog for the group).  Check out the books he recommends on the slides.  Are we failing to innovate because of fear. (Kathy Sierra)

The Library has presence: library is out in spaces where we might not expect it to be. Buckland quote “There is much greater opportunity to bring service to potential users wherever they may be”.  YouTube video puts the library out where people may see it.  Use profiles on social networking sites to give more background – make it a miniature website which then links back to your library website.  Google SMS service – text a message to Google.  Libraries using twitter to do current awareness on book titles, events etc, then has RSS feed which you can add to your website.

Library learns, plays and innovates.  Learning should be part of staff development, throughout the staff structure. Everyone should be experimenting with new technology. Well trained staff are a great marketing tool for your users.  Get sandboxes for staff, both virtual spaces and physical – where you bring the gadgets in for staff to play with. Best thing to do for staff is getting them set up with an RSS reader.

Discover and experience the new tools: Learning 2.0 program – can be scaled and adapted for users. (offer it for users?). Check out Hey Jude’s blog on learning 2.0 and schools.  Second Life – shopping, events and a library presence – what does it mean for libraries?  We are still finding out.  Ning – do it yourself social networking site – users get blogs, forums etc. Golden rule of innovation – say YES – encourage people to play.

Encourage the heart – we get into libraries because we care.

The Library knows me – personalisation is the big trend coming – other sites have been doing it for years and users will come to expect it from libraries.
The Library is human – use Flickr to show this.  “Bring your heart with you to work”. (David Warlick)
Throw out the culture of perfect – trial and error is OK, it might not work but that’s OK too, there are still thing learned.
Open Libraries – control fades, communication is up and down.
Create a culture of trust – trust your users, trust each other.

Everything we have talked about today is about a cultural shift, not just shiny new toys.  To move forward, ground them in the mission of your library and your long term plans.  Be selective, choose the tools that work best for your library and your user, use evidence to decide which ones.  Be sure to balance innovation with ROI.  The next big step is how we evaluate these Web 2.0 tools in our libraries.

Five things you can do now:
Be a trendspotter – Form an Emerging Tech Group – Try Learning 2.0 – Create a What’s New blog – Explore presence (ways in which you can put your library out in social networks).

IMPORTANT:
Learn to learn.
Adapt to change.
Scan the horizon.

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I’ve been thinking about this for quite a couple of months, probably since I started getting queries from other librarians about virtual services after doing my study tour. Its been further churning away in the back of my mind since not long before the VALA conference, as besides the showcase session I did there, I have another 3 presentations coming up on Libraries and Web 2.0 – one of them a day long workshop!

So how did I come to get these ‘gigs’ – what makes me the expert?

In my case its a combination of things. First off, I know a bit about Web 2.0 and libraries. After all, I have been reading about, immersing myself in it and blogging about it for over 2 years. Which is more than most people in libraries. So my expert status comes from having a degree more knowledge than my audience.

But there are many librarians who know more than me on this subject, so what else is there? Another important consideration is geography. Two of the upcoming presentations are in Melbourne, the city I live in. Always easier to get a local – cheaper too.

However, the workshop I am doing is in Sydney – so that limits geography a little. I say a little, because there are some great Library 2.0 experts in the US – I read their blogs regularly – but again there are limits to what people and organisations will spend, especially if expertise can be found more locally. (and Sydney is only an hour’s flight away).

So, I know a little more than my potential audience, I have geography on my side – the more local the better. Then there is another issue altogether. Availability. The Sydney thing again – I was not the first person asked. From what I can gather, I was at least the fifth person asked (if not further down the list than that). So even considering all that’s come before, you have to be willing and available to be that expert.

Now that’s a personal decision. I don’t know why the others asked before me didn’t take up the invitation – could be many reasons: time, priorities, not interested, etc, etc – it doesn’t matter really. The opportunity came to me and I decided to take it – which makes me the expert in this particular situation, regardless of how far down the list I was.

And how did my name come up to be asked (even down the list) – somebody was kind enough to recommend me. I don’t know who, but I thank them for this opportunity.

Its been an interesting journey already this year for me, as I have never considered myself to be a public speaker – in fact the only other presentation I did before all this was at a conference in 1999 and I was so nervous – got through it by will alone I’m sure. But I have done 2 presentations since my study tour, (and 1 before) with 3 still to go and I am getting more confident each time. Maybe its because I am older, know my stuff a bit better, know myself a lot better and have a real passion for the subject. Maybe I’m just a late bloomer.

Whatever it is, I think it finds its roots in something that Kathryn at Librarians Matter blogged on not long ago in “My raucous week of putting my meat in the game” – its about putting yourself out there. I have been blogging about these things for going on 3 years, have been initiating them in my library and have been encouraging others to look at them for their libraries. I haven’t been worried about putting my name to any of this, but neither have I been seeking anything, except the chance to share my experience.

So what makes an expert? Someone who has learnt more than most about a subject dear to them (its easier when you have a passion for it), in a good location, who’s available, recommended and putting themselves out there.

But an expert is not what I planned to be – all I planned to be was a librarian loving what she is doing – which happens to be Web 2.0 and Libraries. If people want to hear what I have to say – then I am happy to go and share that with them – not for my benefit, but for theirs. I have learnt a lot from other people’s experiences, so its only fair that others may be able to learn from mine.