Guinness Archive framework– digitisations, dissemination of information, types of users and their needs, accessibility to information, intellectual property, cataloguing prioritisation and copyright.

Background: was founded on New Year’s Eve 1759, by a young brewer signed a 9000 year lease. It is brewed in 50 countries worldwide and enjoyed in over 150 countries world wide. It uses its heritage to promote itself. Guinness has a well-resourced archive which is well used in marketing. Its the only corporate archive open to the public in Ireland. They have barley grains from Tutankhamen’s tomb.

The interior of the Storehouse is in the shape of a glass of Guinness and the facility attracts 1 million visitors each year. It is the fourth largest brand experience in the world. The Storehouse is a brand experience, not just a heritage experience.

Advertising digitisation project:

Involved materials back to 1929 and covered both print and multimedia materials. The items were digitised for mainly marketing, but a side benefit was archiving and preservation. The project can be queried and marketing teams have created new products from the resulting inspiration. $18 million pounds has been made from products created with inspiration from the archive – 30% of new products, began with an idea from the archive.

Genealogy digitisation project:

Guinness holds 20,000 employee records from the 1880s to 2000s. They are very rich in detail and help fill the gaps resulting from the loss of national records during the Irish Civil War. Often had generation of families working in the brewery. Due to the growth in interest in genealogy, they were receiving an increasing number of requests.”Brewery life – trace your Guinness roots”. In house terminals were made available to researchers to access and more recently the records have been made available online.

Data protection:

The records have some information that could have some personal information. They can not publish any records for people still living, or where they don’t know their time of death and they also do not publish rates of pay or medical information.

Archive:

The Storehouse is no longer the only place for this data. The aim however, is that a visit to the centre is the start of a brand experience, not just a one off visit. At the Storehouse, they have a digital project where they have terminals to Facebook or Tweet about their experience of it. Each user gets a unique token with an RFID tag, which helps to enhance the user experience. The visitor provides their contact details and in return they receive a much richer experience. Guinness gets visitor data and the user gets a Guinness visitor only wallpaper which they can use as social currency with their friends – a value exchange.

Website:

25% of visitors attend the website before they come to the Storehouse and 10% book online. To help increase this latter, they provide additional information to help the visitor make the best choices about their visit. They also have a booking form for genealogical research access.

Guinness Stories:

To mark the 250^th anniversary of Guinness and in conjunction with the Irish Government, they resourced residents who had lived on the doorstep of the brewery, to record their stories of their experiences with the brand. The users were able to record and edit it themselves, which considering their average age was in the 70s is quite remarkable.

Visitors to the website are encouraged to add their own stories which then complement the companies own records.

Audio guides are provided free of charge to visitors at the Storehouse, but with the growth of mobile technologies they have now launched a mobile app for iOS, Android and Blackberry in five languages. It provides users with pre-visit, during visit and post-visit content. It also allows them to share their own experiences. The likelihood that visitors will recommend the Storehouse to family and friends is high – making the app sticky helps that process, when visitors go home and share the app, particularly the 360 degree view of the Dublin skyline from the top floor gallery. In future, they will include an augmented reality layer on that view.

Smart Library:

Guinness has local marketing teams in regional areas besides the main team in Dublin. They have used a wide range of tools available for these marketing teams, regardless of their location. Smart Library is available to all marketers or those doing marketing projects on behalf of Guinness. They have uploaded key iconic marketing items and can download low resolution copies for reference. When a high resolution copy is required, they must request it from the archive – thereby ensuring branch protection. All records are well resource with metadata. All marketing campaigns are also uploaded to Smart Library, with metadata, copyright, permissions and more, to enable other marketing teams to reuse or remix the campaign for their own markets.

Guinness 250 Website:

The focus was year long and created a celebration of the past and of the future, built on the foundation of the past. It was aimed at supporting media requests for this important event. As there was no complete published history, the website became a default one, with a wide range of information on a great range of topics about the heritage and development of the organisation. As a result, they were able to digitise a great number of images for inclusion on it. It was password protected and media were given access on confirmation of their credentials. It included both low and high resolution images which could be re-used. Post analysis, they discovered that 2 billion requests had been fulfilled by the site.

Emarketing and Branding:

This form of marketing, is much more immediate and engaging and is requiring a shift in thinking by marketing teams. Dominoes streamed feedback from their customers on billboards in Times Square, both good and bad. They use Facebook to tell stories or did you know, and tell your stories, most often using imaging, to engage with fans of the page. Archive content is being used to spark these entries.

Have a clearly defined mission statement – you have a brand. What is your unique selling point and what are you doing to promote it?

With the decrease in available resources, you need to be project specific, outlining the items which add real value back to the organisation and/or to yours users, so that you can justify the required expenditure.

You need to show the value back to your organisation, using metrics.

Should not operate in silos, but seek collaboration with partners, especially in GLAM sector.

And most of all, have fun with it!

Freak out, geek out or seek out: trends, transformations & change in libraries – David Lee King

New book coming out next year – Face to Face – connecting with users online.

Was at NLS #5, lots of energy and enthusiasm. Saw lots of good ideas there.  Also had lots of staff telling him that they take their ideas back to their libraries and get told NO. Got told a few times that their IT guys are Evil!

Mentioned Grove Library and Community Centre – doing sustainability type things underground. Have movable, comfortable furniture. Don’t have a ref desk, but have staff workstations located around the library as the staff are circulating. They moved shelving and furniture to make room for the community.

Can be a bad place to be freaking out – not good for anybody. Should we be geeking out – as soon as it hits market? No, should be testing out for our users. We need to be seeking out.

Personal technology has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. In libraries, we have online resources, new technologies, new collections and new user expectations, online resources. Gone the way of the past: floppy disks, typewriters, film cameras and watches seem to be on the way out, at least for some.

One big change is we now have competition. Thirty years ago, the only place to get answers or borrow books was the library. Book stores have gotten big and offer many of the same services – they do storytimes, read books, enjoy coffee. Breaks down in the reference question department. If you want something fast – Amazon. They are a big competitor for us.

Not so much competition, but a change that has messed with libraries, is that newspapers are disappearing from print. In US, 120 newspapers have already changed from print to digital. On the Newspaper extinction timeline – it is expected that Australia will no longer have any print newspapers by 2022.

In US, they have rent DVDs from a vending machines on the street. But they don’t have the older titles. Competition for us. E-books, are the same. Overdrive now offers Kindle compatible ebooks now for libraries which maybe helps ease the pressure if we offer it.

Tablets, notebooks and laptops are taking over from desktops. Google has taken over from the ready reference collection. The positive is that it frees us up to answer the deeper questions, that’s if they know to come to us to ask. And then there’s the smart phone – which does everything!  Including making phone calls!

Tech changes in libraries – in the past included fiction, electricity, phone reference, copiers and then in the 1970′s we got our online catalogues and in the 1980′s the PC took off, the 1990′s the internet appears and in 2004 it was Web 2.0. The three biggest destination sights now are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which were created in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Emerging web has changed dramatically and has nothing to do with technology – it is about connecting people. It is real time, decentralised (can visit library on the web, without going to the website), its multimedia (line between newspaper and TV websites are blurring). Every company is a media company – we write articles, create content, pushing out our wares. Emerging web is very mobile – the web is in my pocket – but it should also be that the library is in my pocket. Mobile websites for libraries are a valuable tool – want it to be useful for people who want to do a task quickly – renew, ask a question etc. Emerging web is social, its two way, public with global reach, so need to be careful about what you say – if you can’t say it in person, don’t say it online.

David is Digital Branch Manager, he has a department – IT and a concept – Digital branch. He is a community manager, he scans the horizon, he is executive editor, long range planner, manager, evangelist and he answers the tough questions.

His 3 realities:
1. all services will be physical and digital – not so easy to achieve eg. storytimes
2. we’ll use the web to build unique stuff
3. to some, the digital branch will be their only branch – can place holds and pay to have them mailed out

Content – digital branch has to have things for people to see, do, read etc when they visit. They have catalogue searches on their website as well as their Facebook page. You can subscribe to their blogs by RSS or email. Blogs have photos and info about their blog contributors, so you can focus on the content you enjoy most. Photos they have on Flickr and YouTube are also reposted on their website in their blogs etc.

Community – how do you do community in a digital branch? They have instant messaging reference (using Meebo) and get an answer (if the library is open) – on both their website and embedded in their catalogue. Need to have a front door – that’s dramatic, but every page on the website is a front door, as well as Google, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter are also front doors. We have many digital borders.

Conversation – lots of discussions going on, between staff and users and between users. Conversations on the digital branch include the instant messaging widget, email reference, comments on the blogs (good and bad – which provides opinions and can help you continue the conversation), Facebook comments, Flickr comments, Twitter. Will follow their customers that follow them on Twitter, because they want to focus on their local community. Will celebrate achievements – they sent out a T-shirt to their 1000th follower.

Can have vanity searches for your library, town, postcodes and things like reading etc. Find out what the community is talking about. It gives you an opportunity to step in if you see they’re talking about you, but not talking to you.

Tackle change – ideas to get started thinking about it. A lot of libraries are not seen as relevant in our communities. They go to everyone else, before they come to us and only if they remember. We need to be first. How?
Model the way – you better be doing it first if you expect your staff to be doing it, everyone needs to be on the bus (Jim Collins book – “Good to great” – if you don’t have the right people on the bus, get the wrong ones off and get the right ones on) .

Our websites, our buildings, our services need to be as easy as a light switch to use – so that they don’t have to think about what’s going on – libraries have to stay out of their users way, unless they want to deal with you
Know your patrons – know what they are doing in your buildings, on your PCs, on your website – it can help you with designs and redesigns. It also helps you to know who doesn’t use your library. Find out where your non-users are and then market to them.
Online services have to reflect physical – no “will answer your email within two business days” on your online reference.

If we don’t change, we will die and some libraries in the US are already closing.

As print books slowly disappear and ebooks come to the fore, we will still need libraries, we will still have jobs – our patrons will lead us to where they want us to go.

Finding time – “what do you want me to drop, so that I can do that”. Its not about that, its about changing focus – what is the priority of your library and concentrate on that first, then if there’s time left, you can do other staff. If you can’t, the other stuff will fall to wayside and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Its about the user ultimately and they are online – so we need to be there.

Question: Improvement in catalogue, that negates the need to have instant messaging in catalogue. They are getting a new OPAC, which will meet that. There are overlays, and plugins that can be used to improve catalogue response.

Tablets and roving reference experience. Staff are answering a lot of questions when they are roving around, working well.

New website – can we get immediate content on there. Yes, it is possible, consult with your website provider (small library – Council IT).

Sustainability – what are you doing? Measure use against work input. Have service – personalised reading lists – fill in a form and a librarian will compile a personalised reading list for you, to meet your needs. Wasn’t getting a lot of use, so they re-jigged the form and marketed it and already the response has been good. If it doesn’t improve, they will stop the service.

What is the one next big thing?  Fun – thinks he will be wrong. Google + – just gone public in the last few days. No organisational pages yet, but that will come. Very different to both Twitter and Facebook, so there is definite potential there. Very closely tied to Google Apps, which is potentially a huge change – brings together Facebook, Microsoft and wiki-like content.

His current book: Designing the digital experience.  Website: www.davidleeking.com

Putting IT back in reality – Hamish Curry, Application and Online Learning Manager – State Library of Victoria

Mash-up idea – take photos and put them on top of each, as you rub the them on your  iPhone, you rub down through the years and see the space/place as it was going backwards through time.

Contact: hcurry@slv.vic.gov.au @hamishcurry  slideshare.net/hcurry

Statements heard from people he has spoken to about the SLV: ebooks must be killing libraries, this digital stuff must be making your job hard, guess no-one wants to go the library any more, bet your numbers are down.

Reality – the worst game ever! IT can help augment the experience. Smart phones, tablets are helping to do this. Extend the experience – after this you will look further, online of course. Enhance the engagement – you may tweet your own thoughts and ideas which enhances things.

What breaks assumptions over expectations? How can we get people to come in physically or online, to see for themselves. Seeing is believing, but you have to not only market, but be able to back it up in reality, to participate. They have to also have a social connection, not with the building, but with the people in the building – with people in the library who they believe are more honest and authentic.

Instead, you can offer surprises – offer them something they don’t expect. You need to do things that make your users curious. Give them a chance to discover – so that they end up owning it – even if we miss out on getting the credit. Let them make connections, both to people and to the place.  Learn – check out Happy Planet Index: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/ – number five is learning. So very important to ensure people keep learning. All this will keep people coming back.

Do something unexpected and make it cool, both in the physical and online environments. (I geek the library).

Always offer silence, trustworthiness, answers, quality and Wi-Fi. Quality, means finding the balance between doing it right and do it quickly.

From the community section on SLV website – helps embed them back in with their users.

Digital is not so scary – we are still trying to make the worlds information accessible in our pockets – but has moved from a miniature library in a matchbox, to online – the only difference is that we use mobile devices to access it and the content has been outsourced.

Technology has really shaped learning and literacy. We can talk to anyone at any time. We can work together from anywhere at any time. We can connect with people anywhere, any time. The curriculum has had to change too, but teachers are struggling to keep up with these phenomenal changes, so that they can lead young minds. They are getting on board and librarians have to do so too.

Information has changed, but even though trusted sources are always the best, they are not the first two results on a Google search, where people think they are trusted sources. There is so much learning now available on the web, not just content, but ways of providing learning – eg. Video conferencing. Information scarcity has changed to information complexity. Clay Shirky – “Its not information overload. Its filter failure.” This is what librarians are great at and we need to be able teach everyone.

Khan Academy – www.khanacademy.org – 2500 videos to teach you just about everything. Some good, some bad.

We are answer rich, but question poor. (Susan Greenfield – “Quest for identity in the 21st century.”) Hamish has great admiration for reference librarians who deal with people who have done the search but cant navigate what they found, or find the answer they seek.

University of Sydney has created a great range of engaging resources to help people to search and filter. SLV has done the same with ERGO (http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/). Designed for students, but stats showing that teachers are finding it very valuable.

Hoddle Waddle (http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/explore/student-teacher-resources/hoddle-waddle-education-kit) – program to help students navigate 50 sites in the CBD in a day. Not taken up initially, but once they made most of the content Freemium, bookings have improved and all the resources are being much better used. Teachers are now presenting on the program at conferences. They are now considering offering it as a public program, for cultural visitors to use it. Improvements in progress including mobile contributions using Broadcastr. ARIS is another app which does something similar. As augmented reality becomes more mainstream, there will be even more opportunities to put IT back into reality.

Change involving technology, needs not only the tech, but also a cultural change.

Interaction with inanimate. SLV playing with QR codes – used it in a gallery to see how people
use it. There are also Google Goggles, i-nigma, Red Laser, Photosynth – a 360 degree mapping app.

Risk: Partners and programs – risk is not a dirty word, being risk adverse – makes you slow and inflexible – wont do anything because we could get it wrong, it requires trust of the organisation in their staff, motivation, relationship – always remembering that shift will happen.

If you don’t step in and do it, someone else will – and they not present what you think should be.

Some tools to do this: RSS, Twitter, Google +, Facebook, Yammer. Half of SLV is now on Yammer, after starting with 5 a year ago.

Networks are always changing – online mimics what nature does – new networks develop and old ones die and drop away.

“Use the force, Luke”. – Obi Wan Kenobi. We need to harness the world around us. We want to be able to pull people on site and push them online. Don’t create your own social space, go to where your users are already. Need to occupy multiple spaces to access different audiences.

Sometimes you need to prepackage content and bring it to the fore, to make it easier for people to access and to bring our collections alive.

“The more you learn, the more acutely aware you become of your ignorance.” (Peter Senge – “Fifth discipline”) SLV programs: TedX Melbourne and now happening around the world, but it pulls people in and engaging with you, Personal Learning Network with SLAV teaching teachers and teacher librarians about the online world.

Its not so much I Communication T, but change as the C in ICT. We need libraries to be FUN – not just the physical, but the online as well. Need to know what the drivers are, have to be prepared to play and technology has a role. (Night at the Mitchell Library video).

Video games are changing how things work. They have play, replay and experimentation, they involve risk and reward, they can be integrated experiences and augmented experiences. The only difference between chess and video games is a shift in format – the skills and experience are very similar.

International initiatives – Find the Library at NYPL, National Gaming Day in US Libraries, Freeplay at SLV.

Merge and mirror programs – a fusion between what they experience in one space and are further enhanced in another. Transmedia – can stand alone (eg. Facebook), but can also be linked to draw people to other spaces. Hacks and Library Apps can also be used to enhance experiences.

Data is becoming sexy as people are presenting it differently. eg. Infographics, Library Hack, Open Government Data.
“But problem solving , however necessary, does not produce results. It prevents damage. Exploiting opportunities produces results. ” (Peter Drucker – “The Effective Executive”)

“When people in motion, meet a library in motion, anything is possible” – Director Stockholm Public Library.

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!

Well they don’t muck about!

Like many others out there, I have a vanity search on my name and my blog, using Google Alerts. This arrived in my email today:

Trove Results

So I click on the link, which takes me to the National Library’s Trove search on librarian (check it out). And there, down the bottom right of the screen, under Archived Websites 1996 – Now, is this blog!

This is so cool on so many levels.  Including:

• I am still thrilled that the National Library is archiving my blog
• I am extra thrilled that not only my blog, but all other websites that NLA is archiving can be accessed (along with a whole pile of other great stuff) through Trove

And most importantly:

• It is awesome that the NLA is opening up Trove to search engines like Google for indexing. As a result, how many more people will be accessing NLA collections through search engines, who would not have thought of visiting the library otherwise.

Like I said, awesome!

I am looking forward to hearing what the NLA reports back when they next update us on Trove. But in the meantime, it makes me think that somehow, this is the next inevitable step for libraries with digital collections.

How long before more library collections are opened to the broader Internet like this and what could this mean for our libraries?

Has your library done something like this and how is it working out?

Initially learning Drupal was harder than I thought it would be. We couldn’t get our heads around how it worked, as it was so different to anything we had ever used before. We knew it would be challenging, particularly in choosing Drupal over Joomla, as it was known to be so. However, there were some frustrating moments early on, whilst we struggled with unfamiliar concepts.

Our plans to learn all about Drupal first and then build the website once we had, soon changed as we continued to struggle with the unfamiliar. In the end, we started transfering content over and learnt how to do things as we did so. When we came across something we didn’t understand, we looked for answers, in the books we had, on the Drupal forums, on other websites and on the odd occasion, from our ISP and more often than not, from my husband who has done work with Drupal.

As the new site continued to build, we became more comfortable with everything, the way Drupal was structured, how it all fit together and how to get everything working the way we wanted it to.

Of course, the things we wanted the most, the bling to make it all look lovely and appealing, were the hardest things to get working. It took weeks and trying out different methods and modules before we succeeded with the first of our trilogy of stumbling blocks – the Upcoming Events. Our new books images and events slideshow were the next and once we had the first, the second followed quickly. Our biggest struggle there was working out how Drupal works with images – the answer there: it doesn’t do it very well.

So anyway, it took 22 weeks from installation of Drupal on our web server to the point where we had a website ready for testing. We posted to the existing website, asking for users to check it the new website and provide us with feedback.

Our users were wonderful, happily giving us feedback, all which was constructive, encouraging and reaffirming of what we had built for them. Staff were also supportive and gave us some great suggestions and input. After a few weeks of leaving ourselves open to these responses, we closed down the test site and got ready for the official launch.

In Library Week 2009, we quietly launched our new website, with little fanfare (allowing for Murphy’s law of course) but with great results. We have continued to receive positive feedback from our users and as expected, have continued to refine and tweak the new site. There are still some bugs to be ironed out and there is a continual update process required with Drupal, but its not onerous.

Next step is to add some more features and to get some other staff editing and adding more content to the site. We will also do some more investigation into how the website is being used and by whom.

It’s been a challenge and an awesome learning process, which at times has been so incredibly frustrating, but ultimately very rewarding. Its not been easy, but with the resources we were able to find – print, personal and online, we have done it. A very satisfying result all round.

Off to a cautious beginning in November 08, culminating in the launch in the last week of May 09, my partner in crime and manager at work – Linda and myself have built our new library website, using Drupal – an open source content management system.

First off, some quick explanations.  Drupal is a content management system (CMS) – a software package that enables the user “to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website.” (Drupal 2009)  CMS’s can be used to organise many different types of digital content, but ours was to be used for the library website.  Drupal is also open source, which means the software is free and there are many modules which can be used with it, which have been developed by the programming community around the world.

But let’s start back at the beginning.  Our library website was long past due for an overhaul.  It needed a new look and a bit of content reorganisation.  Some of the dross needed to go and we needed a bit more glam.  The website hadn’t had any more than a minor tweak and small additions since 2005 – a long time in web terms.

We had been looking to use a vendor product which would enable us to have a combined OPAC and website, but unfortunately that didn’t work out as hoped and so we had another look at our options.  We narrowed them down to two, either in-house development using a content management system or purchasing an out of the box CMS.  It was agreed that it would be done in-house and Linda and I began looking at our options for open source CMS’s.

There were many options there also, but again we narrowed our choices down to two – Drupal and Joomla.  Both had a lot going for them – including compatibility with Web 2.0 tools, WYSIWYG functionality and much more. We opted to go with Drupal, mainly because it had a large library user base in the US which we could use for inspiration and help and for the access to local support from our ISP. It didn’t hurt that my husband, a computer programmer was also using it to develop a website.

So having made the decision in November 08, it was time to get started.  We developed a timeline of learning about Drupal, developing the new website and moving the content over.  As with many projects, the plan was revised a few times and although the project never worked the way it was planned in terms of what activities happened when, we were pretty much right on the dot for the timing of it all.

Our next step was to work with our ISP – Vicnet, to get Drupal installed and ready for us to start building the new website.  They were incredibly supportive and helpful throughout the whole process and got us out of a couple of interesting situations which could have been very problematic.  Initially, we had at the software installed on our part of one of their webservers, but when we needed a more current version of PHP to make things happen, it moved to one of their development servers.

And we were off and running.  Problem now was – how do we use this thing?  It was installed for us, we had IP access and log-in details, but very little clue about how to work with this software.  The clue that I did have came from working with the blogging software Word Press, on both my blog and Libraries Interact – thank goodness for that experience alone!

So we did what all clever librarians do in these situations, we looked for resources to help us learn about this wonderful new toy we had to play with. This ended up being mostly a decent book with great instructions on how to do various tasks, a great series of online videos and Drupal forum posts.

That’s enough for this post.  Stay tuned for the next enthralling episode, where we really get down to the nitty gritty of building the website.

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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“After all, if a library’s reach cannot exceed its grasp, then what’s a website for?”
editec
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/

Its a nice little reminder of what the virtual side of libraries is all about and the importance of all the work I do that’s not always so visible.