Lucius Interview

Lucius Interview

This is a nice interview 🙂 Michelle showed me this band and they are fantastic!

Royals

I love this song even though it’s complete pop. Why? I don’t know, I think it has to do with the hand snaps/claps, and the call and response, and the understated emotion, it doesn’t seem forced or overly excited.

AADL Takes the Cake

In the thesaurus of my mind I now have the descriptor: Ann Arbor District Library USE FOR Library 2.0. If you want to see 2.0 working for library users then you must visit aadl.org. And no wonder: the lead developer of the site was John Blyberg, an authority on the use of social software in libraries and the author of blyberg.net. The current developer is Edward Vielmetti, author of the Superpatron blog.

The 2.0 features of AADL are not random, hidden, isolated or inscrutable. They all exemplify librarianship in action. Meaning, they bring the librarian’s expertise of selection, evaluation and instruction right to the desktop of the user. The AADL has no less than 16 blogs (!) that highlight the recommended use for and audience of items and events in the library. Much more useful than RSS feeds of new materials and checked out materials, these blogs focus on the content of materials. For example, the Magazine Blog briefly describes some interesting articles, features or topics of a magazine and recommends it and others like it in the collection. The Research Blog reviews resources useful for facilitating research such as health books, dictionaries, exam studying guides, and back to school materials. Particularly interesting is the Developer’s Blog that deals with technology-related events, information and issues. This is a great resource for people looking to learn about computers, design and programs. The list goes on, but the point is that the blogging is not just prolific, its purposeful.

A great feature is the RSS feeds list, which basically allows users to view the content of the blogs and webpages according to subject interest, and audience. If I don’t want to wade through 16 blogs, I can go to “RSS feeds”, click on “Adults” and view only material pertinent to adults. It is a fantastic feature, making the content accessible, organized, and user-specific – sound like library values? Darn tooting right.

Their catalog is a 2.0 phenomenon. There are tags, reviews, an integrated Book Blog, a virtual card catalog (!) and a “Users who checked out this item also checked out…” section. It’s like a mini-non-profit-community-Amazon!!!!! I’ve already started packing for Michigan. 

But again, beyond the variety its the usability and the total integration with the AADL system and community that makes the features amazing. For example, the tags and reviews for each item are AADL user-oriented. There is no third party to sign up with, all you need is an AADL library card number to log in and you can start sharing with the community by adding to the catalog. It makes catalog searching dynamic because you can add to the system and use other people’s tags to navigate the system. For example tags and reviews are categorized under: Top ten, ten most recent, ten random. Each catalog item is also linked to a virtual card, as in the old card catalogs, that users can “write” on. So cool! Very pretty too, but not as integrated with the catalog as tags. 

As a final nod, I’ll mention that AADL uses Twitter to provide news of events 30 min before start time. This is a very narrow and appropriate use of Twitter in the library, exploiting the software’s biggest strength (real time updates) for optimal usability.

With so much to offer, kudos to AADL for making it all easy to find. Click on “Services” and you find a list of features under “Using the Website.” Furthermore, features are integrated into other facets of the website when appropriate: the Book Blog with the catalog, the Community Blog with the Services page. It brings the tools for evaluation, consideration and motivation right to the user. A job well done.

Tweet this? Waubonsee College Library is All over Twitter

The Todd Library at Waubonsee College is using a Twitter feed on its homepage that automatically updates when books are checked out, and at the end of the day it updates on how many meters of paper were used in the electronic resources room (usually 0). Users can recommend books on Twitter  right from the catalog and many of the staff have a Twitter feed showing on their contact page. Holy diversionary tactics, Batman!

Being cynical, I was not at all impressed with these Twitter features, even though they were featured positively in Michael Stephens’ blog. But I was curious. Why would I, whilst browsing the catalog, recommend a book on Twitter that I have not read yet? Why would I use Twitter to recommend a book? What is twitter? The last is a particularly valid question, and the answer is that Twitter is a social software utility that asks one question: What are you doing? to which you must type an answer in less than 140 words. As far as I can tell, you can do direct messages as well as receive replies, so it is sort of like IM. Anyway, I signed up for it just to see what would happen when I clicked “Tweet This!” in the catalogue. Well, I’ll be darned if it didn’t just submit a message to my Twitter saying “I recommend (insert book citation).” I didn’t get to justify my recommendation or add any personal notes, nor did it have any impact on the catalog itself. I’m not sure how valuable this is to supporting research or interaction with the library and its community. 

And then, Waubonsee College “followed” me, kind of like adding me as a friend in Facebook. Well, I guess if they can follow what people are recommending in the library, then it might be useful to the librarians. Which in the end, could conceivably have an impact on users eventually because maybe they would choose more books on Narnia if I’m always recommending them? Not sure. Since Twitter is so ubiquitous on the website, I think it would be fitting to have a page dedicated to educating users about it, why it’s useful and how to use it. And also, there needs to be a direct link to sign up for it. Social software needs a critical mass to make it function optimally, therefore, people need to be invited and convinced to use it. So far the Waubonsee following is 7 in number.

Moving along. I did find that all 2.0 features were easy to find on the Waubonsee website. Their IM Live Chat service is always available in the top left-hand corner of the site, Google gadgets can be found through a link on the homepage, and their New Materials RSS feed and Featured Resources blog can be found on the menu heading “What’s New.” My favorite 2.0 feature they offer is the set of Todd Library-customized Google gadgets. I would definitely use these as a student of Waubonsee because the widgets integrate the library search functionality into my main search engine. These widgets are perhaps not as sophisticated as LibX, but they are still useful and don’t require any new technological skills. 

The ‘blog’, however, is another story. It is not a blog. There is nowhere to post comments (!), and there are no lists of tags or categories to browse. I’m not sure why, perhaps they are so Twitter-biased that blogs seem rather passe and unwieldy. But I think that if you are going to have a blog, have a blog. Presenting something as a blog without the usual functionalities of one discourages use and participation because it quashes people’s expectations. 

Finally, every item in the catalog features tags from LibraryThing.com, and also a link to Google Books. But these features have not been totally integrated into the system since users cannot sign in directly to LibraryThing.com to create their own tags (which is the case in the SPL catalog), nor can they continue searching in Google Books with the functionality of a designated Find It feature (which is the case at Harvard). 

Waubonsee just needs to take their 2.0 features one step further to help connect their users. Otherwise, they’re just singing to the birds.

All the bells and whistles are mute (and moot)

Perhaps I’m slow. But it has taken me some time to figure out that the main content area of the University of Winnipeg’s Library homepage is actually from its blog. Other 2.0 features are scattered throughout the site – I happened upon flickr, IM, Library Toolbar, and Library Guide with 2.0 applications provided by a company called Springshare. These offerings appeared quite random and awkwardly related to the library’s services.  

But before I get carried away, I want to draw attention to the RSS feed of new books added to the collection. The cool part is that you can subscribe to all subjects or just to the subjects that interest you. I would enjoy this feed, and I think it would be useful and interesting for both students and teachers. This feature is integrated into the homepage so it is obvious and recognizable. 

This site has a blog, but you wouldn’t know it because it isn’t called one, instead it is called “Library News.” The blog is updated when notable items are added to the collection or features to the website. You can get an RSS feed to it, but I’m wondering why anyone would. It isn’t updated that frequently, and it is part of the homepage already so, if there is news I would see it. 

The photos of the library used in the Virtual Tour of the Library are available on flickr to browse and in slideshow format. However, the only reason I know this is because in the right hand margin of the Information Literacy page there is an animated icon advertising the flickr Library Pictures and Tour. No mention of flickr on the Tour page, however. This is what I mean by awkward – the feature is there but it’s not there as in: visible, logically related to page content and called by a name that makes it recognizable. Anyway, after finding the UWinnipeg library flickr slideshow I was disgruntled – there is no text or audio, rhyme or reason for it other than to look at pictures of the library. Now why would I do that if I was a student at UWinnipeg? I shall puzzle no more. A podcast or vodcast would be a much better and more informative  meduim for a tour. 

Live Help! is a bit of an exception to the awkward rule. On the Live Help! page there are icons directing users to the service and how to sign up for it. However, it is not immediately obvious, but one soon discovers that there is a difference between the Ask a Question service and Live Help! Almost every page features Ask a Question, but it is tricky to find Live Help! icons to click on. For example, it is not integrated with the library catalog interface where it might be very useful to students. 

I also serendipitously stumbled upon the Library Toolbar which is UWinnipeg’s version of LibX.  As I said before in relation to Harvard, I would definitely use this feature. Again, if I could find it. In general, for discovering all that it has to offer in 2.0, the UWinnipeg’s choice of menu headings is not helpful, nor is the sitemap. 

The final mention here is the Library Guide which I just could not figure out. Why does it have social utilities? The interface is well organized but it isn’t clear why I would comment on the guide or share a page of it on facebook. There is a lot of helpful content, so I would definitely appreciate the Guide, but I am not sure about it’s applicability to social networking and sharing. 

At least I got my bite back.

Harvard’s plebeian cousin has high class social software

Excuse me while I pick myself of the floor. Ahem. I know I’m supposed to be cynical but…well it’s just so difficult when the New York Public Library is so good. I did, er, I mean… I could spend all day on the NYPL website reading their blogs, listening to their podcasts and vodcasts, and taking in all of the events they offer. It really is amazing. Notice that I didn’t say creating user reviews, playing with tag clouds or sharing catalog items – they don’t have those. Like their cousin Harvard, they have been quite selective but they have not been conservative with the choices they have made – each feature is pushed to its utmost level of utility and content. 

For example, their facebook profile, mainly targeted to teens, has a calendar of events, a blog RSS feed, an interactive map of NYPL locations, a sidebar of current exhibitions, a YouTube box featuring their Treasures of the NYPL collection, a link to NYPL on iTunes, a mini-feed of news updates, and a link to online reference service. Okay, breathe. This is essentially the NYPL website in the form of a facebook profile, transformed into something completely interactive. I am someone who, for one reason or another, avoids facebook like the plague, but even I would be a friend of the NYPL.

They have used vodcasts to mount their Treasures of the NYPL Video Series featuring curators and librarians speaking about aspects of the NYPL collection. The topics are wide ranging from the Harlem Renaissance to Menus and Cookbooks. This is an incredible treat for users without direct access to the library (for example people who live in BC, Canada!). It introduces users to the library’s vast holdings, and all that it has to offer. 

Their blogs are: Blogging @ NYPL and NYPL Labs. These are both interesting to the general user, but the NYPL Labs has a special focus on professionally related issues, using library jargon and focusing on “the job,” and is therefore particularly valuable to the fellow librarian. Their recent posts on Stat of the Week are really interesting. It is exciting that NYPL is sharing their website-building project and making it an open process. How much more integral to the library’s mission and services can social software be, than being about building the library’s user-interface? 

Teen podcasts called Turn It Up @ the Library: NYC Teens Talk Outloud  is another feature that I was mesmerized by – beautifully edited and thoughtful clips of kids talking about issues ranging from racism to sexuality, politics, censorship and clothes. Wow. Talk about serving the community. Get it? “Talk”… This is a true community building project that makes the library an important site of discovery, critical thinking and problem solving for youth. 

Finally, the NYPL’s page in iTunes U is another way for users to interact with the library’s collections, communities and events. You can download videos and podcasts targeted to a diversity of users. 

All of these features are easy to find, with many different access points throughout the website – if you’re on the NYPL website you are sure to discover all of them, and you are sure to use them. The design of these features is so attractive, so thoughtful and so full of quality content that you will not want to ignore them, or question their existence. Cynicism melts in the face of such slick software.

B League Social Software for an Ivy League school

I thought to myself: Harvard sets the standard in academia, so just imagine its library website teaming with Library 2.0! Ho, ho, the bar is relatively low. 

The most obvious use of social software at HUL is the widget-slash-mashup LibX, which is really well explained on the HUL website. There is a lot packed into this one application, it is easy to use and it facilitates linking material found on the web with Harvard-stamped materials including books and e-resources. I would definitely use this feature in my research if I was a member of HU. 

The only other mentionable is the “Harvard’s Google book Search” which is not integrated with the library catalog, but is just Google Books with a Find It @ Harvard link. It is not quite a mashup but offers an alternative to searching the catalog directly. However, if I had LibX then this feature would be redundant.

So. There it is. Harvard is still tethered to the “Web 1.0” idiom. For example, their library publication Library Notes for library staff is not a blog but akin to an online journal. I can think of some reasons for this extremely selective interest in social software. Firstly: the quality of content on blogs cannot be controlled tightly – the flow of information is two-ways. This would pose a major problem to Harvard’s image maintenance, plus it is more distinguished to publish a journal than a blog because not just anybody can do the former. Secondly, it is not obvious that many 2.0 features, like sharing on facebook and flickr, or tagging, would enhance “Harvard Library’s position as a premier research institution” (as touted on the About page). Traditional research thrives on traditional library indexing, thank you very much. 

However, it is evident that the low score on Library 2.0 is not a symptom of Harvard Libraries turning a blind eye. It seems that, rather, they are being selective and conservative, as befits their reputation.

How to sleep less in Seattle: use SPL website

 

Okay, that’s the last Sleepless in Seattle joke. Now, the SPL website features blogs, mashups, social tagging, RSS feeds, podcasts, and vodcasts. Sounds like ‘social software’ overload, but I like how the SPL manages to make these features for the most part audience-specific so that it is not overwhelming for users.

For example, they have two blogs: one for teens called  Push to Talk and one that is more adult-oriented called Shelf Talk. These blogs have a good balance of book and other materials reviews, life issues and local events. While the teen blog features RSS feeds as well as the option to join the SPL on Myspace, Facebook and Flickr, the adult blog has only RSS feeds. I like the attention to information literacy on the teen blog, where “how to” RSS is fore-grounded. Both of these blogs are developed with the users in mind and align well with the SPL’s mission to be “tuned in to the people we serve.”

 

Another example of the SPL’s audience-targeting technique is their podcasts and vodcasts – they have teen, general and (interestingly) professional librarian targets. Teens can watch and or listen to readings and library events, general audience members can take video and/or audio tours of the beautiful central branch, and professionals can listen to the 2007 Metropolitan Libraries Conference. The choice between audio and/or video is nice, depending on your preference and use – for example if you want the media for your morning run, then you have the option of audio only. These are one-click, easy to use and informative features that give a lot of bang for no buck.

 

The only catch to the audience specific 2.0 features is that you have to look under the Audiences or Library Collections menu to find them. If you weren’t expecting to find them, then you probably wouldn’t. I experienced this first hand. Having spent an entire summer visiting the SPL, I had NO idea that I could get more connected to the SPL community through blogs and RSS feeds of reading lists. May cynicism may have played a role in this confusion, however, there should be a Services or Media menu where all blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds can be found.

The mashup of Google books with the OPAC is a nice feature for any user, as are the RSS feeds, reviews, and tags associated with the OPAC. The reviews and tags are created through LibraryThing.com, but they are nicely integrated with the OPAC, creating a user presence within the system. An avid social networker- NOT a 2.0 beginner – would also appreciate the aggregate Share and Bookmark widget associated with every OPAC record and blog entry. Patrons can participate in and share OPAC information providing they have passwords to access the applications. 

Overall, I think audience targeting with social software is very effective because the emphasis is on the content rather than the gadget. It shows that the SPL librarians aren’t just barraging patrons with Library 2.0 willy nilly – it’s thoughtful cybrarianship.