tech trends for libraries

and librarians

Today I'm going to talk about blogs and RSS, wikis, and IM (instant messaging).

• what are they?
  
  
• what can they do for you?
  
  
• what can they do for libraries and library patrons?
  
  

[image source]

Remember: you don't need to understand how it works; you just need to know how to use it.
[image source] toaster analogy

• "a frequently updated website, with posts arranged in reverse chronological order, so new entries are always on top." [Rebecca Blood]
  
  
• "stuff and connections" [Joseph Janes in American Libraries]
  
  
• "a species of interactive electronic diary by means of which the unpublishable, untrammeled by editors or the rules of grammar, can communicate their thoughts via the web." [Michael Gorman, ALA President, in Library Journal]
  
  
• read more definitions [from Google]
  
  
• blogs have most of these things: posts & titles, archives, comments, blogroll, categories, permalinks, rss feed, often an about page
  
  

[slightly adapted slide courtesy of Jessamyn West, from Staying Current Using Blogs and RSS: A Program for Everyone]

• RSS is a tool you can use to get updates from all your favorite websites in one handy place via the web or a free application
  
  
• RSS is what makes blogs (and other things with RSS feeds) so popular and easy to use
  
  
• you really don't need to understand RSS in order to use it
  
  
• look for these icons to find sites with RSS feeds
  
  
• learn more [tons of good links]
  
  

[slightly adapted slide courtesy of Jessamyn West, from Staying Current Using Blogs and RSS: A Program for Everyone]

• reading others' blogs: easy, efficient, and fun way to stay up-to-date on the profession
  
  
• writing your own blog: get your ideas out, join in the conversation, get to know librarians all over the country
  
  
• this will make more sense in action, so let's take a look at a popular web-based aggregator, Bloglines sample Bloglines account for PCLS login=pcls@newrambler.net password=parkco RSS is the magic that makes the different blogs feed into the aggregator

So how do you get started?

• Getting Started with RSS Tutorial by Karen Schneider
  
  
• Bloglines for Librarians in Three (and a half) Easy Steps by Joy Weese Moll
  
  
• exploring the biblioblogosphere: dmoz directory of LIS Weblogs, PubSub's Librarian List, get your own blog?
  
  
• more things you can do with RSS: Ten RSS Hacks, Ten Cool Things You Can Do With Webfeeds, things you can do with RSS wiki (currently down but may reappear)
  
  

• book blogs: Darien Library, La Grange Park Library, Waterloo Public Library Book Club
  
  
• library news, programs, etc.: check out this full list of public libraries with blogs
  
  
• forum for library community: the Ann Arbor District Library gets tons of comments on their library news
  
  

[photo by James Pusack--here's a larger version] If you saw Michael Stephens's talk, you heard him talk about the importance of enabling comments--comments are what make it possible for your users to talk to you and for you to reply to them

A wiki allows a group of people to collaboratively develop a Web site with no knowledge of HTML or other markup languages. Anyone can add to or edit content.

Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.

Pros	Cons
Easy to use Web-based Simple syntax Anyone can make changes Free and open source options Flexible and extensible	Disorganized Too open Not enough control Vandalism and spam

Wikis aren't for everyone! If control is really important to you, then a wiki probably isn't the right tool.

[slide courtesy of Meredith Gorran Farkas, queen of all things wiki in library-land. See her Wikis: A Beginner's Look for more links and information.]

[next]

• let you work collaboratively with others & share knowledge: Public Services wiki from Norwich University
  
  
• help you plan your conference schedule: Official(!) ALA 2006, CIL 2006, San Antonio from Radical Reference, ALA 2005
  
  
• put you in touch with other librarians: Library Success Wiki, LISWiki, Library Instruction Wiki
  
  
• add to the collective record of human knowledge: see the Meeteetse Wikipedia entry
  
  

• subject guides: Local History at SJCPL
  
  
• web sites: USCA Gregg-Graniteville Library
  
  
• easily updated staff intranet: Colorado College Tutt Library staff intranet [screenshot courtesy of Steve Lawson]
• reference source?
  
  Wikipedia controversy--importance of information literacy--"there is no such thing as a good source of information!"

IM stands for instant messaging, and it's a way to "talk" instantaneously over the computer with someone across the room, across the country, or across the world.

IM is not like chatrooms!

• AOL Instant Messaging Trends Survey
  • 80 million Americans use IM (27%)
  • 250 million world wide
  • 7 billion messages sent each day
• PEW/Internet
  • How Americans Use IM [pdf]
    • 53 million American adults use instant messaging and its appeal is especially apparent among young adults and technology enthusiasts
  • Teens and Technology [pdf]
    • 75% of online teens and 42% of online adults use instant messaging
    • teens are a traditionally hard-to-connect-to group, making IM reference a valuable service to this often underserved group
    • our users are online; they're IMing, and we should be too

[slightly adapted slide courtesy of Aaron Schmidt, from Having a Phone: IM Reference]

• talk to other departments in the library without having to use the phone
  
  
• get real-time help from colleagues across the country and world
  
  

• get an IM name: if you have a Yahoo! or Gmail e-mail address (or chat directly from Gmail, apparently), you already have an IM screen name; other options are AOL Instant Messanger (probably the most popular) and MSN Messanger
  
  
• you can use IM by downloading a small bit of free software or through a web service. I use one called meebo.com, which is great because you can log in to multiple accounts at once
  
  
• read lots more about IM at the Online Reference section of the Library Success Wiki and grab yourself some IM buddies from the list of Librarians Who IM
  
  

• a way to communicate with young people--"having a phone"
  
  
• another point of access to the library
  
  
• free source for online reference instead of depending on expensive and clunky vendor options
  
  
• examples from Thomas Ford Memorial Library IM Reference service: Iliad, Chopin

Laura Crossett the branch manager of the Meeteetse Branch Library in Park County, Wyoming. She maintains several blogs on her website, The New Rambler.

IM her at theblackmolly (AIM) or lcrossett (Yahoo!), or e-mail her at lcrossett at will dot state dot wy dot us.

Thanks to Meredith Gorran Farkas, Steve Lawson, Aaron Schmidt, Michael Stephens, and Jessamyn West for their contributions, inspiration, and help.

This presentation was created in HTML using CSS, based on a design by Jessamyn West. There was no PowerPoint involved in this presentation except as a nagging bad example. The layout and stylesheet are available to borrow via a share and share alike creative commons license. See source code for details.
slides version | printable version