Blog Archives
Friday Reads – Nothing Edition
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. We are finally going to offer eBooks to our public via OverDrive beginning next week. It only took 18 months from ‘Yes we want it’ to ‘It’s ready to go’. That took a little too long for my liking but it was above my pay grade and I wasn’t involved.
Now that a launch is imminent I have become intimately involved with the process. I have visited (or will visit soon) all of our libraries in an effort to raise the staff’s comfort level with OverDrive. It’s supplemental to the training they provided. I think/hope it has helped the people who have come to the sessions I’ve hosted.
I’ve learned a lot about how this service will work and hopefully will be ready to fulfill part of my new responsibility (support for staff and public for OD). I’m not really looking forward to this new aspect of my job but someone has to do it. I’m not the only person doing the support. We’ve got people at each library who should be able to handle easy questions so hopefully I will only get the tough ones. We will see. Wish us luck.
One thing I like about visiting all of our libraries is seeing everyone. I like just about everyone in my library system so getting out and visiting the branches is always fun. I get to hang out with people I rarely get to see and I enjoy that. I also get mileage reimbursement so that takes the edge off driving all over the county.
Do I have anything for you to read this week? Since I missed last week I should but honestly I’ve been so busy with OverDrive (and other stuff) that I haven’t had much chance to read and process anything. My Google Reader is overflowing and I know there have been lots of really interesting things going on. I just haven’t sat still for the last two weeks and I probably won’t for the next few weeks either. Plus I’m totally hooked on the Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin so when I do get a chance to relax I’m reading that. Maybe next week…
Week 10- Tags/Social Bookmarking
I’m a fan. We set up a delicious account for the branch right before the move from IN to TW. It was a way for us to access our favorites while we were during the time we were closed and traveling about the county helping out at other branches. We’ve kept the account ‘fairly’ active although I don’t update it as much as I’d like. We try to keep it small and link to portals instead of specific pages within a site. The thought is: “We’re librarians, we can find the information, just give us the search screen.” It seems to work.
We experimented with the bundeling option but decided we liked the tag cloud better than a more organized list. For us it just works better. The reason is because our tags are broad descriptors and we don’t use that many of them.
I think using a site like delicious would be a great way to create pathfinders/annotated bibliographies of websites for our patrons. It could be used in addition to the list of sites we post on our main site. It’s flexible and can be kept up-to-date by staff at each branch. Each branch can make their delicious account relevant to their community. I know that some people may say, “Why put my favorites on line? I can access them on the computer at work.” That’s fair. But I don’t think reference has to stop at the door of the library. If we do a good job of creating an online locally themed delicious account it will be something the community will use often. It could be one of the first places people go for an organized roster of local information. The library is the perfect for this. We know our community, we know good sources, we can organize.
Week 9 – Social Networking
For week 9 in our training we discussed Social Networking sites. What is there really to add? I’ve had a Facebook profile for a while now and at first I really enjoyed logging on and trying to find old friends that I’ve lost touch with. Then I got swamped with requests from people I haven’t even thought about in 15 years! I had no idea I was so popular.
Seriously, I think Facebook and other networking sites are a good way to reconnect with people. Once success I’ve had with Facebook is that I’ve gotten to know my cousin and his wife much better. I rarely had a reason to keep in touch with them before and now I realize that we have much more in common than I thought.
I don’t participate in it as much now because I just don’t feel like checking in. I’ll post things every so often just so the people I’m ‘friends’ with don’t think I’ve fallen off the planet.
Social networks aren’t for everyone…you know who you are. I think there is a certain level of effort you have to make to enjoy them. You can’t just set up an account and leave it alone. If you really want to enjoy the network you have to be willing to put in some time and try to connect with the people out there.
Do I see a way libraries can use Facebook? I think so but it isn’t an easy thing to do…well. What would be the benefit of setting up a social network profile? What could our users get from there that they can’t get from our website? A good example of a library Facebook page is the Topeka & Shawnee County Libray. (They haven’t updated it in a few weeks though) Roanoke City library is doing a good job of using their Facebook page to advertise upcoming events and highlight them once they are done. Hurray Roanoke!
Do I like social networking sites? Yes. Do I think my library should use them? I don’t know.
Week 7 – Wikis
For collaboration it doesn’t get much easier. We’ve been using a wiki at work for a while. We have used it to post all of the lesson plans and accompanying files for all of our computer classes. (I actually added some filesand updated some others this morning…woohoo!) There are many other things we are dong with our internal wiki. It’s a great way to share stuff.
After working with our staff wiki and pbwiki I am really impressed by how easy pbwiki is.
The uses for a wiki in library land are many and it really depends on what you need to do.
I wish wikis were around when I was in school.
View From Desk
This is my post for week 6 – Photos.
I must admit that I am a big fan of photo sharing sites. I been using Flickr for a few months now and really enjoy the flexibility it offers. I can upload pictures from my computer and my phone. I can limit who I want to see my pictures. I can even post to my blog right from there too (I’m doing that now).
I also use twitpic to share pictures via twitter and momentile to share pictures (although I’m still unsure what purpose that site has, it’s still kinda neat).
Let’s face it, people like pictures. People like to take pictures, look at pictures and share pictures. Sites like flickr serve this need for people very well. I will probably continue to use flickr (or a similar site) for many years to come because I have a lot of pictures to take.
Week 5 – Podcasting
Podcasting is something I have limited experience with. My wife and I have set up some podcasts for our kids in iTunes (mostly They Might Be Giants Friday Night Podcasts for kids, some Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer). I have listened to some very interesting lectures on the SirsiDynix Institute site and have viewed some interesting lectures by R. David Lankes. I have enjoyed them all and one day maybe I’ll make my own but for now I’m happy to just watch.
I think the library could use this to really extend the reach of our programs and storytimes. Because library events are generally only happen once the people who are unable to attend miss them. By recording and making these events available online more people will be able to see them.
Don’t we want people to see the things we do?
Many people who have completed this section of the training have very good ideas that would make great library podcasts. I’m all for anything that gets our library out there and showcases the talented people that work here.
There are many public libraries doing podcasts now (here’s a list). Can we? Please?
Helping
This week was the first ‘catch up’ week of our library training. A colleague and I have been available in the lab at my library yesterday and today to assist anyone. We also had the lab at two of our other libraries open during the week. While we haven’t had an abundance of people looking for help the people we did were very appreciative and I have really enjoyed helping them.
The things we are covering are no’t terribly difficult but sometimes you need a person next to you explaining how something works to really get it. I know I have benefited greatly from the advice and assistance people have given me when I’ve been confused. So it’s been nice to help other members of my library system with their questions. I just hope they don’t think that the ‘catch up’ weeks are the only time they can ask questions. I am always available to answer questions.
Week 4 – Twitter/Play
This is week 4 and for this week everyone has the option of exploring twitter and/or catching up on the previous week’s exercises.
I’ve been using twitter for a few months and enjoy it. I was one of the many people who panned the service as narcissistic and pointless until I actually tried it. I’ve found that it is useful, informative and (dare I say it?) fun.
I use it more for a news service/rss reader than for broadcasting the minutiae of my life. The trick I’ve found is to follow interesting people and websites. There are many librarians I follow, a few technology sites, local news, and any of my friends that have signed up.
I also use it to pass along interesting information to the people who follow me. If I find an interesting article somewhere I’ll post a link to it on my twitter account and hopefully someone will find it useful. The things I post don’t really warrant a blog post but are things I want to tell others about.
It definately isn’t for everyone, but what is? The value of twitter for me is the ability to connect with and learn from other librarians, and see what my friends find interesting.
On to playing! I’ll be in the lab here on Wednesday and Thursday if anyone needs any assistance with the things we’ve covered so far.
Week 2 – Blogs
The second week of traing at the library is blogs. We have done what so many other library systems have done and are using blogs as a way to track the progress of our staff during the 2.0 training. It seems to be working. I’ve enjoyed reading all of the blogs everyone at my library has done so far. There are some good ones and some that I’m not-so-sure about but they all reflect the personality of the person writing them. So I hope everyone will continue to be as enthusiastic in week 12 as they are now.
Blogs are one of the really interesting aspects of the whole ’2.0 thing’ for me. They enable just about anyone to publish just about anything to the web. This can be good and it can be bad. It is good because some people who may not otherwise be able to express their views and opinions now have the opportunity to do so for little or no cost. Some of these people do a very good job of it and have created very good blogs that they should be proud of. This can be bad for the same reason. If anyone can create a blog to express their views and opinions there are going to be a lot of blogs out there that are crass and less than noteworthy. This is the price we pay. The better blogs will gain traction and followers and the poorer ones will not stick around too long.
For anyone who wants to take this seriously and produce a good blog here is a list of people to read, get some ideas and learn some of the best blogging practices:
- Chris Brogan: www.chrisbrogan.com
- Brogan is one of a handful of social network gurus around that has built a solid reputation as someone who takes this stuff seriously and is using his skills to advise “businesses, organizations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.”
- David Lee King: www.davidleeking.com
- King is the Digital Branch & Services Manager for the Topeka and Shawnee Public Library in Kansas. His blog covers loads of library and technology related stuff. If you are interested in reading a good writer write about libraries you can’t go wrong here.
- R. David Lankes: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/blog/
- Lankes is an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. He has some very interesting ideas about the future of libraries and is worth spending some time with.
- Michael Stephens: www.tametheweb.com
- No list of blogs and librarians would be complete without mentioning Michael Stephens. This guy is everywhere! He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. He is very informed about libraries and has lots of good ideas about how they should function.
- Brian Herzog: www.swissarmylibrarian.net
- Herzog is one of my favorite librarian bloggers because he is a reference librarian working at a public library in MA. I feel that I can relate to his stuff a little more than the others…but that’s just me.
Well, I hope this helps someone.
