Which wiki?

After examining several library wikis, I found that the Antioch New England Graduate School's Library Training Wiki struck me as the most effective example.  This wiki presents information for the use of front desk staff members who need to know how to do everything from handling Wi-Fi problems to watering the library plants.  The wiki seems to have some display problems (some pages are too wide on my browser, but others fit neatly on the screen; text sometimes overlaps header lines), but the content is useful and updated regularly. 

This wiki meets at least three of the criteria listed in Johnston’s (2007) article about the circumstances under which wikis are most effective:

1.      Best for groups who know each other already.

2.      Better with clear outcome in mind

3.      Better for documenting consensus than documenting dissenting opinions

I think there are at least two other reasons for this wiki’s success:

1.      The users are contributing to the success and ease of their work and of their co-workers (present and future), both by what they learn as they write and by having a written document for future reference.  This gives workers a personal and visible reward for participating.

2.      Workers are required to participate (see the About page of the wiki).  This may not always be an advantage—in fact, some may argue that it violates the free spirit of wiki collaboration—but it does short-circuit the reluctance of many people to try something new.  Some people may hold back for fear of failure—requiring participation means that failure comes from not trying out the wiki rather than from trying and somehow not getting it “right”.

Group projects such as wikis depend on participants taking ownership of the site content, and usually rely on relatively few participants who are very active and many lurkers and occasional contributors.  Given the small number of people using this library wiki, it makes sense to require everyone to participate. 

Johnston, B. (2007). “When to Use a Wiki.” Online Community Report.

Sharing information and services online: Hennepin County Library's use of social media

The Hennepin County Library (HCL) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a large library system of 41 libraries serving more than one million patrons (Peterson and McGlinn, 2008).  HCL is very active in its use of social media, and is doing an excellent job.  HCL has accounts on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.  They offer an extensive list of RSS feeds, including feeds for library news, events and classes, booklists, subject guides, custom catalog searches, and individual library account information.  The library website includes some interactive features, among them requesting users’ comments on the website and allowing readers’ comments on titles in the catalog.

The readers’ comments are hosted on the readers’ advisory site Bookspace.  Bookspace is an online community of readers that the HCL launched in 2007 to replace their readers’ advisory pages (Peterson & McGlinn, 2008).  In addition to writing comments, users are encouraged to create lists of their favorite books on whatever topic appeals to them and to create their own profiles.  Reader profile pages include all of the readers’ comments and booklists, as well as a thumbnail photo and brief bio submitted by the user.  This online community has been very successful, generating 12,000 reader comments in its first year of operation (Peterson & McGlinn, 2008).  About 90 readers, including HCL librarians, have created profiles on the site. 

Bookspace includes a readers’ advisory blog, and there are several other blogs embedded in the library’s website.  These include the Teens Speak blog, a reference and research blog, and a blog called Freedom Ticket, which offers resources to people recently released from correctional facilities.  In the spirit of personalizing the library experience, readers can change the display colors to any of seven choices on the teen page.  The HCL website also demonstrates HCL’s commitment to training patrons in the use of social media.  The library offers classes on social networking, and provides information on RSS feeds for new users.

HCL’s Facebook page provides news updates, basic information about the library, a few photographs, a page of tweets from HCL’s Twitter account, and a link for catalog searching.  The MySpace page looks as though is not updated nearly as often as Facebook, but offers some useful links for teens.  The YouTube account seems to be used exclusively by children’s librarians, with videos of fingerplays and rhymes for young children, a series on Newbery medal winners, and promotion of the summer reading program.  The Flickr account stores photos of library branches, and a few photos of library programs. 

HCL does a good job of linking communication from one social media site to another.  Their home page includes icons for all five of the social media sites where they have accounts.  HCL uses Facebook and Twitter to promote their new YouTube videos, for example.  These notifications are effective—on February 25, HCL uploaded 12 fingerplay videos to YouTube; on March 7, they released notices on Facebook and Twitter linking to one of the videos.  The linked video had been viewed 73 times by the afternoon of March 7—three to five times more often than 10 of the other 11 videos.  Three days later, the linked video had been viewed 155 times; the other 11 videos uploaded on the same day had been viewed between 15 and 58 times.

HCL also does a good job of noticing and responding to patron comments.  For example, a staff member from HCL made a prompt reply to one patron’s request on Facebook.  In another example, on March 5, a patron complained about the lack of needed materials, and HCL responded with a link to their purchase suggestion page.  Here’s the Twitter conversation:

@hclib Why don't you have any scholarly works on elder futhark? Letting me down for the first time, yo.

@patron tell us more about what are looking for http://t.co/dviB0ll - we listen!

@hclib Wow, somebody's burning the midnight twitter oil.

@hclib And also, I found what I needed through interlibrary loan. You're still the best library I've ever known!

@patron thank you for making our Saturday night!

Although HCL’s use of social media is generally outstanding, it is not perfect.  HCL does sometimes miss an opportunity to continue the conversation with a patron posting on Facebook.  The MySpace page is woefully out of date (the welcome note at the top of the page wishes everyone a ‘Happy 2010’ and there’s a link to ‘Best books of 2007’).  At least one of the links on the RSS subscription page (‘News and search tips for using the Hennepin County Library catalog’) yields only an error message.  The Flickr account for HCL is rather mundane, with seven photos of patrons at library events and 80-some photos of library buildings.  (The Plymouth Library, however—one of the branch libraries—has a display of patron comments about their newly constructed building.  The comments were written on a whiteboard in the library, and then photographed and uploaded to Flickr.  This is a much livelier use of the photo-sharing site.)

HCL has built a strong and consistent brand online by providing quality materials and service and actively responding to patron comments, especially through their home website, Bookspace, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.  They offer a consistent image throughout their social media accounts (except MySpace), using one of three variations of their logo on each account.

   

This newly-promoted social media consultant recommends that HCL

1.      Expand their current use of social media sites.  For example, the Flickr site could include more photos of library events—with links to these photos from after-event announcements on Facebook and Twitter.  This provides a little thrill for patrons who attended the events and lets others know what they missed—all the more incentive to attend the next event.  Librarians outside children’s services might consider using the YouTube account—posting book trailers produced by teens or adults, for example.

2.      Increase linking between tools.  HCL could include more photographs on their Facebook page and link to their Flickr account for those interested in more photos.

3.      Expand the promotion of ongoing library resources as well as events and new creations.  For instance, in conjunction with the Facebook/Twitter updates about new fingerplay videos on YouTube, HCL could include notes featuring the Early Literacy section of Bookspace. 

4.      Add new resources bit by bit rather than in a clump.  Using the 12 new fingerplay videos as an example again, HCL could upload one video every other day over a three-week period instead of putting them all on YouTube in one day.  This would encourage viewers to subscribe to the HCL YouTube account or visit regularly.

5.      Consider whether they wish to continue with the MySpace page.  I recommend that HCL either update the page or retire it.  They should consult patrons and librarians in this decision.  If they decide to update the page, they may wish to recruit young adult service librarians and their teen advisory group to help.

6.      Set goals for expanding their user base…

a.       …among users of social media, by becoming more active in online communities.  HCL could support local non-profit organizations, authors, and performers by ‘liking’ their Facebook pages.  They might generate starter lists of Twitterers on various topics or find useful lists created by others to share with their Twitter followers.  Assisting in the flow of information this way helps online patrons and increases the library’s visibility.

b.      …among patrons who do not yet use social media, by inviting them to join the online community.  HCL could offer more classes on social networking, and promote their various tools inside their libraries (as they may already do).

HCL has the advantage of having a web services staff to guide their online presence (Peterson and McGlinn, 2008), unlike many libraries, but this does not mean that they have the time to do everything they would like to online.  I look forward to future developments at HCL, knowing that it’s much easier to sit back and watch what a library has created and imagine tweaking things here and there than to actually do the work.  It has been very interesting to review the work of an imaginative and energetic staff and their involved patrons—my thanks to Hennepin County Library for the privilege they didn’t even know they were bestowing upon me!

Peterson, G. and McGlinn, S. H. (2008). Building a community of readers: Bookspace. Computers in Libraries 28(4), 6-8, 10-11, 52.

Online library spaces and faces

I think libraries should seriously consider using social networking sites such as MySpace and/or Facebook to create an online presence.  Library patrons who are not only aware of and eager for library events and other services but also diligent about checking the library website will discover information about upcoming events, learn about special services, and search for new title purchases on their own.  The other 99% of library patrons will find out about library services by chance—a flyer about a historical society lecture might catch their attention on the way out of the library, a newspaper article might remind them that they’ve been meaning to take their children to storytime, or a friend might invite them to go to movie night together.  For those patrons who use social networking sites—61% of online adults, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project—the library can be the ‘friend’ who reminds them of movie night, story time, or the latest thriller arriving on the library shelf.

Before taking on a project like this, though, the library staff needs to consider the following questions:

1.      Do you have the staff time to commit to the project?  ‘Social networking’ is a verb, not a noun.  The library’s page needs to be active to be useful.

2.      What social networking sites do your current or potential library patrons use?  If some patrons you hope to reach use MySpace and others use Facebook, for example, will you create two library pages, or choose one site?  Which one, and why?  Quantcast.com estimates that use of MySpace is declining and use of Facebook is increasing.  On the other hand, the same estimates suggest that Latinos use MySpace more than Facebook.  If you’re trying to reach a particular demographic, you need to know where they are.

3.      What are the policies of the site you’re planning to use regarding users’ privacy and intellectual property rights?  Be sure you’re satisfied with the terms of service before signing on.

4.      Does your library already have a social media policy?  Will it need updating to cover your new activities?  If you don’t have a social media policy, consider creating one.  You might use this Policy Tool for Social Media.

5.      What other tools does your library use to communicate with patrons?  Will a social networking account reinforce or complement those other forms of communication, or might it be unnecessary duplication of effort?  How will you coordinate use of different communication methods to best effect?

6.      How will your page be useful to your patrons?  As Meredith Farkas notes in Social Software in Libraries, there’s a big difference between “being where our patrons are and being useful to our patrons where they are” (Farkas, 2007, p. 122).  Will you providing news, sharing stories, asking for suggestions and other feedback, and/or providing a portal to library services (catalog searches or chat with a reference librarian, for example)?  Do you know what your patrons would like you to provide?

7.      What objectives do you hope to accomplish with your new social networking page?  How will you assess the success of your social networking efforts? 

The pace of change in online communities is rapid.  Any decision a library makes about which tools to use will need to be re-evaluated on a regular basis. 

Farkas, M. G. (2007). Social software in libraries. Medford, NJ: Information Today.

The end of an era…or not

In our class readings this week, Erick Schonfeld ("Jump into the Stream"), Nova Spivack

("Welcome to the Stream: The Next Phase of the Web"), and Ken Fromm ("The Real-Time Web: A Primer, Part 1") herald the beginning of a new era, in which information flows past us in a constant stream of small pieces instead of being archived and displayed on extensive web pages updated at much less frequent intervals.  They argue that our attention spans are shortening to match the speed and size of this new conversational flow.  They certainly address some critical differences between the real-time Web and destination websites.  Note, however, that all three do so in lengthy blog posts on dedicated web pages.  If the end of the destination web era means that there is no longer a need for destination web pages, then there should be no need to explain this on such web pages.  The conversation would have already taken place on Twitter, flowed through everyone paying attention, and submerged the remaining islands of fixed web pages in the rising stream.

In fact, though, just as chatty interaction and keeping on top of breaking news appeals to basic human desires, so does more lengthy analysis and discussion.  Humans make sense of the world by putting pieces together to form meaningful patterns.  Dipping into the ongoing stream of information and ideas is not enough—we all need the opportunity to put those pieces together, to respond to what we learn, and to expand our thoughts beyond an immediate response.  That’s why we write blog posts, articles, and books in addition to tweets.  That’s why so many tweets refer to blog posts, articles, videos, webinars, and books.

Furthermore, in "The Destination Web is Morphing: Pay Attention",  David Lee King reminds us that many of our patrons are not participating in this new information flow, and that even those who do still need the destination website and the library building.  People still listen to radio in spite of the introduction of television.  The relative strengths of different technologies vary, and we can use them to accomplish different things—no need to declare one approach dead just because something new has arisen.

RSS Evangelism

Librarians who want their patrons to understand and use RSS could follow medical librarian David Rothman’s example.   After consultation with the head of surgery of his hospital, Rothman set up a customized Google Reader account and sent an email to the surgeon explaining how to use it.  The surgeon was able to start using and seeing the benefits of RSS immediately.  Rothman then approached the Vice President of Medical Affairs to help him set up an account, which was received enthusiastically.  Judging entirely by their job titles, it seems likely that these two patrons were influential leaders in the hospital culture, and likely to spread the word about the great new service the library was providing—good choices for this handpicking approach to promoting RSS.

Librarians in other settings such as large public libraries are likely to be unable to spend an hour consulting with a single individual as Rothman did.  But many public libraries offer computer training for patrons, and could certainly offer a class on using RSS feeds, including those provided by the library for new materials or database searches.  Librarians doing any sort of outreach to community groups such as a local historical society, senior center, or high school could include demonstrations of RSS tailored to fit the interests of the group.  For any of us, seeing something that looks just like what we’d like to have (or a near-miss that inspires us to think of new possibilities) is a much better motivator for trying something new than a dry description.

Finally, libraries with a blog presence could certainly include posts about RSS--new feeds the library has set up, feeds the library is subscribing to from other sources, and stories about how one patron or another has begun using RSS and enjoying the benefits.

Learning by blogging

 Blogging for this class gives us all the opportunity to learn by doing, in a more in-depth manner than just trying something out.  The assigned exercises get us trying out various social media tools and considering their application to library services, but we’re just dipping our toes in those waters.  Maintaining a blog for a semester gives us more time to swim toward the deep end (or splash about in the shallows).

Speaking of the deep end, when I read Skellie’s post on 101 essential blogging skills, my first reaction was “Wow—this is great!  Clearly blogging is like any other craft—you can spend a long time improving your work and still have lots to learn.”  My second reaction was “Now I’m overwhelmed.  I’m still struggling to get started.  Thinking about how many things I could do better is discouraging.” 

This reminded me of the split in bloggers’ responses to Darren Rowse’s prompt “What I wish I knew when I first started blogging”  Some people said “I wish I had just jumped in instead of thinking about it for so long” and some said “I wish I had prepared more instead of just jumping in”.  By blogging for this class, we get the best of both worlds.  We’re jumping in to try things out in a personal (but required) blog.  No excuses for postponing it, and need to fuss about doing it “just right”.  We’re also reading and thinking about how to do it better, to prepare for blogging in a library setting.

Because each student’s contributions to the class discussion are in his or her own blog instead of dispersed throughout various discussion boards in a learning management system, they form a more coherent picture of that student’s thoughts and growth throughout the semester.  This may encourage each of us to loop back to earlier posts and tie our thoughts together with new reflections.  I wonder, though—because the conversation about any particular topic is dispersed throughout student blogs instead of grouped together on one discussion board, is that conversation less coherent or less thorough than it might be?  Are we learning more about our own thoughts by blogging, and less about each others?

Blog appeal -- LIBR246 Exercise 2

Of the five blogs we studied this week, three can be categorized as library tech blogs.  David Lee King offers brief advice on specific tech topics (e.g., preparing presentations, using Facebook or Twitter) on his blog.  Canadian librarian Paul Pival offers links, book reviews, and technical tips in ‘The Distant Librarian’.  In ‘Librarian by Day’, Bobbi Newman compiles interesting links, adding commentary and advocating for library involvement with web 2.0 projects.  She also sponsors and promotes the ‘Library day in the life’ project, building community among librarians.

The other two blogs have a broader focus.  In ‘The Librarian’s Commute’, Olivia Nellums writes personal reflections about her experiences working in an academic library.  ‘In the Library with the Lead Pipe’ is a team blog.  The posts are peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics, and include citations of academic papers as well as photos and links. 

In all five blogs, the posts I found most interesting to read were those that included a personal element—why the writer was excited about the event, tool, experience, or research s/he was sharing.  I found it easier to interact with the informational or intellectual content of a blog post if it included an emotional connection as well.  On a list of 101 essential blogging skills, Skellie urges bloggers to ‘write dirty’, meaning to “write with humanity”.  As Skellie notes in the ‘write dirty’ post, “Your readers can’t build a relationship with information.  They can build a relationship with you.”

I selected blogs from three different types of libraries to consider.  Chad Boenninger’s business blog for the Ohio University libraries offers “tips, tricks, and tools for the business researcher”.  His video and text instructions are thorough and specific.  MADreads offers book news and reviews from the Madison Public Library.  This group blog lists 48 people who write book reviews.  A side-bar of ‘recent comments’ highlights patron discussion of the books.

Gargoyles loose in the library is written by Frances Jacobsen Harris of the University Laboratory High School in Urbana, IL.  Francey’s lively writing style is welcoming and friendly; her enthusiasm and sense of humor are evident in her posts.  She shares info on student events, research tips for students, and tidbits from ALA Library News Direct and Twitter for students’ entertainment and enlightenment.  Comments are not enabled for her blog, but she posts photos of students and their work, such as a student doodle from a class session on content farms.

  

I consider each of the three blogs to be a successful example of a library blog, though they are quite different.  The basic characteristics contributing to their success (in varying degrees) are that they are attractive and easy to read, with easy access to archived posts, and convenient search capabilities.  They are frequently updated, with posts appropriate for their clearly defined audiences.  They each also have a blog personality, allowing the reader to build a relationship with the blog writer.  The level of blog personality varies with the purpose of the blog and the type of library.  The business blog, as appropriate for an academic library and a business reference librarian, is the most formal of the three.  The Gargoyles blog is the most personal and idiosyncratic—although comments are not enabled for this blog, I bet the librarian gets plenty of responses from her high school students in person.