11-IM in the library

I really like the idea of having IM for staff and customers. I copied some things I thought were interesting and relevant to the discussion from the articles I read on-line. They are below.

IM Me
Instant messaging may be controversial, but remember, we also debated telephone reference
By Aaron Schmidt & Michael Stephens -- Library Journal, 4/1/2005

Training, scheduling, and promotion are all key to implementing an IM reference service.

Instant messaging isn't going to replace other forms of communication. But it can make your reference services relevant to a whole new group of users, while serving existing users even better. Says Houghton, "IM results in patrons getting better service, while illustrating again the vital role librarians play in providing information that the search engines cannot fulfill."

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Best Practices for IM
Use a multinetwork IM program. There are competing IM networks for users, with AOL Instant MessengerSM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Instant Messenger the leaders. A user of one network can't communicate with someone on another network. Trillian for Windows (http://www.trillian.cc/) and Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) for other operating systems let you operate on multiple networks simultaneously.

Send descriptive links instead of URLs. Most IM programs have an easy way to create a hyperlink. Instead of pasting a long URL into the conversation, create a link describing the content of the page you are recommending (e.g., "Demographic info of Berlin" or "Link to book review").

Employ away messages. It's poor service not to explain why there is no response.


Create a profile. It's a great way to convey information about the library and increase your online presence.


Accept imperfection. Notice a typo 30 characters back? Don't correct it. Most words are easily recognizable through context, and typos are accepted—if not expected—in this medium.
Use abbreviations. Most online users save keystrokes with acronyms. Get used to it. Many people know that "LOL" means "laugh out loud" but what about "FWIW"? Google it. Of course, YMMV.


Never panic. Speed is important, but don't feel rushed.


Try to use only online sources. But don't be afraid to tell people they'll need to come to the library. Also, be willing to scan a print document to PDF and send via email.


Load IM software on public PCs. Let users online in the library get help without having to go to the reference desk.

September 28, 2006
Instant Messaging Tools and Technology: A Mini-Guide
What is Instant Messaging?
Kolabora.com
posted by Robin Good on Thursday, September 28 2006

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The above web page article offers so many choices of programs to use, it’s wonderful and confusing all at the same time.


Library Technology Guides
Key resources in the field of Library Automation

Emphasis added by me.



While I observe a trend of instant messaging displacing e-mail for personal communications and a growing trend toward its use in the corporate realm, I see some sluggishness in organizations like libraries adopting it for internal business communications. I'm not suggesting that librarians start using IM for its own sake but that they become aware that other types of organizations find it an attractive medium for certain kinds of exchanges.


I wonder: If library workers used IM among themselves, would they be more comfortable with using chat-based VR to "talk" with patrons who have much more experience with IM?

My answer to the above question, yes. I think it would and would facilitate quick and easy communication amongst co-workers thoughout the system. Would it be used for personal use? Yes, I am sure it would be just as email and the telephone are. But, would it be abused to any further extent than the afore mentioned? No, not in my opionion and if an employee did abuse it action could be taken against them by a supervisor just as it would in any situation when an employee is spending too much time on personal things and not work.

Computers in Libraries [November / December 2003]
Instant messaging: it's not just for kids anymore
Breeding, Marshall.
Copyright (c) 2003 Information Today
http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=10779

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In all, I really hope we can get IM in regular practice throughout the system. I believe it would be beneficial for customers as well as employees.

10-Searching for RSS Feeds

This is nice to be able to use work time to search for RSS feeds. I tried to look at Feedster and they are changing their page so it is not up. So, I went to topix and found some stuff I thought looked interesting. I really like the way they had their site laid out. It was easy to navigate and the groupings made it easy to go through and find things that looked interesting quickly. I did not like the way Syndic8.com looked. To me it was too much verbiage and not very aesthetically pleasing. I did not look at Technorati since we will be doing that later anyway and time is at a premium. So, until I see Feedster, topix is may fave so far.

9-RSS Feeds...me information

Ok, so I had this notion that RSS Feeds were much more high-tech than they actually are. I mean I love the concept I was just thinking that RSS Feeds were something like a talking head bringing you all the news you wanted to hear. Like your own personal information assistant. Maybe I've been watching too much sci-fi. Or, maybe I just need to wait a few more years to get my digital info assistant. Of course, I might be out of a job if everyone could have one! Anyhoo, I set up an account through Google Reader 'cause it's very convenient to have everything I need to access through Google. The feeds I've subscribed to so far are listed below. Most are just the offered feeds through G-Reader and of course VBPL Talks. I am not so much in to finding new feeds right now. We are a one computer houeshold and my time to access it is limited by other family members needs to access it as well.

BBC News News Front Page World Edition
http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/front_page/rss.xml

Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com
http://rss.cnn.com/rss/money_topstories.rss

Christian Science Monitor Top Stories
http://www.csmonitor.com/rss/top.rss

Digg
http://digg.com/rss/index.xml

Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/rss.xml

ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/rss/news

Fool.com: The Motley Fool
http://www.fool.com/About/headlines/rss_headlines.asp

Gizmodo
http://feeds.gawker.com/gizmodo/full

gladwell.com
http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/atom.xml

Google News
http://news.google.com/?output=rss

I Will Teach You To Be Rich
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/atom.xml

kottke.org
http://www.kottke.org/remainder/index.rdf

Language Log
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/index.rdf

languagehat.com
http://www.languagehat.com/index.rdf

Marginal Revolution
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/index.rdf

MarketWatch.com - Top Stories
http://www.marketwatch.com/rss/topstories

NPR: 7AM ET News Summary
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=500001

NPR: This I Believe
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=4538138

PFBlog.com: The Unique Personal Finance Blog Since 2003
http://www.pfblog.com/index.xml

Salon
http://feeds.salon.com/salon/index

Slashdot
http://slashdot.org/index.rss

TechCrunch
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Techcrunch

TED TEDBlog
http://tedblog.typepad.com/tedblog/atom.xml

TheStreet.com
http://www.thestreet.com/feeds/rss/index.xml

VBPL Talks
http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/TQeD

Wired Top Stories
http://www.wired.com/news/feeds/rss2/0,2610,,00.xml

6-Learning about blogs

Hi ho, hi ho it's off to blog I go...

So, this is when we learn about blogs. I have been familiar with blogs for awhile so this is not hard for me to understand. I am not a blogger, as my page heading indicates but obviously many people love it. It's interesting to see what Giles Turnbull says of the blog in "The state of the blog" WriteTheWeb—2001/02/28 reposted in an article on the infotoday.com website
"Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services" by Darlene Fichter. He says,
"the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity and Personality." Bloggin seems to open up a nice little world of dialogue without face to face communication, which I think is hard for a lot of people. Frequency is my problem with blogging I don't have an interest in making time to blog every day or every week for that matter. I thing if you like it great, if not, that's great too:)

Here is a list of the blogs from the above mentioned article on infotoday.com

Blogs in the Library Sphere
Peter Scott's list of Library Weblogs (http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html).

• The St. Joseph County Public Library Book Blog focuses on upcoming releases in publishing and entertainment. http://homepage.mac.com/nrdtsjcpl/ B1732759005/index.html

• Roselle Public Library's Blogger Book Club is an online book discussion group for kids to share their thoughts about books. http://bloggerbookclub.blogspot.com

• LISNews.com focuses on news for information professionals and is a collaborative Weblog. http://www.lisnews.com

• Library News is a Weblog featuring library-related news, events, and resources for Georgia State University. http://www.library.gsu.edu/news/index.asp

• ... h20boro lib blog is Waterboro Public Library's Weblog of literary and library news and resources. http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

• Engineering Library Blog features news and events in one column of the library home page. http://library.usask.ca/engin

• Stark County Law Library Blawg serves the legal community of Stark County, Ohio. http://temp.starklawlibrary.org/blog

• Urbana Free Library has one called Construction News featuring photos and updates on the building underway. http://urbanafreelibrary.org/bldgblog.html

• Jenny Levine's Shifted Librarian looks at how to make libraries more portable to serve users better. http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com

• Peter Scott's Library Blog offers links and news about library resources and libraries around the world. http://blog.xrefer.com

5-Chatting with a friend about 2.0

Well, not many people want to talk too much about this. I get the feeling it's because either they don't care one way or another or they don't know what the hec any of it means. After reading some of the Discovery Resources I feel like I have a better idea of what people want it to mean. It all still seems ambiguous in the writings. I think because it's still in progress. It's something I feel like I need to define for myself. I am taking all these "definitions" and "explanations" and distilling them down into something that makes sense to me while keeping them in their context. I especially liked the article I read "Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries." I copied and pasted some select quotes from it below.

Maness, J. (2006). "Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries". Webology, 3 (2), Article 25. Available at: http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a25.html

The library's collection will change, becoming more interactive and fully accessible. The library's services will change, focusing more on the facilitation of information transfer and information literacy rather than providing controlled access to it.

Library 2.0 demands libraries focus less on secured inventory systems and more on collaborative discovery systems. There is perhaps a great synchronicity between librarianship and Web 2.0, but viewed holistically, Library 2.0 will revolutionize the profession. Rather than creating systems and services for patrons, librarians will enable users to create them for themselves. A profession steeped in decades of a culture of control and predictability will need to continue moving toward embracing facilitation and ambiguity. This shift corresponds to similar changes in library history, including the opening of book stacks and the inclusion of fiction and paperbacks in the early 20th century.

I can see this "library" coming into being. But I think one of the hardest things in allowing the library to evolve will be moving through our issues of privacy. That was another thing I found, when discussing 2.0 with co-workers, that people are very wary of doing anything that puts any info out on the web about them. I understand the apprehension but at the same turn 2.0 is about putting yourself on the web...it's about being part of it not just a spectator. Not all will follow and that's fine. This new way of doing things is just another way not the only way...not yet anyway:)

4-Discussing The Library and Web 2.0

Ok, I've been reading some of the articles in our discovery excercises and they are very interesting and I found some things that really resonated with me and here they are:

From:Next space the OCLC newsletter
Web 2.0 where will it take libraries

By:Michael Stephens Librarian, Blogger
Into a new world of librarianship
"This librarian does not create policies and procedures that impede users’ access to the library."


By:Rick AndersonDirector of Resource Acquisition,University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
Away from the “icebergs"
"We need to focus our efforts not on teaching research skills but on eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need, so they can spend as little time as possible wrestling with lousy search interfaces and as much time as possible actually reading and learning."

I liked this one as we struggle through ACS.
"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust. This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology. “Techno-worship” does not exist here. Without a firm foundation in the mission and goals of the institution, new technologies are not implemented for the sake of coolness and status. Technology is put to the test: Does it meet the users need in a new or improved way? Does it create a useful service for putting users together with the information and experience they seek? These are some of the questions this librarian asks when planning for technology. This librarian creates and nurtures a living, breathing technology plan."

3-What Library 2.0 means to me...

Yeah, I don't have clue. What should it mean to me? More marketing opportunities for our library, a chance to connect with the digital generation? Maybe. It's too early for me to tell.

Thing-1 & Thing-2

Thing-1. This is a needed training but it's execution has been bumpy. I consider myself to be very computer literate and I have had trouble catching on to what we are to be doing and how we're supposed to be recording our work. I think we should've started with thing 8. The lead up to all this only confused people, in my opinion. Glad to be posting and not just trying to "keep track" of my work thus far.

Thing-2. The easiest habit for me in the 71/2 list would be "Play." I have no problem doing that! The hardest thing in the list would be "Beginning with the end in mind." I'm not good at visualizing the end of a task.

To start...

Here is my first blog and I am typing my first post. I've never been a journal keeper so the thought of posting on a blog does not really interest me. It seems that blogs are very much like an online journal but more public. Thus ends my first blog post:)