Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Observe an IM Reference transaction or Talk with an IM Reference Staff member

I observed staff at Central during an IM session. A question actually came in from one of the Learning 2.o students, so it was interesting to see how the staff actually respond to the questions! I asked about the type of questions that come in, some questions have been: are you a person or a computer ; questions about holds ; asking if we have a certain title ; hours we are open - they are the usual ones. There have been some more involved questions that some colleagues have handled. The volume of questions seems to be low at this point. Whether it is because of the need for more advertising of the service, or just customers not wanting to use it remains to be seen. The staff were very positive about the IM service, especially since it is a chance to reach the high school and college students with information services tailored to their information technology - definitely they want to keep it! I asked about the differences between IM and telephone reference the responses: reference staff is trained extensively in reference interview techniques and IM does not lend itself to reference interviewing -- the person asking the question wants the information NOW. That sometimes makes for a pressured feeling, having to find information in a hurry and type fast to get the answer back quickly, but it is a challenge that the reference staff are adapting to. They would agree that IM should be here to stay!!



Monday, November 26, 2007

Instant Messaging - IM and Libraries

Why should libraries use IM?

  • The statistics show that 53 million adults are using IM in their daily lives -- if we want to reach customers and be relevant to them, we need to take into consideration their technology usage and deliver the information they want in a technology format they use -- IM is statistically an appropriate tool to use to reach those customers who use it.
  • In the Breeding article, Instant messaging: it's not just for kids anymore the following quote is quite relevant to the question: "the pervasive presence of instant messaging will be ignored only by organizations willing to risk irrelevancy"

How is IM different than traditional communication channels?

  • After reading the articles the idea of "presence awareness" was one of the differences that stuck in my mind as an appeal factor for IM. The immediacy of the conversation and communication with another person was important. Email has lag time that IMers simply don't want to put up with. Also, IM is available on PDAs and cell phones, so it is a take with you technology you can use anytime.

How many of the IM population are our customers and why should we care?

  • Probably lots! Of the 53 million adults who use IM, I would think the odds are that quite a few could already be our current customers waiting for us to initiate relevant information exchanges. Librarian IM: "Hello, is anyone out there???" IM Response: "YES!!! Where have you been? I need..............."
  • Reaching teens is one of our top priorities, they are our future if we stay relevant to their needs. The Pew article on Teens and Technology stated that 45% have cell phones and that 33% use texting. That's a big chunk of customers we could draw IF we provide services that can answer their information needs.

Why should we care?

  • Let's start with professional pride. Librarians open up information to individuals, we always have. The IM me article spoke of the IM process: "in the process, librarians can truly be their users' personal guide through the information ocean." We bring information to light.
  • We have always helped customers who have come through our doors find the information that they need. We have even provided telephone reference and email services. Bravo! We can still continue those services... However,
  • It is time to expand our services to help customers who still need the information we can provide, but choose to request it via IM, the option that best suits their busy lives.
  • If we want to be relevant to information seekers who use IM as well as other emerging technologies we need to provide the information they need in whatever mode that can reach them successfully.
  • Libraries and librarians have so much to offer information seekers -- lets keep pace with the technology that will allow us to deliver that information to them.



Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Locating a few useful library related blogs

Finding other news feeds was very interesting -- I am tempted to subscribe to lots, but I am still leary of how many sites I can actually subscribe to and keep up with, so for now I did lots of browsing.

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
  • Definitely the icons, they were quicker. If you are at a site subscribing using the RSS feed icon really made it simple.

Which Search tool was easiest? More confusing?

  • Blogline's Search tool: this tool was the easiest to use
  • Feedster: this one was Changing, so it was not available to try
  • Topix.net: I found it easy to navigate. I used the "All Sites" link to just browse the topics this was a browsable index by topic and I liked that feature.
  • Syndic8.com: I found some interesting library sites that I may go back and subscribe too. This one was my least favorite I think because of layout, I can't quite pinpoint why I didn't like it as much.
  • Technorati: this site seemed to provide the most information, arranged in a logical manner. Very thorough.

What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

  • There are several sites that I check on frequently to see what has been updated. I simply went to these sites and copied the URLs.
  • The DDC updates coming to me rather than me searching daily at the beginning of the month to see if the new month has been posted will really be a timesaver!

RSS Feeds and Newsreaders

I had heard of RSS feeds and didn't take the time to find out what they were (too busy being Library 1.o) now that our assignments have us looking at RSS feeds -- I have enjoyed learning about them. The analogy of Netflicks vs a video store or even going to a pizza store vs home delivery are both appropriate here.

Advantages of an RSS reader:
  • In the sphere of Ranganathan: Save the time of the Reader...
  • RSS certainly saves time. Rather than going to the web sites the sites are brought to you and the readers help to organize what has been read, or even what you want to star and go back to. If you are interested in keeping up with the latest info on your favorite topics this is certainly a way to bring it all to you!
Disadvantages of an RSS reader:
  • If you are interested in a lot of topics, or subscribed to a site that has lots of posts I can see where the information coming to you could get unwieldy -- the "Mark as read" feature or "star" for later reading could help control that situation.
  • Also, the information comes to you automatically, constantly -- whereas without RSS you would go at your own inclination to whatever sites you had time to review.

I will be trying out the RSS feed over the following weeks to see the advantages and disadvantages -- at this point I am looking forward to news and events coming to me rather than me taking the time to search for them!

How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?

  • Certainly in the area of reader's advisory. Creating book lists customers could review to find the latest book of their favorite author, or new titles in series would be very helpful information to get in an RSS feed.
  • Upcoming events and library programming of interest to various groups. Knowing when the next program on [topic] will be featured at the library is certainly another.





What is Library 2.0 to Me?

While learning about Library 2.0 at Virginia Beach Public Library we were asked to contemplate the following question: Library 2.0 is many things to many people -- what does it mean to you?

My thoughts on that question...
Library 2.0 for me is the opening up of information to customers whenever, however, and wherever they need it. Library collections should be collaboratively linked to one another with their entire contents accessible 24/7. Librarians should work seamlessly in the background to provide the special touch of information enrichment that librarianship offers: selection, metadata, connections, references, and linkages. The information should be available in such a way that a specific page of a book, a specific scene in a movie or a specific song on a CD is instantaneously at the fingertips of our customers. In an age where this is all possible, and in many cases already available why would we want to cling to past practices? “Sorry the library is closed, we will re-open at 10am tomorrow – please hold your information needs until that time”… No way!!
After watching a You Tube video: A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto by Laura CohenI thought about cataloging in relation to 2.0, again here are my thoughts.... The Librarian 2.0 Manifesto was thought provoking. The idea I wish to add comes from the Manifesto item: I will lobby for an open catalog that provides personalized, interactive features that users expect in online information environments. Remember when….Manual typewriters were available for term papers? Then came the electric typewriter, followed by the word processor – wow what a difference! I don’t know of anyone who clung to a manual typewriter [remember footnotes?!] once they experienced a word processor. The same is true for library technology – first came the handwritten card catalog cards (I’m not old enough to remember those days!), which gave way to typed cards, first on manual typewriters [oh the pain of typing the tracings at the bottom!], then electric typewriters (with bars to hold the cards in place!), which gave way to OCLC with MARC records collaboratively input by thousands of librarians. This was a technological innovation that allowed richer subject access, searching that could connect series titles and keyword searches that were IMPOSSIBLE in the card catalog, early COM CATs (microfiche catalogs), and OPACs. Now we have a new library revolution that is using WEB 2.0 and adapting it to libraries, Library 2.0 – I say go for it!! Why would librarians cling to the old way of creating and searching static information when the possibilities are endless in what we will be able to provide both now and in the future… the 3x5 library catalog card severely limited what we could represent about a title ; the MARC record provided ways for more information to be recorded about a title, but Library 2.0 OPENS resources in their entirety anytime, anyplace, anywhere to be viewed, evaluated, notated, criticized, shared, given tags and hyperlinked to more info … why would anyone cling to Library 1.0 once they experience the world of Library 2.0 – why?



Thoughts on 7 1/2 Habits

The habit that is easiest for me: #1 Begin with the end in mind
The habit that is hardest for me: # 7 1/2 Play

My Journey from Libary 1.0 thinking to Library 2.0 action!

This will be a new beginning as I explore with you the concepts of Library 2.0 and how it can and should impact the way resources are cataloged!




Cataloging is...
Access to information
The structure that makes things findable
The keyring that holds all the keys together
The right tool for finding information