CC’s Library 2.0 Class Musings

When I entered this class two months ago at St. Kate’s, I already had the foundation of knowing what blogs are, how to use RSS feeds, and who uses social networking.  In my day job, I’ve been in lunch bag and brainstorming sessions with our Interactive Director when we’ve discussed how we could use interactive technologies (like blogging, wikis, social networking) to give us a competitive edge to draw in more clients and show to our clients just how trendy we are.  In no way am I suggesting that I am an expert.  I’m just an amateur dabbler; I’m not even an early adopter.  But I am so drawn into these new things and I love watching how others come up with great ideas on how to use them.

I wanted to bring my Web 2.0 thinking out of the “for-profit” mentality, because I have been so ingrained with the importance of using these growing technologies to grow business, to gain the attention of our clients, to bring more sales in.  I was excited for the opportunity to dedicate an entire semester exploring, learning, and expanding my landscape of how and where these tools could be used in libraries.  When I put my “librarian-in-training” hat on, ‘clients’ turn into patrons, ’sales’ turn into information literacy, and ‘business’ turns into library services. 

Our professor introduced us to many libraries and individuals in the library landscape who explore and critique these emerging tools.  We’ve discussed how Library 2.0 is being used, how and why it’s been critized in the field.  I’ve been taught early on in my professional career that it is important to be engaged, to know what is out there competing for your client’s - oops, I mean, patrons’ - attention.  It was extremely valuable that I was introduced to library professionals who bring new thoughts about how to use these Library 2.0 tools in libraries.  And these individuals are not just those who are supporters of using Web 2.0 tools in libraries.  They are also individuals that have good criticisms toward the idea, so we can have an honest discussions about all sides to implementing these new technologies.

The group projects were an excellent way just to see how easy using Library 2.0 tools really are!  I had a lot of fun writing a script for the library podcasts, using GarageBand to bring it all together, and adding a little personality to it.  After hearing the group presentations, I was amazed at what I could do that doesn’t require me to take a night class at the community college. 

I’ve completed the course and I can honestly say that I wish I were a librarian right now, because it would be so fun to actually plan to implement some of these tools in a real library.  I know what you’re thinking - I PROMISE I will not be a newbie librarian fresh out of grad school intending to change everything in the library!  But, maybe we could have a lunch bag session to at least talk about Library 2.0 tools??

I have just one googleganger and we both run 5ks.  Many of our Google entries were just race times - that’s how I discovered my googleganger.  I’ve never run a 5k in Washington state. 

Admit it that you’ve typed in your name in a Google search to see how many entries you had with your name.  That’s how you can find out if you have a googleganger - another individual with the same name as you whose entries are mixed in with your own when you Google yourself.   I should probably run more 5ks to elevate my name higher in the search results…..

On a more realistic note….for other slang words like this one, check out Urban Dictionary, the “slang dictionary with your words”.  It’s like the Wikipedia for urban slang.  This could be the YA Librarian’s best friend.  You can add, edit, tag words and give them a thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating.  You can even add a photo that you think encapsulates the word, like “sup“.  Sup, peeps?

I was encouraged after reading this article by Andrea Mercado, who shares her opinion that ‘librarians cannot afford to flip the modem switch off’ and that library schools need to incorporate more technology education into the program components of LIS programs.  At first I started going down a bunny trail of envisioning more classes on graphic design for library newsletters, basic html coding, and Dream Weaver.  When would I ever graduate??!

I definitely believe that classes like Library 2.0 are preparing the librarian up-and-comers with some valuable groundwork for innovating and investigating how Web 2.0 technology can match patron needs.  While you can read the list yourself, I will point out several of Mercado’s reasons and recommendations for library schools to beef up our technology mindframe.  Some of Mercado’s dream technology class list would include:

1)  ‘Customer service personality with innate problem solving skills’ - In regards to technology, I’ll admit I am not the greatest at explaining how a program, software application, or interactive platform works to other people.  I end up explaining how I envision myself carrying out the very same functions I’m trying to explain - I inadvertently leave out important steps.  I get how it works, but I can be horrible at my explanations!  Occasionally,  I’ll leave people even more confused…..I just end up having to call the developer to explain it better.  I could use some tools & skills for explaining technology to other people.

2) ’Human Computer Interaction’ - the idea behind this is that there are basic elements of user-centered design, user behavior, and usability methods that we can employ to make technology easier to use.  This really resonates with me from my days working on product development for an awards catalog website, in which we spent time testing the usability of new functions and capabilities based on focus groups intended to see how user-friendly it was.  It’s ingrained in my brain that you should always test to see how user friendly a website, application or interface is before you roll it out because what’s the use of it if nobody really gets how to use it?

3)  ‘Marketing Online’ - I also like to think that my background in marketing is really going to help me when I’m working in a library.  I get energized with how are we to promote and launch new services. 

 While I feel somewhat smarter with the Web 2.0 things I’m learning and playing around with, I’ve begun to realize that I’d be even more smarter if I continued to add more tags on my Del.icio.us account and dabble with a PBwiki beyond the end of class.

When my department approached IT and the VP of Technology last fall about integrating SharePoint as a central suppository of documents, files, information, and other data, we were met with, “Our servers are too old so adding SharePoint is not an option because it will cost too much to get new servers”.  I should clarify that I do not work in a library…

Our team needed some access point in which we could work out of the same documents, give version control, allow us to update and track the edits.  We were having too many issues with way too many people working out of the same documents, so we were making costly mistakes.  

That’s when I found a little gem called “Google Docs”.  In no time at all, we had solved our issue of version control.  I  placed our group Excel spreadsheets in Google Docs, then invited my seven colleagues to be collaborators for the spreadsheet and invited two directors to be viewers only.  We’ve only tapped the tip of the iceberg of the various Google sites, but we definitely saved our department from spending unnecessary dollars. 

Check out this article on Information Today by Erik Arnold if you want to read more about the debate between Google Sites and SharePoint.  Arnold summarizes the tangible value in Google Sites:  “Google promotes Google Sites as ‘one stop for information sharing’ with example applications of project management, team websites, and fully hosted intranets. Google Sites integrates nicely with the other Google Apps products, which include email, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and chat”. 

My first experience with Second Life was none other than at a meeting between my department and our interactive creative department.  Our interactive creative department was being interactive again, showing us new ways that we could help get our clients engaged in new interactive technologies.  Here the director was showing her SL avatar….suggestively dancing with someone in a dance club.  We got a good laugh out of it and played around with the idea of creating our own SL avatars - we’d create an office for the account team and then we’d work with the interactive team in Second Life.  It never really materialized. 

Our account team develops, structures and manages consumer promotions like sweepstakes, instant win drawings, and contests.  One possibility is to conduct a consumer promotion in Second Life and give out prizes that can be used in SL.  We haven’t actually done any yet, but it made me think that if a corporation can do this in SL, perhaps libraries could hold a contest or sweepstakes at their library in SL.  Libraries could engage YA in a contest in SL sponsored by the library and give away prizes that can be redeemed in SL.

I recently listened to a broadcast on a local talk radio show that discussed “Parenting Tech-Savvy Kids” by Vicki Courtney with family expert Dr. Jim Burns with HomeWord.  A guest on the show shared that her 16-year old daughter had committed suicide in 2006, after having becoming involved with a guy whom she had met through MySpace.  Her daughter was a straight-A, popular and pretty girl with whom she had several guidelines for her use of the computer and the Internet.   The daughter complied, but then used the school library and public library’s computers to create a MySpace profile where she met a guy, who disguised his age, and became romantically involved with him.  After she confessed the relationship with the guy to her parents and that he was actually 28 years old, she became depressed and even though she started counseling session and began taking medication, she committed suicide 4 months after the relationship became exposed.  This probably isn’t the first story we’ve heard about a MySpace relationship gone wrong.   While this took place in 2006, there are more security measures in place now than there were then, but it still should make us be aware of the “loopholes”.

I’ve read in comments in several blog posts that we need to help ensure a safe online experience.   The Librarian in Black cited that Susan Herzog presented at the Internet Librarian 2007 Conference on the subject of Facebook:  “The Facebook Phenomenon:  What Our Students Need to Know“.  I thought Herzog’s comment that librarians should educate students on the dangers and/or consequences of posting personal information in a public place was applicable because libraries are giving an access point to a potential danger.  Herzong also recommended that library staff need to be educated about the software so that they can participate intelligently in these discussions.  We’re often trained on how to use the social network or other Web 2.0 tools, but how much time is spent on understanding security issues, especially when there are so many children under 18 years are using these tools?

The Librarian in Black commented that an article from Electronic Frontier Foundation cites two studies that show that young people are able to detect unsafe contact, protect themselves, and use good judgement online as well as in-person.    

I thought Dr. Burns’ statement was right on when he said that our kids still need us (as parents) to “be the parents” and establish the structure they need to have a safe online experience.   

The Hennepin County Library’s description of BookSpace is “an online reading community”.  You can browse book lists created by librarians and other readers, get information about new titles, find book club resources, and search through news of particular interest to readers of specific genres….and that’s even before you create a profile and login!  A big pat on the back was given to HCL when they were a winner of the 2006 Technology Solutions Awards by the Public Technology Institute.  Their entry title was “BookSpace:  Improved Service to County Library Readers”, which also described the service as “Library customers and staff are taking advantage of intriguing new capabilities in a redesigned, database-driven website”.   What I love about this description is that they’re not being heralded as ‘a library that does Web 2.0′.  They are simply a group of staff that has translated a unique service using a database-driven website. 

This online community has the meat and potatoes of some of the social software building blocks that Gene Smith describes:

1)  Identity - You can create a profile on BookSpace with a unique name and even add an avatar.  Your profile can be seen through the profile list.  I would even argue that the book lists you create based on the genres and titles of your book lists can give you an identity.

2)  Groups - You can search for book clubs at the library, in the Twin Cities, and around the world.

3)  Sharing - You can leave comments on books in the Library Catalog.  You can create recommended reading lists in your profile that can be read by anyone on BookSpace (you don’t have to be logged in to browse through the book lists).  There are currently 410 book lists!

I don’t see a Conversation building block in this space because there isn’t a way to have a conversation with other BookSpacers, but I think there is an opportunity in a linkage with FaceBook.  Right now, HCLIB has a library catalog application for your Facebook profile where you can click on the app in your FB and browse the catalog.  I think you could bring the conversation aspect into BookSpace by upgrading the current HCLIB library catalog application in FB so that you can access your book lists, to read lists, and favorites that you created in the My Books application on FB. 

I haven’t created any book lists on Book Space yet, but I browse many of the book lists already created so I can see what other people are reading.  I tend to use my My Books application on FB to keep track of what I’ve read, my favorites, what I’m currently reading, and what I want to read. 

Something that I think should be considered is how levels of exclusivity grow as individuals become deeper involved in social networks. 

Take for instance Michael’s example in the 2/17 class about sending a Twitter out to your Twitter followers that are attending the same conference you’re attending.  You send out a message via Twitter that you’re inviting everyone for a drink at a nearby bar after the conference ends.  Your Twitter followers get the message at the conference and soon your colleagues are talking about it.  But let’s assume some of your colleagues at the conference don’t subscribe to Twitter and don’t get the message?  How many of those colleagues are excluded?

Perhaps this a mere high school fetish in which if you’re not part of the “group”, you somehow don’t belong.  However, how many of us have been caught saying to someone, “I have all my pictures on Flickr and Facebook.  You should get sign up and get an account”?

Libraries should be careful to foster inclusivity to all patrons as they start social networks that revolve around an online access point.  Perhaps they can foster the same social connection that’s occuring on the library’s BookSpace or Facebook.  If there are online book clubs that formed through the library, look for ways that there can be face to face interaction to include patrons that don’t have interest in online social networks. 

In 2000, the beloved family dog passed away and my parents brought home the cutest little Jack Russell puppy ever!  Okay, I am a little bias because I was the one who pointed out that we should choose the shy, apprehensive brown and white puppy who hunkered in the corner of the puppy pen and was constantly picked on by the other puppies.  She needed someone who would pick her for once.  My parents were concerned she would be too shy and not energetic.  Little did we know what Jack Russells are REALLY like!  We brought the puppy home and promptly named her Sunny, after seeing her perk up and claim her territory at our home within hours of setting her on the living room floor.  We had no clue what life would be like having a Jack Russell dog, so I started doing a little online research about this particular dog breed.

Not knowing what Yahoo! Groups really were or why they were set up, I came upon a Yahoo! Group with people who also had Jack Russell dogs.  I joined the group.  Each member in the group was passionate about the dog breed so they posted tips and quips on what life was like having a JR.  I read their posts, looked at their dog pictures, and visited their recommended websites that had more information about JRs.   In this case, I was the “Consumer” by Derek Wenmoth’s standards and a “Linker” by David Lee’s standards.  I visited the Group often to view new comments posted by other contributors, but I didn’t participate by posting questions or commenting by our own dog.

My other notable virtual community encounters have been little online communities that I’ve set up as a way to keep groups of friends and family connected.  I have a group of eight friends that are all scattered around the Twin Cities, but we get together once a month to catch up and get together.  I created a Yahoo! Group four years ago that includes all of our information, birthdays, get-together locations, etc.  While it’s closed community and not available for outsiders to join unless asked, it’s the best way we keep up to date because anyone can send updates to the email address we’ve set up.  Not everyone in our group is on Facebook, but we’re all heavy emailers.  In this situation, I’ve definitely been the Commentator because it’s important that I help keep the group connected with one other - if only by virtual means.

I was a late bloomer to using MySpace and Facebook, since I just created a Facebook last summer and only in the last few months have a lot of my friends started using Facebook.  I think Facebook and the other social network only work if you’re a constant user.  If you like it because you can express your opinions and share your updates and photos with your friends, then it’s only beneficial if your friends are members of the same social network.  I’ve been stepping out and acting as a contributor to several special interest groups I’ve joined on Facebook.