I have to agree with the majority of what I have read in the posts of my classmates over the last few days. Library 2.0 was an engaging and exciting class. In spite of the fact that we only met a few times in person, using web tools to stay connected allowed me to feel like I got to know many of my fellow students well (sometimes better than those I’ve met in other classes).
The most important idea I took away from this course is that Library 2.0, or whatever you want to call it, is about more than using the web and technology in libraries. It’s really about a changing philosophy in the library world, one that recognizes that the user’s needs should be served however the library can best do that, and whatever those needs may be. I know this is something I mentioned in my post on weekend 1, but the idea continued to hit home for me throughout the course of the semester. Michael Stephens is right, “the library should encourage the heart. “ It’s not really a new idea, but the application of technology to make this happen is an exciting way to envision the future of libraries.
I enjoyed thinking of the class as one continual project — a consideration of how to use new tools in libraries. I learned about a lot of different applications, and was able to approach them thoughtfully. I blogged about what excited me, did a few experiments (such as brand monitoring) and was also able to work with a group to create a kind of 2.0 prototype (and see what other groups came up with). Overall, I’m excited about continuing to approach librarianship in this new way, and continuing to evolve in my knowledge of technology.
I was a member of the Library Takeout group. Check out our project here. I have to echo what many of the other members of our class have said — this did not turn out to be a Dreaded Group Project. Each of our group members came from a different background, some with more library experience than others. Because we formed our group around a topic (instead of vice versa), we all had a legitimate interest in the topic and we brainstormed some great ideas.
The main challenge we faced was finding a focus for our project. Because there are so many different ways to approach leaving the library building, we really had to narrow what we wanted to accomplish. We ended up with a user instruction presentation and accompanying website for teens — an inexpensive, user-friendly, relevant product.
As far as technology, we used Google Docs to great success. We could each edit our work from home on our own time, and others would see those changes in real time (and led to an aha moment when I realized we were still emailing a .doc file back and forth for a project in my other class). This cut down on the amount of time we had to meet. We accomplished most of our communication through email. We originally tried formatting our web tool on pbwiki, but we found that the blog met our needs better. It also fit in with the teen blog the Palatine library is already using — hopefully they will be able to incorporate some of the things we did into their functional blog. I also appreciate the fact that using these tools means we can continue to share our work and even our presentation itself into the future, with whoever shows interest (in our jobs, at school, or to future employers). Overall, a success!
RSS, really simple syndication, is a tool that has been receiving a fair amount of attention lately. To put it simply, it’s a way to bring the parts of the internet that interest you straight to you, instead of having to search for them. Sign up for a feed reader (such as Google Reader) and choose the blogs, sites, or searches you want to subscribe to. Just click on the little orange button to select an RSS feed.
Librarians should be encouraged to set up feed readers to monitor what’s going on in the library blogosphere. It’s a great way to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in the world of libraries — the blogosphere can be instrumental in getting news out quickly, in deciphering what is important, and in setting the tone for how the conversation will take place about certain topics.
Librarians should also monitor their own library brands. We did this in the brand monitoring assignment, but libraries should be out there doing this for themselves. What are people saying about your library on Twitter, on blogs, or even on Facebook? Can you respond to their concerns in those fora, or maybe even encourage fans and current patrons to get the word out about your services. Marketing should be proactive, but it’s also important to keep on top of what the conversation about your library sounds like — then become a part of it.
RSS feeds are a great opportunity for libraries (and any businesses) to stay current on their professions and how they are perceived withing (and outside of) them. Take advantage!
Yikes, I think I got in a little over my head here! I chose to monitor the Library of Congress (LoC) as a brand. This consisted of watching Twitter and Technorati (randomly selected sources) for the chatter occurring about the LoC and making note of what, if anything, people were saying about it. What I didn’t expect was how many people have things to say about the Library of Congress! There were often over 100 tweets about the LoC in a single day, and about 10 blog posts a week. There were 3 main ways people talked about the LoC:
As a place. The LoC is relatively unique as a library in that it is a tourist attraction. A lot of Twitter users mentioned that they were visiting the LoC. Equally as many opined on how impressive and beautiful the building is, but only a small percentage discussed their research experiences in the physical library. It seems that, for the LoC, the majority of visitors will never ask for a reader’s card.
As a symbol. Wow, talk about a reputation. The LoC is the ultimate library of status, it seems. Twitter users are constantly bragging about how their books are cataloged by the LoC, as it gives them a feeling of legitimacy. The LoC is, for many, the warehouse of books. People also discuss buildings as big as the Library of Congress, or collections as vast (or, to be fair, cataloging systems as confusing).
As a resource. Most bloggers linked to the resources at the LoC’s website (or their own blog!). Twitter allows people to be more quippy, but those who were seriously discussing the LoC were usually wowed by all the amazing information the Library has made available online in various forms. They linked to photos, exhibits, pathfinders, lists of interesting facts — anything and everything.
The LoC can obviously never control its digital reputation. People will always talk about the Library, whether it’s the building or the collections themselves. The LoC’s own active web presence, though, will be key to continuing to build its reputation as a resource, useful even to those nowhere near the physical building.
What is Open Source Software (OSS)? Basically, it’s free. It’s free for you to use and free for you to manipulate. Check out this School Library Journal article for some background and some strategies libraries might use to take advantage of OSS. Many people use OSS on a regular basis and may not even know it. If you use the Firefox web browser or maintain a Wordpress blog (like this one!), you use Open Source Software.
Why should libraries use Open Source Software? Aside from the fact that it is free and that users are free to manipulate it for their wants, I think it’s also important for librarians to support the dissemination of all kinds of information, even software code. OSS functions along the same philosophical lines as public libararies (every reader his book, every user his software?). It encourages the free use of information, the idea that everyone has something to offer and that every person’s wants are important. This is the basis the new 2.0 world is founded upon, and one that libraries should make a concerted effort to support as they move toward the user-centered ideals of 2.0.
Libraries can use OSS to build specialized library catalogs, to maintain blogs focusing on patron interests, or even educate patrons about what OSS is and allow them to download applications onto library-ownded computers. One concern critics of OSS have is that without the ability to patent and profit from software applications, there will be no innovation. That has not been the case, though, with OSS. Software has been built and improved upon by people all over the world (Cass Sunstein explores the benefits of OSS in his book, Infotopia). It’s as though they do it as a kind of public service, something public libraries know a lot about.
What other ways might libraries take advantage of Open Source Software?
My paper, which explores how groups produce knowledge, will focus on the example of the Library of Congress and its Flickr project. I’ll discuss tagging, folksonomies, and the successes and failures of tagging projects for libraries, including thinking about some possibilities for future tagging projects.
Some sources I’ll discuss:
This Library Journal article by Melissa Rethlefsen, which discusses how everyday public libraries might consider using social tagging (or any kind of tagging) to enhance their catalogs and other services.
This paper (pdf file), by Jonathan Furner, which is an in-depth discussion of user-tagging, what it is, what it means, who should use it, and how. The paper draws connections between tagging and the ideals of library 2.0, stressing a user-centered model of libraries.
I’ll also look at the Library of Congress’s report on the results of their Flickr project. Thanks to the LoC for making so much information so easily accessible on the web!
For those who are curious, here is some basic background, with definitions, of social tagging and folksonomies.
You can follow along with my research through my delicious feed — it’s on the left sidebar over there(<—). I’m saving all the articles relevant to my paper there; be sure to check it out!
Social networking sites have been, for me, a discovery of all the promise and peril of the web 2.0 world. They are user-driven, the content completely controlled by the people who use the site. I joined Facebook in 2004, when it was a site closed to everyone but college students. It felt like a safe space, then, because there was some limitation about who could use the site, it seemed like a place where only others like me posted content or could access mine. Now, Facebook has 175 million users, and the news is full of cautionary tales about what can happen if you share too much about yourself on the web. But given this user base, it is only natural that business, politicians, and community organization, among others, would try to tap into that user base to market and draw people in to their services.
But how can libraries use Facebook? Groups for library supporters, or specific branches or of the system in general have sprung up. Many public and academic libraries have developed Facebook pages so users can follow them, becoming fans to declare their allegiance. The real challenge, I think, will be to move beyond bringing like minded people together to see what Facebook can really do for a library. Developing applications for Facebook, like making a catalog searchable through a library’s page is one option. Facebook also allows site administrators to, say, invite all their fans to an event, perhaps drawing in more casual library users who are not normally aware of what’s going on at their libraries. Libraries might also consider attempting to install a Meebo window to conduct reference interviews from within Facebook. It’s when libraries move past simply forming networks, and really take advantage of the access to casual users to bring them in to the library (or encourage their remotely accessing resources), that we may begin to see what social networking can really do for libraries. What are other ways Facebook might be used more effectively by libraries?
In my research paper, I’d like to build on the ideas Cass Sunstein explores in Infotopia. Can the internet harness the knowledge dispersed among large groups of people? How? I’d like to explore how one library is taking part in this process, specifically — the Library of Congress.
How have the Library of Congress’s efforts to move into the 2.0 world seen success? The library has a blog presence, a web site, and has uploaded many of its archived images onto Flickr. What has the public’s response been to these actions? How have these actions affected the Library’s knowledge about its own physical collections, or otherwise changed the way the Library does business as usual?
What impact does/should this have on other libraries? What can we, as librarians, learn from the Library of Congress’s efforts?
Cass Sunstein’s book, Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge explores the ways information dispersed in large groups of people can be harnessed to make correct choices.
I chose to read Sunstein’s book because I followed him as a legal personality and wanted an introduction to his scholarship. Sunstein was recently chosen by President Obama to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, meaning his views on information will soon begin to have visible real-world implications.
What is the book about? Sunstein’s argument is that a large group of people will possess a lot of information. The real question, he believes, is how this knowledge can be best aggregated so that correct decisions are made. He discusses a few different strategies:
Surveys — Ask a lot of people a question and take the average answer. This method is surprisingly successful, as long as the group is likely to have access to necessary information. Ask them a question they have no real frame of reference about, like my pet’s name, and the odds are that they’ll be wrong.
Deliberation — Let people discuss or argue their views and come to a consensus; this is how many processes work in a democracy. Deliberation is (almost unsettlingly) unsuccessful. Groups tend to move toward extreme views, and often people are afraid to speak up and express their views, especially when they run counter to the consensus.
Prediction markets — Just like the stock market sets accurate prices for goods, prediction markets take advantage of economic incentives to encourage people to act on information they hold. These are uncannily accurate. Try the Iowa Electronic Markets, the Washington Stock Exchange, or even Celebdaq.
Wikis, Open Source Software, and Blogs — These use the power of the internet to aggregate dispersed information, generally functioning better when there are moderators. They take out the profit incentive markets rely on, but still manage to be successful based on people’s willingness to share and desire to improve things.
Sunstein’s book has a lot of information and solid (often legal or governmental) examples. His research is based in the economic, philosophical, and mathematical principles that serve as the foundations of democracy and free market economics. Don’t worry; it’s not as theoretical as it sounds. Sunstein offers a lot of suggestions for how we might better use these strategies in order to improve the world in which we live. I’d recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in the topic of gathering information from diverse peoples.
What does this all mean for libraries? I think there are two ways this information needs to be used in libraries. The first is as an understanding about how the world is evolving in its information use. Can libraries aid in the process of bringing information together? Of course, and they should. Libraries can encourage people to seek out high quality information and then encourage them to share it, on the web or otherwise. Librarians should be critical voices in getting information out there, so decisions can be made well. Secondly, libraries should be thinking about their own decision making processes. Are all voices heard in their deliberative processes? Might they use an anonymous wiki to encourage the less powerful members of the organization to voice their views? Should they begin a decision making process with general surveys to see what their best options might be? Could they even develop their own prediction markets as a way of testing ideas about new library services? Sunstein’s book is rich with information and strategies that are useful to libraries and librarians, and may even be made use of soon in the new White House administration.
