Adventures in Library 2.0

This afternoon we experimented with YouTube.  The video below is from the Denver Public Library to promote their Summer Reading Program, highlighting all the great things you can do at the library. Check it out!

Another good one, Librarian shows patron all the different ways she can access the same information, in this video a copy of The Wizard of Oz…

I think it’s very cool how libraries are using YouTube to share information about their collections, programming, and “how to” videos.

Check this out!: ALA’s READ® Image Generator

Fun with FDs Flickr Toys!

I wish I could find a picture of me looking a bit less angry, but I was enjoying myself when the picture was taken.  I like using sites like FDs Flickr Toys and ImageChef to customize images and create custom signs.  I think that exploring these technologies is a lot of fun and people of all ages get a kick of seeing their picture or images customized.  I think using these technologies all comes back to what we’ve been discussing all morning, all the user to create and control the content to maximize their experience.  Using an exercise like creating trading cards would be great for students (of all ages) to create trading cards as a way to get to know fellow classmates. In a library setting, staff members could create and distribute trading cards to users after a program or reference dialog, as a way to share contact information. Users could create trading cards to enable librarians to get to know them better.  Just a few ideas…back to playing with the Flickr toys…

 Seth Godin’s Tribes is a very accessible book, with short and to the point chapters, and mini-case studies. Written in quick, sound byte like phrases, Godin defines a tribe as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea” (1).  Godin suggests that the idea of tribes has been with us for a long time, but what he offers are suggestions for ways in which we can harness the power of tribes to strengthen our organizations and turn our members into leaders. Godin states, “a group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate” (1-2).  When we apply Godin’s definitions to libraries we see that we have the two indigents necessary for a tribe, we have our staff and patrons motivated by an interest for information and access and several mediums for communication, whether it be face-to-face or virtual.  What libraries can take away from Godin’s Tribes are ways in which we can relinquish some of our control over library services.  Instead of managing our patrons, by simply giving them what we think they need, we can turn our patrons into library leaders by giving them some control over their library experience and in turn providing them the best customer service that will keep them loyal to our tribe and keep libraries visible in the community. 

Godin’s thesis is born out of a new reality in which “many organizations have discovered that the factory centric model of producing goods and services is not nearly as profitable as it used to be” (Godin 9).  This discovery has implications for libraries, as users are craving more than just the materials that libraries provide, but that they are also looking to have an experience at the library. Taking that a step further, our patrons are looking for an experience that they have a say in. Just as people look for something more in their work, “…someone who reaps huge rewards as a result of her insight. Or someone who has control over what he does all day, creating products or services that he’s actually proud of. It certainly involves having authority over your time and your effort and having input into what you do” (Godin 40).  What makes us think that they will not seek autonomy in their library experience? Library 2.0 and participatory service suggests that users want to control their own content and experience whether it be commenting on or tagging their favorite books in an online catalog or coming to the library for a Rock Band tournament.

Getting our patrons on board and keeping them informed touches on another topic that Godin discusses as new opportunity for tribes – marketing. He states, “For a long time, I’ve been writing about the fact that everyone is now a marketer…media channels combined with the increased leverage of individuals within organizations, means that just about anyone can influence the marketing of just about everything. This book [Tribes] says something new.  Everyone is not just a marketer – everyone is also a leader. The explosion in tribes, groups, covens, and circles means that anyone who wants to make a difference can” (8).  If we can turn our staff members and patrons into library leaders, our job as marketers will be easier.  Harnessing the power of our collective tribe, putting our users in the driver’s seat, allowing them autonomy in their library experience can help create the library leaders, whether they are staff member or patrons that Godin describes.

Godin, Seth. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. New York: Penguin, 2008.

Tribes was my recommended read for my library’s staff blog, check it out. 

Also, if anyone is interested in Tribes you can download the audiobook from iTunes, for only $5.95.  It’s 3 hours and 45 minutes and narrated by Godin.

Love it or hate it Library 2.0 has changed the way librarians think about library service. Those who are reluctant of Library 2.0 may be afraid that it will be all technology all the time, but in actuality one of the fundamental principles of Library 2.0 recommends only as much technology (if any at all) as our users demand. For me, is the heart of Library 2.0, creating an open and ongoing dialogue with our users, staff, and community to better understand what is worth our time, our patron’s time, and precious library dollars.

We have talked about the “core values of librarianship” in our introductory courses (701 in particular) and I think that Library 2.0 takes those same ideals, but reconfigures them by striving for a user-centered, rather than a library or librarian-centered experience.

 A focus on service has always been a central part of librarianship, but the critical part of Library 2.0 suggests that our service to patrons should be directed by the user, switching the focus from just offering good service and expanding our definition to include to participatory service, a service model described by Casey and Savastinuk as one in “which both users and nonusers can participate in the service creation process” (p.62) Ultimately, what Library 2.0 and participatory service suggests is putting our users in the drivers seat and the librarian becomes the navigator.

This is not stay librarians should stop developing collections, scheduling programming, and making reading suggestions. But, allowing our users to comment on their favorite books, instead of always hearing from us, offering comic book and graphic novel clubs, instead of the usual book group for teens, or providing gaming at the library whether it be monopoly or rock band to patrons of all ages helps us connect with patrons on their terms and allows patrons a level of autonomy in their library experience. 

Honestly, I have never been a fan of the name “Library 2.0.” In fact, I think libraries have gone through many more “upgrades” that the 2.0 would suggest. But, name aside I think that we are going to see the principles of Library 2.0 interwoven with the core values of librarianship and that we are taking one of our most essential core values – service – and reconfiguring and redefining it to better serve our patrons wherever they may be.

 A final thought, as I finished writing this post I began reading Tribes by Seth Godin. From the onset Godin suggests, “The real power of tribes [people connected to each other through a common idea] has nothing to do with the Internet and everything to do with people” (p.6).  The same logic could be applied to Library 2.0, insofar as the strength of Library 2.0 has little to do with the Internet but rather the relationships we cultivate with our library tribe of patrons, staff, and community.