Jessica recommended this video on Youtube showing how a library project in Latvia, jointly funded by the foundation and the Latvian government, has turned Latvia’s libraries into centres of learning and opportunity by providing better access to information, jobs, and social connections through technology. The grant—which provided public libraries with computer equipment, Internet connectivity, and skilled librarians—is a huge success story and is helping to close the digital gap in Latvia.
(Thanks to Richard Liddicoat of the Digital Library Web Team for his sterling audio work on the interview)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Jessica Dorr
Jessica Dorr
You are bold librarians! said Jessica Dorn in her address to the 2009 LIANZA Conference delegates. Jessica represented the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. She presented a talk on “Libraries building communities: communities building libraries"
You are bold librarians! said Jessica Dorn in her address to the 2009 LIANZA Conference delegates. Jessica represented the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. She presented a talk on “Libraries building communities: communities building libraries"
Jessica Dorrabstract (pdf)Begins with "Kia ora"; ends with "Kia ora koutou". :-)Says our reputation precedes us.Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation guided by belief that every life has equal value. Goals to improve health; strengthen education; reduce poverty. "Bill Gates has billions of dollars. Why would he give it to libraries? The answer is simple: libraries change lives." Librarians work to make information available -> strong drivers of economic and social progress.Project to connect all libraries to the internet within five years. Spirit similar to APNK but didn't know how challenging task (including technical support) would be. Pulled it off though it took closer to seven years. Total PCs granted = 47,200; buildings receiving a grant: 10,915; training opportunities: 62,000. When started, less than a quarter had access to internet; now all do, and provide it for free. "If you can reach a public library, you can reach the internet."Started with poorer libraries - those not already connected. Started with states in highest need -- Deep South. 
New Mexico was sixth state and provided challenges and opportunities. First large state they worked in. Noticed when plotted a map there were large gaps with no libraries - discovered those were tribal reservation areas. Felt it was unfathomable that there was no need so went to visit. Found lots of space, and found libraries which weren't on the state-recognised list of libraries.Underestimated challenges of technology and underestimated the relevance of the internet to these communities. Showed Microsoft Encarta online encyclopaedia and they searched for themselves. Found mistakes in the encyclopaedia.Began a crash course - couldn't just add libraries to a list of libraries and give them computers. Needed to do more. Used loom as analogy: if weaving this project needed to learn all six steps.(Native communities are justifiably wary of the outside world but want education, want to learn to use computers in a native way.)Find a sheep / Shearing / Needs assessmentEnvironment makes providing services more difficult and expensive.Computers have to speak and write Native languagesCould work with tribes and network - worked hard to involve all of NavahoHad to work with Navaho definition of libraryHad to build capacity and support organisations that work with tribes long-termTools/equipment: scanners, microphones, digital cameras, software tools, test models, drove computers and generators out to test them thoroughly.Wash and dye / TrainingProject-based - using Native examplesPresenting information less linear, more circular/interrelatedShort days as people had to leave early to chop wood, etcMornings teaching staff, afternoons outreach (students, tribal elders, police, any group that had interest in training)Card and spin / Program challengesConnectivity - In US program didn't plan for long-term payment because government should provide. But here couldn't expect to persuade tribal governments to pay, so gave step-down funding (more first year, less next, less next) to give tribal governments time to recognise the value outweighed disadvantages like porn.Challenge in staff turnover so training need never goes awayDye and pattern / Examples of successIndigenous Language Institute uses YouTube to promote preservation of native langaugesWebsites developed for/by government of all chapters so can email instead of drive, minutes and budgets are online. Bartering online.Individuals - computer lets people do homework online instead of driving hours to study.With the tools in place, they are weaving.Learned importance of being familiar with community needs and working with them.Now working in other countries. Aim to bring about effective, sustainable access in developing countries. Want computers to be useful and used in ways to improve lives.Need training for staff - both in technology and outreachLibraries have to be accessible and open to all. Might need to include health clinic; or be on a boat.Libraries have to demonstrate impact by measuring how they meet local needsIn terms of sustainability, suffering because assumed benefits of libraries were obvious so didn't spend effort on evaluation so libraries could prove benefits. Now work from beginning to include an evaluation component. In Latvia compare library services across other government services. In Lithuania doing a study showing return on investment. In Poland doing a study of library users vs non-users. --Different from country to country but critical to have some evaluation in place.Need strong library systems in place to provide vision for field, develop curricula, create sharing opportunities.More than 70% of people in US who use computers in a library say it's the only place they have internet access.Latvia had so many people sitting outside after hours to use wireless that used bandwidth stats to argue for longer open hours.Libraries need to radically change perceptions people have about libraries, we won't survive. Have to be bold, be more radical, be louder, use data, use stories. Must champion and strengthen the resource. Need to keep libraries on the agenda.Story of mayor in Latvia who had to decide whether to improve roads or libraries. Decided to invest in library - and discovered ripple effect on local business, kids staying in school longer.Q: Even with full funding, would be difficulties in some public libraries to add internet. How did you manage that?A: There's no national library in the US - just state libraries. So asked state libraries to apply on behalf of their libraries. Because it was the Gates Foundation, states didn't want to be left out. Some were hesitant, but starting in places with most need showed their priorities. Policy to only work in libraries that would provide free internet. Some libraries didn't want to, but the momentum carried it through.Q: How are you involved in prison libraries?A: Haven't been yet. Have also been asked about academic, schools. But have chosen to invest in public libraries.Q: How are libraries sustaining themselves in difficult economic times.A: Difficult. 20-25% of libraries are at forefront and can continually refresh computers. Middle group, and then 40% really struggle and in 5 years haven't been able to upgrade. So studying what's the difference between these groups? High-performing libraries isn't due to funding as much as due to the librarian - if they're actively involved, actively promoting, they perform well. So future training is focusing in this area too.Q: Has foundation work increased opportunity for collaboration between libraries?A: She thinks so, and they're trying to support it. Spend time building partnerships between grantees; support them to conferences, publication, etc. Recommends looking at their website.
New Mexico was sixth state and provided challenges and opportunities. First large state they worked in. Noticed when plotted a map there were large gaps with no libraries - discovered those were tribal reservation areas. Felt it was unfathomable that there was no need so went to visit. Found lots of space, and found libraries which weren't on the state-recognised list of libraries.Underestimated challenges of technology and underestimated the relevance of the internet to these communities. Showed Microsoft Encarta online encyclopaedia and they searched for themselves. Found mistakes in the encyclopaedia.Began a crash course - couldn't just add libraries to a list of libraries and give them computers. Needed to do more. Used loom as analogy: if weaving this project needed to learn all six steps.(Native communities are justifiably wary of the outside world but want education, want to learn to use computers in a native way.)Find a sheep / Shearing / Needs assessmentEnvironment makes providing services more difficult and expensive.Computers have to speak and write Native languagesCould work with tribes and network - worked hard to involve all of NavahoHad to work with Navaho definition of libraryHad to build capacity and support organisations that work with tribes long-termTools/equipment: scanners, microphones, digital cameras, software tools, test models, drove computers and generators out to test them thoroughly.Wash and dye / TrainingProject-based - using Native examplesPresenting information less linear, more circular/interrelatedShort days as people had to leave early to chop wood, etcMornings teaching staff, afternoons outreach (students, tribal elders, police, any group that had interest in training)Card and spin / Program challengesConnectivity - In US program didn't plan for long-term payment because government should provide. But here couldn't expect to persuade tribal governments to pay, so gave step-down funding (more first year, less next, less next) to give tribal governments time to recognise the value outweighed disadvantages like porn.Challenge in staff turnover so training need never goes awayDye and pattern / Examples of successIndigenous Language Institute uses YouTube to promote preservation of native langaugesWebsites developed for/by government of all chapters so can email instead of drive, minutes and budgets are online. Bartering online.Individuals - computer lets people do homework online instead of driving hours to study.With the tools in place, they are weaving.Learned importance of being familiar with community needs and working with them.Now working in other countries. Aim to bring about effective, sustainable access in developing countries. Want computers to be useful and used in ways to improve lives.Need training for staff - both in technology and outreachLibraries have to be accessible and open to all. Might need to include health clinic; or be on a boat.Libraries have to demonstrate impact by measuring how they meet local needsIn terms of sustainability, suffering because assumed benefits of libraries were obvious so didn't spend effort on evaluation so libraries could prove benefits. Now work from beginning to include an evaluation component. In Latvia compare library services across other government services. In Lithuania doing a study showing return on investment. In Poland doing a study of library users vs non-users. --Different from country to country but critical to have some evaluation in place.Need strong library systems in place to provide vision for field, develop curricula, create sharing opportunities.More than 70% of people in US who use computers in a library say it's the only place they have internet access.Latvia had so many people sitting outside after hours to use wireless that used bandwidth stats to argue for longer open hours.Libraries need to radically change perceptions people have about libraries, we won't survive. Have to be bold, be more radical, be louder, use data, use stories. Must champion and strengthen the resource. Need to keep libraries on the agenda.Story of mayor in Latvia who had to decide whether to improve roads or libraries. Decided to invest in library - and discovered ripple effect on local business, kids staying in school longer.Q: Even with full funding, would be difficulties in some public libraries to add internet. How did you manage that?A: There's no national library in the US - just state libraries. So asked state libraries to apply on behalf of their libraries. Because it was the Gates Foundation, states didn't want to be left out. Some were hesitant, but starting in places with most need showed their priorities. Policy to only work in libraries that would provide free internet. Some libraries didn't want to, but the momentum carried it through.Q: How are you involved in prison libraries?A: Haven't been yet. Have also been asked about academic, schools. But have chosen to invest in public libraries.Q: How are libraries sustaining themselves in difficult economic times.A: Difficult. 20-25% of libraries are at forefront and can continually refresh computers. Middle group, and then 40% really struggle and in 5 years haven't been able to upgrade. So studying what's the difference between these groups? High-performing libraries isn't due to funding as much as due to the librarian - if they're actively involved, actively promoting, they perform well. So future training is focusing in this area too.Q: Has foundation work increased opportunity for collaboration between libraries?A: She thinks so, and they're trying to support it. Spend time building partnerships between grantees; support them to conferences, publication, etc. Recommends looking at their website.What would you do - Elizabeth White, Paul Sutherland
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
What would you do?
Developing and sharing creative solutions (aka Doing More With Less)Elizabeth Whyte, Paul Sutherland"90 minutes of user-generated discussion. In the spirit of Unconference and Pecha Kucha, hear rapid-fire presentations of ideas and challenges from your colleagues. Then break into groups, design solutions, and get inspired to do more with less."Going to watch presentations, ask questions without answering, and then break into groups ("of at least two people because otherwise it wouldn't be a group") to generate answers. Deborah started with her suggestion box presentation, which she uploaded later. (ETA: it's here.) Questions about this were:- How responded to allegation that AU is better than CU?- How are questions and answers distributed?- Staff training for social media sites- Should we forego paper suggestion boxes completely?Break-out groups came up with: (ETA - there was much more discussion that I've noted of course! These only include the 'takeaway' summary reported back at the end of the session.)- If people ask a question/complain, respond in public so everyone can see.We got another presentation on "What would you do about disruptive youth in a public library?" This library is the only free sheltered space in the area. So kids will congregate which is great, but some associated behaviour (especially age 9-14) is less than delightful. Verbal abuse of staff, customers; bullying; assault; gang activity. Long-term they want kids to stay in the library and keep reading. Diagnose much activity as boredom. Are having holiday programs. Want low-key, low-cost, low-advertising, low-efforts. Have used trespass orders but a 2-year tresspass order to an 11-year old is icky. Police relationship, contacts with schools and other agencies. Blogging on an internal incident archive. Training staff. What else can be done?Questions from the audience:- How do older kids respond to incidents?- Does library employ extra staff in holidays?- What's the scope of the youth worker role?- What about ways of getting youth to interact with library knowledge other than passive reading?- Can you create an alternative space?- How do you engage with parents of children?- What are their interests?Break-out groups came up with:- It's good that youth are coming in; they're disconnected and libraries are connecting them into society.- Lots of other ideas and going to work it into something coherent.Jack GoodmanLibraries have lots of fans but not necessarily outspoken ones. Library is the cool place to hang out because we're about people. Talks about building relationships with businesses, universities, polytechs, future generations of educators. Sporting clubs. WIIFM? What's in it for me/libraries? Innovation is essential. Normally takes a lot of resources, money. Denmark $122 per capita funding for libraries; NZ ~$60, Aus ~40.Have we thought about partnerships with local gardening centre? Example of garden centre referring to library for care instructions.Questions from the audience:- Can you get a supplier to support a project within the library?- How would you make the first approach?- Have you done this yourself?Break-out groups came up with:- Libraries shouldn't sell themselves short re potential partnerships. Build relationships.Ellen Thompson from Queensland University of Technology on the unconference "It functions better when more traditional meetings fail." Traditional meeting boring - either nod off or get surly and disruptive. Would like more dynamic ideas movement going on in meetings. Wants an un-meeting. So did it - convinced boss to have a fortnightly agenda meeting and every second week have an un-meeting:
whoever comes is the right people
whatever they talk about is the right topic
when it starts it's right, when it's over it's over
law of two feetTo get a quick meeting: have it standing up. (Audience suggestion to secretly take the chairs away.) Are there any systems, practices, procedures in our organisation that we can "un-"?- un-performance and strategic direction - un-jargon- joking: un-reference interview- un-email (talk to colleagues instead)- un-bureaucracy- un-heirarchy of information and power- un-serious- un-noncontroversial(Put the "un" in "fun"!)- un-risk averse- ungry!Break-out groups came up with:- A well-run meeting can be a beautiful thing.- Need to have purpose and time and place.- Don't try to mash-up agenda-meeting and unmeeting - will get the worst of both worlds.- Some people have standup meetings and they work, so it can be done!Claire Stent from Statistics New ZealandWe try to offer the silver service "everything to everyone all the time". But then people are in the food court! They know Google's not the best search tool but it's quick and easy and has no tutting librarian over their shoulder. They don't feel *comfortable* with our portals. So what do we do? We improve our portals and our processes. So it's not silver service any more, but there's still no people because nothing's changed: the same service is still under the hood. Uni students get a course reader - a chapter here and a journal article there.What do we want? Something different, like a picnic or barbecue? Why be a restaurant if people don't want that? So now if people go to their research page they get training, emails, etc to do with research. Also has pictures! Getting lots of good feedback.People don't want journals and issues; they want one subject-related article. So instead of table of contents, get a subject-related alert. RSS feed search alerts from Ebsco or ProQuest.Don't invent your same service in a new way; invent a new service!Questions from audience:- Why second-guess what people want rather than asking them? (or watching what they use)- Do your staff understand alerts and RSS feeds?- Is the value of libraries in the food or the service or the menu?Break-out groups came up with:- Vote that we're about service.- We're not convinced people know what they want. Should observe them rather than ask.- People like different delivery methods - need to do a variety of things.---LIANZA Ning - if people sign up we can write up what we came up with today.
What would you do?
Developing and sharing creative solutions (aka Doing More With Less)Elizabeth Whyte, Paul Sutherland"90 minutes of user-generated discussion. In the spirit of Unconference and Pecha Kucha, hear rapid-fire presentations of ideas and challenges from your colleagues. Then break into groups, design solutions, and get inspired to do more with less."Going to watch presentations, ask questions without answering, and then break into groups ("of at least two people because otherwise it wouldn't be a group") to generate answers. Deborah started with her suggestion box presentation, which she uploaded later. (ETA: it's here.) Questions about this were:- How responded to allegation that AU is better than CU?- How are questions and answers distributed?- Staff training for social media sites- Should we forego paper suggestion boxes completely?Break-out groups came up with: (ETA - there was much more discussion that I've noted of course! These only include the 'takeaway' summary reported back at the end of the session.)- If people ask a question/complain, respond in public so everyone can see.We got another presentation on "What would you do about disruptive youth in a public library?" This library is the only free sheltered space in the area. So kids will congregate which is great, but some associated behaviour (especially age 9-14) is less than delightful. Verbal abuse of staff, customers; bullying; assault; gang activity. Long-term they want kids to stay in the library and keep reading. Diagnose much activity as boredom. Are having holiday programs. Want low-key, low-cost, low-advertising, low-efforts. Have used trespass orders but a 2-year tresspass order to an 11-year old is icky. Police relationship, contacts with schools and other agencies. Blogging on an internal incident archive. Training staff. What else can be done?Questions from the audience:- How do older kids respond to incidents?- Does library employ extra staff in holidays?- What's the scope of the youth worker role?- What about ways of getting youth to interact with library knowledge other than passive reading?- Can you create an alternative space?- How do you engage with parents of children?- What are their interests?Break-out groups came up with:- It's good that youth are coming in; they're disconnected and libraries are connecting them into society.- Lots of other ideas and going to work it into something coherent.Jack GoodmanLibraries have lots of fans but not necessarily outspoken ones. Library is the cool place to hang out because we're about people. Talks about building relationships with businesses, universities, polytechs, future generations of educators. Sporting clubs. WIIFM? What's in it for me/libraries? Innovation is essential. Normally takes a lot of resources, money. Denmark $122 per capita funding for libraries; NZ ~$60, Aus ~40.Have we thought about partnerships with local gardening centre? Example of garden centre referring to library for care instructions.Questions from the audience:- Can you get a supplier to support a project within the library?- How would you make the first approach?- Have you done this yourself?Break-out groups came up with:- Libraries shouldn't sell themselves short re potential partnerships. Build relationships.Ellen Thompson from Queensland University of Technology on the unconference "It functions better when more traditional meetings fail." Traditional meeting boring - either nod off or get surly and disruptive. Would like more dynamic ideas movement going on in meetings. Wants an un-meeting. So did it - convinced boss to have a fortnightly agenda meeting and every second week have an un-meeting:
whoever comes is the right people
whatever they talk about is the right topic
when it starts it's right, when it's over it's over
law of two feetTo get a quick meeting: have it standing up. (Audience suggestion to secretly take the chairs away.) Are there any systems, practices, procedures in our organisation that we can "un-"?- un-performance and strategic direction - un-jargon- joking: un-reference interview- un-email (talk to colleagues instead)- un-bureaucracy- un-heirarchy of information and power- un-serious- un-noncontroversial(Put the "un" in "fun"!)- un-risk averse- ungry!Break-out groups came up with:- A well-run meeting can be a beautiful thing.- Need to have purpose and time and place.- Don't try to mash-up agenda-meeting and unmeeting - will get the worst of both worlds.- Some people have standup meetings and they work, so it can be done!Claire Stent from Statistics New ZealandWe try to offer the silver service "everything to everyone all the time". But then people are in the food court! They know Google's not the best search tool but it's quick and easy and has no tutting librarian over their shoulder. They don't feel *comfortable* with our portals. So what do we do? We improve our portals and our processes. So it's not silver service any more, but there's still no people because nothing's changed: the same service is still under the hood. Uni students get a course reader - a chapter here and a journal article there.What do we want? Something different, like a picnic or barbecue? Why be a restaurant if people don't want that? So now if people go to their research page they get training, emails, etc to do with research. Also has pictures! Getting lots of good feedback.People don't want journals and issues; they want one subject-related article. So instead of table of contents, get a subject-related alert. RSS feed search alerts from Ebsco or ProQuest.Don't invent your same service in a new way; invent a new service!Questions from audience:- Why second-guess what people want rather than asking them? (or watching what they use)- Do your staff understand alerts and RSS feeds?- Is the value of libraries in the food or the service or the menu?Break-out groups came up with:- Vote that we're about service.- We're not convinced people know what they want. Should observe them rather than ask.- People like different delivery methods - need to do a variety of things.---LIANZA Ning - if people sign up we can write up what we came up with today.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
LIANZA Keynote Speaker - Tim Spalding
Introduces self as a failed academic, worked in publishing, started LibraryThing.Warning: Library Science being practiced without a degreeStarted as a personal project, now a company. 850,000 members who catalogue their personal libraries - so far 44million books. Available in 12+ languages. (Not Māori but would be open to that - translations done by members.)Social cataloguing is "what I say it means" because he invented it! It's what emerges when personal catalogue goes social. It's becoming increasingly important to libraries. Used in LibraryThing, Shelfari, GoodReads; Visual Bookshelf, BooksWeRead.Ladder of social cataloguing:- started as personal cataloguing and grew from there- users climb the ladder- climbing the ladder is more altruism, more cooperation, more social. But participating is primarily for self. There's some application to libraries but it's different there.Live demonstration of adding "History of New Zealand" by Michael King to his bookshelf. Mixture of tags - "new zealand", "history", "lianza", "interesting". Bookshelf with ratings. Can add from Amazon or many other bookstores or even libraries - 10 libraries in New Zealand contribute data. Can view libraries by list, cover, tag (list or cloud); author cloud or portraits. Statistics on language, number of characters, places. Reviews and ratings. Members' profiles - social networking component but LibraryThing is more about content than people, reflected in focus on users' names rather than user icons.23,000 people adding Twilight. All doing it for themselves but as a result there are now 1200 reviews people can read; tags are added, recommendations are generated ("Will I like it?" - it correctly predicts he won't like Twilight. :-) ) Can follow a feed of new recommendations. There's also the "unsuggester" - trying to be entertaining around books.Example of Neuromancer - library of congress has bizarre subject headings; LibraryThing has "cyberpunk" and you can click through to read more cyberpunk. "Chicklit" is sorted by how many people have called it that; cf Library of Congress "love stories" which is just either/or, no sorting. Idea of prototypes - a robin is a really good example of a bird, a penguin is a kind of okay example of a bird...Non-romance readers think romance readers read romance, but they don't - they read contemporary romance, trashy romance, regency romance, lesbian romance, paranormal romance...."If you're using terms like "social capital" you've already passed some kind of brain test" so not worried about vandalism...."magic" is problematic - Harry Potter mixed in with academic ones."leather" even more soCan do tagmashes to get tagmash "France", "WWII", "fiction""chicklit" is now an LCSH but not geographically subdivided and will never have a "zombie" subdivision.Tags: glbt vs lgbt "But those are the same thing!" -- but no: the books are actually different. The terms that people use encode all sorts of stuff. Many things labelled "homosexuality" actually mean "anti-homosexuality".More than 1.5million covers added (including Albanian, Serbian editions of Harry Potter). When you upload it for yourself, everyone gets the benefit.Social networking based on books you have in common. "Even if I don't want to be his buddy, checking out his library will be very interesting to me. Social networking for people who don't want to talk to each other."Most popular group is Librarians who LibraryThing. Conversations about books on groups are tied into the books' own records.LibraryThing Local - showing us map of bookstores and libraries in Portland, Maine. Can connect to local LT members; find events at bookstores, libraries. Add a photo of our libraries to these pages!Example of wife's books - members have combined all the editions (other languages, etc) FRBR-style. Members have combined "Mark Twain" and "Samuel Clemens"."Common Knowledge" - awards, quotes, characters and places in the story, blurbers - all sorts of things not captured in typical metadata.Series pages - eg Star Wars series. Plus "related series". Much more information than any library has. Collated by people who know about it - the books' fans.How many books does George Washington occur in? How many books take place in Washington, D.C., or in Hell?LT "member" Thomas Jefferson, Marie Antoinette. No New Zealanders at the moment. Based on eg auction house records. Done by the group "I See Dead People's Books". Nice to be able to search Thomas Jefferson's library - couldn't do it before; now can see how you overlap with these people. Most popular book among all legacy libraries is Don Quixote; #2 is Complete Shakespeare.Highest rung of ladder is altruism - flash mob cataloguing where volunteers go to library and catalogue their books in a mob in a day.Six free ways to use LibraryThing:1 Make sure you're in LT Local2 Make an account3 Libraries of Early New Zealand4 Flash-mob catalogue your local historical society, church, health centre...5 "Community library" to create a shared local library with LibraryThing Groups (eg two churches, a historical library, and a couple of people in town).6 Grab our free data: common knowledge data, frbrised data etc.One un-free way:1 LibraryThing for Libraries eg at Seattle Public Library showing other editions and translations; similar books; tags; reviews. Four or five NZ libraries are using it.What does social cataloguing mean for library cataloguing?The end of the world! No!Defends the value of structured metadata but that shouldn't be all we have.LCSH - A book has 3-6 subjects - why? because that's how many we can fit on a card.Subjects are equally valid because of... the card.Subjects never change because of... the card.Only librarians get to add subjects because of... the card.Users don't get a say in how books are classified because of... the card.In the digital world, none of this matters. In libraries these ideas have still persisted.The physical library was human. The first wave of technology was dehumanising but social cataloguing can rehumanise the library. Everyone can help. (We don't need to let them do everything but they can help!) Local matters again. cf Māori Subject Headings - sometimes local communities need headers other communities don't have.A note of caution before joining the exciting world of web2.0 - join the exciting world of web1.0! Library catalogues aren't web1.0. Often you can't link to library catalogue records; they're all session-based. Why why why? People need to be able to bookmark and share. And catalogues aren't indexed in search engines! Why?????Go with the grain of the internet, not against it. We're not in competition with the internet. We should be open. Libraries are going the wrong way. LibraryThing gets twice as much traffic as WorldCat. Dogster gets as much traffic as WorldCat.Be part of the conversation. Trust people: put your stuff online and risk that people might find the "wrong thing" or tag it the "wrong way".Choose solutions that favour all this. He thinks open source is the way to go. He doesn't think open source is necessarily better, but it can be.Social cataloguing can be a last chance to join web 1.0. Before we start struggling with ebooks struggle with the fact that people can't find our books on Google! It's an opportunity to reinvigorate library technology. To reconsider some LIS thinking and improve systems. (Had a LT project to replace Dewey. Turns out to be hard and didn't work. But it's cool to try!) Chance to embrace best traditions of librarianship: radical openness, public spirit, focus, connection to the local and social. Why would we lend books but hold back metadata?Q: Could libraries organise own flash mobs and [? get stuff on web?]A: Absolutely! Thinks flash mobs are good for things on the periphery, stuff that's never been exposed eg churches, historical society. So many books exist in private holdings!Q: What proportion of books on LibraryThing do people catalogue themselves rather than pulling data in?A: Not sure but probably a small percentage. Zines, comics, etc are the main things.
Making IT work for you
Day 2 of the LIANZA Conference 2009 starts with the presentation by Warwick Grey and Corin Haines on “Making IT work for you”.
Warwick is up first. Talking about techologies Linking historical developments with his life
development of computers and television. media and entertainment from black and white to colour (remembers Christchurc Commonwealth games in COLOUR) 1st Colour sports event her saw live on TV.
Then talks about his first computer moving to first PC using DOS. Then Windows 3.1 and so now there is New windows - 2 toolbars. He then shows us a video of the personal computing revolution - do you remember your first computer? "Long live the 1980s" From something exciting to a tool, a commodity. Then in the 90s comes the exciting transformative period - extrordinary change in computing developments technology goals will change - 2000s create community, loyalty, self-help, capture experts, integrate channels HP collaboration with designers for their new netbooks Collaboration among people - multimedia. get connected to products and services - any solution delivered in real time across the internet. shared services
stored in the cloud. This session is sponsored by Datacom. Warwick is from HP
Corin is Discussing social networking. Corin starts talking about Twitter, demonstrating how he filmed a video yesterday, uploaded it then tweeted it during the session Demonstrating his mashup of National Library videos and out of copyright music on flickr.
summary - needs to make social and web tools easy, create feedback , engage custeomers where they are; develope internal ambassadors, partner with external social networks in your community; engage with people; empower internal advocates; accellerate and incubate those efforts across the organisation
Warwick is up first. Talking about techologies Linking historical developments with his life
development of computers and television. media and entertainment from black and white to colour (remembers Christchurc Commonwealth games in COLOUR) 1st Colour sports event her saw live on TV.
Then talks about his first computer moving to first PC using DOS. Then Windows 3.1 and so now there is New windows - 2 toolbars. He then shows us a video of the personal computing revolution - do you remember your first computer? "Long live the 1980s" From something exciting to a tool, a commodity. Then in the 90s comes the exciting transformative period - extrordinary change in computing developments technology goals will change - 2000s create community, loyalty, self-help, capture experts, integrate channels HP collaboration with designers for their new netbooks Collaboration among people - multimedia. get connected to products and services - any solution delivered in real time across the internet. shared services
stored in the cloud. This session is sponsored by Datacom. Warwick is from HP
Corin is Discussing social networking. Corin starts talking about Twitter, demonstrating how he filmed a video yesterday, uploaded it then tweeted it during the session Demonstrating his mashup of National Library videos and out of copyright music on flickr.
summary - needs to make social and web tools easy, create feedback , engage custeomers where they are; develope internal ambassadors, partner with external social networks in your community; engage with people; empower internal advocates; accellerate and incubate those efforts across the organisation
Tim Spalding What is Social Cataloguing - Library Thing
LibraryThing catalogs yours books online, easily, quickly and for free” - but wait, there’s more – you can also use it to … [Warning: the following list is a very narrow summary of features that is not truly representative of all of the functionality available within LibraryThing. Existing users of LibraryThing may find this offensive]:
See who else has the book, and what they think about it.
View and add facts about the book such as character names, awards, or places.
View and add reviews, ratings, tags.
View and add cover images and a gallery of authors.
Look at statistics to see books that you share with other LibraryThing members.
Use comments to send a note to other members.
Connect to other people on LibraryThing by joining or creating a group.
See who else has the book, and what they think about it.
View and add facts about the book such as character names, awards, or places.
View and add reviews, ratings, tags.
View and add cover images and a gallery of authors.
Look at statistics to see books that you share with other LibraryThing members.
Use comments to send a note to other members.
Connect to other people on LibraryThing by joining or creating a group.
In Brief....
It’s an insightful and interesting presentation full of both facts and ideas to consider. Additionally, Spalding is an excellent speaker.
What follows is a NON-COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF a Few Facts and Discussion Points from the keynote. It’s well worth the 50-some minutes to listen for yourself. We think LIS students will also find this presentation worthy of their time.
LT and Social Cataloging:
+ Started in 2005+ 850K Members+ Members Have Cataloged More than 44 Million Books+ Social Cataloging Will Become More Important to Libraries+ The Social Cataloging Ladder+ LibraryThing is More About the Content and Less About Pictures, etc.+ Largest Tag on LT is Cyberpunk+ Comparing LT Tags to LCSH+ Explains TagMashing+ Collaborative Cataloging+ Brings Various Editions of Books Together [Not FRBR but FRBR Like]+ Members Adding Value by Adding Metadata and More Not Provided by the Publishers+ Legacy Cataloging+ Flash Mob Cataloging+ LibraryThing for Libraries (A Fee-Based Service)
+ Traditional Cataloging Will Remain+ Still Believes in Structured Data+ End of Intellectual Structures Rooted in the Limited of the Physical World–David Weinberger+ Humanizing the Catalog (ie. recommendations)+ Library Catalogs are Not Links or Search Engines+ LibraryThing Gets Twice as Much Traffic as WorldCat.org+ Consider Open Source Products+ Social Cataloging Can be a Way for Libraries to Join Web 1.0+ Social Cataloging Can Help Embrace “Best Traditions” of Libraries
Is this enough to pique your interest? If it is then sign up for LibraryThing. Go to the home page, click “Join now” and enter a user name and a password in the yellow box. That’s it.
What follows is a NON-COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF a Few Facts and Discussion Points from the keynote. It’s well worth the 50-some minutes to listen for yourself. We think LIS students will also find this presentation worthy of their time.
LT and Social Cataloging:
+ Started in 2005+ 850K Members+ Members Have Cataloged More than 44 Million Books+ Social Cataloging Will Become More Important to Libraries+ The Social Cataloging Ladder+ LibraryThing is More About the Content and Less About Pictures, etc.+ Largest Tag on LT is Cyberpunk+ Comparing LT Tags to LCSH+ Explains TagMashing+ Collaborative Cataloging+ Brings Various Editions of Books Together [Not FRBR but FRBR Like]+ Members Adding Value by Adding Metadata and More Not Provided by the Publishers+ Legacy Cataloging+ Flash Mob Cataloging+ LibraryThing for Libraries (A Fee-Based Service)
+ Traditional Cataloging Will Remain+ Still Believes in Structured Data+ End of Intellectual Structures Rooted in the Limited of the Physical World–David Weinberger+ Humanizing the Catalog (ie. recommendations)+ Library Catalogs are Not Links or Search Engines+ LibraryThing Gets Twice as Much Traffic as WorldCat.org+ Consider Open Source Products+ Social Cataloging Can be a Way for Libraries to Join Web 1.0+ Social Cataloging Can Help Embrace “Best Traditions” of Libraries
Is this enough to pique your interest? If it is then sign up for LibraryThing. Go to the home page, click “Join now” and enter a user name and a password in the yellow box. That’s it.
Implementing Web 2.0 - Paul Hayton
Implementing Web 2.0
Paul HaytonMetrics are important - available on flickr, wordpress, facebok, youtube, witter. Wikipedia doesn't.Launch dates all refer to Dunedin Public Library's accounts.Flickr:consider using a secret email address; it negates most IT/Council security uploading hassles. Subject heading becomes title and body is description.Flash-based tools may break so use the basic uploaderPro account gives features that are worth it.Link Flickr to blog, facebook, etc - facilitates crossposting.Blog:Started having news and reviews blogs. In Feb 08 merged to a single blog at wordpress.Use Google Analytics. Hosting on own servers makes it easy to put code in.Suggests posting every 1-3 days. Every day is too much, every week not enough.Include youtube clips, flickr banner and links to other services down the side.If doing more than one thing then reuse your content! Eg description on images / blog description of event. Push people through to different services by linking blogpost, photo, through to youtube video etc.Post a little content often rather than a lot infrequently.Link to other online spaces proactivelyReview content using metrics to discover what really is popular content (eg topical links to Swayze-related collection)Use categories, not tags to standardise search when running a blog with multiple contributors - forces authority control.Wikipedia article - launched April 08. Anecdotally well-received but hard to read statistics. Have had one instance of vandalism - corrected by wiki community within 24 hours. When Paul started adding stuff he had people telling him he couldn't put up library-copyrighted stuff.Tips:Establish an accountDeclare who you areStart small, build content as time permitsAdd images and links to other online spacesReference where you canSeek other pages with related content and edit to include a link back to your own pageYouTubeLaunched May 08; now 111 videos, average of 40-60 viewers per day.Tips:Invest in a tripodRecording at 320x240 at 8 frames per second is fine and reduces both file size and upload timeYouTube has a 10min limitDon't pan and zoom.Be consistent in categories and tagsFacebookLaunched December 2008 - wanted to establish a profile and generate viral promotion; engage in dialogue with fans and deliver targeted promotional info to fansAddress is horrible - get a badge. (Me: if you have 100+ fans you can get a custom address)Metrics interesting - fans are 64% female which reflects library membership. Highest fans are at 25-34%Good conversation going.Tips:Have a response plan for if customers engage.Establish a page, not a group.Post links to other online spacesUse the events feature and selectively send invites to fansIf you have a Twitter account, consider linking your status updates to it.Import blog, flickr content etc to your page.TwitterLaunched Feb 09Can get statistics from various analytic sites eg tweetstats.comPredominantly events stuff.Tips:Use web stats services to analyse accountUse the power of the + in http://bit.ly/1894XD+ to get stats on how often it's been viewed.Firefox - install Power Twitter add-on."The more you give the more you get" - the more you tweet the more followers you get - but it's more about quality vs quantity.Implementing:- Strategy - be clear about why and where you're playing, but you don't need a full strategy before you dive in. No analysis paralysis!- Staff/time - better to do one thing well than several things poorly. Look for something you like and do that.- Learn by doing. Forgiveness vs permission, action vs policy.- Proactively network with like minds.- Spend time each week being a 'naive enquirer' to learn more.Q: Release permission for filming booktalks, audiences?A: Get permission for authors, performers. Camera is generally not on audience - only incidental and not very identifiable. Anecdotally - email from someone in a video who wanted a copy to send it aroundQ: Problems with Wikipedia's rule against editing your own page?A: No issues.Q: YouTube filming at low resolution - shouldn't we film at high resolution for posterity and just upload a low-res version?A: Yes, valid point - could be something we could do better at. But currently dealing with practical issues
Paul HaytonMetrics are important - available on flickr, wordpress, facebok, youtube, witter. Wikipedia doesn't.Launch dates all refer to Dunedin Public Library's accounts.Flickr:consider using a secret email address; it negates most IT/Council security uploading hassles. Subject heading becomes title and body is description.Flash-based tools may break so use the basic uploaderPro account gives features that are worth it.Link Flickr to blog, facebook, etc - facilitates crossposting.Blog:Started having news and reviews blogs. In Feb 08 merged to a single blog at wordpress.Use Google Analytics. Hosting on own servers makes it easy to put code in.Suggests posting every 1-3 days. Every day is too much, every week not enough.Include youtube clips, flickr banner and links to other services down the side.If doing more than one thing then reuse your content! Eg description on images / blog description of event. Push people through to different services by linking blogpost, photo, through to youtube video etc.Post a little content often rather than a lot infrequently.Link to other online spaces proactivelyReview content using metrics to discover what really is popular content (eg topical links to Swayze-related collection)Use categories, not tags to standardise search when running a blog with multiple contributors - forces authority control.Wikipedia article - launched April 08. Anecdotally well-received but hard to read statistics. Have had one instance of vandalism - corrected by wiki community within 24 hours. When Paul started adding stuff he had people telling him he couldn't put up library-copyrighted stuff.Tips:Establish an accountDeclare who you areStart small, build content as time permitsAdd images and links to other online spacesReference where you canSeek other pages with related content and edit to include a link back to your own pageYouTubeLaunched May 08; now 111 videos, average of 40-60 viewers per day.Tips:Invest in a tripodRecording at 320x240 at 8 frames per second is fine and reduces both file size and upload timeYouTube has a 10min limitDon't pan and zoom.Be consistent in categories and tagsFacebookLaunched December 2008 - wanted to establish a profile and generate viral promotion; engage in dialogue with fans and deliver targeted promotional info to fansAddress is horrible - get a badge. (Me: if you have 100+ fans you can get a custom address)Metrics interesting - fans are 64% female which reflects library membership. Highest fans are at 25-34%Good conversation going.Tips:Have a response plan for if customers engage.Establish a page, not a group.Post links to other online spacesUse the events feature and selectively send invites to fansIf you have a Twitter account, consider linking your status updates to it.Import blog, flickr content etc to your page.TwitterLaunched Feb 09Can get statistics from various analytic sites eg tweetstats.comPredominantly events stuff.Tips:Use web stats services to analyse accountUse the power of the + in http://bit.ly/1894XD+ to get stats on how often it's been viewed.Firefox - install Power Twitter add-on."The more you give the more you get" - the more you tweet the more followers you get - but it's more about quality vs quantity.Implementing:- Strategy - be clear about why and where you're playing, but you don't need a full strategy before you dive in. No analysis paralysis!- Staff/time - better to do one thing well than several things poorly. Look for something you like and do that.- Learn by doing. Forgiveness vs permission, action vs policy.- Proactively network with like minds.- Spend time each week being a 'naive enquirer' to learn more.Q: Release permission for filming booktalks, audiences?A: Get permission for authors, performers. Camera is generally not on audience - only incidental and not very identifiable. Anecdotally - email from someone in a video who wanted a copy to send it aroundQ: Problems with Wikipedia's rule against editing your own page?A: No issues.Q: YouTube filming at low resolution - shouldn't we film at high resolution for posterity and just upload a low-res version?A: Yes, valid point - could be something we could do better at. But currently dealing with practical issues
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