Social Networking: Final Thoughts

I like the notion of using social networking to promote library profiles. At the public library where I used to work we had a MySpace page and used blogs to invite feedback from clients, particularly those in the youth client group. I think this enhances the idea that libraries are for everyone. They are a welcoming cultural institution and can be like a "friend" in that they cheer us up and provide us with entertainment!

At the State Library social networking tools might be important as many of our clients are remote users and may not be able to visit the library "in person" very often. Having a MySpace or Facebook profile would mean clients could "keep in touch" with the State Library even when they are not visiting the physical space frequently. It might also encourage new clients to join via online advertising.

Completing the Learning 2.0 program has shown me there are many opportunities for interacting with clients online. I think social networking is useful for appealing to a younger demographic and for making remote clients feel they are part of the library in virtual space, even though they may not visit the physical space on a regular basis.

Google Docs

Online Productivity Tools & Google Docs

I created a small document on Google Docs and have allowed it to be shared with the State Library Learning 2.0 program. Google Docs is useful for travellers who might have problems downloading and accessing word files. It is particularly pertinent at the State Library on the Reading room computers where Microsoft Word is not available but clients can still create documents using an online productivity tool like Google Docs.

In my work I can't see that Google Docs would have many advantages over Microsoft Word, however, for collaborative projects it might help in editing. For example, it allows editors to see changes made and is somewhat easier than constantly emailing attachments.

http://docs.google.com/?pli=1#all

Mash-ups

I can see the advantages of using mashups to combine different types of media like audio, photographic and video. A mashup allows for different ways of approaching a topic and therefore incorporates many learning forms in the one space. The British Library's use of Google Maps to create their own historical timeline was a good example of how mash-ups allow for knowledge to be charted and stored online in a variety of formats ie. through interactive maps as well as words and pictures. I'm not sure how the State Library could use mash-ups to enhance its collection but perhaps the combination of picture and audio would make for a new approach to oral history and allow input from clients as well.

Below is an exmaple of a mash-up in mosaic form which illustrates our value of "Honesty and Integrity"

http://www.erl.vic.gov.au/events/podcasts.htm

Podcasts

I regularly podcast ABC Radio National programs and have certainly benefited from the access they provide. With podcasts you can access the audio information you require at a time and place that suits you. In completing the exercise for this week I chose to listen to part of Sunnyvale Public Library's podcast of the League of Women's voters speeches given prior to the November election. It demonstrates the importance of podcasts in documenting and archiving audio information.

Podcasts can be used by libraries to broadcast events and talks, meaning that patrons who cannot make a particular event can "catch up" online. The State Library, for instance, makes use of this technology to archive author talks. Similarly, Eastern Regional Libraries in Victoria provides podcasts of their weekly radio show on the library's website, combining more than one type of media in the same place and enhancing the library's ability to "reach out" to different communities.

http://www.erl.vic.gov.au/events/podcasts.htm

Answer boards

I can see the advantage of answer boards in creating online knowledge networks and encouraging "social searching". However, similar to Wikipedia, I think there might be problems with accuracy given that anyone can post an answer without having to verify the information they provide. I find answer boards a bit annoying as they often pop up in response to questions where I am looking for a more reputable source. This said, I did post a question regarding a movie release date on "Yahoo Answers".

Perhaps one advantage of using answer boards at the State Library might be if members were able to answer each other's research questions through social searching. This would tap into the knowledge possessed by many of our professional research clients and those with specialised interests. It would be a good way of creating user communities and might even free some of our librarians' workload. librarians!

LibraryThing & Technorati

I discovered LibraryThing awhile ago through the Learning 2.0 program offered at the State Library of Victoria. I think it's a great tool for introducing the notion of cataloguing to the lay person. LibraryThing provides a social networking element as you can view the libraries of others who share your reading interests. The site will also recommend reads to you, making it personally responsive. I like LibraryThing because it focuses on the importance of books and reading in our lives.

I have set up a technorati account, however, I find that many of the sites encourage rapid input of new information, require regular attention and have the potential to cause information overload (even if it is in an organised format!)

Tagging, folksonomies and del.icio.us

The following is a link to my del.icio.us account
http://delicious.com/Mia3.
In the public library we used to use del.icio.us on the Reference Desk to keep up to date with information on frequently used sites. I can see how del.icio.us is a useful method for categorising and making sense of large volumes of updated information.

Video Online

For this week's exercise I searched YouTube and Google Video for "State Library" and came up with some interesting results, including a number of videos combining dance and the state library! I liked how Sacremento State Library were using online video to provide virtual tours of the building and introduce potential users or eye-spies to the services offered at the library. I think this is a good way of heightening the library's profile and welcoming people to the space. It would certainly make the first visit less daunting and less confusing so perhaps this is something that we could use here as well. Similarly I also enjoyed taking a tour of the Russian State Library online, however, the footage kept stopping and starting, indicating that one of the drawbacks of online video can be poor quality. I am embedding the video from Sacremento as an example of how State Library's have used this technology in a professional manner.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds could be useful for librarians who rely on blogs for insights into the library world and to get an idea of how other libraries are using Web 2.0 tools. I can see how condensing information from blogs (like those attached to news sites) into one "storage" area is an effective form of information management. However, I think there is potential for information overload - it is still necessary to sort through all the feeds and pick out what is useful to you.

RSS feeds might be a good way to keep library users up to speed with developments to a library's website. This would be particularly pertinent to the State Library as the homepage is constantly changing. I noted that many university libraries are using RSS feeds to keep users informed of developments like adding new books to the collection.

Flickr values

I have finally located two images which illustrate the State Library's value:"Innovation and Ideas". I thought the concept of an "Innovation Depot" like the one pictured was an obscure, though effective, name for a research facility! The picture is taken from "briantmurphy" on flickr. The ideas brochures are fairly self-explanatory but notable is the use of colour to reflect the vibrancy of this value. The second picture is from "Shaun.numb" on flickr. The images I chose help to portray our value of "Innovation and Ideas" as one that looks at moving forward and embracing change.

Wiki Fun

I like the idea of the wiki as a group knowledge repository and I can see how it is beneficial for organising knowledge projects with many contributors. One person can edit and add to another’s entry with relative ease. Like the article says, it’s phenomenal how quickly wikis have been recognised as a valid source of knowledge and information management.

I have been particularly impressed with “Wikinorthia”, a local studies wiki of the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has well organised categories, a good search function, simple but effective layout and includes lots of historic photographs. It's a good way of channelling local history knowledge into one forum. Today I found an article documenting the life of a local family who included a previous 1879 Melbourne Cup winner. Very appropriate given it’s Melbourne Cup Day today!

http://www.wikinorthia.net.au/index.php/Cracknell_family_of_Panton_Hill

I have also contributed to Wikipedia, adding to an entry on actress, Julianne Moore. As the information was in table format I had to work with html code. This was difficult and not altogether successful but my addition was still published. It was a worthwhile experience in creating and sharing knowledge with an “invisible” community of users.

This is my first attempt at following the instructions for uploading photos and images from the web - let's see how it goes!

This week through Common Craft I learnt more about Flickr as a photo sharing tool. As discussed in my previous post I have some experience using Flickr to search for images. However, I hadn’t realised its full potential for turning photos into a “social” medium via use of a common web space, a search engine and tagging.

I think it could be said that the use of tagging in social networking sites like these encourages people to think like librarians. Tagging is really a form of cataloguing in that it relies on creating search terms. So it can further add to the Web 2.0 philosophy of breaking down barriers between the library, its staff and its users. Tagging, then, can do much for educating people in use and creation of search terminology as well as promoting catalogue search strategies like keyword searching.

On Flickr I enjoyed looking at photos of the British Library and the State Library of Victoria which I visited recently. I can see how Flickr and other photo sharing sites might operate as a window into another’s view of the world ie. we see through someone else’s eyes by sharing their photographs online. In the first Common Crafts show it was said that Learning 2.0 spaces like Flickr and Blogspot change traditional barriers of authorship. Everyone can become an artist, journalist or photojournalist. And likewise we can all become active, not passive, spectators, provided that we have access to technologies. Hence the role of the 'audience' changes too.

To practise searching and to become more familiar with Flickr I looked up a local NSW library. I was disappointed to find no results. However, this has inspired me to take some pictures of my favourite library, add them to Flickr and share them with the world! Watch this space...

Learning 2.0 Adventures

This is my first post as a very new member of the State Library of NSW Learning 2.0 troops. I have been inspired by colleagues’ blogs and reflections on the Learning 2.0 process. As mentioned in my previous post I gravitated towards the idea of “lifelong learning” because it transforms the learning process into something that is accessible to everyone, no matter what their stage in life.

For library users I think lifelong learning is important as it promotes the exchange between the librarian and the library user as a two way learning process. It could even be said that user participation in library education is increased.

For example, in the State Reference Library a few weeks ago a client asked me if he would be able to view one of our collection videos on YouTube. The answer was “no” but the possibility is endless. This alerted me to the fact that many of our clients are more technosavvy than we are. They will frequently use Learning 2.0 technologies as second nature.

In another example it occurred to me (after I’d terminated the call) that as well as using our PICMAN/Mitchell Library collection to answer a telephone inquiry on pictures of Manly Beach I could be using Web 2.0 tools more effectively. One way of doing this would be searching online picture databases such as PictureAustralia and Flickr to answer inquiries about photographs.

So this said, I’ve had a quick look at some of the blogs suggested by the Learning 2.0 team here at the State Library of NSW. I liked the British Museum Sacred Exhibitions blog as it allows the experience of the exhibition to be vicariously available to anyone through the blogsphere. As other colleagues have mentioned, I can see this type of blog working for our exhibitions here at the State Library. It would be a great way to share clients lived experiences of the Library and understand more about what they take away from their visits to our galleries.

My first introduction to blogs was last year just before a trip to New York when I was researching reviews on the film “The Hours”. I found a lovely blog (I’ve since not been able to locate) which was written by an American woman who I think was living in New York. She wrote of how the movie had lifted her spirits and inspired her to buy flowers for herself, just as Mrs Dalloway might have (had she not been required to entertain so many guests!). What I like about blogs is their similarity to travel memoirs and personal narratives, they’re like a mini biography or journal online and, from a library perspective, they can encourage clients to provide feedback in more inventive ways ie. through text, image and video.

I’m looking forward to continuing the Learning 2.0 program and to finally figuring out how to add pictures and video to my blog! Until next week…

Techno/Bookclub

It is an understatement to say that technology has increased the power of connectivity between books and alternative information sources like the internet or television. I belong to a local library bookclub where we are reading Richard North Patterson’s Exile. The bookclub allows for each member to choose or nominate texts.

To greater understand this one I have been using the State Library of New South Wales electronic resources to find information on the conflict between Palestine and Israel. These are, interestingly enough, categorised under Modern History and include the BBC website’s Country Profiles of Israel and Palestine as wells as the the Middle East Research and Information Project.

I felt ignorant and ashamed that I had not made more effort to think much about this conflict which is played out on my TV screen every night. In Australia we are lucky to have access to many different forms of information even if some may have a government bias. And Patterson talks about the importance of the living room to America and the armchair view we sometimes hold of the world.

Being critical thinkers and encouraging evaluation of information sources is part of our quest for information literacy and continued lifelong learning. It's also a way to see the world as more than a TV screen. To me, book clubs are an important part of life whether they be through a television community, online or in person. They promote lifelong learning, encourage perspective-taking and condition empathy with others.

Laura Brown was a Librarian -- So am I.

"Laura Brown is trying to lose herself. No, that's not it exactly - she is trying to keep herself... In another world she might have spent her whole life reading."



(Michael Cunningham, The Hours, Rep. 2002, pp. 37-39)



I suppose it's a cliche to say I'm a librarian because I love reading books. It might be more accurate to say I'm a librarian because I love reading books AND I like talking about them. For me, there's nothing like finding a client who's read the same things you have. And nothing more exciting than being able to show another where, and how, to find the book/s they're looking for. I know the value of the library as a learning institution. I know libraries aren't all about books. But for me that's what started this. So it's what I thought my first post should be about.



It took me nine years to find The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Even then the impetus to read it came from the film and not a best-sellers list [if my public library didn't have free DVD access who's to say?] Now, I've read it, I'm listing it as my favourite book "of all time". And it features a librarian! Her name is Laura Brown.



Working in libraries, to me, is a challenging, rewarding and sometimes disheartening process. I am saddened by cuts to funding and perplexed by the need to prove public library relevance in an Information Society. Perhaps this is because, like Laura Brown, I could fill my life by reading , just "dreaming as the days go by" (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, p 233).



I think in a global world we have to seek policy makers and politicians who understand the value of reading, who will respect the role libraries play in storing, communicating and creating knowledge. As librarians, I think it's still important to encourage users to read, where we can. Mother Theresa once said "the most terrible poverty is loneliness" (see thinkexist.com). A person who can read is never lonely. To me, that's what Laura Brown's character represents.



So, when I doubt my chosen career (and sometimes I do) I pick up The Hours and it all comes down to this... I like to read, I like to share and I like to learn. Laura Brown was a librarian. So am I.







Bibliography

Cunningham, M 2002 The Hours, Picador USA, New York.



Carroll, L Alice in Wonderland, Priority Books, Peter Haddock Publishing, UK.