Nancy Pearl moderated a lively discussion with 3 talented authors. The session was formated around the questions we all want to ask our favorite authors.
Q: What are you reading?
Various answers include: Hold Tight by Harlen Coben, Without a Map by Meredith Hall, Red Breast by Jo Nesbo, One Drop by Bliss Boyard, The Nine by Jeffery Toobin,as well as various works by Peter Gomes, and Denise Mina. There seemed to be a major concentration for nonfiction.
Q: Who is your ideal reader?
A giggle was elicited by the comment: a reader who buys the book! In actuality the best readers are involved, informed, and active in learning more about the story and characters.
Q: What is your writing process like?
The authors mentioned that the story comes as a surprise even to them as it unfolds. Some mentioned listening to the voices (inside their heads)of the story. Medwed told the audience about becoming a master eavesdropper in order to add to the voices of her characters.
Q: If you could change one thing about the publishing world what would it be?
Medwed: That the book is what matters, not author looks, not marketability
Page: Publishers are not giving enough chances to new authors
Barnes: Eliminate franchising
Q: If a reader asked for books like yours, who would you recommend?
Medwed: Elinor Lipman, Steve McCauley, Tom Parotta,
Barnes: Michael Connolly Laurie King
Page: Valerie Wilson, Margaret Maron, Robert Barnard, Craig Rice
Q: Why is humorous fiction not taken seriously?
They are considered “light”
People think without serious issues the book is not worthwhile
Q: How do you feel about having your books categorized into specific genres?
Like being sent to the children's table at dinner. It was a general consensus that in order to open up the library's collection to all patrons,we should not house books by genre. Watch out I think there might be a wave of change. Nancy Pearl even mentioned eliminating the Dewey system from libraries.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Keynote Address: David Weinberger
I have to say that at conferences I'm not always a big fan of the Keynote Address. Today's keynote: The New Shape of Knowledge, or Miscellaneous Knowledge or The Smell of Knowledge as David Weinberger decided to change the name to last night was interesting, and not even that difficult to follow!
David Weinberger, author of Everything is Miscellaneous (available here on Amazon) is an intelligent, humorous man who has quite a bio to back himself up. Click here to read an interview.
David talked a lot about Knowledge, how we organize it and why we organize it the way we do. He discussed the fact that it's human nature to put things into places, to organize ideas and the tangibles that ideas become into categories.
Things we assume (in the west, since ancient Greece) about knowledge:
“Opinions are a dime a dozen, what's really difficult is finding the truth”
More assumptions:
Then David showed a picture of clean laundry (hence the humorous part)– we organize, break down, clump to figure out where everything goes.
Why do we subject our ideas to the same thing we subject our laundry to? Why do we assume these is only one way to organize ideas? Though we can't have two physical objects in one place at the same time, but you can have more than one ideas in the same place at the same time.
In the past we have had to separate out metadata (a set of data that describes and gives information about other data) from out data- now it's different. Now that we digitize our information, we have made all data into metadata. The old way of organizing doesn't make sense anymore- why organize it that way when we don't do it that way anymore. We assume there is a connection between data and metadata – use to need to know some of the metadata to find what you're looking for, not you might just need some of the data (the first line of the text, i.e.) and you can find the data as well as the metadata. We use metadata as a way to pry up data, but if everything is metadata- we've gotten way smarter.
We used to think that movement from the idea that there is too much information and we should hire experts to decide what we need and how it all fits together. Now, rather than thinking that the way to manage is exclude stuff, we can include everything – storage is cheap. It's easier to include than come up with a reason to exclude. We don't know what people are going to be interested in and now we don't have to make decisions, we can keep everything.
Different kinds of classification- tagging, dewey online, let people search the way they want to search.
Library of Congress put all those photos on Flickr from 40's. Put up metadata they have, allowed users to tag whatever they want, to develop new metadata. Also allow you to annotate, argue, comment, etc.
How does Wikipedia get it's credibility? Wikipedia puts all sorts of info up saying what the articles read like, if their contradictory, if it is a neutral piece, to admit that they're not perfect. The fact that they'll admit that not everything is wonderful shows us that it is an alright site to use. The fact that they're saying they things might not be perfect allows Wikipedia a level of credibility. If notices of imperfection gives credit to Wkipedia, why wouldn't it credit to the NYT or Britannica the same way? David says it's because they're embarrassed. We live in a world where it's thought to be embarrassing to be seen as human.
So how do we put information together?
So, what happens to libraries?
“We all love books, but books also suck”
We don't know whats happening to libraries because we don't yet know what's happening to knowledge. It's taken 2500 years to give us our sense of knowledge- it will take at least a generation to figure out what to do now.
David Weinberger, author of Everything is Miscellaneous (available here on Amazon) is an intelligent, humorous man who has quite a bio to back himself up. Click here to read an interview.
David talked a lot about Knowledge, how we organize it and why we organize it the way we do. He discussed the fact that it's human nature to put things into places, to organize ideas and the tangibles that ideas become into categories.
Things we assume (in the west, since ancient Greece) about knowledge:
- One knowledge, no plural, same for everyone – everything that is true is true for everyone.
- Simple- knowledge is simple – beneath apparent complexity of the world, knowledge must be simpler
- Knowledge is scarce
“Opinions are a dime a dozen, what's really difficult is finding the truth”
More assumptions:
- Knowledge is orderly – what lets us figure out what goes into one category instead of another. Categories, why they go together, how they work.
- Is there a single way of “carving” things? Of breaking things down?
- More likely, we cluster things, we don't break them down. How would the world be clustered and organized if we weren't interested in anything- does it matter? Can we even ask that question?
- We're able to cluster because the universe is made up of things that share attributes.
Then David showed a picture of clean laundry (hence the humorous part)– we organize, break down, clump to figure out where everything goes.
Why do we subject our ideas to the same thing we subject our laundry to? Why do we assume these is only one way to organize ideas? Though we can't have two physical objects in one place at the same time, but you can have more than one ideas in the same place at the same time.
In the past we have had to separate out metadata (a set of data that describes and gives information about other data) from out data- now it's different. Now that we digitize our information, we have made all data into metadata. The old way of organizing doesn't make sense anymore- why organize it that way when we don't do it that way anymore. We assume there is a connection between data and metadata – use to need to know some of the metadata to find what you're looking for, not you might just need some of the data (the first line of the text, i.e.) and you can find the data as well as the metadata. We use metadata as a way to pry up data, but if everything is metadata- we've gotten way smarter.
We used to think that movement from the idea that there is too much information and we should hire experts to decide what we need and how it all fits together. Now, rather than thinking that the way to manage is exclude stuff, we can include everything – storage is cheap. It's easier to include than come up with a reason to exclude. We don't know what people are going to be interested in and now we don't have to make decisions, we can keep everything.
Different kinds of classification- tagging, dewey online, let people search the way they want to search.
Library of Congress put all those photos on Flickr from 40's. Put up metadata they have, allowed users to tag whatever they want, to develop new metadata. Also allow you to annotate, argue, comment, etc.
How does Wikipedia get it's credibility? Wikipedia puts all sorts of info up saying what the articles read like, if their contradictory, if it is a neutral piece, to admit that they're not perfect. The fact that they'll admit that not everything is wonderful shows us that it is an alright site to use. The fact that they're saying they things might not be perfect allows Wikipedia a level of credibility. If notices of imperfection gives credit to Wkipedia, why wouldn't it credit to the NYT or Britannica the same way? David says it's because they're embarrassed. We live in a world where it's thought to be embarrassing to be seen as human.
So how do we put information together?
- Conversation makes us smarter, we tell people to go explore other things, other information (blog rolls). Point things out to each other and be selfless.
- Blogging and the web in general are based on links and links are little acts of generosity. The web is a little bit selfless.
- It's hard to tell how much information or how much knowledge is available in one place on the web because so many links and other places offered for us to go.
So, what happens to libraries?
“We all love books, but books also suck”
- Libraries are convenient for reading, but bad for commenting, not for access, sharing.
- Books and libraries give us bibliography and resources, but they are physically separate from, rather than on the internet where everything is right there.
- We have a notion that knowledge is a trans-generational sphere that everyone can add to.
- Libraries give us the sense of the work, time, culture represented by the community, don't get that on the web.
We don't know whats happening to libraries because we don't yet know what's happening to knowledge. It's taken 2500 years to give us our sense of knowledge- it will take at least a generation to figure out what to do now.
Nancy Pearl: Book Buzz 2008
Katherine Hall Page, Linda Barnes and Mameve Medwed. For more information you might want to visit the author's website linked to her name.
The Emerging Cataloging Future: RDA, DCMI, and the Semantic Web - Diane L. Hillmann
Diane Hillmann, Research Librarian at Cornell University and former project manager and Metadata Specialist for the National Science Digital Library Project presented an intense overview of RDA and FRBR, or at least it was for me, so forgive me for "dumbing down" this presentation, to summarize for those who are just beginning to learn about these changes in descriptive cataloging.
Hillman gave a brief history of the development of the emerging technical infrastructure which will carry library information from one stage to another, in other words from AACR2 to RDA and FRBR. She mentioned that the final full draft of RDA (Resource Description and Access) will be distributed in a Beta version soon, since it is difficult to review as text.
Hillmann mentioned that this transition is still in the planning stages, that the youngest librarians in the audience will gray during this process, and that there is no prototype to view. She mentioned that to start on this journey, it is essential to "give up an enormous backpack of past practices" but "bring the legacy of cataloging forward".
The FRBR model, the terms, and the approach are all incorporated into RDA. The new system emphasizes the relationships between a work, its manifestation, its expressions, then links to items owned, people who have some relation to the work, etc. The new system will have more machine-friendly linkages by managing text strings and URIs. Catalogers need to envision new descriptive structures, using software.
To learn more, I'm suggesting a visit to a few websites:
http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF
http://www.catalogingfutures.com/catalogingfutures/2008/05/index.htm
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr_2008.pdf
During Hillman's talk, she received a question from the audience:
"Since few of us are now doing original cataloging, but relying on cataloging sources, are those who provide us with cataloging, for example OCLC going to adopt this and when?"
Hillmann didn't know whether this is going to be adopted by large vendors, although she knew a few were exploring. There are many questions that need to be answered.
A graphic shown by Hillmann illustrated that text strings would be replaced by placing URIs in the typical MARC fields. These URIs, which would be maintained on the net by some authority would connect ideas to ideas.
A brief example:
Hillman gave a brief history of the development of the emerging technical infrastructure which will carry library information from one stage to another, in other words from AACR2 to RDA and FRBR. She mentioned that the final full draft of RDA (Resource Description and Access) will be distributed in a Beta version soon, since it is difficult to review as text.
Hillmann mentioned that this transition is still in the planning stages, that the youngest librarians in the audience will gray during this process, and that there is no prototype to view. She mentioned that to start on this journey, it is essential to "give up an enormous backpack of past practices" but "bring the legacy of cataloging forward".
The FRBR model, the terms, and the approach are all incorporated into RDA. The new system emphasizes the relationships between a work, its manifestation, its expressions, then links to items owned, people who have some relation to the work, etc. The new system will have more machine-friendly linkages by managing text strings and URIs. Catalogers need to envision new descriptive structures, using software.
To learn more, I'm suggesting a visit to a few websites:
http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF
http://www.catalogingfutures.com/catalogingfutures/2008/05/index.htm
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr_2008.pdf
During Hillman's talk, she received a question from the audience:
"Since few of us are now doing original cataloging, but relying on cataloging sources, are those who provide us with cataloging, for example OCLC going to adopt this and when?"
Hillmann didn't know whether this is going to be adopted by large vendors, although she knew a few were exploring. There are many questions that need to be answered.
A graphic shown by Hillmann illustrated that text strings would be replaced by placing URIs in the typical MARC fields. These URIs, which would be maintained on the net by some authority would connect ideas to ideas.
A brief example:
Author leads to a link
Work Title leads to a text string of the Title
Form of work leads to a link
Original language leads to a link of that work in that language
The links are not URLs, they are URIs. URIs are persistent. These are established by the scholarly community, committed to establishing more permanent authoritative thesauri. The library community is working with other agencies to establish these.
There are those, including Hillmann who have and are working to establish some standards. See
http://metadataregistry.org/vocabulary/list.html which illustrates the methods for registering concepts (entities and attributes).
Hillmann said several times that all of this is theoretical. There is no concrete example of this.
Hillmann felt that integrated library system (ILS) vendors are for the most part taking a "wait and see" attitude. She mentioned that Innovative, OCLC, and a few other vendors are taking some steps.
For the most part, it seems that the library community is also taking a "wait and see" attitude, since there is a shrinking population of the profession directly dedicated to original cataloging. However, Hillmann presented this as a change in the infrastructure of catalogs. Such an important development should get your serious attention in the next months when the final RDA is unveiled, and in the coming years as we see the implementation. Stay tuned. Thanks Diane for starting us on the journey!
Robert Rivest, Meditation & Mindful Movement
http://www.rivestmime.com/
413-747-5004
Robertrivest@verizon.net
Blogging to a mime should be pretty easy. We have been asked not to type while he is doing the exercises and breathing, and to top it off, we are going to the beach. So this should be a new kind of bloggin' for one and all. So I should have plenty of relaxing ideas and be totally stressfree before this is over.
Robert Rivest studied with Marcel Marceau in France. HE did the classic wall
Today is sbout mime tension and release. full of illusion,
Breathing should be slow and out. His voice is soothing ,you get the feeling of relaxing just listening to him.
He told a zen story about a man in a tree, two tigers,a mouse and a strawberry.
Stressors in life happen ,
How a brothers and sisters get along. The balloon one was great. You will have to see for yourself.
The way the publics demands affect you, Watch how you hold your hands when you are upset - a tight fist or an open palm.
The moment you cross over the line. Dig in
or get help.
He adds stories from his own life which relate quite a bit to everyones personal stressors especially about "letting go".. It takes energy to get energy"
If there are things stressing you out it will take energy to change .
(A pause for photo ops)
The way we eat
He did a series of vignettes (mimed of course) to great applause.
Mindful Eating. When you eat - just eat.
Change is like a river even a subtle change.
Sit up straight if you are comfortable.
Our lungs need room to breathe.
The brain needs a lot of oxygen.
***********************************************
Ideally breathe in thru nose and out through mouth
Notice you r breathing
your body is like silk cloth, as you breathe it folds around you
focus on numbers breathe in 2 out 2
breathe in 4, out 6
When we kick into overdrive, do some breathing.
It is cumulative throughout day.
We expel toxins through our breathing.
413-747-5004
Robertrivest@verizon.net
Blogging to a mime should be pretty easy. We have been asked not to type while he is doing the exercises and breathing, and to top it off, we are going to the beach. So this should be a new kind of bloggin' for one and all. So I should have plenty of relaxing ideas and be totally stressfree before this is over.
Robert Rivest studied with Marcel Marceau in France. HE did the classic wall
Today is sbout mime tension and release. full of illusion,
Breathing should be slow and out. His voice is soothing ,you get the feeling of relaxing just listening to him.
He told a zen story about a man in a tree, two tigers,a mouse and a strawberry.
Stressors in life happen ,
How a brothers and sisters get along. The balloon one was great. You will have to see for yourself.
The way the publics demands affect you, Watch how you hold your hands when you are upset - a tight fist or an open palm.
The moment you cross over the line. Dig in
or get help.
He adds stories from his own life which relate quite a bit to everyones personal stressors especially about "letting go".. It takes energy to get energy"
If there are things stressing you out it will take energy to change .
(A pause for photo ops)
The way we eat
He did a series of vignettes (mimed of course) to great applause.
Mindful Eating. When you eat - just eat.
Change is like a river even a subtle change.
Sit up straight if you are comfortable.
Our lungs need room to breathe.
The brain needs a lot of oxygen.
***********************************************
Ideally breathe in thru nose and out through mouth
Notice you r breathing
your body is like silk cloth, as you breathe it folds around you
focus on numbers breathe in 2 out 2
breathe in 4, out 6
When we kick into overdrive, do some breathing.
It is cumulative throughout day.
We expel toxins through our breathing.
David Weinberger: The New Shape of Knowledge
Keynote Speaker David Weinberger
“The New Shape of Knowledge” 11:00am-12:00pm
David Weinberger is something of a pioneer in understanding and explaining the internet. He is a frequent contributor to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Here is a link to some of the stories on NPR http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=David+Weinberger
I also included a link to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University where David is currently a Fellow. Here you can find a bio and links to some of his works http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/dweinberger
I feel obligated to note that David was a comedy writer for Woody Allen, and he was also a humor columnist for a daily newspaper. Who ever thought librarians and humor don’t mix. I always thought humor and librarianship go well together, and my suspicions are being confirmed at this conference! Humor lovers unite!
David Weinberger is probably best known for the book he coauthored, “Cluetrain Manifesto,” which explained to business what the internet was really about. Check out this link with info and chapters from the book http://www.cluetrain.com/ Just keep scrolling down for further explanation, and a chance to read the entire book online for free.
David began discussing the New Yorker article on digitization and is discontents. We are in an age of abundance—an abundance of crap. We are getting pretty good at dealing with the amazing amount of crap available. There is also a large amount of good stuff that is available.
Order
Our natural inclination to manage and cluster objects and ideas is inherent in everyday life. We put spices together in the cabinet, pair fruits together on the counter, and meats in the fridge. We “lump and split” with our laundry—socks together, sweaters in one spot, etc. That is the way the world works—completely binary. We have this idea that there is a single way to organize things which is limiting thinking.
Entropy—A Philosophy of Change
This limited type of thinking is inherent in newspapers by privileging stories in a limited space on the front page. But in the age of information we are moving from the physical to another level of ordering known as digital. In time just about everything will be digitized. The stuff that is digitized it will 99% of the time be the first resort for information, including archives. This includes a rethinking of classification, known today as tagging. This is true through layers of linking. Just link to any blog and try to “follow the trail.” We have so many layers of metadata in our digital world that creates a huge mess; however, this mess, David argues, is a virtue.
Metadata
This is obvious in our search online at a library. Searching for Herman Melville will yield multiple data points, which is linked to a number of resources. The linking creates the metadata which accesses many data points. We no longer deal with one source of information, one piece of data, or a simple order. We are, David reminds us, moving from simple to complex order.
Unowned Order
The new order means that we get to manage the way we order information. We don’t need to make decisions for others based on our ordering. Instead, we can include everything. This can be overwhelming, but it gives people more options. We can manage the incredible amount of information by tagging. There will no doubt be other ways to manage the information.
Library of Congress--flickr
This reordering is making its way into the now fledgling(?) Library of Congress. LOC put tons of photos on flickr with some metadata—not a lot, but enough. There was an enormous amount of tagging and posts that discussed the organization of the photos being shared online. Comments and tagging contribute to the reorganization of material on the web. This also becomes a learning environment. People posting ask questions and engage others in what they see. The dialogue becomes a rather abstract exercise in epistemology, or what we know, and how we know what we know. This rationalization and questioning is on display in the interactive approach online. There is a re-evaluative process online.
Wikipedia
This re-evaluation process is evident in Wikipedia where contributors share ideas and open discussion about information that is posted through comments and challenges in acknowledging human fallibility, reorganizing notions of dialogue. We don’t see posts disputing the verity of an article in the New York Times or the Boston Globe. Fallibility is exposed in Wikipedia.
Reconsidering Knowledge
Knowledge, or notions of knowledge, is refashioned in the “mess” of the information age. Our knowledge is not necessarily changing, but the process is. Maybe we are in an age of process, or an age of transition. Whatever it is, it sure beats the Dark Ages (so I hear from someone who was there), and I am certainly enjoying the process whatever happens with knowledge. And David says it will take at least a generation to work through this new knowledge.
Miscellaneous Knowledge
David Weinberger gave a great and thought provoking talk about Miscellaneous Knowledge, digitization, and the challenges presented by ever-expanding digital streams of information as well as the the social life of information. We are truly as he said living in an age of abundance..."an abundance of crap" and "an abundance of good"...in which the abundance of good is ironically harder to handle ~ there is just so much good stuff out there today~ what do we do with it all!
This 'problem' of an over-abundance of good is forcing us to consider the notion of knowledge and the media we use to access knowledge.
Is there a certain body of knowledge with which everyone should be familiar? What about individual voice and perspective...can they be retained or will they continue to be stripped away?
Is there a scarcity of knowledge and truth?
Is knowledge is orderly? We have the strong belief and tradition of thinking in categories, what goes with what...this goes with that...and there is a certain way things should go together...and we have endless arguments about the categories...in a seemingly move toward a single order to the universe...But does this order exist in a digital world? Or is it simply thinking we are trying to carry forward from the physical world with the limitations it places on physical objects ...rather than change our thinking?
Weinberger suggested that there is no reason to continue this practice...except that in the past we have embodied our ideas in physical objects. Power and authority came from the limitations of paper.
He went on to talk about Order.
First Order...a single way of ordering physical objects
Second Order...metadata about the thing is separated...basically a couple ways of sorting
Third Order....Digitizing Everything...first resort is the digital world, last resort is the physical world
He spoke of society rapidly inventing new organization principles:
1. Leaf on many branches...as many categories as possible...with as many sorting layers as possible
2. Messiness is a virtue ~ people can explore easily in any different direction...richer and richer with meaning
And led us to question the real difference between meta data and data in today's world ...a world in which you can type in anything and get back everything...pointing out we just got incredibly smarter!
Pointing out that all content now becomes connection ~ what's stuck between the pages of a book is now a dead end.
He led us to consider what he termed "Unowned Order" using the following example...
You get to organize your site...but users can also organize they way they want...we can decide how to organize...all categorization is politics...what are the values...? How do you handle the scaling problem? It just breaks...it does not work on the scale of the web.
With the following suggestion:
Include everything. Don't make decisions for people about what they should or should not be interested in. Postpone the moment of classification...offer tagging, multi-faceted calssifications...Reminding us that we are an insanely conversational species...how do we put knowledge together?... conversation is where knowledge exists...in the real world...it exists between us...knowledge is social...knowledge is becoming linked...go and come back, we are generous in sharing our world...look over there i think you might find this interesting...
Weinberger also had some interesting thoughts on authority and credibility in today's world, comparing how Britannica and Wikipedia built each.
Wikipedia...passionate and civil discourse...and people literally get on the same page...notes and discussion forums...neutrality of articles can be disputed...falibility increases its credbiility...it's on our side...understand our world better...traditional media clings to maintaining the notion of authority, control...they are embarassed about being human...knowledge stuck in the world of atoms is a fiction
we are past the time...where we have to put all in one box...
so what happens to libraries when expertise is distributed and widely available?
it depends on what happens to knowledge...answer that and you will have an answer to what will happen to libraries...
bonnie p.
This 'problem' of an over-abundance of good is forcing us to consider the notion of knowledge and the media we use to access knowledge.
Is there a certain body of knowledge with which everyone should be familiar? What about individual voice and perspective...can they be retained or will they continue to be stripped away?
Is there a scarcity of knowledge and truth?
Is knowledge is orderly? We have the strong belief and tradition of thinking in categories, what goes with what...this goes with that...and there is a certain way things should go together...and we have endless arguments about the categories...in a seemingly move toward a single order to the universe...But does this order exist in a digital world? Or is it simply thinking we are trying to carry forward from the physical world with the limitations it places on physical objects ...rather than change our thinking?
Weinberger suggested that there is no reason to continue this practice...except that in the past we have embodied our ideas in physical objects. Power and authority came from the limitations of paper.
He went on to talk about Order.
First Order...a single way of ordering physical objects
Second Order...metadata about the thing is separated...basically a couple ways of sorting
Third Order....Digitizing Everything...first resort is the digital world, last resort is the physical world
He spoke of society rapidly inventing new organization principles:
1. Leaf on many branches...as many categories as possible...with as many sorting layers as possible
2. Messiness is a virtue ~ people can explore easily in any different direction...richer and richer with meaning
And led us to question the real difference between meta data and data in today's world ...a world in which you can type in anything and get back everything...pointing out we just got incredibly smarter!
Pointing out that all content now becomes connection ~ what's stuck between the pages of a book is now a dead end.
He led us to consider what he termed "Unowned Order" using the following example...
You get to organize your site...but users can also organize they way they want...we can decide how to organize...all categorization is politics...what are the values...? How do you handle the scaling problem? It just breaks...it does not work on the scale of the web.
With the following suggestion:
Include everything. Don't make decisions for people about what they should or should not be interested in. Postpone the moment of classification...offer tagging, multi-faceted calssifications...Reminding us that we are an insanely conversational species...how do we put knowledge together?... conversation is where knowledge exists...in the real world...it exists between us...knowledge is social...knowledge is becoming linked...go and come back, we are generous in sharing our world...look over there i think you might find this interesting...
Weinberger also had some interesting thoughts on authority and credibility in today's world, comparing how Britannica and Wikipedia built each.
Wikipedia...passionate and civil discourse...and people literally get on the same page...notes and discussion forums...neutrality of articles can be disputed...falibility increases its credbiility...it's on our side...understand our world better...traditional media clings to maintaining the notion of authority, control...they are embarassed about being human...knowledge stuck in the world of atoms is a fiction
we are past the time...where we have to put all in one box...
so what happens to libraries when expertise is distributed and widely available?
it depends on what happens to knowledge...answer that and you will have an answer to what will happen to libraries...
bonnie p.
Having a Phone : IM instant Reference Wednesday 9:30
Having a Phone : IM instant Reference Wednesday 9:30
4 Speakers: Aaron Schmidt, Emily Center Remer, Sara Marks, Cathy Mello Alves
Speaker #1 Aaron Schmidt. North Plains Public Library, North Plains OR
His blog is http://www.walkingpaper.org/
AIM: XXagentcooperXXe: librarian [AT] gmail [DOT] com
Technonlogy keeps doubling Since the advent of computers, we are at the 31st or 32nd doubling.
80 million americans are using IM
From the Pew /Internet
53million American adults or 42% of adult internet using Americans and 70% of teens are using IM.
EFFORT for patrons to use a library is SO MUCH GREATER than for patrons to use Google.
We’re not making it easy for folks to use Library resources
DEMO of Mac iChat. Checks his buddies.
What kinds of questions do you get using IM? About the same.
You might get more homework help questions.
Easier for some folks to frame questions, not be nervous when asking question.
Who is likely to use: kids, undergrad students
MEEBO
Gmail – Aaron uses his gmail account (google) and his facebook account. Most IM packages are not interoperable. But MEEBO is interoperable
WebBased, nothing to download http://meebo.com/ links to AIM, iTalk, Yahoo, MSN
Sign up account, it spits out a widget and there’s script that you can put on your desired webpage.
Google bought AOL.
SETTING UP IM
· Hints: have one central point for IM contact – not circ, ILL, ref , etc.
· Use Staff incentives
· Do it at the reference desk.
· You need to advertise the service.
· His idea Do U IM business cards get instant help http://www.hsclib.sunysb.edu/im
· Set your availability status. Use your AWAY messages. If you leave your computer, set status away or helping patron etc. so you are not ignoring.
· Be prepared for “chatty Cathy”. Same as in person. Engage them for a while, then politely bow out.
· Go for speed, not perfection. Don’t type letters and paragraphs. Interact with your client using short phrases, just as you would in person.
· Make ICON interesting. Picture of your building, people, etc.
· Leave on the IM overnight with an AWAY message. You can answer in the morning. Effectively extends reference hours without being open.
Speaker #2 Emily Center Remer Young adult librarian – Framingham Public Library
http://fplya.blogspot.com/
AIM Gtalk: fplteenlib
MSN Chat fplteenlib@hotmail.com
ICQ: 443550354
Emily used Trillium, another multi platform IM program which you DO need to download
SHE now uses MEEBO too!
Emily on MEEBO
Meebo is a Firefox addon, so she can leave her IM on all the time.
Meebo widgets have been loaded on the Framingham Public Library teen page. http://www.framinghamlibrary.org/teen/teenpage.htm
People DON’T have to have their own password to gmail or whatever. They can just go on.
She’s taken off the left sidebar on her.
She’s added TWITTER, which is texting service to which people can subscribe.
She’s also included a MEEBO widget to her Blog. http://fplya.blogspot.com/
Speaker #3 Sara Marks Instruction Services Librarian Fitchburg State College
Ask A Library @ Fitchburg State College
SO important in Academic libraries.
Young people have a circle of radical trust. This is their circle of friends, people they know, Google.
Amelia Gallucci – Cirio Library: Live Librarian Fridays
http://www.fsc.edu/library/ask/
What You Can Ask us:
Research topic ideas
Picking the best place to search for information
Picking words and phrases to search for
How to create your bibliography and work cited lists
How to get items we don't have in our collections
LibGuide – the revolution in pathfinders!
See their libguides: http://www.fsc.edu/library/research/guides/index.cfm
http://fsc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=1754 is an example of a
http://mick768.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/how-to-design-a-libguide/
They’ve used business card magnets and business cards. They leave cards everywhere.
They got MEEBO ME free from Zazzle.com http://www.zazzle.com/
They use Facebook as an entrez to the library
Speaker #4 Cathy Mello Alves from Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries, Lowell
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/ask.htm
has Chat, phone, email, visit. They work in shifts.
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/chat.html
They are using Trillium but are switching to MEEBO.
We're here to help Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, and Tuesday - Wednesday 5:00-7:00 p.m. Please keep in mind that your response will be from a librarian, trained to help you find information. If you need legal advice, please go to Find a Lawyer to search for an attorney.
If you already use IM and have a screen name, IM us:
For AIM: masslawlib
For MSN Messenger: masslawlib@hotmail.com
For Yahoo Messenger: masslawlib
For Google Talk (experimental, not available all hours): masslawlib@gmail.com
If you don't use IM, you can still chat. Just click on the link below:
Chat with a law librarian!
They started email ref 1999. 2005 24/7 Lawline, their original reference chat failed.
They were using LibAssistant and added IM. Meg work
Email they average 254 /month chat 283/month - Numbers are rising
From the Question and Answer Session.
Librarians are using some SMS textphoning esp in Australia.
Holds notification/ overdues notification.
A lot of students are synching their cellphones with their IM services.
There are html to text messaging gateways.
Brenda
4 Speakers: Aaron Schmidt, Emily Center Remer, Sara Marks, Cathy Mello Alves
Speaker #1 Aaron Schmidt. North Plains Public Library, North Plains OR
His blog is http://www.walkingpaper.org/
AIM: XXagentcooperXXe: librarian [AT] gmail [DOT] com
Technonlogy keeps doubling Since the advent of computers, we are at the 31st or 32nd doubling.
80 million americans are using IM
From the Pew /Internet
53million American adults or 42% of adult internet using Americans and 70% of teens are using IM.
EFFORT for patrons to use a library is SO MUCH GREATER than for patrons to use Google.
We’re not making it easy for folks to use Library resources
DEMO of Mac iChat. Checks his buddies.
What kinds of questions do you get using IM? About the same.
You might get more homework help questions.
Easier for some folks to frame questions, not be nervous when asking question.
Who is likely to use: kids, undergrad students
MEEBO
Gmail – Aaron uses his gmail account (google) and his facebook account. Most IM packages are not interoperable. But MEEBO is interoperable
WebBased, nothing to download http://meebo.com/ links to AIM, iTalk, Yahoo, MSN
Sign up account, it spits out a widget and there’s script that you can put on your desired webpage.
Google bought AOL.
SETTING UP IM
· Hints: have one central point for IM contact – not circ, ILL, ref , etc.
· Use Staff incentives
· Do it at the reference desk.
· You need to advertise the service.
· His idea Do U IM business cards get instant help http://www.hsclib.sunysb.edu/im
· Set your availability status. Use your AWAY messages. If you leave your computer, set status away or helping patron etc. so you are not ignoring.
· Be prepared for “chatty Cathy”. Same as in person. Engage them for a while, then politely bow out.
· Go for speed, not perfection. Don’t type letters and paragraphs. Interact with your client using short phrases, just as you would in person.
· Make ICON interesting. Picture of your building, people, etc.
· Leave on the IM overnight with an AWAY message. You can answer in the morning. Effectively extends reference hours without being open.
Speaker #2 Emily Center Remer Young adult librarian – Framingham Public Library
http://fplya.blogspot.com/
AIM Gtalk: fplteenlib
MSN Chat fplteenlib@hotmail.com
ICQ: 443550354
Emily used Trillium, another multi platform IM program which you DO need to download
SHE now uses MEEBO too!
Emily on MEEBO
Meebo is a Firefox addon, so she can leave her IM on all the time.
Meebo widgets have been loaded on the Framingham Public Library teen page. http://www.framinghamlibrary.org/teen/teenpage.htm
People DON’T have to have their own password to gmail or whatever. They can just go on.
She’s taken off the left sidebar on her.
She’s added TWITTER, which is texting service to which people can subscribe.
She’s also included a MEEBO widget to her Blog. http://fplya.blogspot.com/
Speaker #3 Sara Marks Instruction Services Librarian Fitchburg State College
Ask A Library @ Fitchburg State College
SO important in Academic libraries.
Young people have a circle of radical trust. This is their circle of friends, people they know, Google.
Amelia Gallucci – Cirio Library: Live Librarian Fridays
http://www.fsc.edu/library/ask/
What You Can Ask us:
Research topic ideas
Picking the best place to search for information
Picking words and phrases to search for
How to create your bibliography and work cited lists
How to get items we don't have in our collections
LibGuide – the revolution in pathfinders!
See their libguides: http://www.fsc.edu/library/research/guides/index.cfm
http://fsc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=1754 is an example of a
http://mick768.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/how-to-design-a-libguide/
They’ve used business card magnets and business cards. They leave cards everywhere.
They got MEEBO ME free from Zazzle.com http://www.zazzle.com/
They use Facebook as an entrez to the library
Speaker #4 Cathy Mello Alves from Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries, Lowell
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/ask.htm
has Chat, phone, email, visit. They work in shifts.
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/chat.html
They are using Trillium but are switching to MEEBO.
We're here to help Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, and Tuesday - Wednesday 5:00-7:00 p.m. Please keep in mind that your response will be from a librarian, trained to help you find information. If you need legal advice, please go to Find a Lawyer to search for an attorney.
If you already use IM and have a screen name, IM us:
For AIM: masslawlib
For MSN Messenger: masslawlib@hotmail.com
For Yahoo Messenger: masslawlib
For Google Talk (experimental, not available all hours): masslawlib@gmail.com
If you don't use IM, you can still chat. Just click on the link below:
Chat with a law librarian!
They started email ref 1999. 2005 24/7 Lawline, their original reference chat failed.
They were using LibAssistant and added IM. Meg work
Email they average 254 /month chat 283/month - Numbers are rising
From the Question and Answer Session.
Librarians are using some SMS textphoning esp in Australia.
Holds notification/ overdues notification.
A lot of students are synching their cellphones with their IM services.
There are html to text messaging gateways.
Brenda
Nancy Pearl: the key to matching readers to the "right" book
Imagine reading a book is like entering a doorway...
Doorways
•Story -Every book tell a story (with some exception in the 500’s – 600’s)
•Characters - read of the people
•Setting - time and place
•Language Uses language to tell the story
Imagine these are doorways and all equal to 100% all added together
We don’t all agree on the size of each doorway
When people talk about books that they love they are talking about the doorway that they too into that book
Story Doorway – the reader describes the action words in their description, they couldn’t put it down, they couldn’t wait to see what happened next. This is the most popular doorway. Ex. The Da Vinci Code, John Grisham, James Patterson, Dick Francis, Jodi Picoult, look for white space with a lot of dialog that keeps the story going. Nonfiction- True Crime
Character Doorway- the characters seemed so real to the reader, they came alive for me, this is a sign that the reader like character driven books, Ex. John Irving – look for a book with a character’s name, The World According to Garp, or a description about the character- Nick Hornby - About a Boy. Nonfiction - Memoirs and biographies.
Setting Doorway- the reader felt like they were there, have the desire to visit the setting of the story, Ex. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Annie Proulx, Jacqueline Winspear, Devil in the White City. If the setting is considered one of the characters, Nonfiction ideas - Travel section, History
Language Doorway- The reader will say the book was well written, the reader says: I had to stop and think about how the author could put the words together, these are the awards winners, Pulitzer etc. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, John Updike, Terry Pratchett, Nonfiction ideas - Poetry and Drama
Imagine using this method to determine your patrons preferred method of entry into their pleasure reading. This will open up your collection to many new readers.
Doorways
•Story -Every book tell a story (with some exception in the 500’s – 600’s)
•Characters - read of the people
•Setting - time and place
•Language Uses language to tell the story
Imagine these are doorways and all equal to 100% all added together
We don’t all agree on the size of each doorway
When people talk about books that they love they are talking about the doorway that they too into that book
Story Doorway – the reader describes the action words in their description, they couldn’t put it down, they couldn’t wait to see what happened next. This is the most popular doorway. Ex. The Da Vinci Code, John Grisham, James Patterson, Dick Francis, Jodi Picoult, look for white space with a lot of dialog that keeps the story going. Nonfiction- True Crime
Character Doorway- the characters seemed so real to the reader, they came alive for me, this is a sign that the reader like character driven books, Ex. John Irving – look for a book with a character’s name, The World According to Garp, or a description about the character- Nick Hornby - About a Boy. Nonfiction - Memoirs and biographies.
Setting Doorway- the reader felt like they were there, have the desire to visit the setting of the story, Ex. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Annie Proulx, Jacqueline Winspear, Devil in the White City. If the setting is considered one of the characters, Nonfiction ideas - Travel section, History
Language Doorway- The reader will say the book was well written, the reader says: I had to stop and think about how the author could put the words together, these are the awards winners, Pulitzer etc. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, John Updike, Terry Pratchett, Nonfiction ideas - Poetry and Drama
Imagine using this method to determine your patrons preferred method of entry into their pleasure reading. This will open up your collection to many new readers.
IM Reference ~ BEST PRACTICES
Entertaining presentations, great stories. A great overview of how different libraries run IM reference services, deal with issues, address problems with buy-in and funding...
Radical trust is a issue in today's world. Do you trust the people who surround you in today's world? Focus first on this issue, consider it.
Look at what people do in today's world and try it, get involved.
Issues with internal adoption.
Great idea:
Vistaprint business card magnets...a great way to start advertising your service.
Leave the cards and magnets everywhere.
Biggest success:
Lib Guides presented next to Meebo
Late night reference
Points:
This is not email, this is a tech face-to-face interaction.
This is not a revolution, it is quiet, it is slow, it is viral.
Emily Center Remer, Framingham Public Library
9 years experience using IM beginning at an internet start-up, using IM with teens.
Popular service but not overwhelmed. Started with AIM, then MSN...then downloaded chat programs...then picked up Meebo ~ multi-platform web service for umbrella chat. Useable and very user-friendly, firefox add-ons, added color-coded widgets to public library teen page ~ widgets allow people easy access to chat ~ all they have to do is visit your website and chat. she also uses twitter ~ a status bar for yourself. Drawn teens into library ~ "cool", "don't care about correct english crap"...programs, how to request a book ~ walk them through a process link by link, button by button, because you are online with them looking at the pages
IM makes you current in today's world, and available.
Kathy ~ Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries
Reference ~ just coming at you from a different way...managing the workflow...it's very much the same...you are just typing rather than speaking...people are very patience and easy to work with in this format. Considering switching to Meebo...great stories about questions people will ask using IM, which they would never walk into the library and ask...great as a navigation tool to help people find resources and answers to their questions...comparison to the adoption of the fax machine...the tech is quick and becomes part of the workflow.
Highlights:
Radical trust is a issue in today's world. Do you trust the people who surround you in today's world? Focus first on this issue, consider it.
Look at what people do in today's world and try it, get involved.
Issues with internal adoption.
Great idea:
Vistaprint business card magnets...a great way to start advertising your service.
Leave the cards and magnets everywhere.
Biggest success:
Lib Guides presented next to Meebo
Late night reference
Points:
This is not email, this is a tech face-to-face interaction.
This is not a revolution, it is quiet, it is slow, it is viral.
Emily Center Remer, Framingham Public Library
9 years experience using IM beginning at an internet start-up, using IM with teens.
Popular service but not overwhelmed. Started with AIM, then MSN...then downloaded chat programs...then picked up Meebo ~ multi-platform web service for umbrella chat. Useable and very user-friendly, firefox add-ons, added color-coded widgets to public library teen page ~ widgets allow people easy access to chat ~ all they have to do is visit your website and chat. she also uses twitter ~ a status bar for yourself. Drawn teens into library ~ "cool", "don't care about correct english crap"...programs, how to request a book ~ walk them through a process link by link, button by button, because you are online with them looking at the pages
IM makes you current in today's world, and available.
Kathy ~ Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries
Reference ~ just coming at you from a different way...managing the workflow...it's very much the same...you are just typing rather than speaking...people are very patience and easy to work with in this format. Considering switching to Meebo...great stories about questions people will ask using IM, which they would never walk into the library and ask...great as a navigation tool to help people find resources and answers to their questions...comparison to the adoption of the fax machine...the tech is quick and becomes part of the workflow.
Next Generation Data Format - Eric Lease Morgan - University of Nortre Dame - May 7, 2008
Eric Lease Morgan started with "its not about 'what we do', it is about 'how we do it'."
How we got to where we are
Morgan reminded us that we have been using services (LC cards, OCLC, etc.) to help us build catalogs for generations and using the MARC record since 1965. It is a sequential specific data structure. Then, the invasion of Dialogue, CD-ROMS, network connections, and jump ahead to today, where Information structures, such as Google, are based on different indexing principles.
Redefine the definition of librarianship
Exploit technology
Morgan advocates using relational databases, indexing systems (Googlebox, Keynote Search, etc.), XML.
How we got to where we are
Morgan reminded us that we have been using services (LC cards, OCLC, etc.) to help us build catalogs for generations and using the MARC record since 1965. It is a sequential specific data structure. Then, the invasion of Dialogue, CD-ROMS, network connections, and jump ahead to today, where Information structures, such as Google, are based on different indexing principles.
Redefine the definition of librarianship
Traditional core mission of librarianship is to collect, organize, archive, and disseminate data, information, and knowledge for our respective communities.
Here's what Morgan suggests:
Reduce dependence
Exploit technology
Morgan advocates using relational databases, indexing systems (Googlebox, Keynote Search, etc.), XML.
If we want to communicate to other places, in other words beyond the library community, we must speak other languages, and XML is the language being used.
As a "step in the right direction", conversion programs can help change MARC to MARC XML. The idea of describing a work is valid, but the method does not work in the broader world. The "Secret Codebook", better known as MARC, is limited because you need the code to interpret the fields.
A word from the audience (Dodie Gaudet) mentioned that the tags in XML are now in English, but MARC using numbers is more universal.
Commercial products use indexers to create interface. For example: Koha uses Zebra; Aqua developed a proprietary Indexer.
Work collaboratively
Work with peers and stakeholders in the inside and outside the library world.
"Next generation" library catalogs
Provide service not just catalog systems. As a part of the community, use this base to create services at the local level. Add, annotate, cite, compare and contrast, plot a map, find similar, trace authors, etc.
In response to a question, Morgan suggested see the applications (Scriblio, WordPress, VuFind, etc.) demonstrated during the pre-conference (MLA May 6th).
Nancy Pearl - Recomending vs. Suggesting: the Shoe Store Example
Years ago, shoe salesmen used to bring several pairs of shoes to each customer.
One exactly like the shoes you are wearing
One similar but a different brand
And one that is completely different in style and brand
If we as librarians use this format to help us suggest a book to a reader we will put less pressure on our patrons and open up their worlds to different literature.
One exactly like the shoes you are wearing
One similar but a different brand
And one that is completely different in style and brand
If we as librarians use this format to help us suggest a book to a reader we will put less pressure on our patrons and open up their worlds to different literature.
Having a Phone: IM Reference
Having a Phone: IM Reference
So, it turns out that IM is everywhere.
What is IM? It's a short way of saying Instant Messaging, which is a way of communicating online in real time.
Who uses IM? A lot of people, mostly kids, teens, pre-teens, college kids, gen-x and y-ers, but also Librarians!
During this session we heard from Aaron Schmidt who is the director of North Plains Library in Oregon (which is a pretty library, check it out online here). Aaron has revolutionized an IM reference/library communication program at his library and also publishes a website Walkingpaper.org.
Aaron discussed the fact that IM is the main mode of communication for many young people and some older people (older =30+) and that not having IM in your library is like not having a phone in your library.
He pointed out that as much as technology has changed and increased over the past 30 or so years, it's only going to continue to change and expand and that we need to expand along with it. As Aaron said, things are only going to get crazier.
Because IM connects people in real time, using it shows that the library is filled with humans and it's a way to connect with our users that is almost the equivalent of face-to-face conversations.
Right now AOL says that there are approximately 80 million people using their instant messaging service, AOL Instant Messenger. Aaron pointed out a few other statistics from studies he recommended checking out from PEW/Internet Group: How Americans Use IM, which states that 53 million adults are currently using IM and Teens and Technology which states that 75% of teens use IM on a regular basis and that teens see email as a way to communicate with “old people” (again, 30+?)
So why use IM?
For one thing, the information scene has changed. Can we expect people now to be willing to come to the library for reference when they just want to use (or think they can use) Google? People are looking for different paths to get to the information they want. IM is fast, it's in real time and eliminates the need to wait for a response (which exists with email reference).
Aaron demoed the way he uses IM by showing his iChat (a Mac program) and talked about all the other IM programs out there, like Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Gchat (gmail chat) and programs like Meebo which is web-based and allows you to contact people using all different IM programs at once.
Aaron discussed a little about the kinds of questions he gets over IM and the kinds of people who IM him at work. Basically, it's the same questions you'd get at the desk and he says that you get them from the same kinds of people that come into the library, but you also hear from a lot more students, teens, college students, stay at home parents and people who might not be as likely to come into the library.
Aaron's Best Practices:
Panel:
Emily Center Remer - YA librarian at Framingham Library- has been using IM in her business and personal life for nine years. Her Blog.
Emily started in the children's room and when she moved up to YA, began to use IM a lot with patrons.
She started with Trillium, a multi-platform IMing service. She stopped trillium when discovered Meebo and Meebo Widgets (trillium saves records and becomes privacy issues). Meebo has a Firefox add-on that allows it to be open all the time. Meebo widget created onto Framingham Library page- can be personalized, colors, ideas, etc. Meebo widgets make it so patrons don't have to have an IM account anywhere, they can chat through the webpage.
Emily also uses Twitter which allows you to update people, status messages, etc. (great for when you're computers go down because it says it right there)
About IM: Teenagers love it- they talk a lot about what they want to do, become interested in the library and IMing after teen programs, etc. Can chat with multiple people at once.
Facebook for your library allows you to chat there as well
***
Sara Marks is the Instruction Service Librarian Fitchburg State College
“Ask A Library @ Fitchburg State College”
Sara got into IM with friends after college as a way to stay in contact. When she got to FS, knew they wanted to get into virtual reference, but ran into some issues: lack of money and lack of interest from colleagues.
She found that her students inherently trust people and that IM helps because it allows the students not to have to learn about new tools. They react better when we reach them where they are, they don't want to have to come to us.
At her library, they went with IM because there was no money and its free. They chose Meebo for similar reasons that Emily and Aaron mentioned. She said that Meebo's not on the main page yet, but will be soon. They have Meebo in their Live Guides, on their Facebook page, and more.
Sara used magnets for advertising and business cards as advertising. They ordered "Meebo Me" buttons from Zazzle.com, but ended up not using as much because they didn't use that lingo and found the buttons to be cumbersome)
****
Cathy Alves – Mass Trial Court Libraries (Lowell)
At the Mass Trial Court Libraries, they began email reference in 1999. Now all 17 law libraries involved and they use email and chat and everyone has a shift of 2-2 1/2 hours at a time.
Cathy said that they get a lot of questions- many that wouldn't be asked in person (about criminal records, child support and sex) and that they find IM conversations to be pretty much the same as working with patrons in person, except that patrons are actually more patient on IM.
Cathy's Stats: email 254 question/month (last year 239) IM 283/month (last year 238)
Much easier to help patrons get what they want, because you can instantly send information and links. Easier than the phone and people aren't as opposed to contacting that way because it's less “scary” and they know they'll get what they want.
***
Questions:
When you're IMing, is it as the librarian or as a person?
Pretty much as the librarian, some of them have their own AIM addressed that students/patrons can directly communicate with them via.
Does IMing go on after hours?
If you can do it, definitely do it, but if not, put an away message up. Overnight- set an away message asking to leave a questions with an email address. Can still be IMed by meebo even when not online. Way to extend library hours without more staffing.
So, it turns out that IM is everywhere.
What is IM? It's a short way of saying Instant Messaging, which is a way of communicating online in real time.
Who uses IM? A lot of people, mostly kids, teens, pre-teens, college kids, gen-x and y-ers, but also Librarians!
During this session we heard from Aaron Schmidt who is the director of North Plains Library in Oregon (which is a pretty library, check it out online here). Aaron has revolutionized an IM reference/library communication program at his library and also publishes a website Walkingpaper.org.
Aaron discussed the fact that IM is the main mode of communication for many young people and some older people (older =30+) and that not having IM in your library is like not having a phone in your library.
He pointed out that as much as technology has changed and increased over the past 30 or so years, it's only going to continue to change and expand and that we need to expand along with it. As Aaron said, things are only going to get crazier.
Because IM connects people in real time, using it shows that the library is filled with humans and it's a way to connect with our users that is almost the equivalent of face-to-face conversations.
Right now AOL says that there are approximately 80 million people using their instant messaging service, AOL Instant Messenger. Aaron pointed out a few other statistics from studies he recommended checking out from PEW/Internet Group: How Americans Use IM, which states that 53 million adults are currently using IM and Teens and Technology which states that 75% of teens use IM on a regular basis and that teens see email as a way to communicate with “old people” (again, 30+?)
So why use IM?
For one thing, the information scene has changed. Can we expect people now to be willing to come to the library for reference when they just want to use (or think they can use) Google? People are looking for different paths to get to the information they want. IM is fast, it's in real time and eliminates the need to wait for a response (which exists with email reference).
Aaron demoed the way he uses IM by showing his iChat (a Mac program) and talked about all the other IM programs out there, like Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Gchat (gmail chat) and programs like Meebo which is web-based and allows you to contact people using all different IM programs at once.
Aaron discussed a little about the kinds of questions he gets over IM and the kinds of people who IM him at work. Basically, it's the same questions you'd get at the desk and he says that you get them from the same kinds of people that come into the library, but you also hear from a lot more students, teens, college students, stay at home parents and people who might not be as likely to come into the library.
Aaron's Best Practices:
- Advertise, advertise, advertise, get the word out there. Hand out business cards with screen name.
- Send out fliers to school- but stagger them so not all the kids sign on at the same time.
- Use your away messages (Stepped away from my desk, helping a patron, away, etc.) so patrons know where you are and don't get frustrated or think you're ignoring them
- Be ready to answer an important question from kids: Are you real or are you a robot?
- Be prepared for “Chatty Kathy” people will contact you because they just want to talk. Have found that face to face its older people who want to talk, on IM- younger people
- Be prepared for IM lingo (you can search for it on a search engine and it will help you)
- Speed over professionalism in typing- if you make a mistake its okay. Type phrases, have a back and forth, no need for letters and paragraphs while you chat- all you're doing is chatting...
- Put up a buddy icon- something fun.
- Don't freak out: don't let the speed of the service interrupt the quality of the service you're giving. People on IM are multi tasking, they're doing other things and they'll wait for you to get the response.
Panel:
Emily Center Remer - YA librarian at Framingham Library- has been using IM in her business and personal life for nine years. Her Blog.
Emily started in the children's room and when she moved up to YA, began to use IM a lot with patrons.
She started with Trillium, a multi-platform IMing service. She stopped trillium when discovered Meebo and Meebo Widgets (trillium saves records and becomes privacy issues). Meebo has a Firefox add-on that allows it to be open all the time. Meebo widget created onto Framingham Library page- can be personalized, colors, ideas, etc. Meebo widgets make it so patrons don't have to have an IM account anywhere, they can chat through the webpage.
Emily also uses Twitter which allows you to update people, status messages, etc. (great for when you're computers go down because it says it right there)
About IM: Teenagers love it- they talk a lot about what they want to do, become interested in the library and IMing after teen programs, etc. Can chat with multiple people at once.
Facebook for your library allows you to chat there as well
***
Sara Marks is the Instruction Service Librarian Fitchburg State College
“Ask A Library @ Fitchburg State College”
Sara got into IM with friends after college as a way to stay in contact. When she got to FS, knew they wanted to get into virtual reference, but ran into some issues: lack of money and lack of interest from colleagues.
She found that her students inherently trust people and that IM helps because it allows the students not to have to learn about new tools. They react better when we reach them where they are, they don't want to have to come to us.
At her library, they went with IM because there was no money and its free. They chose Meebo for similar reasons that Emily and Aaron mentioned. She said that Meebo's not on the main page yet, but will be soon. They have Meebo in their Live Guides, on their Facebook page, and more.
Sara used magnets for advertising and business cards as advertising. They ordered "Meebo Me" buttons from Zazzle.com, but ended up not using as much because they didn't use that lingo and found the buttons to be cumbersome)
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Cathy Alves – Mass Trial Court Libraries (Lowell)
At the Mass Trial Court Libraries, they began email reference in 1999. Now all 17 law libraries involved and they use email and chat and everyone has a shift of 2-2 1/2 hours at a time.
Cathy said that they get a lot of questions- many that wouldn't be asked in person (about criminal records, child support and sex) and that they find IM conversations to be pretty much the same as working with patrons in person, except that patrons are actually more patient on IM.
Cathy's Stats: email 254 question/month (last year 239) IM 283/month (last year 238)
Much easier to help patrons get what they want, because you can instantly send information and links. Easier than the phone and people aren't as opposed to contacting that way because it's less “scary” and they know they'll get what they want.
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Questions:
When you're IMing, is it as the librarian or as a person?
Pretty much as the librarian, some of them have their own AIM addressed that students/patrons can directly communicate with them via.
Does IMing go on after hours?
If you can do it, definitely do it, but if not, put an away message up. Overnight- set an away message asking to leave a questions with an email address. Can still be IMed by meebo even when not online. Way to extend library hours without more staffing.
-Sarah C.
Nancy Pearl: In Love With Books
Nancy presents Doorways to Enjoyment at 8:45 a.m. in Ballroom 1. There are two of us - Susan Mello and Charlotte Canelli - blogging Nancy's talk today. The photo is from Nancy's website, BookLust.
Two tips for being a good Reader's Advisor? (1) Remembering that 'it's not about me' - meaning you the reader's advisor. It's about the reader; and (2) that while you don't need to have read everything you recommend, you do need to stretch your reading tastes. Pick up one book a month that you might not have read ... and try it.
Another suggestion? Have every staff member do a 45 second booktalk at each staff meeting. Scholastic Inc. starts every meeting with a booktalk! Grow your knowledge of books this way.
Nancy's Doorways to Reading categorizes books according to Story, Character, Setting and Language. a Email me mzlibrary@aol.com for a Word copy of the handout.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Blazing a Trail in the Commonwealth
Here are some pictures from Tuesday evening's Open Conversation about Open Source at MLA.
First, Scot Colford gave a brief overview on Open Source, and facilitated the conversation.
Among the attendees who offered their thoughts were Nora Blake, Manager of MassCat:
Diane Hillman, Research Librarian from Cornell University Library:
Eric Lease Morgan, Head of Digital Access and Information Architecture, University Libraries of Notre Dame:
Rob Maier, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners:
First, Scot Colford gave a brief overview on Open Source, and facilitated the conversation.
Among the attendees who offered their thoughts were Nora Blake, Manager of MassCat:
Diane Hillman, Research Librarian from Cornell University Library:
Eric Lease Morgan, Head of Digital Access and Information Architecture, University Libraries of Notre Dame:
Rob Maier, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners:
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