Librarian's Rant

Seems Universal Studios is looking to make a deal with J.K. Rowling for a Harry Potter Theme Park. (requires free subscription to The Scotsman) Dude!

Thanks to Erik for the link. (He leads my grown-up Harry Potter Book Club. Through my church. Yes, that's right. Adults. Church. Harry Potter. Deal with it.)

After the great Gaming in Libraries pre-conference I took at Computers in Libraries a couple of weeks ago (thanks, Aaron and Jenny!), I took great interest in this NY Times article today:

P.E. Classes Turn to Video Game That Works Legs

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Children don’t often yell in excitement when they are let into class, but as the doors opened to the upper level of the gym at South Middle School here one recent Monday, the assembled students let out a chorus of shrieks.

In they rushed, past the Ping-Pong table, past the balance beams and the wrestling mats stacked unused. They sprinted past the ghosts of Gym Class Past toward two TV sets looming over square plastic mats on the floor. In less than a minute a dozen seventh graders were dancing in furiously kinetic union to the thumps of a techno song called “Speed Over Beethoven.”

Bill Hines, a physical education teacher at the school for 27 years, shook his head a little, smiled and said, “I’ll tell you one thing: they don’t run in here like that for basketball.”

It is a scene being repeated across the country as schools deploy the blood-pumping video game Dance Dance Revolution as the latest weapon in the nation’s battle against the epidemic of childhood obesity. While traditional video games are often criticized for contributing to the expanding waistlines of the nation’s children, at least several hundred schools in at least 10 states are now using Dance Dance Revolution, or D.D.R., as a regular part of their physical education curriculum.

My favorite part of this article is the photo, where kids who are waiting are doing the moves along with the participants. This is so encouraging! And the de-emphasis on competition and skill competence, especially with awkward junior high-age kids, is wonderful. When I remember the torture of jr. high gym class...

I wrote my Unitarian minister an email a couple of days ago, expressing how proud of him I was that he'd been one of the clergy who went to Capitol Hill on the 17th to lobby Congress in support of two pieces of civil rights legislation — a bill to prevent hate violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity and another to ban workplace discrimination against GLBT employees.

He sent me back a photo from the clergy call. He's in the back row, left of center, with the goatee.

Well done Mark. And to the remarkable number of faith leaders who were there with you.

Today's Unshelved comic gives an excellent overview of "The Seven Stages of Falling in Love with an Author".

Stage Number 5 is why my friend Erica and I won't read the latest Dick Francis until he's written another one, just in case he dies. (Dude, he's like 86 and still writing!)

Got this in an email from my college friend Emily. Check it out (seems legit):

Autism Speaks created a music video of the Five for Fighting song, "World", which features images of autistic children and their families.

It is a truly moving video and was the work of Bill Shea.

The band is generously donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks for each time the video is viewed - the funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.

http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/213154

Video of Sen. Joe Biden's recent speech on the Senate floor, discussing the administration's massive hypocrisy about Iraq.

I got to hear him speak, along with Gov. Richardson and Sen. Edwards, on Friday the 20th at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner. Richardson was, as usual, clear, effective and interesting. John Edwards nearly brought the room to tears - he really is a fine orator. Biden was the biggest surprise - he started out with standard political rallying...and then he began to talk about Darfur.

As I realized later he'd been discussing it much of that day and the one before in DC, so it was much on his mind. Nonetheless, he was beyond passionate about the need for swift action in the Sudan. He's the only politician I've heard yet who said, straight out, that he'd drop troops into Darfur and stop the janjaweed massacres if he was President. Interesting. And very passionate - it felt (for what it's worth) as if he'd thrown out whatever he'd meant to say and was instead responding to previous speakers' comments about Darfur (which had been correct, if non-specific about action) and stating plainly what he thought. It's one of the things I like about Biden, overall. I don't always agree with him, but I'm usually fairly certain I'm hearing what he thinks when he speaks. Which, of course, gets him in all sorts of trouble...but again, I kinda like that.

I'm about to do my first online class for the Ontario Library Association, on wireless troubleshooting.

It's weird to do a class where you see none of the participants, despite the fact that they can hear you in real time. I find it disconcerting to get no visual feedback from students - when I do live classes (like the one I'm doing on Tuesday for our local regional library system), I guage my presentation in part on non-verbal (and verbal) feedback from participants while I'm presenting.

I feel like I'm presenting with one sense tied behind my back.

On the bright side, it seems I can post to my blog again. Though that may be because I'm home. I'm a bit worried that upgrades I did to the blog admin (tagging! yay!) may have made me unable to post from work, which is common for me (where else do I learn about library stuff?!). Hmph.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: It's Done! I realized that it's like doing a telephone interview, but with even less immediate feedback. Freaky! Seemed to go well, though.

Now I'm off to the grocery store, as this is my only day off in about a month!

Podcasting and Videocasting Bootcamp
April 19, 2007
David Free and David Lee King

Podcasting 101
Videocasting 101
Let's Make Stuff

Part I - Podcasting

Podcast = audio broadcast over Internet, can be listened to on MP3 player, can be subscribed to for updates.
Essential = RSS capability to subscribe to content. Don't have to subscribe, can listen directly online. Don't have to have personal digital media player. Can use computer, etc.
"MP3 + iPod/RSS = Podcast " --Aaron Schmidt

Pew Demographics - 2006 podcast usage -about 12% of total internet users listening to podcasts. 30% of 18-24yo own MP3 player. 54% of 12-17yo! (TEMPO survey, July 2006)

Only getting more widespread. Many of your teen and pre-teen users will be used to podcasts.

Examples: Lost tv show, NPR shows, etc.
Juice - free online podcatcher program. Paste RSS feeds into there or add from site, will put it all in one area. ipodder.sourceforge.net

Bloglines - can use to subscribe to podcasts! (I didn't know this!)

Tons of podcast search sites - Podcast Pickle - www.podcastpickle.com is one. Search by topic, browse, groupings, etc.

podCast411 Directory of Directories - www.podcast411.com/page2.html

Above useful if you are creating and want to advertise what you're doing.

Podzinger - www.podzinger.com - mostly you can't skim through a podcast. This site does pretty good job of searching content of podcasts! (audio and video) Possible good reference tool. (Cool!)

iTunes - www.apple.com/itunes - for now, it's one of the best sites.

Q about iTunes permissions if you're creating content. (university podcasts)

Library uses for podcasts:
-library instruction (BI, tours, etc.) - (SJCPL doing tours via podcasts)
-online archives
-speakers
-lectures, booktalks
-interviews -
**make sure you get permission! Signed, written release - make sure they own the copyright to that material. Be specific on release as to how being used.

Podcasting could extend value of the programming you're doing by making it available to wider audience.

UVA Health Sciences Library - www.healthsystem.virginia.edu - series
www.priztkermilitarylibrary.org/podcasts/index.jsp - military talks on podcast
they do featured podcast of the month

Q: are any libraries putting podcasts in catalog? A: not sure, good idea!

Princeton NJ PL Poetry podcasts - pplpoetpodcast.wordpress.com

Orange Co FL - www.ocls.info/podcast - children's storytime broadcasts

Cheshire PL Podcast - www.cheshirelib.org/teens/cplpodcast.htm - They are actually having their teens create the podcasts.

Q: Orange Co doing mp3 and windows media - do both? A: David F. does mp3 only.

Promote Your services, resources - Marketing!

DF: GPC Decatur Campus Library - www.gpc.edu/~declib/podcasts.htm

Q: Do you track usage? A: he started with paid commercial online service, now doing in-house. commercial service gave good stats. He recommends keeping on local server, but do your best to get stats. Most web stats software systems will track by file hit, type of file. GPC getting 100-150 hits per episode. Events get more traffic. Podcasts may be either news item about the event, or the event itself (if permission is given).

Dowling College LIb - www.dowling.edu/library/newsblog/podcasts.asp - not just college, but also local community events. Quite good. Model is like This American Life.

Instruction:
-tours
-library instruction sessions
-technical training
-internal training, too!
Academic libs in particular looking at podcasting for library and general instruction. May not do whole lesson, but may do overview. Make sure not missing things because of lack of visual clues. For online-only classes, can 'humanize' experience.

www.library.ohiou.edu/podcasts/?page_id=14 - Ohio Univ Alden Library Audio Tour - they have in Swahili and Japanese, as well.

Worcester Polytechnic Inst Library Audio To Go - www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Borrowing/Podcasts - she has good voice for podcasting.

Lansing (IL) PL - how to use Yahoo Mail - www.lansing.lib.il.us/podcast_directory.htm - might be better visually, but can be an augmenting tool.

If you're going to do it, have a plan!

Moraine Valley Comm College Library - www2.morainevalley.edu/default.asp?SiteId=10&PageId=1496 - tied in to their mission

7 Steps to Podcast Heaven
-Recording/Editing - just need $20 microphone. Can go up to $100 Blue Snowball (holy grail of podcasting microphones). Most of rest of needs are free.
Can record skype calls (www.skype.com) - PowerGrammo (www.powergrammo.com) is plug-in (free) for Skype to record.
Audacity - audacity.sourceforge.net - FREE! Very good software. For PC's or Mac.
Garageband - www.apple.com/ilife/garageband - Mac program.

-Listening - listen to it before you post, make sure it's good.

-Hosting - save it somewhere locally if you can, you keep control.
Places online - blip.tv has audio portion, ourmedia.com
Using commercial site can be useful for people finding you. If at all possible, host locally.

-Posting
-Feeding - can do podcast blog, RSS feeds, if have blog, post links to files.
Feedburner - feeds.feedburner.com/gpclibraryradio (GPC's version) - makes your feed look a little bit better! So if they click on your feed, they don't get the XML nonsense, but a sensible page.

-Promoting - want people to watch. Promote in institution, online, email blast, flyers, etc. You can add your stuff to iTunes (you sign away some options) - easy.

-Evaluate/Repeat - not a one-time process. It is an investment of time - be sure why you're doing that.

8 Things I Learned About Podcasting (David Free)
-make sure it feeds
-promote, then promote more
-keep it short
-use music sparingly! - Creative Commons site has good section to find copyright-free music. WordSafe Music Network. If there's no creative commons license, you'll have to get permission. CCMixter.
-multiple voices rock
-podcast events.
-consider your web presence
-listen to your listeners.

davidfree.pbwiki.com/cil07

(David Free got me to do an audio podcast on my CIL experience. Fun!)

He showed us how to use Audacity to edit a recorded digital audio. Has an 'undo' feature (yay!). Looks incredibly easy to use! Save project to begin with. Then make an MP3 out of it. Export As MP3. Can tag it when exporting!

With online hosting sites, should be an upload process (like a PDF or similar). He used blip.tv, signed in, went to Upload. Give title, description, browse for file. Can choose Creative Commons license or choose standard all rights reserved. Though blip.tv is primarily video site (free account required), it's also good for audio.

Part II - Videocasting

Video - Show, Don't Tell - davidleeking.com - for Video Blogging Week (he looks like David Byrne!)

davidleeking.com/etc = David's video blog

He posts most of his video on his vblog. Some he puts on his regular blog, if library or libtech related.

RocketBoom - 3 minute daily video blog in NYC - wide range of info. news, quirky internet culture. Created with "consumer-level video camera, two lights and a map!" No promotion, all word of mouth. Low distribution costs, bidirectional discussion. David K. got a mention on rocketboom last year. Over 400,000 viewers/day in less than 2 years. On TiVo and iTunes. Have multi-languages (rocketboom.jp) - have 100% creative control of their commercials.

RocketBoom 2.0 - spinoff (disagreement between originators). (Amanda UnBoomed)

What is VideoBlogging?
Terms: video podcast, videoblog, vlog, v-log, vodcast, videocast. He calls it video blogging.

Is Not:
-digital versions of tv shows
-streaming video - that's so last century!
-not from mainstream media.

Videoblogging = Video on a Blog - it's just content.
Like on any blog, commenting is possible. Two-way interaction. Some people leave video comments on other people's video blogs.

Why is it getting big?
-storage, bandwidth, fast web
-took off in 2005+
-cheap easy mobile video
-video ipods
-ppl discovering great uses that are 'just right' for video

Examples: drum lessons, shortcuts for Treo, library content

How do you find them?
Search engines - bloglines, google, blinkx ("largest and most advanced video search engine")
Vlog directories - vlogdir, mefeedia (web-based aggregator for video content), iTunes
Search some video sites - youtube, blip.tv

What you need:
-computer
-need the web (broadband)
-a video player (all three): windows media player, quicktime, flash - do need all three, because not streamlined to one type. If have to choose, stick to QuickTime, maybe Flash. (For linux audience, flash is best)
-a video aggregator would be nice: fireant, itunes, mefeedia

To create:
-need computer w/firewire or usb 2.0 input;
-external hard drive - couple hundred GB should do it so you can edit, render.
-need video camera - mini-DV camcorders; cheapie web cam and mic; mobile phone (moblogging) Hint: some laptops have built-in video cameras and mics (new Macs).
-need video editing software
Free and Cheap: apple's iMovie (free w/Mac); Windows Movie Maker; Avid Free DV; Quicktime Pro
Pricey and Powerful: Adobe's Video Suite; Final Cut Pro
-need a blog - any will do; enclosures for rss 2.0 feed (adds direct link to file for download); feedburner is easy and free.
-an idea!

Storage and Access
-these things can be large files - 25MB sometimes
Two options:
1 - store it yourself - server packed with memory, possibly a media server - Quicktime/WMV type thing. Software has some good compression options. iMovie - no.
2 - let someone else store them
Ourmedia, blip.tv, internet archive, google video, others.

LITA Blog uses podpress (part of wordpress suite) to embed, store, manage.

Blip.tv (and to some extent YouTube) give you some code for embedding in blog. In blip.tv either copy and paste code or use "post to blog" option (also youtube).

YouTube
-very popular right now
-they'll store for you
-they'll keep stats
-they'll allow comments on each video
-all they won't do is allow people to download them (so can't take with them)
-figure out if that's a problem or not

What Can Libraries Do With Videoblogging?
-one participant today did viral campaign for library. NJ State Library. They made it by taking library into local library and asked them to tell their 'library story'. They won an InfoTubey!
-"If Barbie Had a Book Club" - Topeka and Shawnee County PL - as part of their Papercuts blog. Embedded. You have to link back, or they won't see it! Some libraries forget to link back.
-Allen County PL - "A Day in Allen County Blooper"
-Orange County FL LSys - whole programs. Rather long. Better to do shorter snippets?
-Clark County Public Library - kids doing films (spiderman, etc.) - some libraries having contests for kids. Lending out cameras or creating spaces.

Traditional ideas:
-book talk
-BI
-PR for the library
-Showing off exhibits
-Interviews
-film your events
-tutorials - searching catalog (screen capture)

More interesting ideas:
-cultural memory project
-local news - happy news from around your branch
-collaborative - PLCMC's ImaginOn - kids making vids
-environmental - discuss environmental isues and nature (invite the zookeeper)
-behind the scenes - what goes on the library

Slightly whacked-out ideas:
-travel - videoblog local attractions; anyone going out of the country?
-political - invite local candidates in to discuss something
-hobbies/lifestyles - lifestyles and hobbies (patrons, staff, prominent citizens) in a TV Mag format.

More Info: books, etc. on videoblogging; groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging
conferences: vloggercon, etc. (Podcasting: Podcamp) South by Southwest interactive.

Q: rule of thumb for # of minutes of pod/videocast and how big file will be?
A: DF: he encodes at 96kb/sec for podcasts (audio). Makes manageable size. DK: Video is more gray. Try this site for tutorials: Freevlog.com Depends on kind of audio with the video, quality you want, etc. DF uses liberated syndication site for info. (libsyn)

Q: how much time are you spending doing this? A: DF - 5-10 times length of final product at beginning, but goes down once you get used to it. It IS time-consuming. DK: Double that for video.

We then did video of my buddy Ruth (Skokie PL) doing her now-famous straw whistle talent, including an instructional and participatory portion.

DK using Sanyo Xacti camera, uses SD card. Takes video, puts card in card reader, pulls video to hard drive. 1GB card will keep 1-1.5hrs of video on it (DK). Is in MP4 format. Use freeware MP4CamtoAVI Easy Converter to change to AVI for editing (because he's using Windows machine to edit). Can do more than one file at a time. Easy! Drag and drop two AVI files into Windows Movie Maker software. (DK: his version of WMM is very buggy, save often!). WMM comes standard with XP. Drag it onto your timeline. Then do editing. If need to remove, split clip into two in order to delete a portion. Hint: keep video as short as possible to keep audience attention. Can merge files (we had demo and instruction on two different videos). Hint: with video, be aware of where lights are (our instruction section was darker, cuz he was facing sunlight out door). Videoediting takes longer than audio, generally. Tools - titles and credits - add title/tags. Can change text font and color at this point; title animation. Check Your Work! AVI file is huge - best to translate to .mov file, which is much compressed. Open AVI file with QuickTime Player - File - Export - Save as Quick Time Movie (.mov). Options - compression H.264 (good one), high quality, frame rate 15fr/sec. Sound 22000KHz (CD quality is 44000, but it's okay). Makes it into YouTube-type size for web. Went from 288MB to 14MB - AVI to Quicktime.

Promoting "2.0 Freebies" with "Fantastic Freebies"

Janie Hermann (met her!)
Bob Keith


(this introducer/moderator is waaaaay tooooo wordy! This is the third session I've heard her introduce, and she hasn't kept it under 5 minutes ever!)

Janie:

Princeton PL
100+ computers for public
fully equipped tech center w/lots of software and "gadget garage"
Staff: 54FTE Pop: 31,000 (WTF??? I'd kill for that ratio!!!)

Tradiitional Tech Training
-computer basics
-email
-internet basics
-search engines
-online catalog
-word processing/spreadsheets, etc.

WE can do more.

Disclaimer:
-many libraries (mine!) lack staff time and money to expand computer classes

position yourself and your staff as "tech gurus"
-get involved in local users groups
-do presentations for above
-develop or join tech mailing lists
-create a tech training blog
-sell up at each and every class
-tease w/new content

Brown bag series: Databytes - short demo, 40mins, present database or top reference sources. Not too bogged down. Started with staff, but public kept wandering in, so said "why not?"

Tuesday technology talks - ex's: extending firefox, zuula,

"Fun with Flickr" - two week course.

Convince your training manager to allow your staff to fill up empty seats at any tech training to get them up to date.

Fantastic freebies:
=everyone likes to get something for free
-simple to implement

Bob:

2.0 Toolbox:
filehippo.com, flickr, librarything, pandora,

How they locate 'freebies' - PC Mag top 101 sites, PC World, SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards, Tim Mag's 50 Coolest WEbsites, Filehippo (freeware w/some shareware)

Constantly scan tech blogs, library blogs, tech news sites and the pop media.

Text Editing Freebies: Google Docs, YOurDraft, Ajaxwrite

Organization freebies: Tadalists, Cozi Central, Google Calendar


Productivity Freebies: LogMeIn (control remote computer via Net - Bob uses to work on his mom's computer), CCleaner - does disk cleanup, etc.

Photo and Video Freebies: The GIMP, Everystockphoto, Flickr, OneTrueMedia

Future Classes:
Move from Photoshop to GIMP and Pixer/Picnik
Move from Blogger to Wordpress
Move from Bloglines to Google Reader
Social Bookmarking
How to create and host Podcasts
YouTube/ONeTrueMedia/SpashCut (video editing and hosting online)
Digital Scrapbooking

Their classes always in constant Beta, keep things fresh.
Give classes catchy names.

Tie-ins. Wiki classes so they can add reviews to lib site.

slides: librarygarden.blogspot.com

Part II - ImaginOn Project at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Lib

Matt Gullett (LJ Mover and Shaker)
Robin Bryan

Matt:

"Mediasnackers" - (website) - kids snack on media, want to be part of creating.

Painting/Crayons --> Pixels/Cameras

Using what you already have - word, excel, ppt, ms paint

Freebie: Tux Paint - basic elec painting program. (should suggest to my brother for his kids...)

Other freebies:
GameMaker - from UK, learn how to make games
Architect Studio 3D - create 3D environments - from frank lloyd write preservation trust
Google SketchUp
Wink - little machinima
GIMP
second life
YouTube
Picasa
MySpace

easy, free things - don't need to be major producer to use

Purchased software and activities:
Youth Digital ARts CyberSchool - low cost. They create a program for kids to do. Curriculum for video design, elec art and music, etc.
I Can Animate
Stop Motion Pro
Kudlian Soft
Fraps - similar to wink, more sophisticated
ACID Music Studio
iMovie HD 6
GarageBand 3
Digital Storytelling

Robin:

Overview of ImaginOn:
Creative space for youth up to 18yo.
Studio i - $250K project - created Studio i Software, portable animation station. - stop motion pro, pinnacle studio, sony acid music studio, garageband (mac), finalcutstudio (mac)

Sony Acid Music Studio is hugely popular with the kids - they want to come in and record their own music. Not terribly expensive. Do own audio tracks or take loops and put together.


Next steps - more opportunities for interaction and interactive activities for patrons.

Library of the Future
Darien (CT) Library
April 18, 2007
Computers in Libraries

Louise Berry – Director

(I still find it disturbing when someone says “Louise said…” and they’re not talking about me. There are so few Louise’s in the world!)

Three Principles
A covenant with our patrons
Stay ahead of expectations
The first of the new libraries, not the last of the old

To goals
Design and build and absolutely fantastic new library. “the great, good place”
Use tech wherever it will make us more efficient and meet our patrons demands
“not the law of supply and need, but rather demand”

One Rule: Tolerate Uncertainty

Continuing Vision: Eternal Values with New Technology

Architects:

Intimidating to try to plan for the future – have visions of the past of libraries.
Permanence and Change

(shows setting of where library is situated)

Most active things on first floor. “Marketplace” - children’s lib, café, program room, fiction.
Traditional library above, technology center below.
Recycle rainwater. – Green building.
Lower level (basement) – tech center plus tech services
Second level – more traditional library.
Above 2nd floor, mezzanine. Extra 6000 sq. ft. – spaces for private, interactive, collaborative work.
Exterior “belongs to New England”

“Traditional”  “Public”  “Power” Library (Top to bottom in building)

Want responsive public building that responds to fast rate of change of tech.

Alan Gray:
“The fine print”:
-we’re jus a cute little public library in SW CT
-ymmv
-you may legitimately belive ther is good reason for you to do things differently.

-But we absolutely are not going to just slap a layer of tech over a new building

Four principles:
-it’s not our library, it’s the patrons
-take real risks,
-failure is an option
-Get it right, finally, and then keep changing to stay ahead

Suggests LibSuccess Wiki should have companion LibFailures wiki, since we learn as much from that. (Meredith, are you listening?)

(He just said something about "those of you who are fighter pilots". Ummm...are there a lot of fighter pilot librarians??)


Technology Layers
-infrastructure
-admin tech
-staff tech
-patron indirect - don't care about tech, they want a library service - should be seamless and invisible
-patron direct - set up library so they can use tech as tech
-p2p

Most important tech implementation
-materials handling system that happens to have an RFID front end (3M and FKI)

"Drive for show, putt for dough"
-self-check works for the benefit of the patron
-materials handling can have a major benefit for the library

Getting RFID materials handling system
-skip the RFP process - it's a waste of time and money and effort
-have each competitor design to your needs, quote a committeed cost and then justify

-No tech services and no circ back office
-No cataloging
-workflow managers, not clerks
-a small workspace to deal with exceptions. - catalog maybe 50-100/year. Could outsource.
-don't want to care if the book coming in is returned by patron or off the UPS truck from BWI! Treat it the same

What would a library be if it needed no booktrucks?!
Would it be full of knowledge workers? INstead of people pushing stuff around.

Metrics
-active items back on shelf in 20mins
-inventory turns per item doubled
-cost per circ halved
-time from order to first circ: 18hrs
-annual circ per FTE: 40,000

Long Tail? - we want a short (support) tail.

It's the supply chain, stupid!
-fast second order
-direct order and ship to patron - charge to patron. if they give to library, discount?
-delivery from distributor same day eventually?

Let's not stop there:
-everyone out in front of desks
-circ staff become Reader Advisors
-info staff are at remote ref points
-tech staff work in partnership w/patrons
-we'll have a virtual library, too

Reference Pod - think of it as a concierge desk.

Ref Services
-staring IM
-video chat
-WebEx
-24/7 local remote at off hours

Think of it as small Kinko's - scan, print, etc.

Collaborative spaces - smart study rooms, 'corp-grade' conference room, community room with theatrical seating and outlets (yay!!!)

(I love that he a) had "sucks" in his PowerPoint and b) finished with an Unshelved comic!)

27 million dollar project, and they're raising it all privately!

Alliance and Charlotte Libraries Get a Second Life: Library Services in a Virtual World

Second Life
5.5 million users now!

Lori Bell, director?, Alliance Library System
Tom Peters, TAP Info Svcs
Kelly Czarnecki, ImaginOn/PLCMC
Matt Gullett, PLCMC (Public Lib of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) – was LJ Mover and Shaker

Lori:

What is this thing?
-not a game, it's a virtual world
-Sony coming out with one, etc.
-wanted to see where libraries would fit in
-3D virtual world
-download software you have to login to each time you go there.
-ALC and PLCMC ave 2 main projects: adult second life, teen second life (13-17)
-growing 20-30%/month! 5.5 million registered avatars
-complete online community - the community actually builds the world.
-cultural programs, businesses, recreation, buildings, property, services
-5000 visitors/day to the Alliance Archipelago
-2-3000 teen visitors a day to the eye4you alliance island
-used for meetings, workshops and education (e.g. ALA)


Avatars
-digital character that represents you in-world
-can walk, talk, fly, swim, teleport
-each participant creates an avatar - tall, short, male, female, buffed or not
Lori Bell: "I'm 46, why wouldn't I want to look 25 if I could?"

Commerce in Second Life
-has its own currency - lindens
-$1 = about 350 lindens
-can purchase clothing, hair, objects, houses, land
-growing

Since last year, gone from one to ten islands! Plus 10 partner islands.

Do about 40 hours of reference service via QuestionPoint, etc.

SciFi and Fantasy portal - books, podcasts, programs, sci-fi authors

Pantheon Performance Center - live piano performances, student productions. Can hear people in NYC from rural IL, etc.

Halloween and the Haunted Mausoleum
3 open are auditoriums
Got grant to get HealthInfo Island's Medical Library - includes groups - most notable, stroke victims group.

Imagination Island - created by couple who lost young child. Rachelville - place to celebrate the child in all of us.
Vendorville - place library vendors can show their products.

Just started Renaissance Island - lots of role play in SL. RenIsland - Henry VIII is the apartment manager.

Kelly:

Teen Grid - do background check to be working with kids in this area!
new E4Y Isle (for teens) - working with developer, working with teens to build the island.

Matt:

Ideal - build space in different environment that made kids think about what they want from group of ppl who identify as librarians.
Space for interactive programming.
Mentoring, maintaining relationships.
One of two public spaces - other is Global Kids (MacArthur Found) - for youth.
Create public space - maintain ideal of public space within these worlds.

Kelly:
Services We Provide
-reference
-programs
-exhibits (WWII posters, alzheimer's, 9/11 remembrance
-collections (web resources, second life formatted e-books and audio books)
-book and genre discussions
-training

Tom:

-first question was whether ppl would want library services inside second life? Answer is resounding yes.
-exhibits drawing people in and collections.
-unique professional outpouring of pro bono work in this space by librarians.
-reference has been a success in SL
-collections - "where are the books?" - but he doesn't see this as a long-term draw.
-ppl really want avatar-to-avatar interaction (hence popularity of ref)

Why are Librarians in SL?
-this is a new professional frontier
-where many of our users and non-users are
-attract new user to traditional library
-investigate lib services in virtual worlds
-provide lib services 24/7 - not doing yet, but getting there.
-meet and work w/librarians worldwide - language is barrier
-learn and use the 3D web, the emerging web interaction interface

After year, seeing architecture moving away from real world models.

Lori:

How It All Started
-april 2006 - first rented bldg, first small plot of land
-may 2006 - first island info island 1
-aug 2006 - info island ii donated
-oct - grand opening of info island I, eye4youalliance opens on Teen second Life
-dec - EduIsland and HealthInfo Island (NLM grant for latter), cybrary city for participating librarians donated by Talis
-Jan 2007 - Sirsi/Dynix helps support
-Feb -

Tom:

The weather is always great!
Challenges:
-funding and sustainability - they've gotten donations of space, but need monthly maintenance funds.
-volunteer burnout - "self-inflicted burnout"
-partnerships are key
-steep learning curve
-what library services do virtual users want?
-What? You're working in SL? Right...
-Robust hardware and Net connections are essential
-No integrated audio and web yet - Once people are in SL, they want all their resources to be in-world, not from out
-Highly addictive and time intensive - no feeling of "we have to abandon the real world"
-general: there are discontents, bad elements, etc. Keeping public peace is issue.

What Have We Learned?
-virtual residents DO want the library - coming in droves!
-collaboration is key and partnerships are essential
-exhibits: very popular; events attract crowds
-SL is fun - fun factor as catalyst for amazing growth
-speed with which this is unfolding is unbelievable!
-ppl still ask for books in a virtual world (!)
-ALS and PLCMC have received huge national and international attention - recognized as key innovators.

Lori: president of her board has been very involved. "In over 30 years of librarianship I've never had so much fun!"

Tom:

What's Next?
-permanent virtual ALS staff working out of ALS HQ. Likewise for PLCMC.
-more 'traditional' info resources available, e.g. audiobooks
-pioneer 'meeting technologies' to facilitate virutal meetings
-integrate Info Island and Eye4You into ALS & PLCMC daily operations so all staf are SL functional
-actively promote the Alliance INformation Archipelago
-improve transportation around the islands, e.g. people mover, better teleporting - teleport centers are great places for info kiosks
-create an Info Island for kids.

Lori:

Why is AIA/E4Y good for als and plcmc?
-continues traditionas of being leaders in the lib community
-provides nat'l profile and recognition as two of the most innovative lib systms in the country
-easier to recruit excellent board members and staff
-easier to land 'big' grants to provide better service for our members
-as requested by als members and plcmc customers - testing new technologies and services re: virtual library services

Matt: that "face to face" contact seems very important to people in this environment.
Also, importance of 3D - coolness of new space can go away, but 3D makes it more rich.

Info Island www.infoisland.org
YouthTech - eye4youalliance.youthtech.info

Lori: they chose Second Life because of great number of educators in that virtual world.

Reinventing the Library in the Internet Era
Cuyahoga County Public Library system (Cleveland OH area)
April 18, 2007

(this interested me, because I grew up in the Cuyahoga County system)

Development
Web design changes – how to keep website fresh.
Incl. style sheet for wireless and mobile devices.
Multi-language capability

Do we build it, or do we buy it?

CMS – Ektron
Catalog (III)
Federated Search (WEbFeat)
Text messaging
Email
Online store

Words from focus groups: inspired, functional, intuitive, accessible, integratd, efficient, energetic, supportive, innovative, realistic, scaleable.

Top left to bottom right “reading” of website design – to catalog, etc. at top left corner.

390,000 WebFeat searches on website last month.


Storytime registration - 10,000 hits on webpage in one day - reduces mob at door!

Segmented audience email conversations going on. Relevant to your neighborhood or interest area.

Branch staff are putting their own content on the pages. Ex: Valentine's Day blizzard - hits went up significantly. People 'went' to the library to find out what was going on, despite being snowed in.

Have online store - brand identity - proceeds to foundation. Work with vertical integration (low inventory) company.

Integrate w/catalog seamlessly.
90000 text msgs sent last month telling people their stuff was in the library.

Launch/Promotion

Named Site of the Year by Ektron (their CMS), so their PR group helped with expansion. They did promotion of their own, "proselytizing in general", etc.

Evolution

Ektron Rep:

Platform defines functionality
Using off the shelf CMS buys engineering hours
think ahead
Where is the web going?
memberships are th edriving force of web 2.0 - libraries different from corporate customers
blogs, wikis, forums - libraries embraced these in a way that corp customers could not
libraries as a primary mover in new technology. - they can be first adopters, esp of the free/low-cost tech

Patrons can add content to the site (like Hennepin Cty?)

Additional features they got out of the box w/Ektron:
microformats, dublin core
federated search
geomapping
data portability - published in XML, so easy to send out

Ektron learned from working with Cuyahoga County - 200 editors in system. First client to use their memberships capability (others following suit now). Create online community - new idea, but great for libraries. Not a monetary decision, usually - about creating community.

When people create wiki or blog on your site, they feel they have ownership (community).

30 Tips in 45 Minutes
Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Info Service
April 18, 2007

Simply Google
Excellent overview site of Google’s options and features

AskX.com (was ask jeeves)
Left side navigation is static, gives suggestions for expanding/narrowing search.
Right side includes images results, encyclopedia results, shopping links and blog posts on the subject.
New interface for ask.com
Good clustering
Ask.com sends you to askx.com, but you can exit (top left)

Search the Web 2.0
Lets you narrow the searchg using popular terms and long tail search results.
Sort results on left side nav by popular or ‘long tail’

Google Search History
Limit your search to what you’ve searched before
Big Brother?
Google.com/searchhistory
Can turn on and off.

Consider the Q&A services
Answers.yahoo.com – you can vote on which answers are useful/not. Some peer review. Some compiled bibliographies there.
Qna.live.com
Askville.ask.com
Linkedin.com/answers
Use With Caution!

Use search eng’s quick answer feature
Ask.com’s smart answers
Google’s OneBox
Yahoo’s Shortcuts
MSN’s Instant Answers
Like a ready ref collection at your fingertips.

Squidoo
Hybrid of a web page, interactive poll, flickr-like photos, notes from readers and a blog.
Great way to share resources with colleagues.
Put interactive polls in your blog. Make your blog more interactive.
(ex: treadmills in cubicles.)
Things you could do in a blog, but easier to do in squidoo.

Build customized search engine
Rollyo.com
Yahoo search builder
Google co-coop
Live.com’s macros
Gigablast’s custom topic search.
She wrote article on this topic.

Yahoo’s search subscriptions
Non-subscribers can search factiva, lexisnexis, WSJ, forrester, ieee, ft.com, etc.
Pay with credit card
Ltd version of some db’s
Search.yahoo.com/subscriptions
Not substitute for fee-based db’s, but nice option

Kosmix.com
Vertical search engine on steroids
Excellent clustering
Ex: “autism” clusters by “for med professionals”, “natural remedies”, “related topics”, etc.

NationMaster.com
Source for national stats
Cool tool for presenting graphical info
Data from WHO, world bank, cia world factbook, unesco, etc.
Lets you make sense of data with graphical interface.
Ex: taxation as percentage of gdp. Graphical output, ranked by country. Breaks the stats down, as well. Shows linkages between some statistics.
(I can see many uses for this in public libraries!)

Use Yahoo’s Mindset feature
Mindset.research.yahoo.com
Are you researching or shopping?
Most search eng’s, you get a lot of irrelevant hits. If you use the mindset tool (though labeled beta, it’s fully functional), move slider bar between shopping and researching to narrow result. Reorders results based on your focus. Cool!

MSN’s cool synonym-suggestion tool
Intended for helping search eng advertisers identify similar worlds and common misspellings
Snurl.com/zqyd
Shows list of related terms, misspellings, etc.

MSN misspelling-suggestion tool: snurl.com/zqyl
Get most common misspellings of word, to make more complete search or create metadata. (ex: aluminum, aluminium)

Consider 37signals.com
Great collaborateive resources
Project mgt, to-do lists, file sharing, time slips, etc.
Gives you these tools, password-protected, web-based.

Ask’s maps
Both driving and walking directions (!)
Takes local topography into account
Maps.ask.com

Use Exalead’s NEAR/n operator
She LOVES this tool
(solar or sun) NEAR/3 power
Adjacency searching.
Not as powerful as google, but very good.

Live academic search
Great search results page
Sort options
Slider bar for verbosity (MEB: if only we could do this with people!)
Endless scroll of results – great to show users, because most people stop with the first page.
Academic.live.com

Compare search engines
Comparesearchengines.dogpile.com
Jux2
Ranking.thumbshots.com
Twingine.com
Yahoogooglemsn.com

Data visualization
Factiva’s Discovery Pane

TouchGraph
Finds relationships among urls’ – uses google’s similar pages function
Finds related books in amazon – uses subject terms.

Gigablast
Limit to multiple sites
Gigabits clustering
Extremely cool complex search and ranking tools (see Help file for syntax)

Snap Search – snap.com
Gives preview of the page you’re going to go to for all results!
Can link while still in snap. – great when doing tabbed browsing.

GooFresh
Limits google search to only sites recently added or updated in the index
Great fr doing repeated searches!
Porps to Tara Calishain
www.researchbuzz.org/2003/09/goofresh.shtml

Podcast lectures from:
Yale
Princeton
UC Berkeley
Stanford
Johns Hopkins
101 courses or one-off lectures – no good way to search through them as yet.

SearchMash
Google that doesn’t look like Google
New interface
Also searches Images, blogs, wikipedia, videos - + menu to expand (right frame)
Same results as google, better organized.
Also has complete scroll – expand as go.

Google’s Topic Search
Health, destination guides, etc.
Info pros can contribute – subject familiarity
www.google.com/coop/topics/?show=all
destination guides – refine results by outdoor activities, dining, etc.

PageBull
Metasearch tool
Entirely visual
Good for right-brained searchers
Shows page shots as results – bunch of screen boxes. Kinda cool (would drive me crazy!)

Watch Google’s Librarian Center
Blog, newsletter, teaching tools
Tips of the trade
Librariancentral.blogspot.com
(MEB: bit condescending, but they actually have good tools for us to teach our patrons about advanced search tools on Google.

OneLook
Reverse dictionary!
Better than a thesaurus!
Onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
When you can describe the word, but can’t remember the word!! Useful for “senior moments”.

Guiding Libraries and Info Pros Through Change
David Lee King
Topeka and Shawnee Cty PL
April 17, 2007

He totally gets the problems of making change in the lib environment, esp. technology changes. We all know the things we learn here will be hard to get through the brick wall.

Steven Abram article about a week ago on sirsidynix site – similar.

Some “quotations”
“30 yrs ago, we thought change would be more of the same, only better. Now we can’t guarantee that.” (approx)
Book: Good to Great – “spending time and energy to motivate people is a waste of effort. …trick is not to de-motivate people.” Can de-motivate if ignore brutal facts of reality.
Abrams: dinosaur metaphor.

(photo: horse and buggy)
Historical libraries. 1970’s adapting to opac’s.
80’s – the pc took off
90’s – going fast now – gopher and telnet (his first web was gopher)
2004: Web 2.0 coined

Now changing very fast. MySpace and YouTube are vastly accelerating change. They’re both just a few years old!

His job title: digital branch and services manager. This is new.

Change, the old way:
-leaders simply ordered changes
-goal: getting the change accomplished
-review later to see how change went wrong

Change is external – different policies
Transition is internal – reorientation inside themselves and in org. before anything can change. Scared workers, resistant IT folks, etc.

“Most leaders base the project on getting the change accomplished rather than on getting ppl through the transition.”

3 steps
-saying goodbye – letting go of the past, how they used to be. “When I have to change something I’ve been doing, it’s like changing part of me.”
OCLC report – libs still places for print books. (perceptions report)
-shifting into neutral – get through first step, move into neutral zone, full of uncertainty and confusion. Here is where you focus on the details. Ex: two companies merging together. Bigwigs decide merge, middle mgrs have to figure out how it’ll happen. Many people get stuck here. Get frightened and confused, don’t stay long enough to make it work for them. Example from OCLC report – 200 employees who took early retirement rather than learn something new!
-moving forward. Now you need to start doing it. Can be scary – puts competence at risk. Resistance will happen! 2/3 fail? Resistance is primary reason why IT projects fail.
Mgt’s reaction to resistance creates the problems
The resistors probably don’t see it as resistance, they see it as survival!
Types of Resistance
1. Information based
Not enough information
2. Physiological /Emotional’
My job is threatened
My future w/org
Respect of my peers
These are all in the mind, but they’re real to the person
3. Bigger stuff
Personal history
Race, religion, etc. – who you are
Significant disagreement over values

Just for Leaders (and techies)
You’ve already come to terms with the change
Understand why ppl might not want to chg
Understand that it’s the transitions, not the change, that’s causing waves.

Steps to Take
Describe the change succinctly – really clear
Plan carefully
Help ppl respectfully let go
Constant communication
Create temporary solutions when needed
Model new behavior!
Emphasize the purpose for the change – the “whys”. And their part, what they can do to help you get there.

Don’t do these things!
Don’t confuse novelty w/innovation
Don’t confuse motion with action
Don’t keep something going if it “still has a few good years of life” left. Example: KS has pet project of medical info. He pointed out good free websites out there.

For techies:
You might be able to chg quickly
There are areas where you don’t change quickly. – ex: IT dept’s with culture of ‘no’
Always share too much… - and do too much training! More appropriate to everyone else.
Technojust(ification) – avoid technolust and technomust.

If you refuse to change:
Missed career opp’s
You’ll miss out on the opp to expand your network and your ability to develop new relationships
You’ll miss out on the possibility of shaping your new destiny or reality.

Parting Thoughts on Change
If your leaders aren’t telling you about it, go ahead and ask.
Break old habits, including old ones.
Work on stress mgt techniques.
Whine with purpose – constructive criticism.

Questions:
How encourage those who are trying to change? A: do it!

IF don’t have admin who understands, what do you do? A: must work with them.. This is vital!

(GREAT presentation, David!)

My Own Cafe Project
Southeastern Mass Regional Library System
Kathy Lussier and Vickie Beene-Beavers

Kathy:

regional lib system info and entertainment portal for teens athat offers one-stop service for:

Statewide, regional and local electronic databases
Regional announcements of YA library programs and local community events
Immediate access to network's catalogs
ONline community

Saw need for outreach to teens, as well as help for local libraries' websites, which were small and static. Way to get teens using the libraries. Go out and meet teens where they were at - which was online.

Goals:
-publicize lib resources
-offer member libs who lacked the funds or personnel to maintain website
-create conversation w/teens

Teen participation has been critical at every stage of the project.

STarted with Teen Advisory Group. Met in person once, then went online (chat, blog, etc.). Got feedback on process. Interesting: how important face-to-face contact was at the beginning! Having that interaction is important to teens, to keep them ivolved.

Web developers conducted teen surveys and focus groups. (Co: Pixel Bridge)

Pixel Bridge recommendations:
-messageboards as medium for teen interaction - more interactive than blogs, on any topic. Safer alternative to private messaging - everything is out in the open.
-downloadable music - big thing teens doing on the web. Chose to have local bands submit their own music! (Great idea!)
-community info - saw as way to make the site unique. Compete w/MySpace (lib hadn't heard of this yet at this time)
-college and job info

Questions They Addressed:
-would a library card be required for registration? big debate - ultimately decided yes. Once they create their account, don't need to enter that card number again. Needed that connection to library.
-how would music be selected? clean music criteria, but also have teens help choose
-who will monitor the messageboards? too much lag time if wait for librarian to be in office, so developed idea of moderating messageboards - has worked well!
-who will have admin access to the site? built this site to make things easier for librarians at these smaller libraries, so give teens limited admin access to help build content.

Lots of Names tried out for site - skoop, jolt, frizz, teenology, cranialcaffeine, cerebralcafe, etc.

Various logos tested. Big division in what librarians liked and what teens liked.

Designers provided them with three designs to choose from. The ones that highlighted the library resources the most were the ones rejected by them.

"Didn't want it to look like a library site." - one-click access to library resources, but good look and feel.

Ended up with a lot of info on the home page, have to scroll. Seemed odd, but works because of one-click access to stuff.

Tech Requirements:
-hosted off site on Win2003 server
-DotNetNuke - open source content mgt system using asp.net
-40GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, 50 GB max data transfer per month.

(Note from Louise: I love that they gave us this info in their presentation! This is stuff that's often missed!)

Website Policy was redesigned. They decided not to open it to under 13yo. They noticed that the few less than 13yo got on, the conversation dropped in tone and level. Important to limit in order to keep primary teens interested in the site.

Conduct policy for online behavior. Teen moderators came up with much more specific guidelines about what could happen on boards.

Embedded RSS feeds in site, to keep things fresh. Feeds also covered in terms of agreement (not responsible for this content, etc.)

Vickie:

Promotion:
-t-shirts!
-did launch at mall, cuz the kids had been talking to each other for a while in teen advisory board, and they all wanted to meet up for launch
-got band to play at mall launch
-have had two successful mall kickoffs
-handed out info newsletter - for parents, teachers, other advocates

Librarian and Teen Collaboration in the AdminProcess
-NO budget for marketing - mistake! They did okay, but could have done more.
-they continue to communicate with teens throughout process
-large region, so talk to teens through communication option built into admin forms
-they had long conversations about use of language (she showed example) - the kids did their own rules and do their own policing.

Suggestions from users have led to new features
-have made recommendation for creativity center (being worked on)
- different backgrounds, etc. suggested. working on up to 5 skins that kids can use as background drop for their login.
-new marketing ideas - giveaways (tied to bibliographic instruction on online databases)
-poster contest - bookmarks made from winner (I got one)


Stats:
326 registered teens
76 users (both teen and staff) logged in 702 times during March 2007
nearly 11,700 postos on the board since Oct 2005
top messageboard poster - Bookwork - has more than 1600 posts

Teen idea: creativity center. Ability for musicians to upload their own music (before they came to the library and give to librarian, sent to webmasters). Kids will get it, review it, add to website. Also, artwork from teens themselves. Maybe eventually podcasts.

Best source of ideas has been their TEENS.

Kathy:

Can't compete with Yahoo, but with teens' help, can make it fun and creative for them.

Participation Inequality (Jakob Neilsen www.useit.net):
-90% of users are lurkers
-9% of users contribute from time to time
-1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions

They've found this is true for their site, as well, which is a relief.

What's Next?
-Creativity Center
-building college and scholarship info
-expanding beyond the SE region. Lots of interest statewide.

Lessons Learned
-teens are comfortable in online forum, but face-to-face is still important
ex: one teen who wanted to start anime club, not enough interest at her library, linked with other teens and they go from library to library
-teens will take responsibility for their own community if you let them. You can always restrict later, but they tend to police themselves. Only two problems on site, both times the moderators handled it well.
-you can never budget too much money for publicity. $50K grant was used up before they got to that point.

www.myowncafe.org

April Guest Login
u: guest
p: daffodil

Q: at mall launches, did you have online access at time? A: no, wanted to but couldn't. Was still effective.

Q: what is turnover in teen moderators? How keep them engaged? A: twice/year send out an email to make sure still interested. have them check in 1-2 times/week. vacations and assignments can take them away. One library offers community service hours for work. Those who do it are there because they like the conversation. New rule: must have 20 posts before offered moderator position.

Q: partner w/schools to get artwork content? A: not launched yet, but school libraries are part of this environment. Hardest part, because many high school libs have them blocked due to interactivity! This summer, doing one book, one town reader's advisory (one school doing this). Hoping this will be model.