Monday, March 24, 2008

Web 2.0 in the Library

What is Web 2.0?

In 2004 Tim O'Reilly coined the term "Web 2.0" to describe a second generation incarnation of the world wide web that incorporates interactivity, is user-centered, customizable, collaborative and dynamic. It includes a new breed of applications that are used primarily through a web browser, rather than downloaded onto a workstation or home computer. And because these applications are so focused on user needs, they are often continually updating their features and functionality. This sometimes results in a site being in perpetual beta. Despite what some think of the ridiculousness of that term, is really just a way of saying the designers and programmers are planning to constantly re-evaluate and improve the application.

Other prominent features of web 2.0 tools are the use of tagging to organize and categorize the content of the site, RSS feeds to bring the information to you, and the development of social networks to share online content with your friends and associates. You may also come across the terms open source, APIs, and mashups, all commonly associated with web 2.0 applications. Perhaps the most appealing characteristic of most web 2.0 tools is the cost. While some applications do charge for advanced features or heavy usage, many offer access to the basic application or the whole program at no cost, making them accessible to any user that can get access to a computer.

Why should you care?

Well aside from the inevitability that your friends, family, colleagues and customers will be using web 2.0 tools and talking about them, they can be easy to use, efficient, and down right fun! The beauty of web 2.0 is that it allows for unprecedented interaction with each other and our ideas. Because the internet has almost erased the distance between individuals, it enables people to share across all sorts of barriers.

With the proliferation of web 2.0 that sharing has become even easier. For instance, if you are a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there's a weblog (or blog) out there where you can join masses of other Joss Whedon (the creater of Buffy, Angel, and the sci-fi series Firefly) devotees to discuss every detail of your favorite characters. Or maybe you use a photo-sharing site like Flickr to post pictures of your last vacation for everyone to see, instead of paying for prints or sending only a few images at a time over email due to attachment size restrictions.

Even if you think web 2.0 might be too much for you, chances are you've already been exposed to it in some way. Sites like Craigslist, eBay, Google Maps, and Wikipedia can all be considered web 2.0. And if you've ever used an instant messenger like AIM or Windows Live Messenger you've jumped in the 2.0 pool. The reality is that we will continue to see development of more and more web tools that incorporate the principles of collaboration and user-centered design. Understanding and embracing those ideas will make it easier to share them with others, and inevitably strengthen the applications we work with.

How does it fit in with the library?

"Sure," you say, "I can see how I can use web 2.0 in my personal life. But what on earth does it have to do with my work in the library?"

It was blogger Michael Casey of LibraryCrunch, who first applied Web 2.0 ideals to the library world and began using "Library 2.0"(also referred to as "L2") to describe the integration of things like user-generated content, and customizable, dynamic interaction with customers to improve the library experience. The concept of Library 2.0 is still relatively new and the exact definition and even the need for the term is still debated. But with regular use in professional publications and the biblioblogosphere (the circle of library-related bloggers), it is likely here to stay. There is even a Library 2.0 social network on Ning, a build-it-yourself web 2.0 site. For more in depth information, read this great paper written by colleague Jack Maness.

The details of how you can use web tools in the library is a large part of what we hope to share with you in this blog. From knowing what tools to recommend to your customers, to knowing the limitations of web-based office applications; from developing a departmental wiki, to setting up a LibraryThing group for your Read Aloud program volunteers, we think it all qualifies as Library 2.0.

Fortunately there are lots of resources out there, and more available everyday. Here's just a few of our favorite L2 related sites to get started...

  • 23 Things - This library 2.0 learning project was initially developed by Helen Blowers of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) (inspired by Steven Abrams 43Things website). Since it's initiation, the program has been adapted and used by many library systems worldwide.
  • Five Weeks to a Social Library - This course was developed by Meredith Farkas to help libraries incorporate the most pertinent web 2.0 features. Originally presented as web casts, the materials are now available in a variety of different formats.
  • LibSuccess Wiki - "A Best Practices Wiki" that is growing daily, LibSuccess aims to become a centralized source for libraries to share their ideas for best practices in all areas of library work.
  • Tame the Web - Michael Stephens' blog about libraries and technology. A former Library Journal "Mover & Shaker" (2005), Stephens is now a library educator and speaker.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Emerging Role of Libraries

What's a library anyway? Is it a repository for books, a movie store, a computer lab, an urban hangout, a classroom, a community center, an information booth, or all of these things and more? Should a library be expected to be all of these things or is 3 out of 5 good enough?

I believe that a library can (and dare I say should) try to be all of these things, and some day when the need calls for it, maybe more. Yes, I know what a can of worm this opens. Many have argued that having so many goals and audiences could dilute the focus and mission of the library. I concede that it is a risk, but I accept that potential risk over the daily defeat that occurs when a genuine need is not met.

A Blonde Walks into a Library

A blonde walks into a library and says to the librarian "Can I have some hamburgers?"
The librarian chidingly replies, "Ma'am, this is a library."
Then blonde says, "Sorry," then whispers, "Can I have some hamburgers?"

If the customers ask for them, should the library have hamburgers? Sure, maybe. I mean, why not? If the community calls for it and supports it, what's the problem? Sure in a society of Hitlers or perverts or other nightmares, the library would be beyond monstrous, which let's be honest, would be the least of our problems. Not all ideas and suggestions are good ones, but they aren't all bad either. Several years ago, as the library was considering obtaining and circulating DVDs as part of our regular collection. I scoffed. Yes, me, advocate of change or progress was a nay-sayer. (I'll allow you a moment to recover, then I'll explain.)

Customers wanted DVDs and I thought they couldn't handle them. I thought they'd be so scratched that it would be resources down the tubes or simply outright stolen. And ... I was wrong. They were ready for these new resources, took reasonable care of them and we won new customers in the process. Sure, we lost a few and the collateral is higher than for other media, but customer satisfaction and circulation has certainly benefited from this (then) controversial addition.

It's easy to see in retrospect that DVDs weren't that unsafe of a bet, and I dare to say the same is true for computer labs, wireless internet, coffee shops and bookstore like merchandising. So who's to say what the library might become. We just need to be adaptive to emerging technologies and trends while listening to our customers and giving them, and ourselves, the chance to exceed our expectations.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Welcome to our Web!

For anyone who has either been directed here or stumbled upon us - Welcome!

Introductions

The resident spiders, Tara and Seana, are both relatively recent library school graduates working in a metropolitan public library system. We are both avid readers and movie watchers, and passionate about our chosen profession. Seana has a background in customer service, retail management, and small business consulting before coming to "libraryland". Tara, with 9 years of varied library experience, is a library swiss army knife relishing the details while maintaining a system perspective.


Why "Spiders in the Library"?

When we first started playing around with the idea of creating a professional blog, it was to augment the things we were teaching to our colleagues and friends. As avid internet users, we enjoy sharing the great web tools that have been developing over the past few years. And as true library geeks, we use many of those tools in ways that relate to books, programming, and professional development. So from perhaps the world's best "web" users, we borrowed Spiders and placed them in our second home, the library.

We hope to cover myriad topics, but you can bet that they will somehow relate to libraries, books and other entertainment media, technology, web 2.0 applications, or some combination of them all. If there's something you'd like us to address in some way, let us know. Leave a comment or drop us an email.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

When Reality Doesn't Meet Expectations


Often the reality of a technology doesn't meet the requirements or the expectations that you have for it. Best recent example, an automated secure DVD checkout and retrieval system, which I most often (and inaccurately) referred to as the DVD Jukebox. [For similar comparison see The Red Box machine at McDonald's] However, the technology was just not up to the high demand of frequent use and lacked interoperability with existing systems. The most important thing to learn from these failed technology situations is project evaluation and realizing when to wait for the technology to meet your expectations. It's good to be brave and try new things, but you must make sure that you are investing wisely in technology that enhances what you have and doesn't cause more headaches that you can handle!

This situation is not restricted to the library world. See this post for another hilarious example.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Hello. My Name is Tara and I am an Infovore.

Often I joke that the need to develop something akin to a nicotine patch but for checking your email, creating bibliographies, updating my reading list, checking my holds at the library and other things that I do compulsively (though compulsively isn't quite the right word because I enjoy it so much.)

Well, it turns out that I wasn't totally off base. According to this blogpost from LISNews information can be addicting. And not only am I an addict, but I'm also a pusher. So come on kids, have some information, it's on the house.

Web-based Bookshelves

We've been teaching an in-house training class on web-based bookshelves, also known as online social networks for bibliophiles. Below is the information provided on our class handout.

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Web-based Bookshelves:
How to track, rate and share your books online
“But it takes only one—one book that reaches inside you and shifts things
around, expands your sense of who you are, and opens up that little conduit of
magic. Once you find it, once you’ve felt that tidal pull, that danger, you’ll
be a reader for the rest of your life.” – Anthony Doerr
“It’s a social need. We want books everybody is reading (and nobody finishes) so
we can talk about them.” – Ursula K. Le Guin


What is a web-based bookshelf?

  • Bibliographic database for cataloging and organizing book collections
  • Housed on the internet (not downloaded to your PC/Mac)
  • Web 2.0 – features social networking, portability, and sharing
  • Integrates with other internet sites and applications – links to libraries, Amazon, blogs, RSS feeds, etc.

How do web bookshelves fit into Library 2.0?

  • L2 is about adapting Web 2.0 principles to evolve the library environment
  • 23 Things from the Learning 2.0 project (Helene Bowers, Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County) – http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/#23 - LibraryThing is #11.

Key features (*standard to most applications)

  • Your library*
  • Searchable database*
  • Ratings*
  • Reviews/Comments*
  • Tagging*
  • SHARING*
  • Communication from/to the community (newsletters, email, RSS)
  • Recommendations
  • Groups
  • Swapping/Loaning
  • Original Cataloging
  • Series (FRBR concepts)

Setting Up an Account

  • User Names
  • Terms Of Agreement (TOAs)
  • Profiles
  • Settings
  • Build your collection and have FUN!!
  • Ideas for personal use
  • Catalog your stuff
  • Wish Lists
  • Track reading
  • Track lending
  • Share with family & friends
  • Catalog for family

Ideas for professional use

  • Staff favorites
  • Branch book groups
  • Reader’s advisory
  • What are you reading?
  • CDO wish list
  • Bibliographies
  • Bookmarks
  • Storytime Reading Lists
  • Widgets for blogs, etc.
  • Scope out reading trends and unique titles
  • Get input from the community
  • LibraryThing for Libraries
  • Let your imagination run wild!!!

Issues and considerations

  • Cost
  • Commercialization
  • Privacy / Security
  • Read the TOA
  • Anonymity
  • Accessible through DPL filters?
  • Levels of public sharing
  • Minimum social requirement
  • Transferability (import/export, reporting)
  • Reliability and reputation

Variations on a theme (just a sampling)

Social bookmarking – del.icio.ushttp://www.stumbleupon.com/
Professional social networking – http://www.linkedin.com/
DPL book review links – http://www.denverlibrary.org/booksmedia/books/reviews.html
Book swapping/sharing – http://www.bookmooch.com/http://www.bookcrossing.com/http://www.swaptree.com/
Virtual book clubs – http://www.dearreader.com/
Library book tracking – http://www.libraryelf.com/
eBook downloads – http://www.manybooks.net/
Book blogs – http://www.bookslut.com/bloghttp://somanybooksblog.com/
Open Library – new open community catalog competitor to OCLC

Reading about Reading

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Let us know what you think, or if there is anything we should add.

Also, here's some other press about web-based bookshelves:
NPR article
Ecommerce-guide.com overview