Transcript Future of Libraries: Social Software Sarah Houghton-Jan Information and Web Services Manager, San Mateo County Library Librarian in Black: http://www.librarianinblack.net.

Future of Libraries:
Social Software
Sarah Houghton-Jan
Information and Web Services Manager, San Mateo County Library
Librarian in Black: http://www.librarianinblack.net
What is social software?
Social software enables people to
rendezvous, connect or collaborate
through computer-mediated
communication and to form online
communities.
--from Wikipedia entry, revised 04.25.06
Social software is the driving force behind
Library 2.0.
Examples of social software
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Instant messaging
Internet forums
Blogs / RSS / podcasting
Wikis
Social network services
Social guides
Social bookmarking
Social citations
Social libraries
Virtual worlds and
multiplayer online games
Why should libraries care about SS?
There is a great potential for new and
enhanced services
There are free marketing opportunities just
waiting for us
Our patrons are there—where are we?
What is instant messaging?
Instantaneous, simultaneous text chat
Add-ons like video, audio, file sharing
Transcript
Type here
IM client software: the holy trinity
MSN
They’re all
free—to you
and users
AOL
Other Software
•ICQ
•IRC
Yahoo!
•Jabber
•Google Talk
•MySpace
IM aggregator software
Trillian: http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/
Gaim: http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
Both let you monitor multiple IM accounts
(AOL, MSN, Yahoo!) through one
interface.
Oh yeah…they’re both free!
Web-based IM with Meebo
 Completely web-based—no installations
 Sign in with multiple accounts at once
 Even if IM is blocked, this still works
 MeeboMe—web-based anonymous IMing
Why use IM for reference?
 Traditional web-based chat has technical and
service problems
 Your users are here already
 It’s free
 Easy to use for both the librarian and the user
 You’re right there on the user’s buddy list
 Did I mention that everything is free?
For many users, not having IM is like
not having a phone.
Example of Library IM webpage
Internet forums
Website bulletin boards for discussion
Feedback and recommendation engines
Examples:
 Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/
 Reviews and ratings on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com
 Gnooks.com: http://www.gnooks.com
 Storycode: http://www.storycode.com
Sample Internet Forum: Storycode
Blogs
 Websites frequently updated with new content
 Examples:
 Lansing Library Teen News Blog:
http://lansinglibraryteen.blogspot.com/
 St. Joseph County Public Library Game Blog:
http://www.libraryforlife.org/gameblog/
 Framingham Public Library Teen Blogomatic:
http://fplya.blogspot.com/
 Marin County Free Library - What’s New:
http://www.marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/
 Waterboro Public Library H20boro:
http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm
Sample blog: H20boro
RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
RSS is more than just blogs
 New books and other items
 News at the library
 New content in subscription databases
Examples:
 EBSCO feeds for new articles (favorite searches)
 Hennepin County Library feeds for all types of things
 Edmonton Public Library feed for new teen books
 Seattle Public Library feeds for favorite authors and subjects
 FirstGov feeds for government information
Sample RSS feeds: Hennepin CL
Podcasting & Vidcasting
 Creating audio and video content and pushing it
to users through an RSS feed
 Has nothing to do with iPods
 Examples:
 Thomas Ford Memorial Library audio teen book reviews:
http://www.fordlibrary.org/yareviews/
 Manchester Public Library video book reviews:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/primesboxlive
 Cheshire Public Library - audio of local teen magazine:
http://www.cheshirelib.org/teens/cplpodcast.htm
 University of Sheffield Library audio library tours:
http://www.lbasg.group.shef.ac.uk/downloads/mainlibrary.html
Sample podcasts: Thomas Ford ML
Wikis
Collaborative resource creation
Multiple authors, ongoing creation and
revision
Examples:
 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
 Wiktionary: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Main_Page
 St .Joseph County Library’s Subject Guides:
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_
Page
 University of Minnesota Libraries Staff Website:
http://wiki.lib.umn.edu/
Sample wiki: St .Joseph CL’s Subject Guides
Social network services
Places to meet people and communicate
Examples:
 Friendster, Dogster, MySpace, Facebook
Libraries with MySpace accounts
 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Teens)
 Denver Public Library
 Hennepin County Library
 Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
 dozens of others
Library MySpace Page: Denver PL
Social bookmarking
Putting your favorite websites in a web
directory to share with others
Examples:
 del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/
 furl: http://www.furl.net/
 La Grange Public Library’s del.icio.us ref links
 Thomas Ford Memorial Library’s del.icio.us ref
links
 San Mateo City Library’s del.icio.us ref links
Library del.icio.us: La Grange Park
Social libraries
Keep track of collections
Often include recommendation engines
Uses tagging, user-created metadata:
Folksonomies
Examples
Flickr.com for photographs
discogs.com for music
LibraryThing.com for books
Stuffopolis.com for everything else
Social library: Reading PL on Flickr
I have all of these cool ideas now.
But how do I convince our IT Staff that
doing this is okay?
Working with IT Staff
Ask Questions. Are IM, MySpace, or other
sites/services banned or blocked? Why?
The boogeyman of network security? “It’s
a time-waster”?
Ban behaviors, not technologies.
Be enthusiastic.
Do your research ahead of time.
Again…why should we care?
Get our knowledge, helpfulness, and
information expertise out there where the
users are
Get people to think of us as the “go to”
resource for their online information needs
Make us findable in an online environment
For more information about social software in libraries:
The Library Success Wiki:
http://www.libsuccess.org/
Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best
Practices for Social Software
by Michael Stephens
Questions?
Contact Sarah any time.
E-mail: [email protected]
IM: LibrarianInBlack (AOL, Yahoo!, MSN)