reflections on the boyd articles

Wow, the two boyd articles assigned this week really gave me a lot of food for thought. My initial reaction to the question of what librarians should take away from these articles was, "uh, every word." After reflecting for a while, I think I was able to distill a few tips, pointers, and things to think about from the articles.

• The first article mentioned that many users of SNS's are daily users. Libraries that create profiles on social networking sites need to be mindful of this and update their content often to stay fresh, relevant, and interesting.
• Both articles touch on the fact that online networks often reflect existing offline networks. The first also mentions that SNS's are more often used to connect friends-of-friends than strangers. For this reason, it might be in the library's best interest to let volunteers or regular patrons know about your online presence first so that they will "friend" the library (thus reflecting an offline relationship) and their friends will see (thus introducing friends-of-friends).
• Both articles discuss the importance of image in social networks, how users can "type themselves into being," etc. The library needs to be conscious of the image it projects in its profile.
• In the first article, the importance of comments (on walls, etc.) is brought up. Discourse is an important aspect of social networking. Librarians need to consider whether they want to just "push" information on a profile page or if they also want to engage in conversation by replying to comments left by patrons (the method I might suggest based on the literature).
• Finally, when choosing an SNS for the library and creating a profile, as with any other library programming, librarians need to consider their user population.
  

My Foray into Screencasting

with the very fun-ly named Jing!

This screencast is a brief introduction to searching the Pflugerville Community Library's online catalog.

PCL Catalog How-to

What Our Photos Say About Us

Looking at our class flickr pages (here and here) it's easy to recognize a few patterns and see what we have in common. Our differences are harder to determine from these images, though.

Similarities

• Looks like we've got a lot of animal lovers!
  
• A lot of the photos are of pieces of art or are artistic themselves, so it seems we have a general appreciation for art and design.
• I see pictures of vacation destinations--we're a group of globetrotters (or, maybe we just all really need a vacation!).
• Computers feature very prominently in our home, school, and work lives.
• But many of us also included pictures of books. Who says print is dead?
  

Differences

• We're spread out geographically.
• We work in different types of libraries.

Librarians as Tastemakers

Like others, I suspect that Anderson addresses "New Producers, New Markets, and New Tastemakers" in his book, since I can't find those concepts referenced in the original Wired articles. Still, while I can't address Andersons constructs specifically, I do have an idea of librarians as tastemakers and market-creators that I can address here.

Obviously, librarians have the power to be tastemakers based on the books they recommend; the materials they display prominently in the library, and simply by collecting certain items and not others. I think librarians factor specifically in creating markets in the "long tail," though because they provide free access to things that patrons might never try if they had to pay for them. For example, you might be hesitant to buy a CD by an artist you've never heard of or even one that's been recommended to you but that you've never heard a song by, but you might go ahead and pick up a CD by an unkown artist from the library because the worst that can happen is that you hate it and you bring back the CD early. No big deal, nothing lost.

I also notice that my library creates a market for DVDs that would probably be considered in the "long tail" for the very reason that they are in the "long tail." It's harder to find foreign films, documentaries, and PBS specials at Blockbuster, so those things check out like crazy at the library. I know I personally often use the library for long tail items that I have a hard time finding through retailers like obscure or out of print books; sometimes I have to resort to ILL, but I'll still do it to get that last book in a series or whatever.

The Long Tail

Before I address the issue of the Long Tail and libraries, let me first say that I found the Chris Anderson article extremely interesting and illuminating. (Though I'm still glad we didn't have to read the book for class! I think I got the point quite nicely through the article.) I think he made a particularly interesting point in noting how we, as consumers, don't always know what we want and often equate popularity with quality but are now able, through companies like Netflix and Amazon, able to discover new things. I liked the idea of the Long Tail as something that facilitates discovery.

Which is an excellent segue to libraries, for what are they if not places that facilitate discovery? Perhaps my library is unique, but I already see the Long Tail at work in libraries every day. Similar to the Rhapsody/Britney Spears example in Anderson's article, readers advisory librarians are often leading patrons from a popular item they've enjoyed to a lesser known or less popular item that is similar. For example, you liked Twilight? Maybe you'll also enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. If you enjoy those, maybe you'll enjoy a slightly different take on vampires in Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. Still interested? Well, why not try the granddaddy of all vampire books, Bram Stoker's Dracula?

I also see my library as a repository for Long Tail items not available at Borders or Barnes & Noble. We carry issues of the local high school's yearbook back to the sixties. We also collect broadly in the area of documentary DVDs mentioned by Anderson because they fit two aspects of the library's mission statement in that they provide both entertainment and educational value. We have a large immigrant population in our area so we also collect more foreign films that you can find at the local Blockbuster. Both the documentaries and foreign films have high circulation rates (the yearbooks are non-circulating items).

Library Science vs. Information Studies

I don't really have a particularly strong philosophical standpoint on the issue of whether or not to keep the word "library" in the names of library schools and library degrees. I go to a School of Information; that's what it is now and that's what it was when I applied to graduate programs. The same goes for my degree, which is a Master of Science in Information Studies. Prior to starting graduate school, I was a total outsider to the library world. I had never worked in a library and honestly didn't know quite what to expect from "library school," but, obviously, I was undeterred by the lack of the word "library" in the school's name. I think the name, in the specific case of the University of Texas at Austin, reflects that the school trains not only librarians, but also information architects and archivists and conservators. And yes, in practical application, there does seem to be a divide between those studying "techie" stuff and those studying "library" stuff, so I can see why librarians like myself are feeling left out in the cold. However, there really shouldn't be a divide between the two, in my mind, so we should feel like the term "information professional" applies to us, too. Librarians in this day and age need to be tech-savvy.

My issues with the whole "library" versus "information" are more practical than philosophical. "Information" is such an abstract idea. I am constantly having to explain to people what I study at a School of Information in order to earn my Master of Science in Information Studies. In fact, I often refer to my program as "library school" and tell people I'm studying "library science" to make things easier on myself.

So, what is information? Is it books on the shelf? Is it the bits and bytes in my computer? Is it the arrangement of materials in my DNA that led to my having brown hair and brown eyes? We might all say yes to those questions, but then it gets more complicated. Is the food I just ate information? My body is going to break down the sugars differently from the proteins, so they must contain some kind of information that conveys the difference, right? Is the fact that my phone is pink information? Maybe not in and of itself, but now that I've typed that it's pink, it sure is, right?

My other practical concern is that people seem to be making the change to exclude the word "library" based on wanting to upgrade our image. Until we learn to market ourselves strongly and effectively, until we stop living up to the stereotype that librarians are afraid of technology, until we make our value known outside the profession, librarians are still going to have an image problem. Words won't change that, actions will.

LibGuides

LibGuides is a "web 2.0 content management system" for libraries that is totally new to me; I've never even heard of it, much less actually visited the site and poked around.

It's basically a way of creating library Web sites that can have loads of features, both in the interface and the back end. It allows libraries to create dynamic Web sites that take advantage of 2.0 tools like blogs and social bookmarking sites (it even has a partnership with Delicious) and integrate those tools seamlessly into the Web site. This allows libraries to increase their resource sharing capabilities, among other things, which benefits librarians and patrons alike.

Blogging Assignment 1: Library Blog Example

It just so happens that one of my favorite libraries, the Georgetown (TX) Public Library, also has one of my favorite library Web sites (look no further than the Peeps-guided library tour to find out why). You can visit the Georgetown library's online branch (terminology stolen from Farkas; I love it) at http://www.georgetowntex.org/ and what you might notice is that the front page is almost entirely populated with feeds from the library's various blogs. Or, better yet, you might not have noticed that at all because the blogs are so well integrated into the site. The fact that the blogs are all there embedded on the front page make the page really dynamic: it's updated all the time! It also makes it easy for people to find news in the area they are interested in: News, Library Happenings, Teen Space @ GPL, etc. Having blogs for different audiences and interests is the way to go; that way people don't get bogged down in information they don't want and start avoiding your site or missing out on info they do want or need.

Hello, SCILS 598!

I'm switching gears ever-so-slightly with this blog. The subject will continue to be 2.0 technologies and libraries. Now, however, rather than tracking my progress with the 23 Things, I'll be tracking my progress in a social software literacy course I'm taking online from Rutgers through the WISE consortium. So, CTLS readers, please feel free to continue reading and welcome to my SCILS598 classmates!

Thing 2: Teh Google

I already had an iGoogle account, but I hadn't logged into it in quite some time (whoa, only 204 days until my wedding?! When did that happen??). I am not sure why, because I'm a major Google devotee. I use Google Docs for school assignments and for wedding-related spreadsheets tracking our guest list and budget; Google Maps to get directions (I'm always getting lost!); Google Reader to keep up with all the pop culture, news, and library blogs I follow; and gmail and Google Chat to keep in touch with friends and family.

Some new features I hadn't been aware of were the ability to add an artist theme and to view my gmail and Google Reader feed through iGoogle. It's great to be able to view everything in one window. I also added some new gadgets while I was logged in, including the UT Libraries catalog widget and the Dictionary.com and Wikipedia search box.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joesuspense/29237776/.

Thing 1: 7 1/2 Habits...

...of Highly-Successful Lifelong Learners

One thing I have learned early in my career as a librarian (which hasn't technically begun, I suppose, since I'm still in library school) is that to be successful in the field, I will have to embrace my role as a lifelong learner. Information and the ways we access it evolve so rapidly that it clearly won't suffice to rest on my laurels after graduation. I've already taken advantage of several CTLS and TLA "continuing" education opportunities and they've been incredibly beneficial; I know they will become increasingly more so after I graduate.

Of the 7 1/2 habits, creating my own learning toolbox is the easiest for me and teaching/mentoring is that hardest. I already utilize tools outside of the classroom for my library-related education: friends, a mentor, library blogs, etc. I think teaching/mentoring is something that could come with time, but because I have so little experience teaching I don't feel as confident as I'd like to.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joesuspense/29237751/in/set-603814/.