Social Software = Your Life, Online

Lichen Rancourt, to the Merri Hill Rock Library Coop 11 October 2006
Web Engineer @ University of New Hampshire Library
Blog: Remaining Relevant

Contact:
aim & yahoomessenger: lichenrancourt
gtalk: lichentherelevant
lichen.rancourt@unh.edu OR lichen@remainingrelevant.net
603 862-0813

I love and believe in the value of public libraries in our communities.

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Introduction

Libraries are Limited, Obsolete - Mark Hirschey in Lawrence (Kansas) Journal World 10/2/06

Libraries are inefficient… Libraries are limited… Libraries are obsolete

These are our patrons too… how can we serve him?

OCLC: Libraries vs. Search Engines - from Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) We are competing with search engines and it looks like we’re losing… but what do we have that they don’t?

The largest demographic group buying movie tickets online is adults over 35 - are they library patrons? Could they be?

Your announcement board is not reaching most of your user base, these tools can help.

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What exactly is social software?

First, from Sabah Karimi

Web 1.0 is the name coined for the ‘old’ generation of websites… do not allow user-generated content or interactivity, and are often ’static’ sites with limited feedback from end users.

So, Web 2.0 (Social or Collaborative Software) allows for more deliberate networking by facilitating linking, providing users ways to communicate directly, and encouraging visitors to generate their own content. The web is now a platform, not a destination.

It’s a bonafied stop in the Information Cycle. Troy Bennett had no idea when he cataloged US Utility Poles that someday he’d be in the encyclopedia.

This means something for folks trying to provide services on web 2.0:

Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed… “We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings — and our reach exceeds your grasp.”… Companies that don’t realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.

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Blogs - Write it and watch it grow

Look how big the Freedom Public Library’s community is now.

Weblogs and Community by Aaron Schmidt.

Doubts about blogs? Read Julie and Julia then read some blogs:

For fun:
Postsecret
From Way Away - A Portland, Maine Travelouge
Greek Tragedy - Stephanie Klein
No Sheep
A Librarian???s Guide to Etiquette

For work:
Maison Bisson (Go NH librarians!)
Library Marketing-Thinking Outside the Book
librarian.net
Walking Paper
The Shifted Librarian

From work:
Teens Review It @ Your Library from our own Nashua Public Library
Cutler Library in Litchfield - whole site is a blog
What???s Flowering Now (at UNH)
Western Springs History
Ann Arbor Library District

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Blogging cousins

Blog search engines:
Feedster
Technorati

Try it, it???s easy and free:
Blogger
Livejournal
Wordpress

RSS
Bloglines
Firefox browser

Flickr - a photoblog
Reference Question
Least wanted
Reading PL
Ogden ??? historical photos!
Lamson Library

search on ‘cleveland nh’

Wikis
Google cleveland president
WikiPedia
WikiHow
Wiktionary

Blogging Libraries wiki
Digitization wiki
Tiki Wiki

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IM/Chat

IM Me (Library Journal) by Aaron Schmidt & Michael Stephens

Instant messaging may be controversial, but remember, we also debated telephone reference… 53 million adults send IM on a daily basis…

From UNH residential life survey of students living in dorms: ‘How many hours a week do you spend on the following activities: socializing (15.8), studying - excluding classes and labs (12.5), and instant messaging (9.3)‘

Jessamyn gets new shoes thanks to IM

1. Create accounts at one (or all) of the three main services (try to avoid downloading anything from them, though, if possible): AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger.
2. Download software that will allow you to use the services seamlessly: Gaim or Trillian.
3. Try it out! Find someone to talk to, heck, talk to me.
4. You decide if this is something for your library. Implement a pilot project (don’t forget to publicize it). Make a
   IM reference page. Write a policy (if you must).

Meebo

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Bonus round

Social bookmarking
del.icio.us
Furl
Andrea Mercado on del.icio.us in libraries

Writely aka Google Docs
MySpace
FaceBook

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Conclusion

From Pew Internet & American Life Project - Report on Teens and Technology:

87% of U.S. teens aged 12-17 use the internet, up from 73% in 2000. By contrast,
66% of adults use the internet, up from 56% in 2000.

Newsweek cover story 3 April 2006.

David Rose: ‘Information is no longer a scarce resource - attention is???’

Top tech Trends in Libraries by Jessamyn West:

The public is getting used to having greater degrees of interaction with their institutions via technology. The technology allows libraries to do more outreach to more people without much more in the way of resources.

Brian Herzog:

I believe that our primary goal as librarians is to facilitate access to information, regardless of the format that information takes. However, we need to be more than just responsive to the format preferences of our patrons, libraries need to be proactive in this respect. And this proactive approach needs to focus on the services we provide, because our customer service is what ultimately stands between our patrons and the information we can provide for them. If we can???t change with them and communicate with them according to their preferences and needs, libraries, our skills, and our collections may be left behind and ignored.

Our friend Hirschey:

Modern information technology involves two-way communication between providers and users of information technology. With instant messaging, blogs, message boards, and email, the Internet fosters information sharing among virtually unlimited numbers of information providers. Computers are communication devices that bring communities together.

We can no longer afford to let them come to us, we need to go where our users are.

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Credits

Many thank to the UNH Library for providing me with the opportunity to speak to NH Librarians.

Idea for anti-power point layout by Ms. Jessamyn West

And especially to Casey Bisson for noticing The Arrival of the Stupendous” and providing so much help.

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