Managing Online Life link list - Part I

Hi, all. I'm speaking today (in about 4 hours) at the Massachusetts Library Association's annual conference about "Managing Your Online Persona." I'll have a link to the presentation up on this blog soon. While you wait, check out a few articles on how you create and maintain your online professional presence. Enjoy!

Crafting an Online Persona by Craig Anderson (slideshare)

Who Really Owns Your Social Media Persona? by Drew McClelland

Fired for Facebook and Twitter by Phil Gerbyshak (and make sure you read through the comments for more)

The Psychology of Social Media: Can a visible brand ruin your life?" by Jennifer Leggio

How to Friend Mom, Dad and Your Boss on Facebook....Safely by Sarah Perez

Our Emotional Lives in Social Media by Aliza Sherman

A Guide to Protecting Your Information Privacy on the New Facebook by Jay Hathaway

Digital Commonwealth, here I come!

Evening, folks. Since I won't have my laptop with me at the conference tomorrow, I'm posting a link to the presentation I'm making at Digital Commonwealth's 4th Annual Conference tonight. For your pre-reading pleasure:

Reaching Patrons: Online Outreach for Libraries

Enjoy, and I hope to see many of you tomorrow at DigiComm, mid-April at Computers in Libraries or at the Massachusetts Library Association Annual Conference at the end of April. A busy spring!

Who Am I Online? Part I

Tomorrow, I'm leading a new workshop on online identities at the Boston Region. Your presentation links du jour:

Who Am I Online? Part I: Creating a Consistent Personal or Institutional Identity

(and some additional examples)

Who Am I Online? Part II: Using Personal Start Pages and Other Digital Identity Tools (first given March 25, 2009)

And now, time to make sure there's a well-rested trainer presenting tomorrow.

A small moment of Awesome

As a trainer and semi-evangelist for social computing (aka, 2.0), I'm often called to justify why it's important that library staff are familiar with and understand how this "2.0 stuff" works. Here's another example for the case file.

I'm the new Acting Head of my branch, and I just got a phone call from someone at the Massachusetts Rehab Commission. Apparently, for the past few weeks, if you searched on Google for the Allston Branch of the BPL, you got our listing...with the MRC's phone number. Our number is there too, but theirs is first and they've been getting a lot of calls for us. She asked me if I was the person who 'subscribed' to Google's business listings for us. heh

I asked her to walk me through the process, and I saw where the listing had gone wrong. I also saw that magic Edit button. A little bit of conversation revealed that the MRC had done a program here recently, and they'd put out a flyer with our address and their phone number. Some helpful participant had gone back and edited the Google entry for our branch with that "new" number. heh, again

Fortunately, what was done can be re-done, and I quickly edited the results myself and removed the number. It might take some time for Google's cache to clear, but most of the immediate onslaught of calls should stop. I asked the very relieved MRC admin to call me back if the issue persisted.

If I didn't know that anyone can edit those Google information boxes, I wouldn't have known what to do.

If I wasn't familiar with the tools and tricks of Google, I wouldn't have known what to do.

Certainly, if I wasn't familiar with the concepts and processes of how the internet works nowadays, I wouldn't have known what to do.

This is why it's important for library staff of all stripes to learn about this stuff. It's why I present lectures and teach workshops and 'coach' courses on social computing. So that when these questions come up, we know how to approach the problem and actually resolve it...not just throw up our hands in frustration and hope for the best.

Presentation Notes from Reaching Patrons

Last week, I presented the newest version of my "Reaching Patrons: Online Outreach for Libraries" talk at the Boston Region. Thank you to everyone who participated, and as promised, here are the notes and slides.

This presentation was expanded and adapted from "Online Outreach for Libraries" by Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Librarian in Black.

For my own record, mostly

Earlier this year, Michael Wesch (a professor at KSU) posted a video definition of Web 2.0 on YouTube: The Machine Is Us/ing Us. As a quick overview and discussion starter, it's absolutely perfect.

This year, he's done it again: Information R/evolution focuses on the change in organizational thinking and behavior moving from paper to digital media, creating a video explanation of Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous. I'm hoping he cleans it up as he did with the first, but right now it gets the point across.

Neat! I may have to download all of his stuff to watch and comment on while flying out to Monterey...on Saturday! Yikes!

Playaways?

Reactive vs. proactive. And as the rate of change gets faster, we're pushed further and further into reactive modes.

What am I blathering on about? I just had a patron call asking about Playaways, a not-so-new digital audiobook format. She wanted to know if my library carried them; I'd never even heard of them before.

A little searching online made me feel only slightly better. Playaways have been out since 2005, and Illinois was the first library system to pilot the format (second paragraph from the bottom). OHIONET has a comprehensive FAQ about them for its member libraries, while the Rocky River (OH) Public Libraries and the Larchmont (NY) Public Library are offering them to patrons.

I'll cut myself some slack: I've only really been closely following tech trends since late last fall, so I would have missed much of the brouhaha about Playaways. And yet, if I can miss a new technology such as this, how many other less-savvy librarians out there have missed this and more?

Yes, professional development is much on my mind, for personally professional as well as generally professional reasons. I just gave that presentation that stressed that we need to be "...aware of as much of the rest as we can." So now, I live true to my own words.

So....Playaways. Very neat, very tidy, no moving parts and easy to circulate. Easy also to lose and break in a transit bag, but that's no reason not to have them for the same reasons that we have books on CD and even still on cassette. If you haven't already checked them out, give one a whirl and see if it'll fly at your library.

A quick post for the spiders

You know, most people stop posting while they're on vacation. I haven't had time to post since I've been back!

That said, all is well here at the Eclectic Library. There's a post on Twitter and one on experience planning at the library on the back burner, but they're not quite toasty yet. For now, I offer this:

G. Kim Dority only has 3 subscribers in Bloglines, and that's a shame. She only posts once a month, usually a very insightful column in support of her forthcoming book on LIS careers, and it's always worth reading.

This month, she has an astounding column on LinkedIn and the use of social software for career networking. Dear readers, whether you're a librarian or not, read this article and follow those links. Your careers will thank you.

But now, to close the library and enjoy the lovely warm weather.

25 Types of Blogging

While poking around SlideShare, I found this set on the 25 Styles of Blogging. I thought it would be a useless bit of fluff, but skimmed through it. Turns out, it's a good quick introduction to different approaches to blogging -- particularly useful for someone who wants to get into this writing life but isn't sure what the focus of their blog should be. I'd recommend using this for Intro to Blogging classes or as a reference link.

SlideShare as a whole is worth checking out; it's essentially YouTube for slide presentations. Neat stuff.

Why do I need to know this stuff, anyway?

Back at the end of February, Michael Stephens was visiting my institution, talking about The Hyperlinked Library. In the middle of a whirlwind presentation, he posed a question that’s been burning my brain for a long while:

Is one of the purposes of a library a place where folks can come in and learn more about the technology in their lives? Do we all need to be knowledgeable about the tech?

Let’s break these out, and reverse them:

Do we all need to be knowledgeable about the tech?
In a word – yes! I discussed all this in a previous post but that’s a bit long and rambling. How about a list:

• Librarians still have the reputation of knowing everything. This is one of our greatest assets and one we can’t afford to lose. When we can’t answer a question about "the tech," we lose part of that reputation.


• More of our patrons – and a more diverse grouping of them – are asking us questions about computers and technology. Everything from "How do I apply for a job at Home Depot?" (no paper applications any more) to "What computer should I buy?" to "How do I send photos of my grandkids to my sister?". Nowadays, those questions include blogs, wikis, Wikipedia, Flickr, handheld mobile devices, iPods, digital cameras and more. In order to answer those questions, we need to know even a little about all of it.


• The days of "you’ll have to ask our computer expert" are over. Technology has permeated our patrons’ lives, in ways too varied to list. Having just one person on the staff who’s "good with technology" limits our ability to serve all of our patrons in the same way that "You’ll have to talk to the Children’s Librarian." does.


• Also, since the "computer expert" in a smaller building is typically a librarian or library assistant who happens to understand tech, they’ve got plenty of other things to do. Answering basic technology questions should be something all staff in a building can do.


• Similarly, having this knowledge means that each of us can educate our patrons and help them find information and answers to their queries, both through workshops and in-the-moment training.


• Speaking of which, much of what we're teaching patrons is how to use our own library’s electronic stuff! Online catalogs, electronic databases, downloadable audio/video, library blogs, social computing-enabled OPACs, instant messaging and web-based chat reference, new book shelves on Shelfari, newsletter RSS feeds and more – we need to understand how to use this stuff before we can expect to teach our patrons how to use it.

That’s quite a list, and I expect to be adding to it over time. The point is, there are now too many compelling reasons why all staff in a library building – not just the one or two more 'tech-savvy' folks – need to understand current technologies.

Okay, question #2:
Is one of the purposes of a library a place where folks can come in and learn more about the technology in their lives?

Again, it seems that the answer should be a resounding YES! because libraries are the keystone to lifelong learning, the cornerstone of a democratic people. People should be able to come here and learn about computers in the same ways that they learn about philosophy or biology or French.

But we don’t (typically) teach philosophy or biology or French in our buildings, other than in special programs and events. So why this focus on teaching technology? Why have many libraries taken on this role with an almost religious fervor?

I'd guess the chain of events started with the switch from card catalogs to OPACs, from the Periodicals room to database terminals, from Date Due cards to heat-printed receipts. The tools that libraries used for some of their primary functions – information retrieval, circulation of materials and cataloging – entered the computer age, and computers entered our libraries. As first computers and now the peripherals (MP3 players, digital cameras, scanners, thumb drives, etc) have spread through our culture, we’ve bought the books and some of the devices and made them available to our patrons. Just this moment, a parent came and asked if we had any educational software for children (PC-based, mind) available for loan. He fully expected it to be here, because other libraries have it to offer.

It only follows that we need to be able to explain how to use the things we offer. When we started carrying LPs and then cassettes, patrons asked us questions about the players and used-vinyl stores. VHS, CD, DVD and now MP3 – if we carry the usable product, we must know something about how to use it. Why would we offer things we couldn’t help patrons to understand and use?

Now, it’s all of the stuff I’ve mentioned earlier in this post, stuff our patrons use to a greater or lesser degree in their lives. And, with offering that stuff, our patrons still expect us to be able to explain it. More importantly, they have “librarian” fixed in their heads as a person who can help them make sense of the ever-increasing whirlwind of information and expected ability to figure things out. We created this expectation, perpetuated it by being able to answer their hardest questions time and again, and now they’re coming to us asking about the Web and email and online forms and so much more.

So, yes. I believe that all of the staff in a library should know something about the technologies that our patrons encounter, at least enough to ask good questions and find out what the patron doesn’t know yet, or get them started with a basic understanding that they can explore further on their own. I’m really not that savvy of a technologist, not compared to my husband the network engineer or my friend the software developer. But as long as I know enough about how email works to find the attachment buried at the end of a forwarded message, or enough about how firewalls work to explain why ours is on the fritz, or enough about online shopping to help a teacher find 24 copies of an out of print book...that’s part of being a good librarian.

Smart debating tool

DebatePedia is a wiki meant to support and provide a forum for actual, reasoned debate on current events topics. I've poked around a bit, and it looks like a fascinating space to play.

For instance, the Same-Sex Marriage section seems like a solid start to the published opinions presented on the topic, as addresssed through a series of subquestions.

This would be perfect for an older high school student -- I'd show them this and the Opposing Viewpoints database we have accessible through our website, then ask them to compare and contrast the material provided through both of these sources and see if they consider the results to be well-rounded.

I also pointed this out to my husband, an inveterate debater. No answer from him yet on the coolness factor.

(I found this via one of the blogs on my soon-to-be-added blogroll over there. Check 'em out!)

Why Do This Thing We Do?

There's been quite a pause since my last post, mostly due to personal life events taking center stage in my free time. However, my resolution for the new year was to write at least one entry on this blog per week; I'm only five posts behind so far.

My thoughts this week have been focused on Why? Why am I in this profession? I will spare you all the incessant omphaloskepsis that usually follows such a query and move to a better one: What are the parts of public librarianship that excite me? Why do I care, and why should anyone else?

For the past year or so, what's excited me is the technology. I'm not a technoevangelist in the ways that Michael Stephens or Beth Gallaway are, but I do believe the ever-increasing pervasiveness of tech is a trend that can't be ignored. Librarians still have the rep of "knowing everything" and that's one of our greatest assets right now. We're still relevant because folks believe that we know a little bit about it all. However, for many (and not just older) librarians, technology is only a step removed from magic in its esotericism. We can't afford to remain ignorant in this way, not any of us. No, we don't have to have a comprehensive knowledge of CSS, RSS or AJAX, but we need to at least know enough to find the right shelf range for more information, or to purchase the books that our patrons want to read.

Patrons come in and ask us questions: How do I fill out this form online? How do I save my resume to this flash drive? Why can't I connect my laptop to your wireless? Do you have any books about MySQL? A good reference interview means that we use creative questioning and our own experience to determine what will satisfy the patron's needs. How can we do that if we have no context? Worse yet, how many patrons do we lose because they decide in one interaction that we can't provide what they want from us?

At another level, having this knowledge ourselves means that we can educate our patrons directly, through workshops and in-the-moment training. A gentleman who has come to me a few times asking for NY Times articles in an electronic format was astounded to learn that a free web-based RSS feed aggregator would push content to him, and he could choose what to keep and how to organize it. I walked him through setting up a Bloglines account and sent him off, perfectly happy that I'd given him the tools to achieve his goals more efficiently. I satisfied his larger need, rather than just answering his question.

Technology also has the potential to expand our reach far beyond the limitations of our buildings. I touched on much of this in my article about Internet Librarian, but it's only becoming more obvious to me. Last week, I explained to my boss what purpose email reference serves, and refined this thinking through a later conversation: as a distance-reference tool, IM and email work perfectly in tandem. The patron begins the interaction through one or the other mode, then the librarian can ask clarifying questions in return. IM provides a more streamlined experience in this regard, but it can be done with a few well-constructed email messages as well. Sarah kept asking: "Well, why couldn't she just come into the library and ask us?" Time, travel, sloth and lethargy – all of these are reasons why, and all of them are valid.

I will now state that I am not one of the doom-sayers who believe that the library is obsolete, or even in serious danger. However, in some very fundamental ways, what our patrons want from us and expect us to be able to provide is changing, and the longer it takes our profession to react, the more we'll have to do to catch up.

One thing you'll notice about my blogging style is that I tend to work things out as I go along. There will be more on this idea, but in the interest of freshness, I'm hitting "publish."

Enjoy!