RetroFutureLibrarian

Sarah Faye Cohen, Champlain College
http://thesheckspot.blogspot.com

"The irony of going last": we spend so much time talking about technology, technology and librarians, and technology and students, but we have forgotten about a major user group: faculty.

What can 2.0 do in our libraries, classrooms, and colleges?

Opportunities

• creation
• collaboration
• comment
• commitment

Challenges

• distraction
• disruption
• disturbance
• dumb

Who is using technology?
Libraries:

• blogs
• twitter
• Flickr
• RSS feeds
  

Students

• games
• facebook & myspace
• IM
• txt
• Twitter

What assumptions do we make about faculty and technology?

How do faculty see 2.0 or technology as a whole?

1. Wary of technology

• don't want to look stupid
• don't want to waste valuable time
• don't think they have anything to gain from it

2. Black and white

• either tech is useful or it's not
• either adopt it or not.

Student expectations: 61% agree or strongly agree that IT in courses improves learning. View instructors as fully accountable for whether IT has a positive of negative impact on learning experience. Suggest that instructors need stronger IT skills in general as well as more training in how to integrate tech and pedagogy.  ECAR Study of Undergraduates, Students and Information Technology 2007. Sept 2007 (http://www.educause.edu/ecar)

Approach to improvement

1. Inclusive and personal

• it's not "not for me"
• getting over walls and gaps
• it's not just for the classroom

2. Logistical

• The tech itself: speaking other languages
• Where to start: what do they need?

Need to be aware of the language we use to talk to faculty: use plain English, help them get started

(Commoncraft: videos of tech jargon in plain English on YouTube)

Ways to start:

• "Facebook mentality"-- go where they are eg. faculty dept. meetings, lunches, parties, etc.
• celebrate their successes
• collaborate, don't pontificate-- ask what they need, don't tell them what they need
  
• small steps-- maybe starting with Second Life isn't a good idea
  

Examples of using technology meaningfully

• class blogs
• Digg
• Flickr
• YouTube

Faculty may also play roles as:

• gateways
• partners
• educators
• patrons

How to change relationships and attitudes:

1. Share our success and interests with faculty
2. Get out there! We are faculty, educators, teachers and colleagues too
3. Present, publish, and share among them, not just ourselves
   

What can go wrong?

• We become impatient and frustrated: patience and fortitude are not just symbols or icons or lions-- they are perspectives.

Change is not just in our computers; change is also person to person. Make the time to go face to face, work with small groups, and explain the point of 2.0 technology to people.

Nancy Dowd, New Jersey State Library
Paula Vitakis, Journalist & Communications Professional

Why are we so exhausted?
Maybe because we're doing all the work!

That's wasn't the intention-- Web2.0 is about having the tools to let other people do our work for us, but we are just starting to get those tools in place and find out how they work for us.

Next step: other people using these tools to do things for us-- making videos, blogging, etc.

Teach 1.0 people and bring in 2.0 users too.

PR: New media vs. old school vs. "Just plain BAD, should never do EVER"

Must be honest about the BAD stuff that didn't work and shouldn't have been done-- THROW IT OUT

Old School is afraid of transparency:

• cautions execs to massage the message
• thought everyone was an idiot except the PR people
• censor customers and employees to keep company image good

New Media demands transparency:

• the cure for bad information is more information

Plain Old Bad:

• Using old thinking but calling it new media (eg. censoring comments to make a blog look good)

Keep it authentic, take baby steps

Educate and authenticate: gaming is a good place to start because the alternative to engaging teens impacts communities negatively

Why let people say bad things about us? The cost of P&P communication is so cheap that they will just start their own communities and undermine what we're doing

Listen so you can know what they want and what we should do

Mash it up: start small, change the questions in your surveys-- instead of "how did you like [x]" ask "what do you want?"

New media loves the long tail. What are we doing with microcommunities?

Why not encourage specialty groups to form social networks that involve libraries and provide scholarly, specialised resources?

NYPL: added social suggestion boxes that let other users read and respond to comments as well as the library staff.

Pan's Labyrinth website: beyond interactive-- let users create sketchbooks by uploading pieces of their own art. Winner chosen by Guillermo del Toro.

What do we offer people online?

Why are we doing this? The right message, their right time, the right place. Advertising should be anywhere people might see it. Forget newspapers-- try Google Ads, ads for health databases at the pharmacy, etc.

Social networking:
Sean Parker (Facebook): All about social status

Are you sure people really want answers? They might want input.

"I no longer seek information from experts; rather, from people that I trust."

Rebirth of Dell: new strategy = everything based on customer input. If a suggested idea is used, Dell tells people (recognition).

Starbucks used this model too: people vote for ideas which then go to "idea partners" for consideration/development

Language: Tell us what you like/hate/what put you to sleep

Interactive Case Study: case study in print + video

Ideas:

• e-cards
• Got Milk? posters
• Read posters

Advocacy

It is essential that local state and federal officials are aware of services and their value to the community and all citizens.

Find our your legislators' pet projects and make sure they know how the library can help with that

Helene Blowers, Columbus Metropolitan Library
Michael Porter, WebJunction

Library brand is more than a logo:

1. Books, books, books,
2. Community: how we engage them, how community sees self through our services

Old Paradigm: Controlling the look and feel of the brand.
New paradigm: Influence the character and portability of the brand.

See ShowMetheCow.com (Chik-Fil-A photo contest) for ideas.

Web2.0 allows customers to own our brands and participate in their creation.

Libraries to look at:

• Allen County Public Library (acpl.info):  Community album--  collection of images related to the county. Participated in A Day in the Life of Allen County, posted photos from community users.
• Santa Clara County Library: listing on Wikipedia, YouTube info video
• City of Palo Alto: Wiki for book reviews, links to local schools, Flickr presence
• Kankakee Public Library: pointers to YouTube videos
  
• San Mateo Public Library: pointers to MySpace and Wiki pages
  

Flickr 365 Library Days photo project with del.icio.us account tie-in
Second Life: YouTube Librarians of SecondLife, blog pages

IT'S NOT ABOUT US is the major message of marketing. Promoting the library brand is about the community.

• Hennepin County Public Library: "Send in a photo of yourself reading Harry Potter" on library website (check out the waiver text included on the webpage). Photos are available through website and through Flickr.
• Gail Borden Public Library: community videos of favourite books showcased on site
• New Jersey Public Libraries: We Love our Libraries campaign-- asked community to record three reasons they love the library
• Charlotte-Mecklenberg Library: patrons used Big Huge Labs image generator to make motivational posters about the library
• Denver Public Library: YouTube contest-- teens created videos of how they have fun in the library
• Louisville Free Public Library: summer reading program winners received posters, were encouraged to take pictures of self to submit, rotated through photos of community winners on website.

8 Steps to Marketing 2.0

1. Educate: learn about social media
2. Experience: participate and join the conversation
3. Envision: develop a 2.0 marketing plan
4. Engage: create social celebrations
5. Enable: help your library brand & content to travel
6. Expand: play with multimedia
7. Explore: learn as you go and track success
8. Experiment, experiment, experiment

Roger Skalbeck, Georgetown University Law Library
Barbara Fullerton, 10K Wizard Technologies

Problem 1: I want to read RSS w/o a reader
Solution: SendMeRss.com

Can create an RSS feed to Outlook (or other email/mobile programs) for websites that do not have their own RSS feeds. Can send to wikis or blog the info.

Free registration. May work less well depending on the URL.

Problem 2: I need colour inspiration
Solution: Kuler from Adobe

Online Flash application. Colour Palette Generator. Generates hex code automatically. Can save colour generated colour themes, share with other users. Widget for desktop.

WebAssist.com has extension for Dreamweaver.
CSSJuice for other colour generators.

Problem 3: I want inexpensive online demonstrations
Solution: Glance.net

Downloadable application, allows other people to see screen live using a Glance session. Retail $40-50/ month.
May not work on certain systems; w/ certain firewalls

Problem 4: I want branding, RSS feeds, etc. deliverable to my users via permanent/persistent links
Solution: Conduit.com

Free toolbar creator. Can configure what you want users to be able to access. Gives usage stats-- how many installed, how much use. Generates RS feeds. Available for IE and Firefox only. Auto updates pushed.

Alternate: LIBX.org.

Problem 5: Manipulate/create PDF documents w/o Adobe Acrobat
Solution: PDFHammer

Online PDF editor.  Works with online or desktop-stored PDFs. Does not create PDFs. Must be cautious re: copyright & potential violations.

*All new versions of WordPerfect include PDF creators.

Problem 6: Does my site work with images or javascript turned off?
Solution: Web Developer Toolbar

Firefox addon. Tests sites to see if images will show up if scripts are disabled/not present on a computer. Can also disable CSS. Useful for analysing structure of documents.

Generates colour palette swatches with hex code.

Problem 7: I want RSS, but the site doesn't have it.
Solution: Ponyfish.com

Creates RSS feeds for websites. Takes any URL. 5 sites for free, 20 for $24/year.

Problem 8:  Which service do people use: Digg, Buzz, NewVine, Facebook, del.icio.us, bookmarks?
Solution: AddThis.com

 Website bookmark widget for adding site to users' services. Fairly compact. 36 services currently, adding more. Metrics available-- what services used, what pages being marked. Also supports blog engines.

Problem 9: What the hell is DLL?
Solution: ProcessLibrary.com

Virus/application identifier-- what it is, if it is critical to the computer. Risk factors, how to remove it.

Problem 10: Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, WordPress?
Solution: Fantastico

Script library that automates blog updates. Monitors providers for updates.

Problem 11: I want to search a fixed set of websites.
Solution: Rollyo

Create your own search engines with up to 25 entries. Can be private or public, highlights saved search terms. Very simple, but good for quick info.

Alternate: Google Custom Search.

Problem 12: How does my site look in Firefox, IE, Flock, SeaMonkey, Naviagtor, Galeon, Iceape, Opera, and Safari
Solution: BrowserShots.org

Free browser screencaps. Default cache= 30 minutes. Priority service for fee.

Problem 13: How do I make my own screenshots?
Solution: SnagIt

$40. Can create PowerPoint presentation, Flash, etc.

Problem 14: Wouldn't my site look better in green?
Solution: Firebug

Testing colours, fonts, debug and edit code delivered to browser, troubleshoot stylesheets. Firefox add-on. Includes ColdFusion, PhP, etc.

Problem 15: Update monitors? 
Solution: Watch That Page

Delivery may not be of-the-moment (may be delay in notification of updated sites) Premium (pay) service for timely delivery is available.

Problem 16: Integrated blog editor, post to multiple blogs ?
Solution: ScribeFire

Firefox add-on

Problem 17:  I need a slideshow
Solution: GIFUp

Problem 18: Organize and cite information online for free
Solution: Zotero

Firefox add-on alternate to EndNote and RefWorks. APA, Chicago, MLA. Plugins for Word and OpenOffice.

Problem 19:  Computer interaction
Solution: Camptasia

$150-200 plus equipment. has sound, mp3 creators, tutorial builders, etc.

Alternate: Wink (free)

 
Problem 20: how do I use YouTube offline?
Solution: TechCrunch and Adobe Media Player

Grab URL, take to TechCrunch, download video to your own computer. flv video file: usable in Adobe Media Player, new RealPlayer. Have a care for copyright issues.