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Future of Libraries: Social Software

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?.

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Future of Libraries: Social Software

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

  2. 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.

  3. Examples of social software • 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

  4. 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?

  5. What is instant messaging? • Instantaneous, simultaneous text chat • Add-ons like video, audio, file sharing Transcript Type here

  6. IM client software: the holy trinity They’re all free—to you and users • Other Software • ICQ • IRC • Jabber • Google Talk • MySpace

  7. 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!

  8. 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

  9. 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.

  10. Example of Library IM webpage

  11. 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

  12. Sample Internet Forum: Storycode

  13. 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

  14. Sample blog: H20boro

  15. 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

  16. Sample RSS feeds: Hennepin CL

  17. 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

  18. Sample podcasts: Thomas Ford ML

  19. 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/

  20. Sample wiki: St .Joseph CL’s Subject Guides

  21. 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

  22. Library MySpace Page: Denver PL

  23. 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

  24. Library del.icio.us: La Grange Park

  25. 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

  26. Social library: Reading PL on Flickr

  27. I have all of these cool ideas now. But how do I convince our IT Staff that doing this is okay?

  28. 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.

  29. 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

  30. For more information about social software in libraries: Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software by Michael Stephens The Library Success Wiki: http://www.libsuccess.org/

  31. Questions? Contact Sarah any time. E-mail: houghton-jan@smcl.org IM: LibrarianInBlack (AOL, Yahoo!, MSN)

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