While there was talk last month of Brooklyn Public Library partnering with Netflix (and it was just that, talk), Exeter Public Library has gone ahead and done it, albeit without the formal deal with the company.

NETFLIX @ Your Library

"The Library has subscribed to Netflix, the online movie rental service. Now, if there is a title you are looking for that isn't on our shelves or the shelves of any other RI library, you can request that we get it through Netflix for you. This is a great way to view the popular movies that are always out, as well as the documentaries, foreign films, and television series that aren't available at the local libraries. It's also a great way for us to provide the materials you want, without having to purchase several copies of the same title.

How it works: you place a paper or e-mail request with us. If the title is not readily available through the regular library delivery system, we will go into our Netflix account and order it for you. When the movie arrives, we will notify you and you can check it out for one week with your library card - just like the movies we own. Depending on how popular the service become, your DVDs should arrive very quickly."

Virtual World Librarianship – Your Second Life

"Avatars! Linden Dollars! Librarianship!

Librarianship? What ARE they talking about?

To discover how avatars, Linden dollars, and librarianship relate to one another, come join us in a continuing education course on librarianship in the virtual world of Second Life. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents, including real life librarians on Info Island.

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Alliance Library System of Illinois have partnered to offer a six week online (in Second Life) course to introduce you to libraries and information services in a virtual world. The course starts May 25 and is open to all library and information professionals.

A continuing education course presented by the Illinois Alliance Library System and GSLIS
Dates: May 25, June 1, 8, 15, July 6 and 13
Online synchronous times: Fridays, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Location: Info Island, Second Life
Cost: $200
Instructors: Kitty Pope, Lori Bell, Tom Peters, Rhonda Trueman, Barbara Galik

Week One: Introduction to Libraries in Virtual Worlds
Week Two: Second Life 101
Week Three: Collections, Resources, and Exhibits in Virtual Environment
Week Four: Reference and Information Services in Virtual Worlds
Week Five: Managing and Working in a Virtual Library or Department
Week Six: Skills Needed by 21st Century Librarians in Virtual Worlds

For additional information and to register, visit: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/Second_Life.html or contact Marianne Steadley (Steadley@uiuc.edu), Continuing Professional Development Program Director, GSLIS" [Thanks, Karen!]

Jeff over at Gather No Dust left a comment on my last post about Twitter saying the following:

"I was able to use twitter to send the library's rss feeds. Now anyone can sign up for library updates through twitter. When the library updates its calendar, announces events, or new books, it goes to twitter (and then hopefully, people's phones). Anything longer than 140 characters it turns into a tiny url for you automatically. Now I need to break it down for specific tastes (adults, parents, teens, children, etc.)"

Update: Thank you to Jeff, who posted an incredibly useful explanation of what he's done to make Twitter work with his library, along with links to a few other libraries using Twitter.

I love this idea! Not just local officials or the well-known, but everyone included with their favorite books on READ posters for National Library Week.

North Indian River County Library: Have Picture Taken with Your Favorite Book

"To celebrate [National Library Week] we are inviting library users to pick out their favorite book and have their photo taken with it. The photo will then be inserted into a 'READ' poster, which may be picked up at a later time.

One poster per library user will be given away free of charge." [TCPalm]

As promised, the slides from the four presentations I gave at three conferences in three cities in five days are up on my presentations wiki. What a whirlwind. (One of these days, maybe next month, I plan to start using SlideShare as a parallel way way to share my presentations, but that will have to wait for another day.)

What made this busy trip all worth it was the response from the audience and the folks who stopped me in the hallways to talk and chatted after my talks. Thank you to each and every one of you!

When I have more time, I want to write a little about what it's like to be involved in the association world. The DigitalNow Conference was interesting, especially seeing how others implement 2.0-ish communication tools with their audience, whether that is paid members or the general public. I was on a panel with Patricia Goldman from the March of Dimes and Randal Moss from the American Cancer Society, both of whom know their 2.0 stuff inside and out and are doing great things at their organizations. I look forward to keeping in touch with them and seeing what they do next. And a shoutout to Randy's Dad, with whom we had a great discussion about the public information and the importance of libraries.

Interestingly, the last year has seen ALA implement a lot of 2.0 "stuff" which in many ways, has put it at the front of the association world in this regard. Of course, I'm biased since I work for ALA, but my conversations with librarians and now association folks makes me believe we are headed in the right direction.

MySpace Joins with the Illinois Library Association to Promote Online Safety

"MySpace today announced that it has joined with the Illinois Library Association to distribute free bookmarks containing tips on Internet safety. The bookmarks are printed as a series, each aimed at a specific audience including kids, teens, and parents. By distributing these bookmarks for free, MySpace and the Illinois Library Association hope to help educate youth and parents to make safe and informed decisions online. The bookmarks will be given out at Illinois libraries starting today in celebration of Illinois Library Day. The bookmarks will also be distributed during National Library Legislative Day (May 2) in Washington, D.C. ....

'One of the primary concerns of the Illinois library community is the safety of children. These bookmarks are just one example of how the Illinois library community is partnering with MySpace, parents, and police to help children learn how to use the Internet, and to become savvy users of information,' said Robert P. Doyle, Executive Director of the Illinois Library Association. 'We know there are legitimate concerns about the Internet. We know, however, that the best way to protect children is to teach them to guard their privacy and make wise choices. Education will promote safe use of the Internet, not laws blocking access.'

The Internet Safety bookmarks contain information on the safety topics below, as well links to additional online resources.

• Dealing with Cyberbullies: Tips for Kids


• Safe Blogging: Tips for Teens


• Social Networking: Tips for Parents

The Internet Safety Bookmarks are also available to download (PDF) and print locally at the Illinois Library Association Web site (www.ila.org/netsafe)." [ILA: NetSafe]

'MySpace and the Illinois Library Association provided funding for the printing and distribution of 400 each of the three bookmarks to every public library in Illinois.

In addition, they are available for sale in sets of 100 each of the three Internet Safety Bookmarks for $6 plus shipping and handling.

* Order Bookmarks

You have new Picture Mail!, originally uploaded by The Shifted Librarian.

http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/technology-competencies-and-training-for-libraries.html

In her report, Houghton-Jan provides useful technology-training practices, including:

• how to use descriptions of technology competencies so they will enhance your staff members' technology knowledge, improve their self-confidence and individual morale levels, help staff provide better service, and transform your library into an institution that continously promotes lifetime learning for every staff member;
• a look at the purpose and background of describing competencies;
• a review of the process of creating descriptions and a look at various types and structures of lists of competencies as well as sample competencies; and
• the implementation process, including assessment and best practices for technology training.

"This work," summarizes Houghton-Jan, "is an attempt to fill the gap in knowledge about documenting technology competencies with overall guiding principles, examples of successful projects, and project-management guidelines for those embarking upon such a project in their libraries."

1. Competencies: Do We or Don't We?
2. Build a Foundation for the List of Competencies
3. Staff Participation and Buy-In
4. Writing the Competency Descriptions
5. Formatting the Competencies List
6. Implementing the Competencies
7. Assessing Staff on the Competencies
8. Planning for Technology Training
9. Creating Technology Training and Materials
10. Conducting Technology Training
11. Reassessment and Revision
12. General Works Consulted and Cited

Congratulations, Sarah!

Yet another disclaimer: Sarah Houghton-Jan, aka The Librarian in Black, is a friend of mine.

A request from Scott Nicholson, Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University. Scott will be talking about the data from this survey at the TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium in July, so please help him assemble a rounded view of what's going on in our profession!

"Our goal is to collect information about every gaming program that went on in libraries in 2006. This will provide us with the valuable evidence useful for all of us in getting funding for gaming in libraries.

If you did run any type of gaming program (board, card, video games) or have people involved with games in your library, please head over to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=222783560244 and fill out the survey.

In addition, please pass the following announcement along to other appropriate lists, blogs, and forums.

Gloria J. Reeves, McKinley Technology High School, DC Public Schools

her school is predicted to be at the forefront of preparing "techites" and the next generation of 21st century workers
the school represents hope and a new beginning for high schools and quality education in DCPS
in a third year resurgence, McKinley is demonstrating a penchant for innovation and creativity
they hosted a video gaming summit!
students are designing video games for classroom use
is the first school in the world to install a Vicon Motion Capture Studio for students to design games
unique in that the school combines a first class liberal arts education with a job skills development technical program
- students are prepared to go to college or directly into the workforce
technology is the adhesive that strengthens teaching and learning across the curriculum
social studies and history coming alive for students using powerpoint presentations, graphs, mp3 downloads, etc.
geography classes utilize GIS to construct, analyze, and reinforce mapping concepts
students create videos for pieces of music
art classes are designing on the computer

video game to take students on a tour of the library
edutopia article (October 2006) - "a new generation of kids will radically change how you teach"

there is an intense interest in gaming; this appeals to students
why not exert some effort to capture some of the gleam found in the eyes of students engaged in gaming - enthusiasm, joy, etc.

the idea of "what if..."
the lack of technology modeling at the school level

this is the first year they've had seniors since they reopened as a technology high school so started a "senior projects" class
- students use gaming technology to create a product for a nonprofit organization
- have already done a project for the American Red Cross about fire safety; will be available on the web soon

a student was assigned the project of creating a tour and orientation of the library as a game
- two students, Kellee Herbert and Larniece Brown

students had to render the physical library in a virtual setting; very time-consuming to add each book because they had to be done individually
using Maya software to create this

creating screencast tutorials integrated into the virtual world tour/game
shows a student looking up something in the catalog using embedded screenshots and then walking through the library to get to the item

issues:
- going to have to talk about a dress code for avatars (heh)
- question about content; there's another version of the game where kids come in blasting with a machine gun! (they don't use this one)

next step is to work more closely with IT and assemble a team of 8-12 students to work on the project (including over summers) in order to create a game that is commercial-shelf-worthy
maybe write grants to give students stipends to do this and expanded work
want to locate mentors in the gaming industry to provide additional guidance and expertise

looking at Teen Second Life for how they can use it for library instruction

there is incentive to meet students where they are, including their gaming interests

told the students, "whatever you create, just make it fun"
the kids added Gnarls Barkely's song "crazy" as the soundtrack for the library tour

using maya on mac professional computers (teen second life, too), which is why it might run better for them than it does on windows at the charlotte mecklenburg [public] library

"gaming life" column by kelly czarnecki is starting up next month in SLJ - she's looking for school librarians working with gaming

Technorati Tags: cil2007, cil07

Joyce Valenza

personal note: wow. I've always wanted to see Joyce present, and she didn't disappoint. this is my favorite presentation so far at this conference, and I learned a lot, which is about the best thing I can say about a session. if you ever have the chance to see Joyce talk, do not hesitate to take it!

All of this information will be available at http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com/

More info at http://joycevalenzaworkshop.wikispaces.com/

in the last year and a half, everything has shifted
felt she needed to come up with some solutions so that we weren't just grabbing at these tools, but are really harnessing the power of these new tools in ways that are relevant to 21st century learners

what place do these tools have in learning
citizens of the future will have to blend traditional and new
media-rich, participatory, brilliantly-chaotic future

Joyce is in perpetual beta (Joyce 1.8, not 2.0)

showed a video from the T4 Jordan School District

sees two threads:
1. information fluency and web 2.0 brilliantly woven together into a beautiful cloth
2. funky vibrant moon with learners as collaborators

prefers information fluency to information literacy (wants her students to be more than just literate)
draft of new AASL standards
it's about creativity, inquiry, creating knowledge and understanding
a little less linear and buckety than the old standards
seem to resonate with the next new standards
mesh well with ISTE NETS-S Refresh Model (also in draft?)

things that have been keeping her up at night:
1. Horizon Report
two trends
- user-created content
- social networking
new business model, participatory and collaborative leadership ("The Starfish and the Spider")
how do we turn our organizations into starfish?

Wikinomics by Don Tapscott
A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
The World Is Flat - by Thomas Friedman
most recent issue of Educational Leadership - "Becoming Citizens of the World"
we are preparing different kinds of learners

accessing information, both physically and intellectually
5 significant shortcomings in students' abilities to use technology

does it have to be a "good enough/why bother" world?
disturbs her because she doesn't give up
mathmeticians move learners into higher level thinking, don't give up when doing math problems

need to demand some energy
what does "collection" mean to the 21st century library?
- databases, blogs, wikis, webcasts, podcasts, ebooks, RSS, etc.
equity through open source software
access to experts
students create their own data and research thru survey tools

"Research Recap: How to Make Google Go" video she has her students create

in her pathfinders, links to Google Advanced and teaches them to limit by format
Google Directory for issues

shows them Kartoo, Answers.com, Rollyo, Clusty
- shows them there is a whole world of these things
pops these things into pathfinders and insidiously insists they use them
students love Kartoo's visual search engines
OEDb list of top 25 2.0 search engines

many elementary teachers are putting together wiki-based books
- a growing movement

high school and college level, the OER Commons, where many curricula are being posted as open source for everyone

the only way a K-12 teacher or student will find this stuff is if you point to it, so you have a major responsibility to open up this stone soup

blogs as research sources - you need to make sure that they understand there are search tools just for blogs

showed video of a student talking about how he knows that if he wants to learn about journalists and journalisms, he needs to read their blogs
can't wait for information to be let free for these kids, so still need to point kids to valuable material that is free to them
- ebooks; is moving her reference collection into ebooks
had problems with this until she realized she had to pop each title out individually into pathfinders
metasearch is a problem - not working

one consequence of heavy use of Google is increased usage of jstor, so all of a sudden everyone is requesting stuff from it, so she had to subscribe to it

kids *love* streaming video
she gets safari montage and united streaming
students are putting video into presentations
research channel - a collaboration between major universities to put video of their best speakers online
teachertube - great resource when youtube is blocked at your institution
zamzar - converts files, they email you the link, you download it, and then you can use it in school the next day

her streaming media pathfinder is heavily used by students and teachers

another shift is the ability to now do our own research
many teachers using zoho polls
- students collaborate with teachers
- gather, analyze, interpret, and then present the data
shows kids not all research is book-based and can be original
she uses response-o-matic, one of her favorites
most of these tools are free, especially for educators

news is not just local, news is not just in english
in this global world, we have to make sure kids know that the western press isn't the single source
have to integrate global media (al jazeera, etc.) into your pathfinders

help your students control their own information worlds via RSS feeds
they can restructure the entire search dynamic, channeling information to automatically flow to them
this is the kind of skill 21st century workers need

are kids using tags for navigation
what can they learn from tag clouds?
can use fastr to play a game online with kids to teach about tags

how do we intervene in the research process in a 2.0 world?
it's very important that we find a way to be insidious and supportive but not nosy
her goal in life is to be a window on her students' desktops
uses "embedded explanations" and using "web signage"
right now she's using wiki pathfinders so that the students and faculty can contribute to the growth of these pathfinders

Sandra Hughes-Hassell's student wikis as models

not just about finding information, but also about building knowledge
how do we evaluate in a 2.0 world?

she has gone 180 degrees on wikipedia over the last few years
couldn't find definitions of web 2.0 in traditional encyclopedias
wikipedia had articles and the best links
it's about when is it best to start in wikipedia versus somewhere else

showed criteria for evaluating blogs and wikis
kids are learning when to use what for which audience; know when to use serious sources like school
can't worry about just wikipedia - showed conservapedia for conservative viewpoints - have to be aware of the trend, not one site

student project
for each scene and act they read of Hamlet, they had to gather as a character online on a blog and explore their motivations and feelings, which increased understanding of the work
Hamlet06
have moved their literature circles to blogs
- characterization, each character, etc. are categories
- could easily see each student's writing
- kids who were shy about talking in real life showed up here
students get to hear everyone's perspectives (showed video of a student saying this was valuable to him)

blog posts about student reactions to watching the movie Hotel Rwanda

she started having kids blog the entire senior research process for the entire semester
allowed her to intervene in the research process
had them set up tags as categories so they could see patterns, and they would suggest some throughout the process
was a transparent process
peers could see their blogs and leave comments, as would teachers
by the time they were ready to write the final paper, it was mostly written already on the blog
student reflections were probably the most powerful part of the process

showed a pre-calc blog
AP World History Review wiki
- assigned students chapters throughout the process and they were responsible for maintaining the chapters throughout the school year
- includes media and links

point is that you are the facilitator and you can help teachers create this stuff
it's not hard and the tools are essentially free

information ethics
not just plagiarism, but digital citizenship
how do we create a culture of academic integrity?
most of our teachers are confused and don't understand the shifting information landscape

david warlick's son of citation machine
noodlebib (just added electronic notecards you can tag and cluster; can assign it original, quote, etc. status - very powerful tool)
- both have added citation formats for blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc.
- want kids to be ethical, but we need to make it easier for them
95% of her class loves noodlebib

teaching blogging etiquette
showed some guidelines

projects today are different
how do we have kids create projects ethically when they're so excited about the various media?
kids really don't understand copyright restrictions

told a great story about a teacher who wanted to use a piece of copyrighted music with a student project and when joyce said he couldn't because of copyright law, he shut down and wouldn't change the music or post the project online

teaching students about personal social networking, presenting yourself online

Flat Classroom project - a class in India collaborating with a class in Atlanta

discussed setting up a Ning network for your classes
kids create avatars and participate in the networks

kids need to know that if they can't afford the microsoft office suite (and who can), there are free tools that are often more powerful

has evidence of fantastic student writing because teachers can intervene, the process is transparent, kids don't have to worry about the tool (can concentrate on the content), they can collaborate together

when students read the Crucible, they created podcasts "Live from Salem" plus wikis
kids will now set up a wiki for projects even before the teacher or librarian intervenes to do it

low level kids are enjoying writing now because they have an audience and it's easier

the girls lacrosse wiki is their most popular wiki
scouting the competition and strategizing on it!
building knowledge in an authentic way

need to forget what we know about powerpoint and move to digital storytelling
there are 2 or 3 major portals for this
many classrooms are telling their stories in their blogs using media
we are moving into a new presentation era - presentation zen, not bullet points

Marco Torres iCANN Film Festival - student storytelling online
collaboration between an older and younger group of kids
showed a very powerful video about cell phones and driving made by students

Brookline Book Review Podcasts
kids are doing movie trailers about books for succeeding classes
showed a video of a student talking about personal pronouns
the kids are owning their learning and sharing it with the world
they are so excited about this
using flickr as an art gallery and using notes to point out what they want you to see
Springfield Clickart gallery
using Flickr as a vocabulary tool
exposes when they are wrong and teachers/librarians can then intervene

blog reflection rubric

as a librarian, you can be a catalyst and lead from the center
you can be a weaver

new rules for 21st century practice
see opportunities, not obstacles
"ask later!" if what you are planning is instructionally sound
gives everyone permission to not do inventory this year!
delegate up, down, all around - let the kids take on a lot of these projects
don't wait for the next workshop - train yourself!
http://hitchikr.com/
you've got to do some of this at home if you're going to make a difference
it's okay to be beta
it's okay to be beta and fall down, but you'll learn from it and get back up
stop watering the rocks and start working with the living!
teach outside the library - go into the classrooms and visit them virtually through your pathfinders
get up and stand up - tell people what you think an information professional looks like in the 21st century - grab the opportunity!
what is your 2020 vision - plan for it
stop and smell the learning!

Technorati Tags: cil2007, cil07

Marshall Breeding

took a poll and more people in the room were gen xers, followed by boomers
what makes millennials tick is different than what makes boomers tick - they're different
- innate ability for technology
- frenetic multitasking
- comfortable with diverse types of digital media; books are great but youtube videos are even better
- highly interactive style of working; don't have to force them to do group projects; they're built-in to collaboration

contrasts in generations
- millennials are accustomed to receiving information quickly and from multiple sources in real time and processing it immediately, as opposed to boomers who take time to digest it
- parallel processing and multitasking vs. like to proceed step-by-step and do tasks in order
- prefer to interact with peers vs. like the role of listener or viewer
- tend to be more visual and kinesthetic learners vs. tend to be more text-based learners who are careful observers

53% of children do something else while studying (half that for adults)

shaping collections for millennial users:
content - digital/immediate
discovery - more like the web
access - anytime/anywhere

they don't pay attention to library hours
born night owls

satisfying millennial users does not conflict with needs of library users from previous generations
very much in tune with the strategic directions most libraries have toward more digital, more immediacy of access, high quality service
it's a matter of degree

changes that make things faster and better would be accepted by all users

boomers and gen xers are happier with traditional forms of content and existing modes of service
millennials will move on to non-library provided information sources and services if not readily satisfied
this isa lot at stake for the future of libraries in adapting to generational transitions

key characteristic for this generation is comfort with working with digital media
prefer graphics over text
audio (music) and video
love to remix; usually recreational, but explore ways to tap this interest with an academic slant

library collection possibilities:
- ejournals, ebooks
- podcasts of lectures
- video libraries of stock footage
- news archives
- data sets: census, GIS

question of how best to provide access to the collections we are building
how to respond to their preferences:
- immediate
- collaborative
- intuitive
- mobile
- flexible

heightened user expectations
- come in with expectations set by their experiences on the web
- conventions for navigating and exploring web-based resources well established
- dealing with learge and complex bodies of information nothing new to incoming library users
- sophisticated web skills
- low tolerance for clunky and ineffective websites
- confident in their ability - reluctant to ask for help

in libraries, our online resources don't meet their expectations, too many different interfaces, overly complex, not intuitive, have to go to different places for different formats
highly disintegrated, non-seamless environment; are millennials going to have the patience for this

metasearch isn't the answer because not immediate, shallow results sets, relevancy ranking is difficult, etc.

change is underway:
widespread dissatisfaction with OPACs
movement to break out of the current mold of catalogs and offer new interfaces
decoupling of the front-end from the back-end

web 2.0 is a good start
- more social and collaborative approach
- web tools and technology that foster collaboration
- blogs, wikis, tagging, social bookmarking, user rating, user reviews
= cream on top; need to get deeper to resolve the problems

web 2.0 supporting technologies:
- web services
- XML APIs
- AJAX
- microformats
- opensearch vs SRU/SRW
will be more relevant if we use what the rest of the world is using

replacement OPACs:
- Endeca
- AquaBrowser
common threads are:
- decoupled interface
- mass export of catalog data
- alternative search engine
- alternative interface

expanded discovery and delivery tools:
- ex libris primo
- encore (innovative)
common threads are:
- decoupled interface
- comprehensive indexes that span multiple and diverse information resources
- alternative interface

extensible catalog funded by Mellon Foundation - http://www.extensiblecatalog.info/

the catalog should give equal weight and access to print and digital; can't just slap one onto an interface built for the other

users no longer have to craft a complex search at the beginning
better to drill down through a result set incrementally narrowing the field
faceted browsing

assume your users are starting elsewhere
view the library as a search destination
expose library content and services through nonlibrary interfaces
global arena excels at discovery, while local arena focuses on content delivery
all the global content discovery tools point to locally managed content

Technorati Tags: cil2007, cil07

Alane Wilson, OCLC

today is the first public reporting of their data, although their still working through it; not done yet

network as community
online gaming, chat, group authorship
personal presence services
instant verification
wisdom of the crowd ("hive mind")

driven by unicomp
names the third wave of computing, just beginning
1 - mainframes
2 - personal computing era
3 - ubiquitous computing (the age of calm technology, where it resides in the background of our lives)

research is from US, UK, Germany, France, Japan
this time Harris translated the survey and gave it in the native language where the survey was being conducted
separate survey of 382 US librarians; had a heck of a time getting people to respond to the survey

questions from the survey:
--------------------------

thinking of your overall usage of the internet, how many years would you estimate you have been using the internet?
- librarians far exceed the general population (more than 10 years); below 7-10 years is where this reverses
"the culture of paper"

during the last 12 months, has the amount you read in any format increased, decreased, or remained the same
- again, librarians read more

do you have a current library card?
- in France & Germany, people over age 18 had the lowest number of cards

librarians do less of social networks and IM chat than the general population

we read blogs more, though
we use our own online question services more than the general population

do you participate in social networks?
librarians under the age of 49 do this more than over 50
the social networking people in that group are more likely to be doing instant messaging (finally have data to support this!)

our perceptions of privacy haven't caught up to technology

which of the following types of information have you supplied about yourself when buying things online?
- librarians are happy to give credit and debit card information beyond the general population, but we were also likely to say "none of the above"

which of the following types of information have you supplied about yourself when using social media?
- very different; don't supply physical attributes, etc.
- Japanese *never* tell anyone their religious affiliation or sexual preference (0% in each case)
interesting because things that have big uptake outside of the US have to work within these parameters across the world

for each of the following types of information you may have provided at the library, please indicate which of the following you would be willing to share?
- 36% total, US 38% don't want their library data shared
- 29% would give up data to get customized services

librarians' perceptions are in sync with this

"I trust the library" = 60% total respondents
when you're designing services, you can probably push the envelope a little if you have a high level of trust

53% agreed or strongly agreed that the library has rules about personal information
24% (I think) weren't sure

do you think it's the library's role to build a social networking site?
(wishes had asked if the library should *participate,* not build)
- general public and librarians said no way more often than "not sure" or yes
comments show they think our purpose is just to lend books and *nothing else*
- "libraries are publicly funded so money shouldn't be spent that way"
- librarians think they are too busy to do this
- "library 2.0 bs" - sees no need for that
- don't see libraries as connecting people or being social

either/or/and

Technorati Tags: cil2007, cil07

Lee Rainie

showed Ask a Ninja video from YouTube about podcasting
gave some history about Web 2.0 (O'Reilly, web as platform, community, etc.)

6 hallmarks of the Web 2.0 world that matter to libraries (based on Pew data)
---------------------------------------------------------
it's clear that something big is changing on the internet, whatever you want to call it
1. The internet has become the computer
the number of American adults who use computers is almost undistinguishable from the number that use the internet (around 75%)
at the same time, bandwidth is increasing
142 million internet users
- 75% of adult population uses internet
- 93% of teenage population uses internet
96 million using always-on, high-speed connections
- dramatically different users
Implication:
- 89% of online teens have access at home
- 75% have internet access at school
- 70% go online from a friend or relative's house
- 50% have gone online from a library
people are walking around with internet more
Implication: broadband makes web a destination, a more attractive place to be
people are just hanging out there, no grand purpose to their work
- 43% say they spend some time online just browsing for fun for no particular purpose
Implication: a lot more people use the internet every single day
Implication: broadband makes video a big part of the internet experience, complementing text
- 85% of young broadband users have watched online video
- 62% have watched YouTube videos
- 19% have posted videos
very anxious to see amateur video, as opposed to adults
attracted to the internet because the YouTube recommender system helps them find interesting and fun videos

story in the morning paper that we don't know as much as we used to
but the highest correlation for knowing what is going on in the world is watching Daily Show/Colbert Report

Implication: broadband makes people's itnernet use more social, they're sharing more stuff
- 67% of teens play games online with others
- 51% of young adults and 67% of older teens share photos on the internet

2. Tens of millions of Americans, especially the young, are creating and sharing content online
55% of online teens have created their own profile on a social network site like MySpace or Facebook, twice the number of adults (20%)
releasing a new report about this on Wednesday
in most cases, kids are being pretty shrewd and have learned to manage their personal information online
SNS profiles: "switchboards for social life"
older teenage girls are much more likely to have profiles and use all of the features than boys
kids understand the difference between friends and "friends of friends" and they treat them differently
content creation - much of it is photos (51% of young adults)
- they want comments on their photos and add them to others'
37% of all users have posted photos
cell phone and digital camera are important forms of communication now
39% of online teens share their own creations online (artwork, photos, stories, videos), as opposed to 22% of adults
33% are tech support for their families, groups, friends, school assignments, etc.
28% of teens have blogs, 33% of college students, 12% of adults
vast majority of bloggers are publishing intimate, authentic information about their lives for a small audience
27% of online teens report keeping their own personal webpage (14% of online adults)
26% say they remix content they find online into their own artistic creations (9% of adults)
- includes Photoshop and mixing images, music, etc.
19% of online young adults have created an avatar that interacts with others online (9%)
15% of young adults internet users have uploaded videos to the web (twice as many as adults)

if want to attract these kids, have to offer them tools for creating things with you, game with you

3. Even more internet users are accessing the content created by others
Long Tail audience for all that content people are creating
46% of young internet users read blogs
44% of young adults internet users seek information at Wikipedia sites
- accessing new information content
college students use it a lot, well-educated people use it a lot
what we don't see is that folks think Wikipedia is the end-all-be-all for information
if they are stumped after checking Wikipedia, they'll ping their social network
one of the big stories about the importance of the internet in peoples' lives is that they are turning to human beings to help validate and assess the credibility of the information they got from the internet
14% of young users have downloaded podcasts

4. Many are sharing what they know and what they feel online and this building conversations and communities
33% of young adult internet users have rated a person, product, or service online (ratemyprofessors.com, amazon, amIhotornot, etc.)
32% of online young adults have tagged online content
25% of younger internet users have commented on videos (as well as on photos and blogs)

5. Tens of thousands are contributing their knowledge and power to commons
40%+ of itnernet users participate in peer-to-peer exchanges
- 10,000-30,000 active developers in the global open source movement
- Millions participating in grid computing

6. Online Americans are customizing their online experiences thanks to Web 2.0 tools
rearrange material in the way they want
40% of younger internet users customize news and other information pages; half are on speciality mailing lists
1/4-1/3 of younger ineternet users get RSS feeds
RSS now is so directly built into things that most people don't even know they're using
difficult for Pew to measure this anymore

5 issues libraries and all online participants must struggle to address
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
from library blogger Pam Berger (infosearcher.com)
1. navigation - transitioning from linear to nonlinear in format
big challenge for information searches now

2. context - learning to see connections between disaggregated content
users themselves are highly contextual users
the nature of their search influences what they will use and you have to understand that
the level of trust the person has is important
have to think about this plus their technology environment
will serve differently the same information need from a blogger/video user and someone who isn't

3. focus - practicing reflection and deep thinking
"continuous partial attention" means focus becomes a major issue
the most abundant time for people to come up with new ideas is when they are in relaxation mode

4. skepticism - learning to evaluate information
need for media literacy

5. ethical behavior - understanding the rules of cyberspace
when is it okay to have a cell phone conversation in a public place?
when can you shut off your phone and be unreachable and not tick off your friends?
privacy and disclosure - mismatch between the ability to publish anything and everything but people forget that all of that is out there for good

showed the Web 2.0 video from KSU professor

laughter:
"the web is us"

Technorati Tags: cil2007, cil07

kawashima image generator, originally uploaded by The Shifted Librarian.

Anyone that has played Brain Age on the Nintendo DS handheld knows this face. It's Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, the Japanese neuroscientist behind the game's creation who also appears in the game periodically to give tips and advice. It's based on his findings that playing video games a few minutes a day can help ward off Alzheiner's and dementia.

Yesterday I found the Brain Age Dr. Ryuta Kawashima Image Generator, which lets you make the good doctor say anything with one of three faces (calm, laughing, or staring straight ahead). This image is definitely going in today's presentation.

See, even Dr. Kawashima thinks gaming and libraries are a good fit. ;-)

For Dummies Book Display, originally uploaded by Lansing Public Library, Lansing Illinois.

Kelli Staley: "I've never heard so much giggling in the library as I did the day we put that up. 17 books went out from the display in just a few days. (including Dungeons & Dragons for dummies)

We should have put up a video camera to see people's reactions, like Candid Camera."

Jane was able to arrange it so that we can stay in the conference room after my preconference with Aaron is over for about an hour and a half.

So that means Wii on the big screen with plenty of room for four player tennis and bigger than life miis!

I don't yet know exactly which room we're in, but the preconferences are usually all in the same area, so if you wander over there around 4:30 p.m., you should see a sign for "Games, Gaming, and Learning." Or, you could follow the sound of laughter and fun straight to us. :)

Anyone and everyone is welcome to play, so we hope to see you there. If I figure out the exact room before the session, I'll post it here and on Twitter.

Update: We're on the 3rd floor of the Hyatt. Play will start around 4:30 p.m. when the preconference ends. Just follow the laughter and music to find us. :)

"ALA TechSource, in collaboration with the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), is proud to annouce the first annual Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium will be held in Chicago at the Marriott O'Hare hotel. It will begin at 1:00 p.m. on July 22, and end at 1:00 p.m. on July 24.

Gaming and literacy experts James Paul Gee and Henry Jenkins will keynote the event by exploring how libraries fit into the intersection of gaming and the digital learning landscape, while guest speakers Eli Neiburger (author of the 2007 title Gamers…in the Library?! The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages) and Syracuse Game Lab Director Scott Nicholson will kick off the discussions about why libraries do this. Gregory Trefry, a game designer from GameLab, will explore libraries and the concept of "big games," while social computing expert and gamer Liz Lawley will provide context and a broad view for the topics discussed.

More than 25 sessions in three tracks will cover such wide-ranging topics as creating games for information literacy, implementing gaming programs, teaching kids how to make their own games, gaming for adults, digital downloads for gamers, online fiction games, and more. In addition, a track dedicated to Second Life will highlight how libraries are creating a presence in this virtual world and what they are gaining from it.

Whether you're an experienced gamer who wants to start a program at your library or a newbie who is intrigued but has no idea where to start, this is the event for you. Programs for academic, public, and school librarians will make you think about this topic in a different way. We'll have open play time, scores of experts and implementers who can answer your questions, colleagues implementing innovative services, and at least a few topics that will most likely be new to you."

Aaron Schmidt and I are doing a preconference about gaming at the Computers in Libraries confenference next week, and I'm bringing my Wii so I thought it would be fun to let others play with it to see what it's like.

I've asked the conference organizers if there is a space we can do this late Sunday afternoon, after the preconference ends at 4:30 p.m. (I love the idea of hooking the Wii up to a projector!), but I think they're having trouble finding something. Assuming I can hook up the Wii to the television in my hotel room, I'm happy to let as many folks as can fit play there if a larger space falls through. I will have with me Cooking Mama, Trauma Center, Wario Smooth Moves, Rayman, Wii Sports, and Wii Play. I'll have two Wiimotes, but only one nunchuk (so if someone wants to bring an extra one, that would be great, too).

Oh, and Guitar Hero I and II for the PS2, as well.

If you're interested in playing, leave a comment or drop me an email.

I'll also have my Nintendo DS Lite with me, along with Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Nintendogs, Elite Beat Agents, Mario Kart, and Retro Atari. I promise I won't play during the sessions I'm attending, but if you've never had the chance to test your brain age or play with the DS handheld, feel free to accost me in the hallways and ask. :)

I first wrote about Twitter in March, and while I'm still not using it much, even to keep up with my friends/ters, I keep chewing it over in my mind. It very definitely "feels" different, and I've been trying to figure out why I keep thinking there is something new there for libraries.

Besides the way this tool mashes up instant messaging, RSS, and texting (which is important in-and-of-itself), the piece I keep coming back to is the texting. Clearly I'm more interested in the SMS capabilities of Twitter than most other folks, but I don't think I'm unique in that personally I'm using text messaging from my cell phone a lot more than I used to. In December alone, I had 1,200 texts, and more and more I think of it as a preferred medium for communication because I can immediately relay my thoughts or question, and I usually get an answer back pretty quickly. It doesn't have quite the same presence indicator as instant messaging, but it's a channel I always have open to me because I always have my cell phone with me (especially now that I no longer have a landline).

One of the things I realized a couple of months ago when I got my new library card is that I wish my library would communicate with me more this way. I'm so overwhelmed with email that it's a really bad way to try to talk to me. Half the time I'm not at my desk at work, so calling me isn't always effective (although you will get a call back if you leave me voicemail). Instant messaging has been the best way to get my attention, because I'm only on when I'm truly around (as opposed to leaving it on indefinitely).

I'm more careful with my cell phone number, as I want that to always be a viable way for family and friends to reach me, but I willingly gave it to my library. They have yet to use it, though. Obviously I would prefer to get my hold and overdue notices via texting, a service that SWAN is sadly lacking. I realize I'm still in the minority of users, but I think that is changing and honestly, adding texting just can't be that difficult.

So naturally I've been wondering if there is a way for my library to use Twitter to bridge this gap to get them into my flow. David Lee King has been thinking along these same lines, as I found out when we IMed last week. He wants to hook up Twitter to his catalog to send those hold and overdue notices, so I'm looking forward to more pioneering work from him on that front (no pressure there, David!).

But any library that wants to experiment with texting doesn't have to wait for a programmer or wait until there is money in the budget. That's one of the biggest benefits of a lot of these 2.0 tools - anyone can try them for free, including libraries. I'll grant that there is the cost of staff time, but we're not talking about an upfront expenditure for software or hardware the way we traditionally do when we implement new library services.

So here's my theory and the reason for this post. I've already thought out loud about one possible way for a library (or consortium of libraries) to use Twitter, but I think an enterprising library that wants to test out a texting service, especially with teens, could create a free Twitter account and publicize it as an alert notification system. In fact, I think a library could create multiple Twitter accounts and offer a variety of alert services this way. You could text new events to various groups (teens, parents, gamers, homeschoolers, etc.), as well bestseller notifications (Hennepin County Library). It would take some manual work to send out the alerts each time a new title is announced or arrives, but it might be worth it, depending on your community and users. After all, I expect that if a library had offered this type of service for the announcement of the new Harry Potter title, at least a few folks would have taken them up on the offer.

And maybe that's what you do - experiment with this for "really big" announcements. Maybe something related to the summer reading program, I don't know - what's big at your library, especially with the demographic that would be interested in texts? I think this could be even more interesting at an academic library or a high school library (helllllooooo distance learners and class project participants).

One issue to think about would be to make sure users know there could be charges from their cell phone company for texting (although I'm guessing that the folks who sign up for this service already have unlimited texting). Overall, though, it could be a great way to play in the mobile flow of your users at a low cost and low barrier to entry. Plus, don't forget that you get an RSS feed users could subscribe to, as well as the ability to display those alerts in a Twitter box on your home page.

I know everyone's already overworked and understaffed, but I do think Twitter represents a new level of communication and interaction among online and mobile users, in the same way that social networking sites are having an impact on information flow and user expectations. While I'm not advocating for every library to try this, it's important that if you can't play with this kind of technology right now, you at least look at it (remember - free accounts!) in order to understand how these things are incrementally changing again.

An important alert that appeared in my email this weekend.

"Dear Librarians,

We would like each of you to be aware of House Bill 1727 which is being proposed for legislation in the State House. HB 1727 would mandate that all public access Internet computers be filtered for children, teens and adults. This bill would also require filters on all library staff computers as well. As you can imagine, the ramifications of this bill to libraries, librarians, and patrons would be totally unreasonable and will affect library usage across the state of Illinois.

The concerns about House Bill 1727 are twofold. We truly believe that library boards are cognizant of their individual community's needs. Libraries have a good understanding of their clients and it should be up to the individual library boards to decide what kind of service their community desires.

This proposed bill is also considered bad law in that even libraries that already offer filtering or will, in good faith, try to comply with this law will be subject to lawsuits, fines, and criminal prosecution. The restrictions set forth on librarians to sign oaths and suffer criminal prosecution for perjury are disturbing. No one is able to determine what could offend any individual at any time. Giving patrons the right to sue us for what they perceive to be obscene is unreasonable. This bill stipulates $100 a day fines for non-compliance and the cost in attorney fees would be staggering. Libraries cannot afford this and would be forced to deny Internet access to their patrons. Additionally, the stipulation that anyone under 21 must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older to use an unfiltered computer is ill-conceived. We ask eighteen-year-olds to vote and serve in Iraq for their country but won't allow them the freedom to search the Internet.

We hope you can see the ramifications of this bill to libraries and to the people who need their local library for Internet access. Please contact your local representative immediately to voice your concern over this bill.

You may search for your officials through the following website:
www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or check the ILA website.

Thank you,
The Librarians at the Orland Park Public Library"

7 Great Careers for 2007

"Librarian. Forget about the image of librarian as mousy bookworm. Today's librarian is a high-tech information sleuth, a master of mining cool databases (well beyond Google) to unearth the desired nuggets. Plus you'll probably have regular hours and good job security. See the American Library Association's Web site or The Librarian's Career Guidebook, by Priscilla Shontz, and Straight from the Stacks: A First-Hand Guide to Careers in Library and Information Science, Laura Townsend Kane." [Kiplinger.com]

Making Library Ringtones

"I found a cool site where you can mix your own ringtones and make cell phone backgrounds. Myxer costs nothing to mix and upload. Standard download rates from your mobile service provider apply.

I used excerpts from a Monty Python skit and the 1946 Librarian training film for these two that our library will be offering for national Library week. Feel free to share and use.

You can download them here. http://www.myxertones.com/artist/683450/." [Chadwick Seagraves on the Library 2.0 Network]

I love this idea, and it's got me thinking about my own ringtones again. I might just have to make one out of The Bookshop Sketch. Even better, though, would be an audio version of this.

I love Chad's thinking - ringtone giveaways for NLW. What a great idea!

I know most libraries are still working on a text-based, instant messaging reference service, but others keep pushing the envelope. For example, last week at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference, Char Booth from Ohio University's Alden Library did a short presentation about a video IM reference service pilot project they've implemented.

You can view the slides from her presentation here to get a sense of what they're doing. I wish I had been there to hear Char add context, though. Perhaps she'll make a video explaining some of the details. :-p

I kid her because Char is one of the "emerging leaders" on the project for which I am the staff liaison, but I'm not really kidding. Char makes me feel old and fuddy-duddy with her wealth of knowledge about truly new tools and technologies.

And hey, is that Chad Boeninger in a couple of the slides? :) Why, I do believe it is. In fact, check out this class Char and Chad taught in February - Library Workshops: Social Software Basics. "In addition to showing how to use these resources, participants will discuss how these resources can be used to build online communities and their implications for the classroom."

Apparently they're doing a lot with video over there, too - check out this Video Tutorial: Adding Library Resources to Blackboard Courses and the Ask the Techies vidcast.

Glenn Peterson has been doing a lot of great things with Hennepin County Library's web presence (see also Bookspace among other things).

In my recent presentations about patron participation and library websites, I've been pointing out that there are already 60 comments on the prepub record for the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which isn't even due until July. That's some pent-up demand for sharing thoughts in the library catalog!

Cool - real world FRBR! I can't wait to see what happens next in HCL's catalog. :)

Erik and Jaap, our February visitors from the public library in Delft, Holland, returned home safely and quickly got to work putting together the 40-minute documentary they filmed about innovation in libraries, particularly around gaming. It premiered a couple of weeks ago to great reviews, and now they're working on an English version. Until it's ready, you can watch a trailer on the DOK website. Catch a glimpse of Michael Stephens wii bowling and Clare and me playing Guitar Hero. Cool!

Hit play when the trailer ends and you'll see their interview with staff from the Kankakee Public Library about podcasting.

Pictures of gaming at DOK here.

Thanks, guys - we miss you!