From AL Focus, a video celebrating the first 100 years of American Libraries.

Loriene Roy:

June = the strawberry month
acknowledged the traditional owners of this land and honored the people who came before us
we have words for our relationships with each other – dreamer, tribe, clan, nation
phrases that express what we hope to work towards for the next year and the future
dreamers and predictor – young people are encouraged to find their dreams
a year of celebrating community, collaboration, and culture
the dream we are already experiencing
3 realms:
- workplace wellness; connectedness with indigenous cultures; workplace wellness task force
- possible collaborators include NLSM and LiveStrong
- Circle of Literacy
- highlight library services for immigrants, incarcerated users, indigenous children
- “Gathering of Readers”: NLW 2008; potential collaborators – indigenous organizations/publishers; PBS series in 2009
- supporting LIS culture through practice
- connect students with practitioners; potential collaborators include ALISE, ALA’s COE, graduate classes
Platforms guided by indigenous and international people
Platform outcomes - tangibles/expressions – products, publications, programs, collaborations
Projects:
- National Oral History Program (reitring librarians
- National Library Camp Feasibility Study
- Meeting effectiveness Training (podcasts)
Dreamcatchers in the program and on our tables (these were made by her mother)
were hung on cradle wards of babies so bad dreams would evaporate at dawn
let us bring out powers together to accomplish our dreams for ourselves
gave these away to one person at each table with a sticker under their plate - “this is as close as we’ll get to gaming tonight”
Showed two clips from the “We Shall Remain” PBS series that will debut next year

John Lester - Linden Labs

real people behind each avatar in Second Life
Second Life is fundamentally not a game
- it's like the web; there are games on the web, but the web itself is not a game
Linden Labs provides a platform for other people to create things
residents create all of the content

important to focus on roles and goals when thinking about SL
augmenting, not replacing
online spaces augment real ones, not replace
experiential and immersive learning
creating online what you create in real life
create tools online that help people exchange information online in real-time
connecting people together online in real time

"emotional bandwidth"
why do people use emoticons? because we constantly create emotional bandwidth
compare these to seeing facial expressions, proximity, how people clump together, etc. in Second Life
that's why it's more meaningful to meet together with friends in SL
- sense of place, sense space, sense of time together

mentioned Reuters news bureau in SL, which is covering events in-world

there's a hurricane simulator in which you can fly through a hurricane on a plane (literally, you can stand on the wing) to see what it's like

biologists working with programmers to create artificial life

place where you can say the name of a molecule, and then it pulls the molecule data off the web and displays it in-world. you can actually sit on the molecule and talk to others about particular bonds

what will the workplace of tomorrow look like?
grad students from all over the world currently meeting in-world

we see virtual reality every day - people on the bus talking on their cell phone to someone who isn't there; they're living somewhere other than on the bus at that moment

3D printing is already here

challenge of new media
when you're thinking of the future, it's not necessarily going to be like the present - don't know how we'll leverage new tools

we are bound by our biology
our brains evolved to learn how to navigate a 3D environment
they're geared to communicate and create shared experiences, to learn with other people
our brains embrace tools
they're really good at taking pieces of data and making a whole
when people say it's just images on a screen, it's not real, it's partial data that becomes a cognitive whole

Librarians 2.0

------------------

Eli Neiburger - Ann Arbor District Library

Libraries as conversations with gamers

58% of US adult population never reads another book after high school (publishers survey; may read newspapers, etc., but not books)
our market is 42%
69% of heads of household play games, though
they're part of our society

just because we haven't gotten into this yet, doesn't mean we can't

went through some demographics that show it's not just teenage boys
becoming more ubiquitous with each generation
according to Pew, more teenagers play games than instant message (email, games, then IM - email actually went down 3%, too!)
went up 66% to 81%

young kids are into pokemon, which has been around for 10 years
latest game sold 10 million copies in one week, though - not old hat for kids
they have thousands of lines of text in them - more than they get in school curricula
- and with these, they want to read *every single line*
- requires significant text literacy

gamers as parents
want to play with their kids because they grew up with it, too

now have senior gamers
retirement homes are buying Nintendo Wiis and having bowling tournaments
AADL has had some all ages events with parents and grandparents

providing gaming is like storytime - adding a social element to pieces of content
if swap a book with Mario Kart, it's the exact same thing
they've found that they can have interactions with their patrons that were impossible in other ways and formats

showed a video of a girl talking positively about gaming in the library
at a retro event, she talked about root beer tap and how much she loved it; her parents had been "bosses at it" when they were kids
- she loved doing the color commentary for events

online conversations
having their name on a blog is like having their name in the newspaper because they don't read newspapers

some parents say their kids never experienced competitive success like this before in a social environment before because our culture is so focused on athletics
- external validation they didn't get anywhere else
- helps them "come out of their shell"

9500 comments from the gamers

eli has conversations with them about the tournaments on the blog
hold the kids to high standards in these discussions
"this sucks" doesn't cut it - have to be able to clearly articulate points to be persuasive

"video game events are like a gateway drug for libraries" - one gamer said this about AADL's tournaments

--------------------

Kitty Pope

people are the content of websites

1. communication tool
- real people in real time
- reachint out to new customers
- attracting 5,000 people a day to Info Island for a variety of reasons
- Alliance has staff meetings every two weeks in Second Life
- lots of programs and exhibits
- avatars are inquisitive because people are inquisitive
- recently held a program with Henry VIII and his first two wives; crowd heckled him and asked him questions about why he did it
- almost crashed SL when Stephen King was in-world talking about his books
- now getting requests from publishers to do programs in-world to launch titles

2. distance education tool for academics
- 250 active academic institutions in SL now

3. training and learning tool
- more interesting and immersive interface than traditional learning management systems

4. extended reference service (not all about books)
- a year and a half out, can say the books and like content are the pieces SL residents want
- libraries need to be there for that and more

5. promotes community dialogue
- social dialogue
- creating a space for the community to meet and greet; creating emotional bandwidth

this is not for every library
doesn't fit for every community
however, there are many for which there are active presences and it does connect with folks there

-------------------

Angela Semifero, Deputy Director of Marshall (MI) District Library

works with the public every day and is increasingly helping patrons (young and older) with social networking sites

more than 106 million profiles on MySpace according to Reuters
3rd most popular website in the U.S.
had to break up a fight the other day between two kids because one posted something mean about the other on the site

despite the negative press, most people are just on ms to talk to each other
showed some different library ms sites

highly recommends doing social networking safety workshops
- always has press and parents show up when she does this
have patrons make video PSAs for your website
have book discussion group participants create character profiles

has tracked down lost family members for patrons, just because they're on myspace

------------------------

Questions

1. is google doing anything in SL?
A. John: not that he knows of. searching is more difficult there because so much of what's happening in SL is people meeting each other at events

2. are there archives of SL? preservation?
A. John: just not feasible to archive everything minute-to-minute. google "second life history wiki" - it's a wiki created by a bunch of residents to record things that are happening

3. her son learned how to read because of pokemon. was at a conference recently where others were meeting with folks in the room via SL that was disrupted by griefers
A. John: yes, they exist in SL, too. deal with them the same way you do in real life. in SL, you can actually mute other people, something you can't do in the real world :) can also delegate responsibilities so multiple can help with this
Kitty: have problem patrons in real life, but can also have policy for dealing with them in SL, too

4. what about legislators that want to block access to these sites via cutting funding, taking away peoples' rights? why isn't this community better organized to fight this?
A: Kitty: many presidential candidates have a presence on these sites

David Lankes (moderator): if we can enhance and create conversations via programming, avatars, tournaments, whatever - this is at the core of librarianship
we need to lead in these technologies using libraries core goals and core values
have these conversations in an enriched way
looks at all of this as a continuous conversation with our communities to ask how we can keep doing better, enriching community

Just a quick heads up that I posted some information about various online channels for ALA Annual over on the ALA Members Network on Ning. I've been trying to blog more work stuff over there, but things have been so busy that I've been even less successful there in terms of frequency than I have been here. Maybe after conference....

Also, if you're attending the big dance, please stop by the TechSource booth (across from the fancy "ALA Pavilion"), say hi, and play some video games with us (every hour on the hour). I've got the Playstation 2 and the Wii packed up and ready to go. I've only got two wiimotes and nunchuks, though, so if you're a Wii owner and you want to play four-person tennis or other multi-mote game, please feel free to bring more of each. :)

The videos from AL Focus keep coming. Here's the latest one, which follows a print column on its journey through the publishing process for American Libraries magazine. It goes nicely with Jenni's post over on the ALA Editions blog about 24 Weeks to a Finished Book, which explains how a manuscript grows up to become an ALA Editions book.

There are also a couple of new interviews in the ALA in Focus series, as well as A Very Special Episode of The Wheel of Confusion series titled The Longest Acronym Ever???

There probably won't be much new video on the site until after everyone returns from Annual with the footage they've shot, so hopefully this will help you pass the time until then. :)

How would you feel if your social tools weren't so social, deciding for you what you can and can't see? Unfortunately I don't have time to write this up properly, but there's a big controversy surrounding Flickr in Singapore, Germany, Korea, and other countries. Where are the protests taking place? On Flickr, of course. Fascinating viewing in a 2.0 world.

Keep in mind that in the context of restricting what you can view, this is what legislators are trying to do in this country's libraries. (Thanks, Kay)

For the 2007 TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, we tried to offer sessions for the full range of knowledge about gaming, from the newbie who doesn't even play video games herself to the expert gamer who is already offering gaming in the library. If you fall into the former group, especially if you want to know how to get started, we've got a great line-up of experts to help you.

• Growing a Gaming Group
  
  Amy Alessio, Joe Torres, Jason Larson (Schaumburg Township District Library)
  
  "Create a Gaming Advisory Board at your school or public library. Presenters will demonstrate equipment used on a variety of platforms, and outline activities used with a monthly gaming group. Work with a Gaming Group to revolutionize your digital collections, online presence, programming for younger gamers and more."


• Building a Gaming Community and a Game Friendly Environment
  
  Donald G. Dennis (Game Lab, Information Institute of Syracuse at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies)
  
  "Game environments for traditional and modern board games, card games, RPGs, or even electronic games are not the traditional domain of libraries. Games are, by and large, an interactive activity. Formal and informal communities have developed around board games, card games, RPGs (role playing games), or even electronic games.

  This presentation will discuss physical and social issues library facilities must consider to best facilitate games programs - physical needs, developing game collections suitable for your existing library environment, tapping into game communities, and exploiting industry resources. Dennis will discuss outreach to local clubs, companies, area events, and game industry organizations."



• How’d They do That? A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a Gaming Program at Your Library
  
  Kelly Laszczak (Orland Park Public Library), Dan Braun (Worth Public Library), Alex Tyle (Homer Township Public Library District)
  
  "You know gaming is good for libraries, but you have no idea how to start a gaming program. Have no fear, this presentation will give you a step-by-step guide for setting up Dance Dance Revolution tournaments, Halo 3 tournaments, and online discussion groups for teens. Learn what equipment you need to purchase from the right video game console for your library, games that work well for the library, and additional equipment including dance pads and wireless controllers. Also, find out how to create a successful gaming program on a limited budget."


• Getting Gaming On The Table, In the Conversation and Running at Locations
  
  Julie Scordato (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
  
  "How do you get a library from “Surely you can’t mean video games at my library?” to, “When am I getting video games at my library!”

  In December 2006, the Columbus Metropolitan Library Board of Trustees approved a budget of $25,000 to bring gaming equipment to each of its 21 locations as a major teen services programming initiative. This presentation will look at how we went from sending two librarians to the Chicago MLS gaming symposium in December 2005 to unrolling gaming system wide for Teen Tech Week 2007.

  The focus is on cultivating staff buy-in from teen services staff and branch managers to resounding support from administration. It’s a "How do you get from here to there with gaming in a large system?" discussion. Focus will be on verbal presentation and how to convince staff in person, at meetings and in other venues that gaming is a vibrant addition to library service for teens. We will also cover gaining support through formal proposals. Creating the right kind of proposal can go a long way getting administrations on board. I'll cover main themes to think about when creating the proposal that will appeal to your organization.

  Any conference participants who would like to send specific points of resistance they see with their staff can email me in advance until July 1st at jscordato@columbuslibrary.org

  Put 'resistance' in the subject line. "

But wait, there's more! View all of the sessions here, and check out the preliminary program is here.

Improving the American Library Association

"How’s this for a soundbyte? 'ALA needs to focus on libraries and librarians, and we’re pledging to push the conversation where it needs to be.' "

Aaron the Librarian pulls together recent threads about ALA and starts a more cohesive discussion using specific questions to jumpstart the conversation. He (and others) hope you will contribute to the discussion on the new Improve ALA Wiki (the password is the initials of said organization).

I've been learning a lot about ALA during the last year, and this plan is doable if enough members want to make it happen.

Brandee turned me on to the fact that the North Suburban Library System has created a Facebook app that lets users add a search box for the Digital Past online history collection. Adding it is the same as with any other FB app, and the search box works like any other.

What really impressed me, though, is that when you run a search, you're not thrown out of Facebook into the Digital Past site. Instead, you stay in Facebook to browse the results, and if you find an image you really like (or that has a special meaning for you), you can actually add that image to your profile, along with a little note about it. That's pretty darn cool, and it's a great way to let users mashup library-generated content outside of library websites. I hope to see more apps like this that let our content live out in the world, rather than forcing users back into ours every time. Nicely done.

Brandee also wonders if this kind of thing would appeal to genealogy buffs and researchers. If there was a historical picture of my house when it was first built, or if I could post a picture of some of the places I hung out as a kid, I would definitely create my own personal "history" album within Facebook using library resources that provided these things.

Back on the Digital Past site, I expect we'll see them add links on the individual records that let users add any image to their Facebook profiles, as well as space for user comments. :)

Here's another thing I've been dying to blog about from work - say hello to AL Focus, the new video arm of American Libraries magazine. You've seen some teaser videos during the last couple of months, but now you can also watch a new series we're calling "The ALA Wheel of Confusion," all on the new site. Here's the first one.

All of ALA's videos will be aggregated on the AL Focus site, and you can create an account on it (unfortunately separate from other ALA logins, but someday...) if you want to rate or comment on videos, as well as create playlists. You can also grab the embed code if you want to display a video on your own site. We're still posting the files on our blip.tv account in case you prefer that site or have an existing blip login.

Important stuff in no particular order:

• RSS feed here


• Press release here


• Feedback welcome on the AL Focus site (you can also email alfocus@ala.org).

Thanks to the ALA staff members who played along with our little game (and whom we hope to play with in the future), as well as the ones who have been game for the interview series ALA in Focus. More to come in this series and others.

For me, Karen Schneider is a friend, a mentor, and the kind of person I want to be when I grow up (should that ever actually happen). I can't think of a bad piece of advice she's ever given me, she always makes me laugh, she's talked me down from the vortex ledge numerous times, and I have learned much from her. I am "grasshopper" compared to her. So it is with great enthusiasm that I note that you can now hire her for short- or long-term jobs should you require the kinds of services she can provide.

In fact, Karen has laid out all of the different types of things she can do for you in a very honest and straightforward blog post. Those are two words that describe Karen quite well - honest and straightforward, although they're part of a long and illustrious list.

When *don't* you want to hire Karen? When you just want a "yes" person to rubber stamp what you've already decided to do, whether it's the right thing or not. That would just be a waste of her many talents. Or when you want a "no" person who defaults to skepticism and negativity because they don't understand the potential of new formats, technologies, or tools. In fact, I find Karen's mix of understanding and critical evaluation to be almost unparalleled in our profession. She has worked in a variety of types of libraries, she has a MLS she has put to good use, and her foundation for her work is a detailed understanding of our profession gained over years in the trenches, all of which qualifies her for an incredibly wide range of positions.

Unfortunately, Karen can't just up and move anywhere, but she'll make a great fit for the right distance position, group looking for a presenter, or consulting/short-term role. Could that be you? If so, please consider this to be my official endorsement for The Schneider!

Everyone has rightly been raving about North Carolina State University Libraries' implementation of the Endeca search engine as its OPAC, but it turns out that the Phoenix Public Library has also gone this route. To my knowledge, they are the first public library to do this, probably in no small part because of what I am guessing is the hefty cost of the Endeca software. (If I'm wrong about either their status as the first pl to do this or the cost of the software, please let me know in the comments!)

It's certainly an interesting implementation for a public institution. When I first pulled it up, it definitely didn't *look* like a library website. It has more of a commercial or bookstore feel, as the catalog and the website are one and the same. The home page IS the catalog and vice versa. In the middle of the page, prominently displayed, are spotlights, new book arrivals, award winners & bestsellers, and library programs & events.

There are other interface elements that make it non-library-like. The temperature display, a link to headline news, top navigation headings in plain english ("books, movies, music, downloadable, magazines & newspapers, research, learning tools, kids, teens, more), a separate link for "my bookshelf," and a link to a federated search called simply "find an article." Both the events calendar and the catalog offer RSS feeds, although one of my few quibbles with the site is the lack of a blog or other headline service about the library itself (and therefore no RSS feed for that type of information).

Of course, the really impressive part is the way you can browse the catalog. On the home page, you can start with such headings as Body, Mind, and Spirit, Cooking, and Family and Relationships in non-fiction, while fiction options include African Americans, Dogs, Domestic Fiction, and more.

Once in a category, the faceted browsing is impressive (see the Antiques & Collectibles section for a good example). Using the browse limiters in the left-hand sidebar, you can narrow by format, age level, location, language, and more. Within the search results in the middle column, you can limit to items on shelf, even at a specific branch. You can sort results by relevancy, author, availability, call number, public year, or alphabetically by title. And the whole thing is quite speedy.

Overall, I really like this site. I might make the "ask" link a little more prominent, but it does end up in the sidebar navigation at various points, which is nice. Great job, Phoenix PL! I hope to see some blog posts at some point about patron and staff response over time. ;) [Thanks, Kevin!]

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Libraries has created a Facebook app that any user can add to their profile. Wow! I've been hoping for just such a model!

Note how the app appears in my left-hand nav bar so I'm always just one click away from searching the catalog!

And I love that I found out about this in Facebook itself when Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe shared it there. Lisa, any plans to add patron data to this app (or create a separate one)? David, how did you do this? Is there a write-up somewhere? My kingdom for more details!

Addendum: I meant to note that I am happy to see the UIUC folks remembered to include a link to their live "ask a librarian," service, something I've seen others forget. It's important to get your services out in the wild where your users are, but it's equally important to remember to link back to your site and especially the "live" services you provide.

A reader has asked if I know of any libraries offering brain fitness games (such as Brain Age) for baby boomers and seniors. Actually, the question is broader to include any games that assist in improving memory and aiding cognitive function.

I don't know of any offering this as its own focus (or circulating the Nintendo DS handheld device that games such as BA would require) - do you? Anyone providing access to sites like BrainBuilder?

She's also interested in any libraries offering gaming for older adults in general, as opposed to other age groups. I did tell her that the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County got a LSTA grant last year to implement and study gaming for adults, but is anyone else targeting gaming at this audience?

Tangent: Martin House and Mark Engelbrecht from PLCMC will be discussing that LSTA grant and their findings at the TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium in July.

Update: There was a Meebo chat room here, but it was just temporary as an example for a workshop I was teaching with Michael Stephens. Some interesting links were posted in it, though, which prompted the comment attached to this post. I'm removing the chat room so that it doesn't kill folks aggregators, but here are the video links that were referenced.

• Mr. Bean: The Liberary
• Library Dominoes

You know how you hear stuff at work but it's a secret so you're not supposed to tell anybody else? Well, *finally* I can congratulate my newest colleague at ALA, David Free! Click the link to learn more and congratulate him yourself!

The first in a new series of videos from ALA called "ALA in Focus."

In this segment of "ALA in Focus," Gwendolyn Prellwitz, Program Officer at the ALA Office for Diversity & Spectrum, chats with ALA Manager for Membership Development John Chrastka.... Read more

I love the look on John's face for the still image on the video. :-p

[via Miguel on the FacebookAppsForLibraries group on Facebook

ALA Member Initiative Groups

"Virtual Communities and Libraries is a proposed ALA Member Initiative Group (MIG) currently soliciting signatures from ALA members interested in seeing a formal group within the Association formed around the role and visibility of libraries and library workers in virtual communities. These signatures will be presented on June 26, 2007 to the ALA Committee On Organizations(COO) at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC....

The 'Statement of Purpose' for Virtual Communities and Libraries will be presented to COO for their consideration, provided that at least 100 ALA members sign and return the petition. The Statement reads:

To provide a group within ALA for members interested in fostering the practice of library work, the visibility of libraries and library workers, and the extension of library services within online social networks, virtual worlds, and other communities of intention. To provide a mechanism for sharing experiences and practices in-person or virtually through programming or asynchronous communications. To encourage wider participation by the profession and the association in virtual worlds. and To establish a forum across all types of libraries and at all levels of library employment concerned with the development of library services in emerging social networks, virtual worlds, and other communities of intention. This group is open to all members."

If you'd like to see a member group talking about this stuff, consider printing out the form, signing it, and sending it in. Alternatively, if you're going to be at the Annual conference, you can come by the ALA Membership Pavilion on the exhibit floor to sign the petition (booth 2525, which will be near the TechSource gaming booth!).

Unfortunately, the member-generated by-laws dictate that this stuff has to be done on paper. Therefore, only members can change this.