Tech Tools for Library Outreach

 links to be added

Paul Pival
Chad Boeninger

Outreach is fostering relationships with people unconnected with the organization
Why provide outreach?
We must be where people are…

Blogs,
WP Polls plugin for Word Press blogs
can use blogs as a knowledge base

Wiki
teach classes from wiki content
online “handout” of course materials

Facebook
use it to make yourself accessible/approachable
link to your profile
import info from blogs, etc. into facebook
occasionally gets reference questions in facebook

Chat
Meebo
Pigeon – plugin connects to meebo widget
embed same meebo widget in lots of places
embed different widgets to know where people are coming from (embed one in catalog, for example, listed as “catalog help”)

Skype – VoIP
share video and audio

screencasting
jingproject.com
capture still or video images with audio; save, embed, share
doesn’t allow editing
works with anything on your desktop

screencastomatic.com
similar, web-based tool
browser capture only?

Knowledge Base Publisher
open source
for FAQs, etc.
See stats on views of each FAQ “article”
user ratings
glossary
customers can submit a question
provides suggested answers as well as place to email questions?
Easily add questions from customers to the knowledge base

Building Web 2.0 Native Library Services

Casey Bisson

Student: Sociology of Education; Librarian: Educational Sociology
“Bagged Products”

Challenges to our catalogs:
usability
findability
remixability

Web 2.0 is made of people
Zogby poll: 24% say Internet can take the place of a significant other, at least for awhile

Transactional memory (study of couples) – couples learn what each other can remember
buildi
photo matching with contacts – id based on profile

The Web is powerful
when developed, realm of academics, then business, then became something other than what we predicted

metaphor: transportation: drive-through restaurants where people drive through and then sit in car in parking lot to eat

primacy of automobile is that it allows individuals to go where they want (as opposed to mass transit)

economics of plenty rather than economics of scarcity
Linux – IBM saves 900,000,000 because of linux

Web is evolutionary

Lessons from Web 2.0
We get one chance to prove that we’re not stupid
we’re trying to bend old systems to meet current needs, without fixing them
search boxes are for asking question
can you include search tips or guides in your results
links are citations
We are not the center of the universe
people use info from all different sources, and send it out in different ways
YouTube “easy embed code”
It should be easier for our customers to link to our catalogs
Valid, clean, semantic markup is essential
Sites that allow comments value their users
Your website is not a marketing tool…it’s a service point

Scriblio
faceted search and browsing tool
based on WordPress
free, open source
set of plugins for WordPress that lets you connect with library catalog/website
catalog importer
has III importer!!!
really ILS agnostic

Mashups and Data Visualizations

links to be added

Darlene Fichter

The eyes only see what the mind comprehends

web 1.0
people who knew html
programmers

web 2.0
everyone can participate
don’t need to know html (blog, wiki)
citizen journalists, stock photo sites

DIY Programming
5 minute customization of applications
no longer the purview of techno elite

Mashup: a web application that uses content from more than one source to create a new service
uses api or rss feed
term comes from pop music

ecosystem:
open data
open set of services & apps (APIs)
Us

programmable web – mashup dashboard
most mashups involve maps (also photos, shopping)

Web 2.0 implications
fastest growing ecosystems
don’t have to get anybody
s approval to provide a new API to the Internet operating systems
Content that can be repurposed and remixed gets used

mashup tools:
Yahoo maps
Frappr
Google Maps
Yahoo Pipes
Popfly

Frappr – map of blogging librarians – social applications, identifies communities
uses google API and community contributed content

community walk – good for showing tours

Google My Maps
go to maps.google.com
click on My Maps
add pushpins plus notes, photos, to create a map
Embed the code in your library site
library branches
historical buildings
locations in stories

chocomap.com
google API and Directory data

McMaster Aerial Photos
Google API and library photo index data

Western Springs History
easy for anyone who edit some html or xml files
Google API and location of historic buildings
need production API key or developer code

Yahoo Pipes
Powerful, but more complicated
Tutorial

http://mrspeaker.webeisteddfod.com/2007/…

Cambridge public library
Top 20 new books
Syndetics – book covers
data – top 20 new books

Unintended consequences
Garbage in, garbage out
client side scripts that modify pages
-al instances of Microsoft on any site are rewritten to say “…”

Visualization Tools
newsmap
Facets as elastic lists

Social sites for data visualizations
allows new kind of data analysis
both curious and serious, statistician and citizen
important new medium

in a nutshell:
an individual should get value from their contribution
contribtions should provide value to peers as well
organization that hosts the sites should derive some benefits and derviv aggregate data

Swivel
drill down to see data

Many Eyes
view and discuss visualizations, create visualizations from existing data sets
register to upload own data

Trendalyzer/Gapminder

Screencasting & elearning on a shoestring

 links to be added

Slideshare
zoho show (can work offline)
google presentations

drupal chat – works around filters and firewalls
single party clients –
AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Gtalk
Group chat requires some knowledge
Have to have an account for specific platform
often blocked by firewalls

Third party clients
Can talk to multiple protocol chats
run AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber all at once
requires download

Meebo
multi-client
doesn’t require download

Group clients
Anyone can participate without login or account
can be made private if desired
Similar to IRC channel
easy to access
Often embeddable in website
Campfire
MeeboRooms

Blogs
Blogger – hosted, has added a lot of features
can have your own domain
Word Press
.com, .org, .MU
Open source
flexibility
Akismet
importing
posts to the future
auto saves

Movable type
non-hosted
free for personal use, but not multiple users
fees for support, etc.
integrates with your authentication system
junk mail file
tags and widgets
email notification

Screencasting
Camtasia
Can have
true video
PPT
Screencapture
blended together

Complex to use

Can export to
Flash
Quicktime
AVI
RealMedia
iPod video

Macromedia captivate
Simple to use
Exports as flash
not full motion screen capture

Camstudio
Free
Open Source
Windows only
Very simplistic
Exports as AVI of Flash

iShowU
Mac
Exports to lots of different formats
captures screen and voice

Blip.tv
place to store screencasts
can post to blog
allows you to archive at Internet Archive
Make a flash file for viewing
keeps your original

Webcasting
most expensive part of any project
tools are expensive – created for businesses
OPAL – online programming for all libraries
only works with PC and IE

DimDim
open source
installed, free (techie only)
hosted, $8/month
browser based
multi-user chat
records and archives
No mac, but works with IE and Firefox

Zoho meeting
free, while in beta
person who’s running it has to have install
works on everything
broadcasts presenter’s computer to attendees

Vmukti Meeting Place
free, open source
no install
open or private meetings
audio, video, web conferencing
must install and run on server with a MySQL database
support is free but there is installation support for $100

Podcasting
Audacity
create audio files
import existing audio
edit
trim, adjust levels, fade in and out
Create MP3
Set IDE tags

OurMedia
can upload audio or video
create a podcast feed
add content to the Internet, archive automatically if desired
Apply creative commons license to your work
Feedburner
create feed for podcasts
add information for iTunes
keep stats of subscribers

iTunes University
organize content by course
upload audio files
add/edit track IDE tags

Podpress
Wordpress plugin
create a podcast feed off a wordpress blog
upload audio files
collect stats
add podcast to iTunes and other directories
embed audio in blog

http://www.librarywebchic.net
wanderingeyre.com

Content & Commons: library 2.0 organizational strategies

Terry Huwe

Many interpretations = opportunity
Some questions for all organizations:

• can you foretell what classroom or library will look like in five years?
• Offices?
• Org charts?

Some challenges to face:

• we need to do more of the same, only better
• we need new roles as well

“Technologies of collaboration” are now mainstream

• it’s now vital to view technology as an enabler of community and respond accordingly
• good news: most professionals have embraced web 2.0
• but it’s crucial to build a strategy
• physical space has a new life

The 2.0 tools go well with legacy systems and are also driving space planning

Library commons is powerful

• how students work today is different from even a few years ago
• multitasking
• leverage technology

IRLE

• grand old building
• manage listservs, web presence, desktop publishing
• parley service into new space

Know the organizational setting

• disciplines collapsing
• multi-disciplinary research

Our community in context

• organized research unit at UCB
• support faculty research and doctoral-level study

Volunteered to

• run web, intranet and extranets
• become publishers of print & digital publications
• manage online conversations
• take the lead in introducing many new technologies

But 2.0 stretched imaginations

• blogging, webcasting, webconferencing, wikis
• webzine of enews (evolved from email newsletter)
• News blog – subscribes to topical news and posts it on blog for research
• from webcasts to podcasts – conference presentations are online
  • podcasts more popular than webcasts (80/20)
  • odeo – cheap alternative before committing resources

Stuff on our radar

• social bookmarking
• instant messaging
• facebook and second life
  • but only when these 2.0 tools become relevant to the organization are they implemented

The Library commons

• in academic settings, it’s a major feature for design
• fits well with 2.0 technologies
• integrated projectors
• wifi
• easy furniture
• cozy setting, good light, good place to hang out and read or work
• surprised by getting more money for print materials because of new space
• integrated environment
• information gateway – 5 PCS and 1 imac, sheet feeding scanner – anyone can come in and use the equipment
• commons helped calm a fractious environment

What we’ve learned about organizations and library 2.0

• infopros have an edge in understanding how content “feeds” communities
• IT depts. Don’t always see potential
• direct oversight of networked information and programming skill is very important
• recreational and business computing are merging, but not as fast as some think
• the larger the (academic) library, the slower the implementation process, so be a self-starter
• given that situation, individuals need to take big steps, even risks
• emphasizes individual voices

Trends to watch:

• How much authoring is going on where you work?
• What are they saying in the disciplienes
• create focus groups
• implement an interactive feature
• understand the organizational culture

Reference 2.0: Ain’t what it used to be…

…And it never will again

Joe Janes

(fabulous, thought-provoking, funny presentation; no slides!)

Samuel Green 1876 – 1st article that talks about reference

• problem is that there is too much information and people can’t find it
• we need to step in and help people

special libs led the way for reference, followed by public, then academic

Now, there really is too much stuff, and people CAN find it, or they can find something, and there are lots of ways to get help – where does reference fit it?

• Traditional reference service has to change
• Worth assuming that everything eventually will be in digital form
• Our world is ever more digital, and there are new ways of searching (horizontal, federated, deep dive)

James Wire: They will choke and die in front of you before they tell you what they want

How do we insert reference into this world?
Don’t bitch about wikipedia – get out there and edit it.

We are made for depth, quality, accuracy – for people who care or who can be made to care – we can respond to their needs

There are people who would prefer to be helped but may not know we exist

Find the niches where our strengths fit
Stop chasing things you can’t catch (google) – instead provide high-quality service to the people we can help

“individually communal life” – connected by various electronic means to people far and wide
every act of creation is just a way of saying “i want to be heard; I was here; I matter”

Participatory tools: no end product – no finish; the point is the participation
we have to live where our communities are living
we have to be heard and seen

Everything that happens in Second Life is about creation; answering reference questions is really not the point

• Help people make their creative works more usable
• we need to be more easily found
• You need to be somewhere and everywhere (somewhere: provide place for storytime, study rooms, etc. – the physical space); and need to be everywhere as well, with web presence, etc.
• Concept of the library is so much bigger and more powerful than the building

Make sure you are counting online use (web hits, databases, etc.) and use it to justify more money
in this increasingly digital world, people are helping each other, except…

Segmentation of our population:

• for the people who are diving deep, specialized , willing and able to wait – we do reference and research
  • for now, print is our secret weapon (but shouldn’t be a secret), will change as the years go by
  • Print won’t go totally away, but will decrease as the years pass
  • Method over material – the stuff doesn’t matter, use whatever is appropriate
• For people who don’t want depth, don’t want to wait – move them forward – give them a search tip, citation, etc. Someone else can help them with the next step
• For the tendril people (connectors); help them tend the network (e.g. Slam the Boards) – lead by example
  • working between generations, keep in mind that everything will stop eventually – it’s not us against them
• for people who are not information users, let them know we are there, but leave them alone

Don’t present yourself in a pigeon hole
The old days are not coming back

We have to be better online
Once they walk in the door, they’ve committed, but online they can be gone in a heartbeat – we have to be better online than in person

Overall win – more people getting more information they want – how do we help that be more effective?
Be confident, but not complacent – there’s a lot more to be done
There are more and better opportunities

User Generated Content

Josh Petrusa and Meredith Farkas

Josh:

Web 1.0: democratized access to information
Web 2.0: democratized participation

User-generated content: comments, ratings, tags, audio/video, blog posts, photos, etc.

Why?

• we don’t know everything
• insufficient metadata
• findability and refindability
• stories people tell about items are of value
• interaction w/ materials creates a more personal connection
• people are already doing it – take advantage of behaviors that people are already using

Tags:

• user-created descriptive metadata
• folksonomy – system of organizing through tagging
• many ways to describe (how will people search?)
• the more agreement in the tag, the more useful in searching

Why tags?

• lets people make sense of content using their own vocabulary
• helps people re-find their own content
• helps people find new content
• good solution for content that can’t be formally cataloged

Why not?

• no control
• people can use plural or singular words, dashes, underscores, etc.
• multiple terms to describe a single concept
• no disambiguation
• people tag selfishly
• people tag incorrectly

Improving tagging

• popular & suggested tags (del.icio.us)
• flickr: cluster/context

Meredith:

Examples of user-generated content:

• comments on photo archives
• use flickr to organize photos in pools
• library thing
• Hennepin County bookspace
• PennTags (U. of Penn.)
• RocWiki
• Evolver (Denver Public Teens – YouTube contest)

Issues:

• moderation
• technology issues – how to make it happen
• differentiating between user content and institutional content
• make it easy and appealing to contribute
• let people do what they want with their content (export, RSS, etc.)
• if you build it, will they come? evaluate your user population

Presentation available at: meredithfarkas.wetpaint.com

Cool tools for webmasters

Darlene Fichter and Frank Cervone

**update: links added**

Communicating ideas
sketchcast.com – drawing and audio
jingproject.com – capture and share images on screen

• use when showing works better than telling
• just in time demos – canned screens for common how-to questions

picnik – online photo editor, plugin for IE or Firefox

• allows capture of full page, not just what appears on screen

Just for fun!
Kerpoof – make online cartoons, movies, pictures

Other power point sharing sites;

• slideshare.net – presentation sharing
• scribd
• splashcast – combine ppt, mp3, images
• zoho show
• slideaware

thumbalizr.com
capture screen or page image

Visual pagerank

IBM Unstructured Information Modeler

• analyze unstructured data sets
• automatically classify and create categories
• works for 1000 – 10,000 records

Utilities
diffdaff.com

• compare differences in two different directories (e.g. Hard drive and thumb drive) using graphical interface
• logview

SOAP Sonar

• testing and analyzing web services http://www.crosschecknet.com
• web services functional testing
• complex SOAP WSDL support

Evolved
text editor – adapts to a large number of programming languages; color codes different languages and elements

Perl Express

Fun with Images

• Flash Slideshow Maker
• Flashgallery Generator
  • allows customization of slideshow based on context

Search and Indexing

• Google sitemap builder
  • makes sure google indexes everything on your site

Open source federated searching

• Library Find (Oregon state)
• dbWiz (Simon Fraser University)
• Masterkey (index data)

IBM Omnifind Yahoo edition

• Supports up to 500,000 documents
• go from installer to searching in minutes
• easy to use graphical tools to configure look and feel
• configurable synonyms and featured links increase relevancy
• download and install on server

Google Coop CSE
good site integration

OpenURL referrer Toolbar
doesn’t go away when you delete cookies

Flog Blog

Freedom
Pack your own browser
Portable Firefox – bundled with portable apps to take bookmarks, extensions, passwords

asterisk logger v.1.02 – reveal stored passwords
undelete – recovers deleted files, unerases lost data
unstoppable copier – recover all bytes from scratched cds
simple file shredder – securely delete files so they can’t be restored
KeePass – store all your passwords in one database, locked with one master key

Recent Trends in Federated Search

Frank Cervone and Jeff Wisniewski

what is federated search?

• Searches multiple databases at once and presents results
• problems with relevancy in result sets

usage overall is going up

marketplace is in flux > consolidation
It’s a mess!

federated search as one module of a larger effort to integrate all content into a single discovery tool
now work with next-gen OPACs:

• worldcat local
• primo
• aquabrowser
• encore

open source strategies

• Library Find (Oregon state)
• dbWiz (Simon Fraser University)
• Masterkey (index data)

encore from III – has phrase tag cloud, not just word tag cloud; connects to indexing for records
Primo – university of iowa

Looking outside of libraryland

• like something out of Deuteronomy (lots of begats)
• universal repository interfacing > automatic taxonomy generation

endeca: doesn’t count…it’s just the catalog
Siderian
seamark navigator
information mining of MARC records, etc. to illuminate relationships

Enhanced tools
open url referrer

Trends

• number of vendors shrinking, open source options increasing
• Progress on the standards front
  • sru/srw, OpenSearch
  • Resources migrating to xml information feeds
  • SRU searching is becoming more common, better control of search parameters
  • z39.50 is still the most prevalent
• Holistic approach to content
• more affordable turnkey solutions
• data pre-processing options
  • to avoid distributed query model problems
  • harvesting of index data
  • speeds up searches
  • normalizes searches
• inscreased use of visualization and clustering
  • encore, primo, aquabrowser
• greater possibilities for off-site hosting

WebFeat and Serials Solutions doing the most right now in terms of turnkey solutions

self-renewal?
Games: you can stop and save your current location, or go back to where you got off track and go to a new path – need to think about this in terms of our systems > flexible and forgiving

New Rules for Web Design

Jeff Wisniewski

Jeff looked at some of the old “rules” of web-design and discussed whether or not they are still relevant.

Design is an inexact science, but there are decades of research in usability, credibility, interface design, and hci; a lot of questions have been answered

Simplicity rules?

• rich and interactive
• RIAs
• the user experience

depends on functions – google can be simple because they have essentially one function; we need to give our users a richer experience

Content is king

• But, design matters A LOT
• novice users judge superficially and quickly!
• Professional design = increased credibility

All content is created equal?

• Design for what your users are doing
• emphasize the highest priority tasks so that users have a clear starting point – Nielsen

By the numbers:
Rule of Seven (categories manageable by users):

• guideline, not a rule
• persuasive evidence both ways
• answer depends on context
• more than 9 – maybe your site lacks focus?

3 click rule:

• is dead
• design for SCENT
• users will happily click so long as they feel they are on the right path

Design for 800×600

• NO! optimize for 1024×768
• what of other platforms? (phones, handhelds, etc.) Use CSS media types
• flexible as opposed to fixed design

Color:

• majority users browse with 24-bit color rendering
• RIP websafe palette? Still consider:
  • file size
  • alternative platforms

For redesign inspiration:

• DON’T check other library websites!!
• Standards, conventions, and user expectations are established outside of library land…Jacob’s law (users spend most of time on sites other than your site)

How often to redesign?

• Constantly
• iterative, evolutionary change
• revolutionary change is disruptive
• a/b testing: post two versions of page with ONE difference (placement of item on page, e.g.);compare use
• sometimes a tear down is required
• think about major destinations on the web, amazon, ebay, yahoo, etc. – constant iterative change

Follow your own conventions

• is reference “reference” on your website (n.b. It shouldn’t be!)
• carry web conventions through physical space and other publications
• style guidelines across print & electronic media

But follow established web conventions

• home link upper left
• clickable banner
• contact us link
• placement of navigation

greater bandwidth= design freedom?

• Two trends: more high-speed access
• more non-traditional devices on relatively slower networks (apple iPhone)

I must support all browsers

• for basic content – yes!
• Accessibility is critical and the right thing to do
• for value-added content, style and interactivity?
• Graded support aka progressive enhancement

providing a text-only version of your homepage or site?

• Separate presentation and content with css and you won’t need a separate version

Avoid css for layout…it’s buggy

• yes, but no longer enough to justify not using it
• stop using tables for layout

top of page is prime real estate?

• Actually, it’s useless space…banner blindness
• Nielsen: people have a tendency to never look at a slim rectangular are that’s above the page’s main headline

Popups

• will very likely be blocked – nothing mission critical
• can be useful when linking to supporting information

Flash is evil?

• Flash introductions are evil
• Flash can be used for effective animation and interactivity
• RIAs
• Example: http://www.library.pitt.edu/etd_tutorials/

Mouseover menus

• raise usability considerations
• They’re slower, not scanable (preventing users from getting an overview)

Opening links in new browser window

• is sometimes okay: external links, non-web docs: PDFs, etc.
• help files
• TELL users
• tabbed browsers make this less of an issue

Never create an “auto forward” it breaks the back button

• server side redirects are best
• Set auto forward time high enough to allow users to use back button

Scrolling is bad

• users scroll if there is a clue that there is something below the fold
• use the fashionable “cut off” look – content doesn’t break evenly, so users have an indicator that more content exists

Keep it above the fold

• true for most important content
• 76% of users scrolled and a good portion scroll to the bottom, despite height of window

Images of people

• generally increase trust (unless they’re really good-looking people)
• naturally draw attention – this may not be a good thing…distraction
• people, labeled, increase credibility the most

RIA=rich internet application (ajax, flex technologies)

good sites & features;

• css zen garden
• google labs
• search suggest – list of possible matches as you start typing