Share and share alike

We are told that cloud computing is the future and you can see the pros of being able to access your documents whenever or wherever you are.  But of course there are negatives as well to do with security and permanence (and interestingly reading one of the help guides on Google docs it did say that a document may have a private setting but be visible on the web and you have to change a different setting to prevent that). 




One of the big advantages to the Google docs type site is the ability to share documents and work in colloboration.  I have not used google docs much but I have used the equivalent on Yahoo (is it safe to mention that?) about 4 years ago.  I was doing a course and we had to do a group project creating a booking system for a hotel.  Our tutor set up a group for us on Yahoo which is still there!

This was great as we were doing the course by evening class and only met once a week.  This site enabled us to upload documents for others to view and edit.  It also allowed our tutor to make sure we were working!  There were chat and forum options as well if we had issues to iron out.  Having taken a look at Google docs I can see that it has the same advantages for group work.  It also has the benefit of being able to create items within it rather than just uploading.  This seems very useful and I have tried creating a form to collect completely useless information from anyone who wants to give it a go here.

I would definitely use Google docs (or equivalents) when working on group projects but, of course, only if all the team is willing to sign up to Google!  I am on a committee where this was not possible and so then you are back to emails and attachments. 

Opportunity knocks

Image by whyswomen, flickr

Marketing is a tricky thing, especially as most people link it with advertising.  You have to get your message across to a diverse group of users who all have different needs.  The social media business card article by Illinois Libraries made a good point when they said that one of the strengths of librarians is their personal relationship with their readers - added value to the service, if you like.   Social media allows you to "build" up this relationship with those people making use of your services but not actually entering the physical space.  It is also informal in many ways which may suit sections of your customers more than others.


Libraries definitely need to promote their services more - even core ones that seem obvious to us but not the users.  I think social media may help here as it is quick to distribute updates and links to anything from a new book to a training event.   When your message is not getting across you need to try a different method and with the rapid changes in social media it is an opportunity to try something new.  If it doesn't work you haven't invested alot of money just some time (always precious though).

Enquire

I know this is about marketing and not advertising but I think more of that should go on in the libraryworld.  I remember when 118 118 started advertising a service where you could call (for money) and get the answer to anything.  Great you might think and then I thought but what about the Peope's network Enquire which doesn't cost anything and is available 24 hours a day as when the UK libraries are closed other libraries round the world are on call - someone is always in the daytime.  This is a free service but how many people know about it or can find it. 

As for a strategy in my library.  I would like to create some delicious groups and make further use of the facebook page.  I am not sure that we have enough activity for a twitter feed but then reading some of the articles on marketing and I realised you can put out any daily stuff going on - doesn't always have to be a major event.  Our faculty has a twitter account and it may be possible to start by feeding some library related information via that route and see what takes off.

image by drhenkenstein, flickr

A to Zotero

Zooks, a new thing I hadn't met before and I was missing out. Zotero is great and has inspired me with all things Z!  Zorastrianism seemed to be a good place to start and once Zotero was installed it was easy to add Newton results, Jstor articles and web links for Zoraster.

Zonked out by compiling lots of references, then this is a good solution (and much simpler than endnote) as I created a fake paragraph and put in some references and a bibliography in minutes rather than the hours it seemed to take me to try Endnote.

My zodiac horoscope for today said "In your profession, you will get some new ideas that could well be of help to you"and zotero could be the answer (although it also said "Secrets could come to light in a rather unpleasant manner" so I will have to look out for that and "You're a little too easy to distract right now, and that could mean that you're losing productivity at work" - surely nothing to do with 23 things!).






Zizzy it may not be, but zotero is, I think, easy to use (once I had read the start guide) and it allows you to enhance the references with tags and notes. Zero messing around when you have a list of references to consult as you can annotate an item if the title is not explanatory and also search by tags.


Zooming onto groups, this function allows you to share references and I set up one for "23 things programmes" just listing a number of different libraries who have or are undertaking the programme, called cam23things (although you will need to login to Zotero to view the group or add to it).

image from flickr by welshwitch36

A zealous supporter of zotero, I plan to use it more but in the words of Zebedee it is now "time for bed" (well really lunch but didn't have the same ring to it).

Join the links

I have been on linkedIn for over a year now.  I was invited on and thought I would give it a go.  I don't use it alot but do follow some discussions via the CILIP group. My page:

Obviously compared to facebook there are less people on it but it is more business/work orientated.  I probably ought to use it more but do find the connections part annoying - it doesn't seem to allow for the fact that you might have a colleague not directly in your workplace and not just working on a project.  It asks you where you worked together and if it is not your current place the dates you worked together.  If you have nothing to put there you have to drop down to "friend" and then you are entering facebook territory.

I find myself a bit ambivalent about it to be honest.  I get email updates on discussions from the CILIP group and sometimes I connect to follow it further but not hugely engaged.

In your facebook

I have had a facebook account for a number of years - did nothing with it, then had a frantic 6 months on it regularly, then lapsed again.  As with a lot of the web tools I find that if you are not on it alot you get behind and then, in my case, you panic when you go back on and are faced with 76 messages.

But having said that last year we did create a library facebook page:

This started as a way to update our users on the building work in the Faculty affecting the library.  It was a quick way to get out information when we had to suddenly close the library or if it was particularly noisy on one day or when there was no heating in November!  Unlike the web page or the email lists (which lots of students don't read but which we used as well) we could get the information out quickly. We could also reach our regular visitors (not on the email lists) so that if they were planning to visit they would know if we were going to be closed.

It worked well.  Since then we have kept the page and used it to advertise when new journals are in and we are going to extend this to books.  We don't have alot of followers in relation to members of the library (139 fans - 400 members) and many are former members. 

I would not rely on it as the only means of communicating with our users but it is a fairly quick way to send updates and a good additional method that suits some people.

Murder in the librarything

Librarything I first heard about a few years ago and thought what an excellent way to load up my book collection and then never be stuck in that secondhand shop wondering if I already had a book.  I looked at it but never did anything so Thing 14 gave me the impetus. Or did it?

I created my page and decided to add the crime fiction books I have on my shelves.

I have a number of series by authors so decided I would search by author and then add all their books rather than getting each book off the shelf.  This was my first problem - I retrieved the titles but only seemed to be able to add one book then research and add another book etc.  Time consuming.  I added about 20 titles and then decided I would go on and add a review and keywords.  Again, probably missing something but I started with Dorothy L Sayers and wanted to add Lord Peter Wimsey to all the titles.  I could only see a way to go in individually but probably missing something.  

So I started with Gaudy Night and edited the entry, filled in keywords, wrote a brief review.  Then I made a mistake.  The book jacket I had loaded was different to the one I owned but there was an option to search other book jackets.  So I did this and found the right one so felt pleased.  After accepting it I was returned to the edit screen to find I had lost all my keywords and reviews which I had not saved - back to square one, not impressed.

I can see the advantage of librarything if you have a bunch of books by you and are scanning in the isbns.  If you are doing author searches the options are too many really to be practical.  Also too time consuming to retrospectively add your collection especially if your day job also involves cataloguing books you don't really want to do it at home as well!

I would like to investigate further the linking to opacs and new book lists now I am back in work as I think this would be useful.

Mirror, mirror on the wall ...

Time for reflection - more time than I expected as stockchecking at work and then on holiday.  I tried the Vark Questionnaire to see what type of learner I was.  No real surprises that my learning preferences were read/write closely followed by visual.  It was a bit disconcerting that my study stragegy ended by saying "You are heading for the library" - looks like I am in the right place.
I wanted to be kinesthetic as I had no clue what that was but it wasn't to be.

Reflecting on the 12 things so far, I have enjoyed the chance to try out or revisit various tools.  The biggest change was Delicious. I registered awhile back and it was fairly limited, now it looks really useful for myself and for the library users.  Twitter I feel is only really beneficial if you are on it almost all the time, otherwise you miss the flow of information - perhaps time for me to get a smart phone and become connected.  Also not convinced about blogging although much easier than I thought to do.  Doodle, calendar, slideshare and flikr are all useful for getting organised and sharing.  Definitely will continue to use to some extent.

I am looking forward to exploring some new tools in the future things.  And continuing beyond the things into the future where I am sure there are many changes ahead - a shame I didn't get any vibes from Nostradamus!