Web 2.0 - Final Thoughts

"What makes a service Library 2.0? Any service, physical or virtual, that successfully reaches users, is evaluated frequently, and makes use of customer input is a Library 2.0 service"
[Library 2.0 Service for the next-generation library
By Michael E. Casey and Laura C. Savastinuk -- Library Journal, 9/1/2006]

My use of the Library website (up until I started working there!) was limited to going there because I wanted to search the catalogue or check my account. If there was something interesting on the initial home page I might have clicked and had a look. I did not go to the site for any other reason. Actually, to tell the truth, up until doing this training course, I don't think my use of the site had broadened at all other than perusing the blogs on occasion. So my question is - What are our website usage stats? If we take the time to implement all these web 2.0 technologies, will they be used?? For me - the blogs are interesting and by using the rss feeds I know when there is a new one, the pics are cool and I will now make use of this at home, for the rest; such as myspace and del.ici.ous, lets face it I may have no need to look at these sites again. For the library - I've mentioned in my other posts of ideas for the different technologies and how they could be used, should we? Most of these technologies are all about patron participation and while that is great and I think it should be encouraged, as I said above what is our site usage?? Its not going to be used if people don't know it is there and why would they look? If I was a teen on myspace I wouldn't be looking for the library's site - Boring!, and its not about making it cool either, I don't particularly think it is necessary (and hey, that's just my opinion!) Blogs - yes, about happenings in the library, our services, activities, storytime etc. And feeds for these to our patrons can bring then to the site - advertise it, put a feed link on patron account pages and direct them to it while they are checking their record. Show them how to get feeds on local news/weather/local happenings. Pictures - great, makes the site look interesting, pics of our books, pics from inside books to highlight items and get our collection used. Community pics. Tags - great, if we can get the participation! favourite lists, new releases by genre/author, award winner lists, most recent searches, individual school projects' subject tags, hsc tags, popular items, highlight staff discoveries from under the dust - create interest in items that haven't been widely used, reviews, discussions, we have book clubs but are these staff propelled or patron? - there could be a scifi fantasy book group just waiting to be given birth to, (my apologies to the scifi and fantasy lovers that don't like to be grouped together!)lists of 'if you liked this you'll like this' are great but when its by author it can be tricky because they don't always write within the genre they are most popular for - so a review there by patron and/or staff is good. Podcasts/Vodcasts - maybe a quick intro grab from an audio/video item would be good with a review - 'try before you buy!'
The technology that Amazon uses for searching inside books was another technology that I found interesting, also the 'writely' technology would be worth looking at and making computer users aware of - nothing more annoying than using one program at home,trying to do some work at the library and not having the same program!

The quote at the beginning of my post says it all "successfully reaches users" and "makes use of customer input" this is what we should be aiming for but also taking into account feasibility. How about a computer/s in a focal point of the library with a trial site incorporating these technologies and showing patrons how they work and seeing the interest. If all goes well having a couple of these computers for use within the library. At least trial tagging and reviews and see what kind of usage we get.

I have really enjoyed working through the training program and have learnt a lot,(I will no longer have a blank look on my face when someone mentions any of these things!) Its obvious that libraries have to change the way they do things but I don't think we need to rush in and try everything straight away, having said that, I am definitely moving towards the right on the Web 2.0 spectrum.

Thoughts on MySpace

Myspace sites seem to be directed at teens and young adults mostly and that is probably because they make up a large piece of myspace's demographic? Having the friends is one way of tracking use of the site and being able to link up with other libraries or associations, authors etc. would probably be a viable reason to have a site. But again, are our patrons looking to have this kind of interaction with the library??? Most of what was on these sites was what you can have on a normal website blog anyway.
Meredith Farkas brings up the feedback aspect of a myspace site , yes this would probably be handy, helping our library grow as a community resource and knowing which direction our community would like us to go in and lead into. I can see how treating the myspace site as an extension of the website could be viable in this aspect and maybe having a myspace site would get more exposure than just the website. However, looks like there are still quite a few privacy issues both from people who log on as friends to those posting information, so that is another issue to look at. Questionable content being added also an issue, considering our patronage includes young children, especially school age, who might be encouraged to look at what is on our site and then link to other stuff, might be okay for a uni library where patronage is over 18. just reading the comments on some of the articles suggested on the task page was "just lovely!"

Thoughts on Podcasts

I found another space feed with a podcast about space tourism that was interesting, however, I found with the subject I was looking for (space) did not have anything recent. I also got the podcast feeds for my favourite radio shows so that was something I might use again. For libraries, I think we are already making some good use of podcasts with casting author talks like marcus zusak. We could also podcast storytimes or rhymetimes for people to use at home. Speeches and talks by local community leaders could be good to have. The audio book software will be good, especially when we start moving into the retirement generation of people who are computer literate and instead of having home library sending out the readers they can access the audio books online.

Thoughts on YouTube

I like disney/pixar animation so I found this little sci fi cartoon clip. f="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_hACHwYRI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_hACHwYRI
It had different characters in it like Darth Vader, Yoda, the robot from Lost in Space, Jar Jar Binks and E.T. It was quite amusing and the colours were lovely. The little twist at the end was cool. Don't forget to watch thru the credits.

Thoughts on Wikis

Another form of new technology which while fun to play with, I don't think I personally would use much. Imanaged to add my own 'Favourites' page but it took me awhile to figure it out. The pages were interesting to read but if I was searching the net I would not look to a wiki to find a reputable source of info. Sure if I was using an official travel site, for example, some current comments or reviews would maybe have some influence on my choice but would not be the only reason I went there. Also while I might choose to look at the wikipedia site when I am trying to find a definition or a brief synopsis on something I would not be taking the entries as gospel and would focus my searching on sites that have reputable backing for their comments and enties.
I did find the Library Success site http://www.libsuccess.org/ that was mentioned on the task page quite informative

Thoughts on del.icio.us

Well this was another one of those sites that you could browse around for hours on end in. I thought Ann Arbor District Library was making good use of the tagging technology by having the top ten tags and most recent tags. This could be very good in terms of helping readers find books of the same type/genre/setting/style of writing that they like (if it is well used!!) just like our ol' "if you like this author, you'll like this one" lists. The random tags was cool too, interesting to say 'hey that topic sounds interesting I always wanted to know about that' and be able to link to books of that topic.

Borrowers being able to tag books would come in handy too, I know when i find a recipe I like in a book instead of photocopying it and then losing the photocopy or forgetting why i wanted it; I could just tag the recipe book with a quick note on what recipe I liked and why; and then when I had need of it I could request to borrow it.

More thoughts on Flickr

it was interesting to see what other libraries were doing with flickr. Mostly just what you would expect - images from past and present, staff pics, new facilities or services and photos of current displays and kids activities; pretty much what we do already. Maybe we could do pics of the current branch librarians and staff when branch libraries post news on the library website; or photos of rarer items in our collection (if we have any?) or sutherland shire/Sydney historical stuff? Highlight new books and dvds by putting a pic of their covers on the site next to a short review? Also to highlight items in our collection that most people wouldn't know we had.

Thoughts on Flickr

This was quite interesting to browse around; from finding some beautiful nature pictures (gorgeous colours!!),

to pictures of an 'Anne of Green Gables' house by geotagging in prince edward island,

to the latest shots taken on new years eve (closest i got to the fireworks!!).

Using the blogger tool was quite simple after reading Martin's hint and the actual site was quite easy to explore and find cool pictures.