SPARC

Belated Computers in Libraries blog from Jim Roan

The most interesting session I attended was one on Copyright. I went to this one mostly because I though it had relevance to the rights and permissions challenges we have with the trade literature. (Or very soon will have, once the inventory data base is up and running on the web). The session turned out not to be very relevant in that respect but it was entertaining and well-delivered by Michael Sauers. He was mostly discussing Creative Commons , one of the more notable organizations at the fore front of the progressive movement to make copyrighted works less restrictive. One has several choices when licensing works through Creative Commons. Sauers is an amateur photographer and discussed how he has licensed his works using a framework that promotes freedom of usage: if you use my image, that’s’ ok but give me the attribution and don’t put any more restrictions on the derived work than I currently have on the original. He also talked about some of the more notorious copyright cases that have been in the headlines. It made me think of the time that a day care or nursery school in Silver Spring, Maryland decided to decorate an outside wall with mural-sized drawings of Disney characters. Very soon the wrath of the Mouse Kingdom descended upon them and the murals were quickly erased. What Sauers didn’t say or at least that I could remember, is whether Creative Commons could be applied to libraries’ collective works. It would seem to work better for individuals and their creations but when used in concert with a more normal copyright, such as from the LC Copyright Office, it can be workable for institutions. But obviously Creative Common’s goals of common-sense, collaborative and innovative uses of creative works fit in well with some of the goals of the Open Source Initiative.

Jim Roan

4/18/08

Gil’s View: MORE Highlights, from Day Three at the 2008 Computers in Libraries Conference

Keynote: Gaming, Learning and the Information World

Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Director Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, gave an enthusiastic keynote speech this day. Lawley also works as a researcher for Microsoft, and is a level 70 “World of Worldcraft” player. Her theme was “Libraries as ‘Happiness Engines.’”

This gaming world currently seems a bit off the map for SIL interest, but more and more of our future patrons will no doubt be frequent dwellers of this digital environment. Some of the talk was more geared towards public/school library interest. I took voluminous notes, but I will only remark mainly on what caught my fancy and might be applicable to our planning.

“Virtuality” is apparently beating reality for a lot more people – there’s a global mass exodus to the online world. Lawley mentions she was running a “ring” and killing monsters last night, but at the same time contacting colleagues about professional matters. Sounds like major multi-tasking to me, and I’m not sure I could do this.

AJ Kim’s presentation, “Putting the Fun in Functional” was mentioned. These elements make games fun: collection, points, feedback, exchanges, and customizations. One example: “Chore Wars” http://www.chorewars.com/ is a MMO (massively multiplayer online) game for family use. Chores can be done to get points online. It’s an example of how games blur boundaries, making tasks fun and competitive. I kept my teenage son in mind here, but I wonder if this has implications for designing effective library training tools.

The problem was mentioned of getting staff to update their biographies online. There is no motivation to do so, but perhaps if points were given for doing so, this information would be more frequently refreshed. I am afraid the only way this might work for us is if we gave away annual leave hours as points ;-)

There’s a “Java Wally’s” at the RIT Library coffee shop http://wally.rit.edu/javawally/
inside the library. It looks like major fun. Students can get books from stacks and read them in the shop. There is digital reproduced art on wall that changes, music, pillows, etc. Student and faculty want to go there and it makes them happy. Though they may be stationed at their PCs, they want to pull it into something bigger than themselves. I think this is true not only for students, but for collaborating researchers at the SI who gather at the library. This something to think about as we do our space planning.

Speed Searching: Tips and Tricks for Speeding Up the Search Process

Greg Notess is a regular CIL presenter.  He runs the Search Engine Showdown site http://searchengineshowdown.com/ and as usual, I wanted to catch up on search engine news and tips.

Notess seemed to outline some very basic search techniques I’m already familiar with, like to use the shortest and fewest unique, uncommon words or phrases. He mentioned using a wireless keyboard at the reference desk. When you can’t understand the exact word the patron is using, you can hand the keyboard to him or her. This is a great idea – and one I appreciate with my hearing loss. I often get people - especially non-native English speakers - to write down keywords during a reference interview to make sure everything is accurate.

It is suggested to slow your typing. This seems like an oxymoron, but it is essential to do so for accurate speed searching

Copy and paste tools, like search bookmarklet browser add-ons, can help. These save a few clicks by letting click and drag terms straight to a search engine. Notess has a few at http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/bmlets/index.shtml

For spelling help, http://www.answers.com has a marvelous search box that immediately brings up a list of close words in a contextual list. This site is going straight to my bookmarks toolbar.

In a test of major search engines with a phrase search, the following number of hits were made: Ask – 5, Live – 4, Yahoo – 9, Google – 3. So, Google isn’t always the best!

Search switching is also useful http://searchengineshowdown.com/switching You can use the same search terms used with different search engines. Turboscout http://turboscout.com is another link going on this reference librarian’s bookmarks toolbar. But, one needs to keep in mind., some metasearch engines are cut off or limited by Google if they see it interferes with their ad revenue by siphoning off users.

Flash Earth http://www.flashearth.com/ is an utterly cool geographic search switching utility.  Something to be familiar with as some of our patrons are heavy GIS users.

Once Click Ahead: Best of Resource Shelf

Gary Price is another regular at CIL, who was at one point a local librarian and until recently, director of online information resources at Ask.com.  He and colleage, Shirl Kennedy, presented this talk.  A site with their presentation and all their mentioned resources is at http://tinyurl.com/55equg (I note that I first was introduced to the convenient "tinyurl" utility at a CIL talk years ago!).

Some notable sites that I think could be useful for SIL work (and interesting in general):

http://searchpickr.com/
This site had direct links of every conceivable search tool - and can run multiple tools.

http://boardreader.com/   http://boardtracker.com/
Lots of useful information on message boards - you would be surprised.

http://www.gethuman.com/
Great site with phone numbers to get an actual person instead of recorded or computer voice for all kinds of businesses.   I wish I knew about this when I spent  nearly two hours on hold with Verizon one afternoon trying to straighten out a FIOS, etc. billing problem.

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/multidb.html
This has only government publications full-text on the internet, 1976 to present

http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Flies under the radar and focuses on scholarly info, non-commercial directories.  It is the best web directory around that looks like early the Yahoo directory.

http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases
State Agency Databases Across 50 states.  Awesome "unofficial" resource.

 Open Source Library Automation and Open Source Solutions to Offer Superior Service

A librarian and a professor at Virginia Tech have developed an intriguing browser plug-in that enhances catalog access for patrons, LibX  http://www.libx.org/.  320 libraries currently utilize it.  From anywhere on the web - or from amazon.com, for example, you can click on a title and be directed to the library catalog, as if to say "look what we have.  This may be a great solution for our getting our patrons to search SIRIS before submitting ILL requests.

LibLime http://liblime.com/ a new Open Source Library Automation company, originated at the Athens County Public Libraries in rural Ohio, which was the first library to adopt open source library system.   It was a slow process to adopt open source, but users are convinced it builds better libraries and better software too.  Features take days and weeks and not years to develop, and you can share solutions with other libraries.  It is fully managed and no in-house IT staff needed.   Customization and training is offered. Currently about 500 library are using it, including 200 that are supported.  I found the catalog interface, in some examples, to be pleasantly like amazon.com's, to me perhaps a little TOO close to be legally comfortable.

Open source software is also being utilized at the Smithsonian, and a SIRIS manager was there to show how it is utilized in its greatly useful SIRIS Cross-Searching Center  http://siris-collections.si.edu/search/.   It is a gateway to multiple types of databases with a single searching point to digital and non-digital SI resources.  I find it to be an indispensable tool for discerning some initially confusing public e-mail queries.

A former SIL colleague who is now at the Howard County Libraries http://aquabrowser.hclibrary.org/ helpfully illuminated the multitude of challenges in moving to an open-source Integrated Library System.  I'm grateful brave pioneers are charting this path that we may be following in the future.

- Gil Taylor

 

 

 

Tech Tools for Effectively Managing Information

This session could have been renamed, "Around the Web in 30 Minutes." It was a very fast-paced look at handy web and downloadable tools that can make a librarian’s life much easier. There were two moderators who switched back and forth in rapid-fire fashion, each taking about 2-3 minutes to talk about the next website or application that might come in handy.

These tools are all listed on the CIL Wiki and can also be found at: http://del.icio.us/tag/CIL2008-techtools

I won’t review all of them but just mention a few that may be applicable to SIL’s work.

One of them, Glance, appears to be a tool for creating online screencasts for training users and/or staff. There is a monthly fee but it may be worth it if someone can take the time to explore the application and use it. I’m sure (as with most of these) there is a trial version for download.

 

I should also mention that I once downloaded and tried out a free package, Wink, which allows creation of screencast videos, although they all use Flash which some people may not have on their computer.

 

Ponyfish allows you to monitor a website for updates. If the site does not have an RSS feed which pushes out updated information, this tool may be helpful. I am thinking of using it to monitor publisher websites to see any publications by Smithsonian affiliates that appear there—especially in the humanities publications.

 
One thing that may be handy for the Galaxy pages is addthis.com which is a button which allows users to add the site to one of several popular bookmarking sites. The best thing is that it will also provide statistics for the webmaster on how many people have bookmarked the site and what system (del.icio.us, digg, etc.) they used.

 
PDFHammer allows one to edit a PDF document. It’s free.

They also mentioned Zotero, which I can discuss with any SIL staff who are interested.

 

 

Yahoo! Feed Mashups

A lot of terms used in the Web 2.0 world probably perplex some people but this one--mashup--is fairly self-explanatory. It is a term used to describe taking two websites or information services and combining them into a third, thereby "mashing" them together. We see this done with Google maps in combination with other websites, for example when a site shows apartment or real estate listings on a Google map. That's a mashup.

This morning's web tricks feature was about a tool available via Yahoo called "Pipes." In it's simplest form, the service allows you to take two or more RSS feeds and combine them into a third feed. RSS feeds are continually updated web content from any of a number of sources. Primarily news and other frequently updated publications, or listings such as ebay or real estate, etc. One example of a Yahoo! pipe would be creating a feed from both the Washington Post feed for Baltimore Orioles and the Post's feed for the Washington Nationals.

But Pipes allows a good deal more sophistication such as sorting the listings, tagging them by source (Post or CNN or the Chronicle of Higher Education), and filtering by web domain.

As far as SIL is concerned, I have always had two things in mind for implementing RSS into our web sites and it seems like Yahoo! Pipes might be a good way to go:

I would like to take the journal table of contents feeds from a select group of journals--perhaps a small branch's subscriptions or a sub-discipline such as paleobotany--and combine them to create a display on either one of the Tools pages or a branch library web page. I attempted something similar with an obituaries page, taking continually updated obituaries from 4 news sources and combining them into one page but it hasn't worked out that well.

But if we could create a critical mass of journal tables of contents and roll them into one feed, it would be nice to display on a subject-specific web page.

I have also thought about applying a tool like this to intra-SIL communication. If we could avoid the monthly reports, created in MS-Word and buried on the P: drive, and instead use wiki's and/or blogs to record our monthly activities, it might be an easier way for EC to monitor the activities in real time via RSS feeds.

We could create one page with combined feeds from the various wikis and have members of EC change their default browser page to this modified SIL-information page. The page might have 2-3 boxes, each displaying latest contents from the various sources so that EC could be updated as things happen rather than by printing out and circulating the monthly reports.

Maybe all of this is fodder for our summer intern.

Project Management for Libraries

I attended a Computers in Libraries pre-conference called, Project Management for Libraries on Sunday, April 6th. This would have been handy for the SIL ILLiad implementation a few years ago, although that went rather smoothly, I think.The instructor was Mary Auckland, a retired academic library director from the UK who is now now a consultant involved in several projects.

One of the things she emphasized and that I have become a big believer in is stating desired outcomes (or goals) up front so that progress or success of the project can be easily measured. I used to roll my eyes at goals-and-objectives exercises at previous jobs I've had but now I see that estimating the effectiveness of one's work (or an organization's work) is impossible without briefly stating up front the things you want to achieve. This also ensures against mission creep or semi-permanent status of the project. WIth clearly defined goals, everyone can go back to their day-to-day jobs after they are reached.

(As an aside, I'll mention that a few years ago I went to a physical therapist for a shoulder injury. After the therapist took my height, weight, etc. and asked for a description of the problem, she asked me "what are your goals for physical therapy?". I didn't know what to say except that I wanted the pain to go away, but I think she asked me that question because she would otherwise have no way of knowing whether her work was helpful.)

I once installed a software application called Microsoft Project to help in getting the SIL Digital Repository off the ground. I never used the application but discovered at the Project Management (PM) session that one can easily use Microsoft Excel for planning and to view visually the tasks that have to be completed in sequence and those that can happen simultaneously. For example, planning for publicizing a project does not have to wait until the project is implemented or tested. It never occurred to me to use Excel which would have worked better if for no other reason than I didn't have to learn a new application. Ms. Auckland also identified several freely available PM software applications/websites which we may find helpful in the future. Among them:

www.openworkbench.org

www.romankoch.ch/capslock/gantt.htm

www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_PPM.htm

After briefly defining projects that need management, the session instructor mentioned that they often involve people who are interested in or eager to change. Several attendees mentioned that many people are skeptical of new projects because they see the initiative as something "on top of" what they already do. But Ms. Auckland emphasized that most often these things should be characterized as "instead of" rather than "in addition to" regular duties. This theme of staff resistance to new projects came up regularly by participants and although it was not a central point in the presentation, the facilitator did recognize and discuss it.

Projects in libraries can be a new building, a new (or changed) service, a new ILS or even a structural reorganization. She pointed out however that desired outcomes should be stated before resources are identified (or identified as lacking) so as not to restrict the flow of ideas.

- Alvin Hutchinson

Gil’s View: Highlights from Day One at the 2008 Computers in Libraries Conference

It was an interesting and full first day for me at the 23rd Computers in Libraries Conference in Crystal City.  I’ve been going to these off and on since the early 1990’s, and this conference had biggest attendance yet: 2667 library people from 49 states (sorry, Wyoming) and 18 countries.  It was packed and for some attendees, this was a bit uncomfortable, creating standing-room-only situations for some sessions.

For the first time, I lugged my MacBook notebook computer along.  I was pleased to find many free wireless access points and plentiful AC outlets, though the wireless seemed to peter out in the late afternoon (perhaps from the numerous routers getting hammered by many of us librarians and geeks).

I ran into a few of my SIL colleagues here and have networked a bit with librarians of all stripes: public, school and academic.  Thanks to the internet access, I spent more time this first day answering SI and public reference queries than attending the exhibits and talking with vendors.

There was a curious new and probably wise development at this conference: They relabeled a large men’s bathroom as a ladies bathroom.  Rats.  The lack of a bathroom line at conferences has always been a small perk of being male librarian ;-)

Libraries Solve Problems!

The first, keynote speaker was Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.  We were given the scoop of hearing some details from their latest study. 

Rainie took the opportunity to note blogger IRC comments from earlier speeches, which were mostly positive, but one noted that he’s [just another] foundation suit.”   I found his speech energetic and optimistic, but it’s hard to fault a guy who shows a slide of a “Librarians Rock!” teeshirt.

Many statistics from the study were cited, like the amazing growth of internet use: In 2000, 46% of adults use the internet, in 2008, 75% do,  The bottom line of the study is that is is clear that younger adults are mostly likely to be library users. 60% of online teens use the internet at libraries - way up from 36% in 2000.  Rainie’s hypothesis is that young people forced or compelled to use library for problem-solving during school years are most aware how libraries have changed than anyone.  They know library can help in the future and that ”this is a good resource for me.”  We must continue to nurture this group, giving them Web 2.0 tools and training.  Librarians should aspire to be a node in their social networks.

Occupational hazard note:  One announcement after the keynote stated one conference speaker needed to cancel his/her session because a hacker apparently broke into their network. 

Super Searcher Shares 30 Search Tips

Mary Ellen Bates is a regular speaker at these conference, and as usual, had another extremely useful and practical session that a colleague agrees is worth the whole price of admission to the CIL.

My faves include Google’s awesome news archive search.  The timeline feature is fascinating in itself: http://news.google.com/archivesearch

Ask.com’s map site included topography in calculating directions, which can be used for walking to destinations: http://maps.ask.com/maps

For those ready-reference questions, like “when does Memorial Day occur in 2009,” utiliize the search engines’ quick answer features, at Ask.com’s “Smart Answers,” Google’s “OneBox,” and Yahoo’s “Shorcuts.”

SnapSearch is a cool site that let’s you preview and interact with search results on one page instead of having to jump back and forth from search results: http://www.snap.com/

Check out the other links to the resources she covered at http://batesinfo.com/cil2008.html , under the heading of “Regular Session.”


Fast and Easy Site Tune-ups

A web services librarian at the University of Pittsburgh, Jeff Wisniewski, had some technical tips for mainly server administrators, but I think were useful for us lesser “righted,” public services staff to be aware of.  For example, keeping copyright and “last updated” dates current on web sites is critical because users may ignore valid information because it looks old. 

He also suggested that adding photos to contacts on web pages increases trust, though he acknowledges that librarians can be camera-adverse  I note that science departments at the SI use photos of their staff, which is very useful.  I think we should consider this, soon.

We should also avoid the use of the words “click here” on a web page, because it is “scan hostile.”

Web design tip I did not know about: The term “blindness zone” is from a Yahoo study that shows that certain corners and areas of a web page are generally ignored by users.  [Here’s a scary note on how immediate blogging can be, and why some bloggers are having heart attacks (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=blogger&st=nyt&oref=slogin ).  I did a google search on the term “blindness zone” and already found a blogger mentioning this talk.  Thank goodness I’m not a professional or full-time blogger! ]

Library Web Presence: Engaging the Audience

Two groups of Pennsylvania librarians gave decent talks on new web tools.  One talk was on developing a simpler library gateway page for undergraduates using Widgetbox.com.  I especially like a widget box that has a live “ask a librarian” IM window (too bad this is “illegal” at the SI).  The other talk was on how many-layered, dynamic subject guides are being created with LibGuides subject guide software.

Learning Commons

Tom Ipri, a new head of Media and Computer Services at the UNLV, gave a talk detailing characteristics and concepts in space design at his library.  Movable furniture and variety of spaces (like quiet zones, food areas, etc.) are most important to students and foster a healthy atmosphere of stimulating collaboration and study. I took fairly detailed notes on this as we are planning new space for the NMNH library.

User-Generated Content

Roy Tennant, from OCLC Programs and Research, did an “Oprah Thing” to a packed house on the topic of user-generated content.  Users are contributing more data (photos, movies, documents, etc.) and descriptive content (tags, descriptions).  Tennant argues that more content is better and that it can help provide more personal service, fostering interaction and community.  He cites institutional repositories at the University of California and the Kete Horowhenua project http://horowhenua.kete.net.nz/ in New Zealand.  The latter is an example of a “knowledge basket of images, audio, video and documents which are collected and catalogued by the community” which has grown to even include unvetted content like real estate sales. 

Descriptive content contribution examples given were “Great Lake Images,” where the community has identified previously unknown descriptions of photos posted online.  Items are reviewable in WorldCat these days, much like amazon.com.  The LC Flickr experiment has been very successful, 3000 posted images getting 5.4 million views in one month with 10,000 unique tags out of 55,000 with 3500 comments posted by 1400 users.

This “exploiting knowledge of the masses, with its many eyes, increases likelihood of getting things right.” Library staff are often distant from localized knowledge of items in their collections, and can sometimes be less accurate in descriptions.  The web also provides a feedback loop. 

Tennant acknowledges that relying on user content can be messy, but this is okay.  The junk will “fall to the bottom.”  There are ways to increase effectiveness. 

- Gil Taylor, 4/7/08