Libraries and social networking – what’s been successful?

Next week I’m delivering a talk to some librarians in the region about social networking using web 2.0.  Now while I’ve various ideas about what I’m going to say, but at the same time I’d be really interested to hear from other librarians about what they’ve tried – or even thought about trying – in this regard.

It can be about any aspect of social networking, from reader development and user engagement, through to educational examples and professional development.  I’m interested in it all!

I’m especially interested in learning about any barriers that have stood in your way, and the ways in which you have either overcome them, worked around them or even been brought up short!  Examples might include

• Facebook presence: How has is helped?  Are you fully exploiting it? Did you try it as an organisation and then discard it for some reason?
• Twitter – what has it doen for you?  What can you do now that you could never do before?
• LinkedIn – a waste of time in the UK or a run away international success?
• Any other example – with links if possible.

And it goes without saying that post talk I’ll be sharing the talk, as well the comments from the librarians gathered.  Many of whom I suspect are very much cynical about the whole Web 2.0 experience and the apparent drain it puts on their staffing time resources!  Thus this is going to need to one of those sessions that’s not preaching to the converted – rather it’s going to need to really win them over!

The talk by the way is next thursday and I’ll be using the tag #liem when I’m tweeting about it (especially during the event – hopefully I’ll have a twitterfall running in the room!)

[Edit Fri 16th Oct: Well as you might have picked up from my online silence, I came down with the dreadded flu and had to scrap this session.  But have no fear, I hope to represent it at some point in the near future!]

The blog as an induction tool

It has occurred to me over the last few days while I’ve been finding my feet in a new job that the blog is incredibly useful as an induction tool. I’ve enjoyed reading through previous posts and getting a sense of the history behind various projects. It has also given me an idea of who is interested in what, and especially who might be interested in some of the areas my post as Research Forum Facilitator will work to develop.

Here is a very brief overview of what I’ll be doing up in the Graduate School Reading Room. I’ll be working to facilitate a physical and virtual research forum that will support postgraduate researchers in general, and PhD students in particular. I’ll have a stand up in the reading room, from which I can act as a point of contact for referral to any services they might need, as well as maintaining an online presence. Over the next couple of months I’ll be involved in the exciting new project of setting up a Graduate Media Zoo. I’m also very interested in doing anything I can to smooth the way for doctoral researchers over what can be a difficult few years. This will include using web 2.0 technologies to encourage social and academic networking as well as general problem sharing!

I’m looking forward to talking about web 2.0 with you all… and of course reading more of this valuable resource which is a great help to newcomers!

Open Science

Just wanted to recommend this article to any science librarians out there:

Doing science in the open

by Michael Nielsen

A excellent distillation of the barriers facing open science. Issues such as a lack of trust infrastructure and incentives and a lack of appropriate collaborative/science network tools. Plus the fact that the current grant and journal system, which was initially set-up to ensure scientific discoveries were shared, is now stopping people from sharing their research in the more efficient ways offered by the web.

Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World Reprise

Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World: Cover

Following on from Gareth’s earlier post on this subject, here’s my thoughts & questions:

• Information Literacy is a major component of this report – it argues that it is a growing area that students are deficient in. Recommends that it is a high priority for HEIs to train their students in & keep their staff updated on.
• “Information literacies, including searching, retrieving, critically evaluating information from a range of appropriate sources and also attributing it – represent a significant and growing deficit area”
• However, no mention anywhere of how to do this or that libraris have been struggling to get this on the agenda for years.
• Q: What do we do with this report? Take it to VC? Take it to teaching & learning committees? What strategies & solutions do we suggest for training students & staff? Do we take a take roots approach with lecturers? Do all of the above?
• Web 2.0 skills (communication, networking, sharing) are becoming employability skills.
• Students are living in a Web 2.0 world and might expect Web 2.0 solutions in the future – though at present they expect a traditional face to face approahc in HE and do not equate social software with learning. This may change as the next few generations come through the school system.
• Students are currently consumers of content in the Web 2.0 world rather than creators – we need to find hooks i.e. show them how the technology helps them.
• Q: What are the hooks for staff and for students in using Web 2.0 in a learning context?
• Three types of online space: Personal (emails & messaging), Group (social networking sites) and publishing (blogs, wikis, youtube).  Students will not want us in their personal space but there is scope for utilising group and publishing space for learning & teaching.
• Information literacy should incorporate other web awareness issues e.g. plagarism, data protection, personal data on the web and online identities.
• Q: How do we do this? How do we work with others in the institution who teach/train on these issues? How do we update ourselves in all these areas?
• Upskill staff on e-pedagogy: as this will be needed for them to take advantage of using Web 2.0 technologies.
• Q: How skilled are we as librarians in this? What training do we need in order to offer the information literacy teaching the report advocates?
• Report suggests there are already examples out there of good practice in the use of digitised materials and online learning resources at module level. Though no specific examples included. It asks how these can be supported and used on a wider/larger scale.
• Q: What good practice are we already using or aware of with regards Web 2.0? Does it upscale? What opportunities are there for us to work with other colleagues inside & outside the institution to provide services?
• Take into account the prior experience and the expectations of students.
• Q: How do we do this? Do we cultivate more links with school librarians in the UK? What about overseas, distance learning and mature students?
• Digital divide still exists – don’t forget that!
• “Means of access will be multimedia, mobile and pocket-sized”
• Q: Are we prepared for the next wave of multimedia and mobile type resources?

Overall, this report is good for librarians and the information literacy cause as long as we DO something about it. Take action & not just talk about it!

Showdown at the KO Corral

It might not have escaped your notice in recent months, but there’s been a Web 2.0 storm brewing twix CILIP and some of the more vocal Web 2.0/social networking proponents in the sector. No, sadly not me – I’m more garrulous than vocal.  It all stems from an original posting by CILIP Chief Exec Bob McKee All of a Twitter, which by now more than eleventy million people have commented on (well, close).    Well known tech evangelist and sci-fi fan Phil Bradley crafted the most marvellous reply which about the same number of people (yours truly among them) commented on.

It has rather illustrated to myself at least, an organisation that is supposed to be leading on information and communication rather getting stuck in the past.  And this at a time when CILIP’s long term future is ever in doubt, given the state of its finances.  I think it would be a real shame if this were to be the lemming onto the bonnet that sent the CILIPmobile hurtling over the cliff.  I’ve got a lot out of my engagement with the membership and the executive team down in London over the years, and it would leave a bit of a void in my professional life.

But not an irreplaceable one.  Given my networks on Facebook, twitter and in real life that I have available there are already many (in some cases more relevant and immediate) ways in which I get my professional support, training, advocacy and development. 

However, to give CILIP its due, they have rallied and invited Phil, along with Brain Kelly, to address their Council and interested parties in open session on the 29th April.  I’d love to be there, but the chances of getting work to stump up hundred plus quid for a two hour afternoon discussion session are somewhere between “none” and “less than zero”.  There isn’t a live Web feed (for shame!) but at least they have announced a hashtag(#CILIP2) for the event; so the twitter enabled will be able to tell us more.  I’ve already marked the date in my diary and will be following the developments withinterest (and probably making the odd comment myself).  As I know one or two CILIP folk who are already tweeting (huzzah) I hope there will be a good steady feed of information for those of us out here in the barren wilderness beyond the M25…

Modelling the Library Domain

JISC have just released a new briefing paper: Modelling the Library Domain, which is part of the TILE Project (Towards Implementation of Library 2.0 & the E-framework).

Here’s some of the key points that I managed to pick out of the JISC Speak:

Library Domain Ecosystem Diagram from Briefing Paper

- Libraries need to look at providing widgets: integrate resources into web environments of the user’s choice.

- Supply value-added services.

- Tailor content to different types of users & encourage user generated content (reviews, ratings, comments).

- Regarding the diagram above: Corporation refers to content providers (Unis, Libraries, Publishers), Channel refers to the means of delivering the content & Clients are users involved in academic work.

- Libraries can either concentrate on managing and delivering their local assets/content, or look at widening their remit to include working with other channels in Higher Ed (e.g. reading lists, feedback, VLEs etc).

- “The wider role empowers libraries to provide a full set of services to meet a rich variety of locally identified user needs, potentially an institutional unique selling point.”

- More must be made of the user activity data available e.g. circulation data, number & types of downloads, which could possibly be linked through to student information (course, subject) without compromising data protection. This could provide the spark needed to engage user communities & encourage user generated content.

- “captured click streams rather than volunteered contributions (eg ratings, reviews, lists) are the surest source of intelligence about ‘users like me’.”

- If Libraries wish to provide more channel type services then the paper suggests encouraging concentration of services/content fro particular user groups & understand how they can become a trusted channel, the way services such as google are.

EMALink seminar on Web 2.0 & information literacy

Yesterday I was a at a well attended and quite sparky EMALink event.  EMALink if you didn’t know is the East Midlands Association of Librarians, an informal events programme arranged by the universities within and between the East Midlands HEI universities, including a few unis who are perhaps on the friges of this region (e.g.Warwick).

The two chunks yesterday were a framing talk from Joanne Dunham and then a longer talk about her and Alan Cann’s work by Sarah Whittaker.  There was also a couple of group work exercises for us to get our teeth into; including planning the ideal information literacy training event’ and reflections on our own Web 2.0 experiences.

I wasn’t originally going to go along, thinking that being a bit clued up on Web 2.0, that I wouldn’t be able to take much away from the day (doubtless I’d have much to say as usual, so apologies to anyone who struggled to get a word in edge-ways over me!).  Actually I was dead wrong, as there were several brilliant ideas that people in my group talked about that I fully intend to steal…erm, re-purpose!

One solid output from the day was the suggestion that we ought to have a directory of sorts for all the Web 2.0 networking librarians in the region.  unfortunately once again my loud mouth/native enthusiasm resulted in myself being tasked with the job.  Not that I really minded!

And so I am proud to roll out the East Midlands Librarians Networking site – a directory for EM librarians to share their social networking IDs (or at least as many as they want to) and to help us forge some strong local routes of communication.  The site, such as it is, is here.

Report: The demographics of social networkers

This morning I’ve been reading a couple of reports.  The first is by Amanda Lenhart on the PEW Internet & American Life Project entitled Adults and Social Network Sites.  According to their data:

• Adults with online social networking profiles has gone up from 8% (2005) to 35% (Dec 2008 )
• 30% of adults 35-44 have a profile (the report covers other age ranges, but since this is my peer group…)

Of these adults who do use them

• 50% have MySpace profiles
• 22% have Facebook profiles
• 6% have LinkedIn profiles

I wonder how those numbers would look from a UK audience?  I’d suspect MySpace wouldn’t be anything like as popular, at least that’s my perception of their market penetration over here – what do you think?

Personally I’ve profiles on all three, but really only use FB for my professional and personal networking.  LinkedIn just leaves me cold.  Then again the median age of the LinkedIn user in this report is 40; so I’m a fair bit below that demographic point.  Shockingly the report concludes that on the whole adults are less likely to have online social networking profiles (65% vs 35%); something I’m sure is replicated in order of magnitude over here if not the exact numbers.

One paragraph later on was quite interesting, following on from things Alan and others have talked about in SmallWorldz and elsewhere – that of maintaining multiple online identities

• A user generall wants to be finable by the people they wish to add to their online network…but may not wish to be so visable as to be harassed or observed by people totally unknown to them.

Or I’m sure in some cases people who are known to them, not quite sure I want everyone I’ve ever studied or worked with in my professional networks; and social networking security settings aren’t that customisable in many instances.  Interestingly 29% of users discovered their friends political interests/affiliations through networking sites.  Then again how many people list their real leanings on these sites? 

The report concludes with the data and methodology of the work.  So well worth a read, the main text is only 10 pages long.

Small Worlds hands on

The power of social networking in a professional environment was self-evident even before yesterday – I wasn’t down to help out with Alan’s session, but whilst we’d been chatting over Twitter the night before he’d invited me to come along.  Glad he did, as it was certainly one of the more satisfying bits of student teaching I’ve done in a while; helped by the excellent student teacher ratio which must have been close to 4:1.  That was certainly better than the RefWorks class I had the other week; but that’s another story entirely.

Yesterday’s session was a follow up to one Alan had led about online social networking and was the hands on explore for yourself resources like Delicious , Twitter and the Small Worlds Wiki for about 20-25 students.  For a good chunk of the session the students were registering on Small Worlds and creating their profiles, and then they were off to explore the various social tools -in most cases it seems without stopping to read the instructions and help on the Small Worlds site. 

Not that I can blame them, that’s exactly what I do – refreshing to meet so many people with a similer learning style to myself!  I spent the time during the session, as Alan put it, “chatting up” the students.  Alan, like my MiL uses chatting up in the context of talking to them, social networking in vivo rather than in silico if you will.  They were a great bunch of students and it was refreshing to see them pretty quickly get to grasp with not just the tools, but how they could use them in their studies and research. Very rewarding, and repeated today with Selina in residence.

Unto the next generation

I had a very interesting Friday last week, which is as you all know one of my freelance days normally spent at home screaming at a dictionary or painting something around the house.  For a change I went down to CILIP to speak at and take part in their Graduate Open Day; a bit of coincidence with the Uni Open Day on Saturday.  The brief I had was to be part of a panel discussion on social networking/Web 2.0 and how I use it as a professional, followed by an afternoon of speed-networking.  The Graduate Day was the sort of event I wished I’d had as a new, slightly moist behind the ears librarian.

As a participant rather than an attendee I had a thoroughly fascinating time chatting to (sorry, speed-networking with) the new and wannabe librarians, quite a few of whom weren’t just interested in their careers but becoming professional active. I know speed networking of old, having used it extensively for SHERPA/JISC and it works really well, no matter what the format used.  We used triads, JISC use topic tables and CILIP used a slightly simpler model where “professionals” sit on the inside of a circle, and then have three minutes to talk to one person who moves on at the sound of the gong.  Or in this case gavel.

What myself, and most of the other “professionals” there weren’t quite prepared for was that the 90 or so delegates in attendance (yes, do the Maths and work out how long I was speaking) weren’t all newly minted post-graduates of library and information schools by a long chalk. Oh no indeed, I spoke to quite a few people who were still only in the 2nd year of their undergraduate degree and were just using the day to explore possibilities; which meant all the LIS stuff we were talking about was a bit in code for them – translating it took most of the three minutes in some cases. 

However, they were by and large a lively and enthusiastic group to talk to, which was a real bonus. I also came away having had a very reflective time with regard to my own career/skills etc. Kudos to CILIP for organising this event, and roll on the next one.  I even had a bit of time to and from St Pancreas (sic) to take some amusing photos of statues – but that’s a whole different story…