Future of Libraries: Social Software

1
Future of LibrariesSocial Software

• Sarah Houghton-Jan
• Information and Web Services Manager, San Mateo
  County Library
• Librarian in Black http//www.librarianinblack.ne
  t

2
What is social software?

• Social software enables people to rendezvous,
  connect or collaborate through computer-mediated
  communication and to form online communities.
• --from Wikipedia entry, revised 04.25.06
• Social software is the driving force behind
  Library 2.0.

3
Examples of social software

• Instant messaging
• Internet forums
• Blogs / RSS / podcasting
• Wikis
• Social network services
• Social guides
• Social bookmarking
• Social citations
• Social libraries
• Virtual worlds and multiplayer online games

4
Why should libraries care about SS?

• There is a great potential for new and enhanced
  services
• There are free marketing opportunities just
  waiting for us
• Our patrons are therewhere are we?

5
What is instant messaging?

• Instantaneous, simultaneous text chat
• Add-ons like video, audio, file sharing

Transcript
Type here
6
IM client software the holy trinity
Theyre all freeto you and users

• Other Software
• ICQ
• IRC
• Jabber
• Google Talk
• MySpace

7
IM aggregator software

• Trillian http//www.ceruleanstudios.com/
• Gaim http//gaim.sourceforge.net/
• Both let you monitor multiple IM accounts (AOL,
  MSN, Yahoo!) through one interface.
• Oh yeahtheyre both free!

8
Web-based IM with Meebo

• Completely web-basedno installations
• Sign in with multiple accounts at once
• Even if IM is blocked, this still works
• MeeboMeweb-based anonymous IMing

9
Why use IM for reference?

• Traditional web-based chat has technical and
  service problems
• Your users are here already
• Its free
• Easy to use for both the librarian and the user
• Youre right there on the users buddy list
• Did I mention that everything is free?
• For many users, not having IM is like not having
  a phone.

10
Example of Library IM webpage
11
Internet forums

• Website bulletin boards for discussion
• Feedback and recommendation engines
• Examples
• Google Groups http//groups.google.com/
• Reviews and ratings on Amazon
  http//www.amazon.com
• Gnooks.com http//www.gnooks.com
• Storycode http//www.storycode.com

12
Sample Internet Forum Storycode
13
Blogs

• Websites frequently updated with new content
• Examples
• Lansing Library Teen News Blog
  http//lansinglibraryteen.blogspot.com/
• St. Joseph County Public Library Game Blog
  http//www.libraryforlife.org/gameblog/
• Framingham Public Library Teen Blogomatic
  http//fplya.blogspot.com/
• Marin County Free Library - Whats New
  http//www.marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/
• Waterboro Public Library H20boro
  http//www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

14
Sample blog H20boro
15
RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

• RSS is more than just blogs
• New books and other items
• News at the library
• New content in subscription databases
• Examples
• EBSCO feeds for new articles (favorite searches)
• Hennepin County Library feeds for all types of
  things
• Edmonton Public Library feed for new teen books
• Seattle Public Library feeds for favorite authors
  and subjects
• FirstGov feeds for government information

16
Sample RSS feeds Hennepin CL
17
Podcasting Vidcasting

• Creating audio and video content and pushing it
  to users through an RSS feed
• Has nothing to do with iPods
• Examples
• Thomas Ford Memorial Library audio teen book
  reviews http//www.fordlibrary.org/yareviews/
• Manchester Public Library video book reviews
  http//feeds.feedburner.com/primesboxlive
• Cheshire Public Library - audio of local teen
  magazine http//www.cheshirelib.org/teens/cplpodc
  ast.htm
• University of Sheffield Library audio library
  tours http//www.lbasg.group.shef.ac.uk/downloads
  /mainlibrary.html

18
Sample podcasts Thomas Ford ML
19
Wikis

• Collaborative resource creation
• Multiple authors, ongoing creation and revision
• Examples
• Wikipedia http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
  
• Wiktionary http//en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Main_Pa
  ge
• St .Joseph County Librarys Subject Guides
  http//www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.
  php/Main_Page
• University of Minnesota Libraries Staff Website
  http//wiki.lib.umn.edu/

20
Sample wiki St .Joseph CLs Subject Guides
21
Social network services

• Places to meet people and communicate
• Examples
• Friendster, Dogster, MySpace, Facebook
• Libraries with MySpace accounts
• Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Teens)
• Denver Public Library
• Hennepin County Library
• Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
• dozens of others

22
Library MySpace Page Denver PL
23
Social bookmarking

• Putting your favorite websites in a web directory
  to share with others
• Examples
• del.icio.us http//del.icio.us/
• furl http//www.furl.net/
• La Grange Public Librarys del.icio.us ref links
• Thomas Ford Memorial Librarys del.icio.us ref
  links
• San Mateo City Librarys del.icio.us ref links

24
Library del.icio.us La Grange Park
25
Social libraries

• Keep track of collections
• Often include recommendation engines
• Uses tagging, user-created metadata Folksonomies
• Examples
• Flickr.com for photographs
• discogs.com for music
• LibraryThing.com for books
• Stuffopolis.com for everything else

26
Social library Reading PL on Flickr
27

• I have all of these cool ideas now.
• But how do I convince our IT Staff that doing
  this is okay?

28
Working with IT Staff

• Ask Questions. Are IM, MySpace, or other
  sites/services banned or blocked? Why?
• The boogeyman of network security? Its a
  time-waster?
• Ban behaviors, not technologies.
• Be enthusiastic.
• Do your research ahead of time.

29
Againwhy should we care?

• Get our knowledge, helpfulness, and information
  expertise out there where the users are
• Get people to think of us as the go to resource
  for their online information needs
• Make us findable in an online environment

30
For more information about social software in
libraries
Web 2.0 and Libraries Best Practices for Social
Software by Michael Stephens
The Library Success Wiki http//www.libsuccess.or
g/
31
Questions? Contact Sarah any time. E-mail
houghton-jan_at_smcl.org IM LibrarianInBlack (AOL,
Yahoo!, MSN)