I joined FriendFeed (as DeborahWK--same as Twitter) several Things ago, and subscribed to the feeds of several people I know. I mostly monitor it the same way I monitor my other web 2.0 sites, by a gadget on my iGoogle home page. Which makes me wondor sometimes if FriendFeed isn't therefore rather redundant--what's the point of having a feed to update me with information I can see in my other gadgets on the same page? One major drawback, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that FriendFeed can't pull in my status updates from Facebook. Therefore, people who follow me (admittedly not very many at this point) are missing a large part of my online life. After searching through several online forums I discovered this is a common problem for Facebook/FriendFeed users. Even so, I'll continue to use it for the time being, primarily for professional networking/development. Most of my personal online interaction still happens through Facebook.
My library began using Digsby for our IM reference service in the middle of the past semester. We have a Facebook account and one of the librarians received a chat reference query while she was logged in. It made us realize that since Trillian (our IM software at the time) couldn't monitor our Facebook account, we were potentially missing out on assisting users. Digsby solved that problem for us, aggregating all the chat services we use in one place. Another advantage to Digsby is it allows us to create chat widgets to place on pages of our web site where students might be looking for help.
Showing posts with label IM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IM. Show all posts
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thing #7 -- Web Communication Tools
Regarding email: one tip I received from a colleague is to not check email first thing in the morning each day. Her reasoning was that you already know what you need to get done first each day, and checking email can distract you from doing it. Get the priority done first, and then look. I'll admit I don't always follow this. Usually I'll open my email right away and glance through the new messages for any that need immediate attention (with fairly strict criteria for those). Everything else I leave until later in the day. One other thing that helps is filters, and even separate email addresses (I have several accounts) for things like listserv messages. Then they're not cluttering up my work inbox, and I can get to them when I have time.
Creating a set of mail templates sounds useful, and my email program provides the ability. I haven't really made use of it yet, although I've played around some. Mostly if I think I may want to reuse the text of a message later I keep it in my "Sent" folder to cut and paste later. I'll admit this isn't terrible efficient!
My library has been providing IM reference for about a year and a half now, using Trillian, which, like Meebo, allows us to consolidate several IM accounts into one. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, and we plan on making the service more visible on our web site to improve this. One of the problems is remembering to log on to Trillian when we begin our reference shift. I'm a heavy IM user, in both my work and personal life, so it's not a problem for me. Other librarians aren't in the habit so much. Due to the low use, I haven't found it a problem to be monitoring our IM accounts while at the reference desk. Students usually understand when I tell them I'm helping someone else online. Plus, depending on the nature of the questions, sometimes it's possible to help both simultaneously.
I'm aware that some libraries provide online reference via SMS as well, and I'm sure it would be useful for our students--judging by the numbers of them seen texting around campus (and even sometimes in library instruction sessions). We haven't yet explored what the technical requirements are to make it possible, however.
For the most part I've found web conferencing beneficial, although technically trying at times. I've "attended" a few different Minitex webinars, the first over 5 years ago and the most recent last month, as well as one from OCLC. In addition I've attended web conferences from the Library of Congress and The Blended Librarian. All of these have primarily been informational presentations, with little to no interaction between presenter and attendees outside of a Q&A period at the end. Still, it's a way to get valuable information without having to physically gather in one place.
Creating a set of mail templates sounds useful, and my email program provides the ability. I haven't really made use of it yet, although I've played around some. Mostly if I think I may want to reuse the text of a message later I keep it in my "Sent" folder to cut and paste later. I'll admit this isn't terrible efficient!
My library has been providing IM reference for about a year and a half now, using Trillian, which, like Meebo, allows us to consolidate several IM accounts into one. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, and we plan on making the service more visible on our web site to improve this. One of the problems is remembering to log on to Trillian when we begin our reference shift. I'm a heavy IM user, in both my work and personal life, so it's not a problem for me. Other librarians aren't in the habit so much. Due to the low use, I haven't found it a problem to be monitoring our IM accounts while at the reference desk. Students usually understand when I tell them I'm helping someone else online. Plus, depending on the nature of the questions, sometimes it's possible to help both simultaneously.
I'm aware that some libraries provide online reference via SMS as well, and I'm sure it would be useful for our students--judging by the numbers of them seen texting around campus (and even sometimes in library instruction sessions). We haven't yet explored what the technical requirements are to make it possible, however.
For the most part I've found web conferencing beneficial, although technically trying at times. I've "attended" a few different Minitex webinars, the first over 5 years ago and the most recent last month, as well as one from OCLC. In addition I've attended web conferences from the Library of Congress and The Blended Librarian. All of these have primarily been informational presentations, with little to no interaction between presenter and attendees outside of a Q&A period at the end. Still, it's a way to get valuable information without having to physically gather in one place.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Thing #2 -- Library 2.0
Note to the reader: The following will be a series of perhaps disjointed thoughts on the subject of Library 2.0. As a colleague said to me, "It's just a blog," so I may not tie them together in a nice narrative structure.
I've been familiar with concept of Library 2.0 since 2006 when I ran into it at Computers in Libraries. For me, at least, the mindset changes are the most easy to do and apply to my work. I'm fairly open to change and looking for ways to try new things. And since I haven't been in the profession that long (10 years--so the Internet has always been a part of my library career) I don't feel myself completely ruled by traditional library orthodoxy, whether it's library "silos" or the MARC record.
Where I do stumble is in making the time to educate myself about the variety of L2 tools and resources out there. Or in taking the time to learn the necessary technical skills to implement some of the cool stuff. While I have some computer programming experience and am capable of learning the skills necessary, it's hard to justify (to myself and my superiors) taking the time. Unlike Stephen Abram, I was hired to be a "Reference Librarian" not "VP of Innovation" and while L2 is important, sometimes other more boring parts of my job have to take precedence. I still have to staff the reference desk and teach library instruction classes.
Still, there are some L2 changes happening in my library. We've been providing IM reference for just over a year, and brought a customized version of the Assignment Calculator online last spring. Several of us has Facebook account (although we don't always use them). When our building was remodeled a few years ago we made sure to include several group study rooms with tables, whiteboards, and network connections for laptops. There is enough room at the computers in our reference area for 2-3 people to sit around each computer, if they want to work together.
For me personally, I'm most interested in things like mashups or AJAX applications --ways to tinker around with how information is delivered. I've begun playing around with a Google Maps application, for example. However, sometimes I'll run up against the wall of lacking tech support for implementation. It also occurs to me that the move away from desktop applications and towards web apps is bringing us full circle. Or maybe spiraling up to a higher plane. In the early days there were servers to run the applications and dedicated client workstations to access them. Now, our desktop machines are kind of like bulked up clients, connecting to the larger "server" that is the web.
To a certain extent I feel that the ideas behind Library 2.0 aren't that new, or that big a deal. However, I can see the value in naming it and creating a "buzz" around it. It certainly raises the visibility of the concept and thus perhaps makes those who might be more afraid/resistant to change sit up and take notice of what's going on in the world around them. And that maybe they'd better get on board. Look at the number of librarians signed up for "23 Things." By reading some of their blogs there are many who are new to the whole 2.0 thing, but willing to try to learn and change. This may not have happened if they were just left to themselves, without the 23 Things initiative to get them going. Of course, there are also a lot of blogs that were started and have gone nowhere.
I like this line from John Blyberg's blog: "but whatever IT is, it IS." Guess I'd better get going and explore the rest of the Things.
I've been familiar with concept of Library 2.0 since 2006 when I ran into it at Computers in Libraries. For me, at least, the mindset changes are the most easy to do and apply to my work. I'm fairly open to change and looking for ways to try new things. And since I haven't been in the profession that long (10 years--so the Internet has always been a part of my library career) I don't feel myself completely ruled by traditional library orthodoxy, whether it's library "silos" or the MARC record.
Where I do stumble is in making the time to educate myself about the variety of L2 tools and resources out there. Or in taking the time to learn the necessary technical skills to implement some of the cool stuff. While I have some computer programming experience and am capable of learning the skills necessary, it's hard to justify (to myself and my superiors) taking the time. Unlike Stephen Abram, I was hired to be a "Reference Librarian" not "VP of Innovation" and while L2 is important, sometimes other more boring parts of my job have to take precedence. I still have to staff the reference desk and teach library instruction classes.
Still, there are some L2 changes happening in my library. We've been providing IM reference for just over a year, and brought a customized version of the Assignment Calculator online last spring. Several of us has Facebook account (although we don't always use them). When our building was remodeled a few years ago we made sure to include several group study rooms with tables, whiteboards, and network connections for laptops. There is enough room at the computers in our reference area for 2-3 people to sit around each computer, if they want to work together.
For me personally, I'm most interested in things like mashups or AJAX applications --ways to tinker around with how information is delivered. I've begun playing around with a Google Maps application, for example. However, sometimes I'll run up against the wall of lacking tech support for implementation. It also occurs to me that the move away from desktop applications and towards web apps is bringing us full circle. Or maybe spiraling up to a higher plane. In the early days there were servers to run the applications and dedicated client workstations to access them. Now, our desktop machines are kind of like bulked up clients, connecting to the larger "server" that is the web.
To a certain extent I feel that the ideas behind Library 2.0 aren't that new, or that big a deal. However, I can see the value in naming it and creating a "buzz" around it. It certainly raises the visibility of the concept and thus perhaps makes those who might be more afraid/resistant to change sit up and take notice of what's going on in the world around them. And that maybe they'd better get on board. Look at the number of librarians signed up for "23 Things." By reading some of their blogs there are many who are new to the whole 2.0 thing, but willing to try to learn and change. This may not have happened if they were just left to themselves, without the 23 Things initiative to get them going. Of course, there are also a lot of blogs that were started and have gone nowhere.
I like this line from John Blyberg's blog: "but whatever IT is, it IS." Guess I'd better get going and explore the rest of the Things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
