ILS599 Final Project

The final project for ILS599 is to devise a Web 2.0 plan for a library. The Duxbury Free Library is currently in the process of upgrading its services to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies that our patrons could benefit from most. As reference librarian and “accidental techist”, I have been responsible for identifying needs and planning the implementation for these new services. The plan presented here is an actual representation of what is currently happening at the DFL.

Duxbury, Massachusetts is a town that expects a lot from local services. For the most part, members of this community are affluent, college educated, professional, liberal, and forward-thinking. They take an active part in community development and planning. Library usage is high. The children in this community are active in sports and artistic endeavors and perform well in school. The library is located on the public school campus, which also has playing fields, an indoor swimming and diving pool, and a recreation center. Historically our patrons are on the cutting edge of technology; they have the expendable income to purchase the latest gadgets. Our goal is to raise the technology level of the library to meet our patron’s need and desires by adding IM Reference service and two Flickr accounts.

IM Reference is an instant messaging service that will allow patrons real time internet access to the reference staff. A widget, or tool, will be put on the DFL webpage and patrons simply type their question in the text box, hit enter, and the message will show up on the screen at the reference desk at the library. Communication will continue in this way, with the librarian answering back from an instant messaging account set up for this purpose.

Flickr is a photo sharing application that puts pictures that the library chooses on the internet. Pictures, taken with a digital camera and downloaded onto a computer, are then uploaded into the Flickr account. After they are organized and labeled they are able to be viewed by the public from a link on the DFL webpage.

The duties of the full time reference librarian include the research and implementation of new technology for the library. Any staff time spent on these endeavors is therefore “free” of additional charge to the library.

Reference statistics prove that our patrons are using the electronic databases frequently with an average of 10,000 searches a year; in person visits average over 30,000 a year. Although the DFL already has a large user-ship for its current reference services, the addition of IM reference will open the door for a new form of communication. Many patrons are already using IM daily; the DFL hopes to capture this audience in addition to our walk-in, phone, and email patrons.

Personal Meebo accounts have already been set up by the director and the reference librarian. Over the next few weeks each of the seven regular reference staff members will be instructed to set up their own account in order to practice instant messaging in house. An open discussion will be held at the July reference meeting to review best practices and troubleshoot any problems. After the staff becomes familiar with the process “dummy” reference questions will be directed to a Meebo account set up at the reference desk. This way the staff will gain practice answering questions of a varied nature.

A week before the start of the school year, a Meebo widget will be put on the library’s webpage. The reference staff member on desk duty will handle the IM questions; no additional staffing will be required.

After the initial launch a PR campaign including buttons and bookmarks will begin. The library owns a button maker and bookmarks can be printed in house. Cost will be minimal. Flyers will go out to the schools on a staggered basis so as not to get too much IM activity at once. The goal is to build users gradually, giving the staff time to get used to this new service.

(Timeline for Meebo)

(Problems/Concerns)

In order to increase patron interest in the DFL’s online presence two Flickr accounts are being set up – one for adults, one for children. The adult account will include sets titled “Programming”, “Staff”, and “Building”. The children’s account will have sets titled “Programs”, “Displays”, and “Summer”. There is no charge for the Flickr accounts, the library already owns a digital camera, and the reference librarian will be responsible for maintaining the accounts, so there will be no cost to the library for this application.

(Timeline for Flickr)

(Problems/Concerns)

The Duxbury Free Library is very excited to be enhancing its services to patrons with Web 2.0 technology. For the second year the DFL will offer a free “Tech Talk” series to the public. This series will include four 1 ½ hour long presentations on the fourth Thursday of the month, starting in October and running until February, with the exception of December. The tentative line-up includes “What’s New at the DFL” by the reference librarian, “Gadget Petting Zoo” by local retailers, “Digital Photography” (presenter has not yet been booked), and “Social Networking for Grown-ups” by Jessamyn West.

Our hope is to continue this series annually as long as there is public interest in technology. The staff is dedicated to offering the best service possible, keeping ourselves abreast of the current trends, and anticipating the needs of our patrons. This series, combined with the addition of the above mention web 2.0 applications, puts us closer to the leading edge of technology.

IM in the library

It's finally Friday and I'm heading to the cape for some restorative camping. But before I go I have some SCSU housekeeping to take care of…

My class has been talking about blogs, wikis, IM, basically all the things that I'm completely immersed in at my job. It's been fun and, of course, educational. We're talking a lot about how these and other web 2.0 applications work, and how and why libraries should use them, but I'd still like to hear some testimonials, if you will, from librarians who are currently using these tools in their libraries. I know here in Duxbury the reference wiki I set up has been a tremendous success. It met our expectations and even had a few bonuses that we were not expecting. I've started to archive previous months reference questions, mainly because I'm a little funny that way (I won't use the "A" word), and also because even though we didn't keep the paper version of the reference questions list I feel like at some point I'll be able to turn this electronic version into another kind of tool for us.

Back to the class…one of our assignments for this week was to get some experience using IM. We used the Meebo IM aggregater, one of the more popular IM tools. I already had a Meebo account set up (dmbgarvin, in case you want to add me to your friends list), thanks to a workshop I attended at SEMLS a few months ago. Lately I've been trying to get a few other staff members on board with the concept in preparation for our launch of IM Reference, hopefully by the start of the schools year.

For anyone who doesn't know what Meebo is, it's basically a single IM account that you set up one time with any and all IM screen names you have. It will allow you to talk with anyone else with a Meebo account, even if you are an AIM person and your friend is a Yahoo person. Great tool, really; it pulls the IM community together and enlarges the circle of communication.

So, the class was supposed to "check in" via IM with Rebecca, the distance education librarian at SCSU and one of the instructors for the class. Then, she wanted us to join the ILL599 chat room she set up on Meebo specifically for the class. I popped in three or four times and every time I was the only one there. Which wasn't really surprising to me, it's a fairly small class and there were no designated hours. I have group chatted before and find it to be a little hard to follow.

Where do I see IM in libraries…..reference definitely, circulation maybe, YA librarians probably, although it could be distracting. IM chat rooms, not really. What I don't like about the rooms are the questions and comments that hang without being answered, or conversation threads that are overlapping numerous other conversation threads. I'm way too linear for that! I think if a bunch of people (I'm thinking young people here) are just "hanging out" it can be fun, but if it's a tool to share information I'd rather see a one on one situation. The name is very fitting – Chat Room – it's a great place to chat, but not to have any kind of serious or meaningful interaction.

So those are my thoughts of the day on instant messaging. Have a wonderful weekend everyone, I'm off to pitch a tent, roll out my sleeping bag, and catch up on some reading!