IM library service is a great idea, but, like all other services, it must be available when stated.
I tried several times between 3 and 4 on Saturday, Dec. 29 and got the 'offline' message. LUCKILY I work in the library and was able to find out which of two agencies were supposed to be serving today. The manager of the agency that was scheduled got their staff member online. If I had been far away (too far to call CL info....), I would have had to resort to email to get my answer. And yes, I did have a real question.
Was my real question answered? Yes. After I got one answer, I clarified my question to be sure it still applied. And I got a new answer.
My other question-- Is it mostly staff doing Learning 2.0 who are IMing, or outside customers? Mostly staff, in today's online IM Librarian's experience. Publicity IS in the new Update-- p. 2.
As for the mechanics of IMing the library: very easy, once they're online. The tiny space available for typing made me keep wanting to (and doing) ENTER at the end of the line, thus ending my message mid-sentence/thought.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Instant messaging and libraries
Why should libraries use IM? Because it is another way to serve customers. Serving customers remotely is not at new idea—and libraries have adapted and adopted as technology changed. When telephone use became widespread, customers learned they didn’t need to come to the library to find out the names of the 7 dwarfs, or the definition of “synchronicity”; these may have been our first remote customers Online catalogs, followed by online catalogs with customer account interaction, and then multi-resource library web sites followed.
Instant messaging is the next step beyond telephone reference, but it doesn’t replace it.
The librarian is still able to deal with all the tools of telephone reference, with the added addition of not mishearing words. (Of course, there is still the problem of misspelling; I wonder if customers who don’t spell well avoid IM, except among friends?). And, as one of the articles pointed out, there’s a record of the exchange on the screen, so the librarian can check back as he’s working on the question. If both participants have web cams, then you can get a feeling of face-to-face interviewing.
OTOH, library staff might use IM for other than reference applications, IF their IT departments permitted this. For example-- if there's a problem with use of an application, and only an expert in the use of the application can help, then IM would be faster than endless emails. Planning meetings among folks inside and outside the library, OR having the meeting itself in an IM environment would be so much more efficient than traveling, even within the same city.
How is IM different from traditional communications channels? What is traditional? Technology is changing so rapidly that you may even get different answers asking a 10-hear old and a 25-year old. I just had a business meeting with a man who will be 80 on Jan. 3. He had a very new model cell phone that included pictures of his installed product (he also had the “traditional” scrapbooks with color photos). During our meeting he was able to check with his company several times—for availability of materials, prices, and the soonest opening date. I’ve seen businessmen using laptops to do similar things, and when I bought major appliances within the last couple of years, the vendor went to the manufacturer’s web page to find out what was available and when delivery could be expected. We’ve been using web sites for 10 years (if not longer) to find information and answer questions for ourselves and customers. We’ve been using proprietary databases for longer than that (Dialog). So what’s traditional? If wer’e talking databases, there’s the cuneiform inventory, very traditional, but abandoned a long time ago; likewise, “book catalogs”. Card catalogs haven’t been around here for more than a generation—they’re certainly traditional, and were a traditional form of communication with library users (albeit mostly static). With IM, a customer who’s had no luck using the “recently become traditional” online catalog can interact instantly with a librarian who may have more sophisticated ways of using the catalog.
IM may be slightly slower, however, than a telephone or face-to-face conversation, because typing is slower than speech; with IM you don’t get the audio clues, such as tone voice and the visual clues, such as facial expressions, that do help in face-to-face or telephone interviews. HOWEVER, with webcams, and mics, maybe even that may change.
Instant messaging is the next step beyond telephone reference, but it doesn’t replace it.
The librarian is still able to deal with all the tools of telephone reference, with the added addition of not mishearing words. (Of course, there is still the problem of misspelling; I wonder if customers who don’t spell well avoid IM, except among friends?). And, as one of the articles pointed out, there’s a record of the exchange on the screen, so the librarian can check back as he’s working on the question. If both participants have web cams, then you can get a feeling of face-to-face interviewing.
OTOH, library staff might use IM for other than reference applications, IF their IT departments permitted this. For example-- if there's a problem with use of an application, and only an expert in the use of the application can help, then IM would be faster than endless emails. Planning meetings among folks inside and outside the library, OR having the meeting itself in an IM environment would be so much more efficient than traveling, even within the same city.
How is IM different from traditional communications channels? What is traditional? Technology is changing so rapidly that you may even get different answers asking a 10-hear old and a 25-year old. I just had a business meeting with a man who will be 80 on Jan. 3. He had a very new model cell phone that included pictures of his installed product (he also had the “traditional” scrapbooks with color photos). During our meeting he was able to check with his company several times—for availability of materials, prices, and the soonest opening date. I’ve seen businessmen using laptops to do similar things, and when I bought major appliances within the last couple of years, the vendor went to the manufacturer’s web page to find out what was available and when delivery could be expected. We’ve been using web sites for 10 years (if not longer) to find information and answer questions for ourselves and customers. We’ve been using proprietary databases for longer than that (Dialog). So what’s traditional? If wer’e talking databases, there’s the cuneiform inventory, very traditional, but abandoned a long time ago; likewise, “book catalogs”. Card catalogs haven’t been around here for more than a generation—they’re certainly traditional, and were a traditional form of communication with library users (albeit mostly static). With IM, a customer who’s had no luck using the “recently become traditional” online catalog can interact instantly with a librarian who may have more sophisticated ways of using the catalog.
IM may be slightly slower, however, than a telephone or face-to-face conversation, because typing is slower than speech; with IM you don’t get the audio clues, such as tone voice and the visual clues, such as facial expressions, that do help in face-to-face or telephone interviews. HOWEVER, with webcams, and mics, maybe even that may change.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Searching for RSS good and bad
Feedster was recreating itself and was unavailable.. I was particularly interested in searching for podcasts
The Search tools for finding news feeds by topic and currency are cool. They can be an alternative to using Google, since you don’t get all the Amazon, and other results trying to sell you something. I even found a sidebar in Tagalog in a result from Topix.net.
I pursued one of the topics found yesterday in the BBC feed (Terry Pratchett’s Alzheimer’s). Virtually the identical article was in a number of places. A couple of these were blogs on Topix.net, which I don’t understand (one was a “news” blog—I guess like the columnists in the Pilot, but one seemed to be an ordinary person’s blog). This was a fairly discrete topic, there weren’t many opportunities for additional information, but it was interesting to see how many places picked up the story
ONE interesting aspect of Topix.net was the graph at the top. You can click on the graph to find feeds about your topic in earlier months.
Unfortunately, the RSS feed buttons I found gave me the XML page; I’ll have to go back and review how to add these to my google reader account.
Syndic.8com seems harder to use, it seems organized by category, and that’s all. In the Podcast area I also found some that, by title and/or description, may be porn feeds. I didn’t investigate!
The Search tools for finding news feeds by topic and currency are cool. They can be an alternative to using Google, since you don’t get all the Amazon, and other results trying to sell you something. I even found a sidebar in Tagalog in a result from Topix.net.
I pursued one of the topics found yesterday in the BBC feed (Terry Pratchett’s Alzheimer’s). Virtually the identical article was in a number of places. A couple of these were blogs on Topix.net, which I don’t understand (one was a “news” blog—I guess like the columnists in the Pilot, but one seemed to be an ordinary person’s blog). This was a fairly discrete topic, there weren’t many opportunities for additional information, but it was interesting to see how many places picked up the story
ONE interesting aspect of Topix.net was the graph at the top. You can click on the graph to find feeds about your topic in earlier months.
Unfortunately, the RSS feed buttons I found gave me the XML page; I’ll have to go back and review how to add these to my google reader account.
Syndic.8com seems harder to use, it seems organized by category, and that’s all. In the Podcast area I also found some that, by title and/or description, may be porn feeds. I didn’t investigate!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Science Fiction made semi-real
Science Fiction made semi-real!
RSS new feeds emind me of an episode on the TV show Babylon 5 in which a character goes up to a public newsreader, logs in, and has his personal news preferences show up.
Besides being handy to keep up with a breaking story, or the latest updates on severe weather, I can see RSS feeds being very useful for folks doing research on a topic—as long as an RSS feed is available on the sites they’re using.
It’s easy to get carried away with RSS, just as it is with any new ‘toy”. Having too many feeds on RSS means you can waste a lot of time looking at them all.
I was glad that one of the examples (NPR) was audio (only?)—that’s a good example of another format.
I did Google.com; just being able to use the same password as the blog is a big brain-saver. I successfully added subscriptions, deleted some, and made a new folder. I failed to get a shortcut to show up on my desktop. I guess I’ll have to work at it..
RSS new feeds emind me of an episode on the TV show Babylon 5 in which a character goes up to a public newsreader, logs in, and has his personal news preferences show up.
Besides being handy to keep up with a breaking story, or the latest updates on severe weather, I can see RSS feeds being very useful for folks doing research on a topic—as long as an RSS feed is available on the sites they’re using.
It’s easy to get carried away with RSS, just as it is with any new ‘toy”. Having too many feeds on RSS means you can waste a lot of time looking at them all.
I was glad that one of the examples (NPR) was audio (only?)—that’s a good example of another format.
I did Google.com; just being able to use the same password as the blog is a big brain-saver. I successfully added subscriptions, deleted some, and made a new folder. I failed to get a shortcut to show up on my desktop. I guess I’ll have to work at it..
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Learning about Web 2.0
From “Edge Perspective with John Hagel: What is Web 2.0” (quotations in black, my thoughts in blue)
Users. Rather than viewing creation as a highly specialized activity, this platform encourages users of all types to become involved in the creation process. The well-established boundaries between producers and consumers and professionals and amateurs are rapidly eroding.
My thought:
At this point, this seems to sum up the essence of Web 2.0 for me—everyone can be involved in the creation process. For a long-time lurker, this is both exciting and daunting.
Cumulative. Perhaps the most important aspect of this platform is that it encourages cumulative creation. This stems from the modularity that is a key design principle of Web 2.0 and it has profound implications for creative activity. It means that wherever and whenever creative activity occurs, it can be appropriated and built upon by others, further strengthening the bootstrapping process. Since what is being created is meant to be shared, it becomes less and less useful to think of the output as products and much more important to view the output as services that in turn support the creation of other services.
From “Edge Perspective with John Hagel: What is Web 2.0” (quotations in black, my thoughts in blue)
Users. Rather than viewing creation as a highly specialized activity, this platform encourages users of all types to become involved in the creation process. The well-established boundaries between producers and consumers and professionals and amateurs are rapidly eroding.
My thought:
At this point, this seems to sum up the essence of Web 2.0 for me—everyone can be involved in the creation process. For a long-time lurker, this is both exciting and daunting.
Cumulative. Perhaps the most important aspect of this platform is that it encourages cumulative creation. This stems from the modularity that is a key design principle of Web 2.0 and it has profound implications for creative activity. It means that wherever and whenever creative activity occurs, it can be appropriated and built upon by others, further strengthening the bootstrapping process. Since what is being created is meant to be shared, it becomes less and less useful to think of the output as products and much more important to view the output as services that in turn support the creation of other services.
Because of the focus on creation, I am very taken with Ross Mayfield’s formulation that “the web is increasingly less about places and other nouns, but verbs
My thought: What an exciting article. In many ways he gets at the essence of of Web 2.0, without resorting to the “examples” he criticizes in other definitions. Although, I wouldn’t appreciate Hagel’s definitions without the examples cited in others’ definitions of 2.0!
Additional thoughts about thing 4 readings:
Very informative. I found myself making lists of words to look up on google or wikipedia – permalink, meme, aggregator—as I read.
Habits of Lifelong Learning: hard, easy, and great fun
The most difficult habit, in this context, really surprised me: “Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.” I’ve been a lifelong learner, always, and usually leap into new areas with confidence. I’ve taken lots of classes (for fun and other reasons) and met many challenges after library school; my library agency probably began having to learn about computers, upgraded computers, new software and updated versions before most of the rest of the system. We took great pride in making creative typos, because that’s one effective way we’ve learned. I happily took a course in DOS (remember when it was all DOS?); I cheerfully took a course in Windows and embraced the excitement of GUI. The ancient e-mail we got the LVA back in the nineties was SOOO exciting. I was on the training team for the library system when we were about to come up with the Internet. It was great gobs of fun to learn about this amazing new source of information.
But this web 2.0 training is throwing me. I’m apprehensive that I won’t be able to figure out the technical parts.
I realize that part of my problem is—no internet at home for the last several years. I got a Trojan horse and I can’t close the door on it. And I need access at home again for so many reasons – not the least of which is that I really want to be able to download audiobooks.
The easiest habit? It’s a tossup between “Accept responsibility for your own learning” (which goes along with “Have confidence…”) and “Play.” If you have confidence, and know that you’re not going to “break” anything, then play is easy. I also think lifelong learners are frequently self-directed. They either explore ideas on their own, or know when they need to get direction or help. They also take responsibility for “doing the work” (always keep up at least with the reading, I’ve always said…)
But there can be a dangerous misinterpretation of “Accept responsibility for your own learning.” My very bright brother usually gets stuff immediately, or can figure it out. SOMEHOW (?????) he failed to learn that this is not an EXPECTATION in school—the reason you have teachers is so that when you DON”T get it right away, they’re there to help. So he didn’t think he could ask questions if he didn’t get it. This caused him big-time problems in college; even I, his sister, never knew that was how he was operating until he somehow figured it out.
So the corollary to “Accept responsibility for your own learning” means make the effort, do the work, AND “ask for help when you need it!”
I’m also fond of habit 7: “Teach/Mentor others.” Finding out about new things and ideas is so much fun that I often bubble over with wanting to share the information I’ve read or ideas I’ve come across Alas, some folks appreciate this less than others.
The most difficult habit, in this context, really surprised me: “Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.” I’ve been a lifelong learner, always, and usually leap into new areas with confidence. I’ve taken lots of classes (for fun and other reasons) and met many challenges after library school; my library agency probably began having to learn about computers, upgraded computers, new software and updated versions before most of the rest of the system. We took great pride in making creative typos, because that’s one effective way we’ve learned. I happily took a course in DOS (remember when it was all DOS?); I cheerfully took a course in Windows and embraced the excitement of GUI. The ancient e-mail we got the LVA back in the nineties was SOOO exciting. I was on the training team for the library system when we were about to come up with the Internet. It was great gobs of fun to learn about this amazing new source of information.
But this web 2.0 training is throwing me. I’m apprehensive that I won’t be able to figure out the technical parts.
I realize that part of my problem is—no internet at home for the last several years. I got a Trojan horse and I can’t close the door on it. And I need access at home again for so many reasons – not the least of which is that I really want to be able to download audiobooks.
The easiest habit? It’s a tossup between “Accept responsibility for your own learning” (which goes along with “Have confidence…”) and “Play.” If you have confidence, and know that you’re not going to “break” anything, then play is easy. I also think lifelong learners are frequently self-directed. They either explore ideas on their own, or know when they need to get direction or help. They also take responsibility for “doing the work” (always keep up at least with the reading, I’ve always said…)
But there can be a dangerous misinterpretation of “Accept responsibility for your own learning.” My very bright brother usually gets stuff immediately, or can figure it out. SOMEHOW (?????) he failed to learn that this is not an EXPECTATION in school—the reason you have teachers is so that when you DON”T get it right away, they’re there to help. So he didn’t think he could ask questions if he didn’t get it. This caused him big-time problems in college; even I, his sister, never knew that was how he was operating until he somehow figured it out.
So the corollary to “Accept responsibility for your own learning” means make the effort, do the work, AND “ask for help when you need it!”
I’m also fond of habit 7: “Teach/Mentor others.” Finding out about new things and ideas is so much fun that I often bubble over with wanting to share the information I’ve read or ideas I’ve come across Alas, some folks appreciate this less than others.
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