Libraries and Second Life

I must admit that Second Life (SL) is becoming more appealing. Yes, I still have lag, my client crashes at inopportune times, but I have enjoyed interacting on this platform in my early experiences and on tours. It is very immersive, it somehow blurs the edged between reality and the virtual.

I am a little disappointed in the libraries that I experiences. I am not sure what I expected.I have experienced two different type of libraries in SL libraries such as Standford University which is a physical library as well as virtual and others such as Community Virtual Library (CVL) which is only virtual. Libraries exist in SL as many aspects of it try to imitate real life (well...not the parts where avatars are half beast, half person). And once people become more familiar with SL, they look for information on how they can improve their experiences and as in real life, people head for the library within Second Life for that information (Baity et al, 2009 p.5). 

Standford library is nicely set up with some lovely places to wander. I thought that I would interact more within SL but most of the interaction happened on websites outside of SL. I could leave a message, or be taken to a website to get questions answered. Visual boards of different branches linked me to their websites or catalogue. I loved reading about the rare books in the Book Garden.

My avatar perusing the Book Garden at Standford University Library

The CVL was similar. I could visit when there was a librarian present but it seemed to follow a US timetable. It seemed to have little popups that helped me to navigate round, had displays where I could get information on SL features such as scripting. It seemed to provide information about interacting in SL as well as linking to traditional resources via web pages.  

Using the reference services at CVL

From my experiences libraries in SL are: 

• Offering traditional library services linking to back to library websites
• Setting up virtual services with avatar librarians
• Showcasing their collections
• Providing spaces for conferences/lectures/learning opportunities. I see this as one of the best features of libraries in SL. People from different geographic locations can get together for discussions. It would be a great learning tool for distance education students to gather socially and also be able to have virtual lectures together and give presentations.

Some concluding thoughts

• I wonder if SL has had its peak. Long term concurrancy statistics (maximum number of users on at any one time) show that that SL peaked in early 2009.  
• SL requires a lot of staff time in experimenting and becoming comfortable in Second Life, in becoming competent and knowledgeable enough to help other users in their SL Journey and I wonder if that time is worthwhile.
• What percentage of current library patrons would choose to access the library via SL? I would suggest very few from a public library, so is it really adding value to services.
• SL is very resource heavy in that it requires newer computers with good graphics cards and large bandwidth to function well. This is a barrier for some in using services on SL, adding to digital divide issues
• It still seems quite novel to me, and I wonder how many people use SL libraries from traditional information searching apart from information about engaging in SL.
  

  
  

References:

Baity, C., Chappell, P., Rachlin, D., Vinson, C. & Zamarripa, M. (2009) When Real and Virtual Worlds Collide: A Second Life Library. Retrieved from

http://www.desktop-computing.com/capstone/Documents/WhenVirtualWorldsCollideFinal.pdf

Twitter and Libraries

I am a woman of many words, verbose could be my middle name, so what could a microblogging site like Twitter which only allows me 140 characters have to offer me. Quite a lot actually and I am surprised. After blogging about a frustrating start I have been using Twitter sporatically thought this semester.

Some of my achievements:

• I have composed over 80 tweets
• I am following 48 people and being followed by 22
• I have been retweeted at least three times
• I won a book with a competition from Get reading
• I followed a chapter of Pride and Prejudice achieved in tweets via the characters via Story Monkey
• I have promoted my library
• I have played around with attaching photos to my tweets and using the tag #ediblebooks
• I am beginning to become aware of how important hashtags are to having tweets searchable and found by others.  I am looking for popular hashtags in my areas of interest that I can use such as #mustread; #bookreview; and #handmade.

I have been surprised by the versatility the Twitter has for libraries.

• It can link to any URL. For example Parramatta Library linked to a pin on Pinterest of an image on an author talk.
• Tweets can be linked to Facebook status updates.
• Libraries can offer reference and answer library questions through Twitter. Arizona State Library  has students asking the library where to find certain resources, asking for directions, and answering student feed back.  
• As with most social networking sites it is great for promotion.  Eastern Regional Libraries promotes books, events, author talks and resources 

Experiences with Flickr

I joined Flickr for this social networking course and joined the class group. I immediately uploads some photos of some of my creations, cakes and owl related crafts as I found the site to have a 'show and tell' feel to it.. I found some friends and added them as contacts because I wanted to show off my photos. I played with the popular tag searches and found some interesting photos! I explored the site and really enjoyed the world map and the geotagging items. I image that this could be a good resource for education especially it image are of landmarks of the area.
I have used Flickr during the course to explore the creative commons images. I have displayed images in all my blog posts and wanted to use images that had permissions. I have used images, attributed recognition and I remixed images when those permissions exist.
I was unsure how best to use the INF206-INF506 Photo Pool until the lecturer suggested that this could be used as evidence of our learning. So I have finally added photos of my Pinterest and Second Life learning.

How public libraries could use Flickr
Promotion of events and programs Worthington library uses the Flikr display features of collections and sets well. It has 5 collections: Programs and Events; Library of the Year 2007; Enchanted Children's Areas, Life at the Library; and 2007-2008 Renovations. Inside each of these collections are multiple sets, the biggest being Program and Events with 35 sets dedicated to different events. The library does has a photostream, which is a stream of photos in order of upload but collections and  sets made it the page less chaotic and more visually attractive.
Show case the library with photos of library places and introductions to library staff. Photos can be annotated with a note about staff roles.
Photos of book covers for new books or book themes, like a virtual book display.
Photo competitions by allowing patrons to add photos. For example, the library I work at had a competition for photos of people reading somewhere in the council. If we had a Flickr account these could have been uploaded and displayed rather then people needing to print and send physical copies. Chester County library ran a collaborative competition about nature in Chester County.

Art tours and shopping........in Second Life

My favourite artwork during the tour - animated falling autumn leaves

Tonight I had a great time in Second Life.  I have been having issues with my computer with lag and voice chat which made it difficult to go an any tours the course was offering.  However I borrowed a laptop that ran a windows operating system and was able to interact really well, and get my voice chat to work.  I run a Linux OS and it don't think that Second Life has really developed a good SL viewer for Linux.  Anyway.......It was great that I could talk and hear the tour and get some insights into Second Life, and chat with people from my course.  Being distance Ed this doesn't happen much, so interactions on Second Life for distance education students would be a great way to build up a class community.

Gallery of people and their avatars at Thothica

Cas took us on a tour of some of the art installations and galleries in Second Life.  One of the most fascinating was a gallery with images of people and their avatars.  The way that people customize their avatars to look like them, down to the clothes they wear.  It is interesting to consider people's relationship to their avatar.  I haven't done much customizing of my avatar, but I am certainly not going to have one that mimics my over weight, middle aged body!  There are not many places I can be thin, young and energetic in real life, so I need to take advantage of Second Life.
Avatars are an important part of Second Life and as in real life I have found that they effect the way I think of people in Second life.  Cas I found extroverted which mainly had to do with the gestures her avatar made, confident and open.  However Mishellanous, another avatar who is new to Second life spent most of the time looking straight ahead with her hands by her sides so I assumed that she is quite and shy.  This is probably no the case but being new she hasn't added gestures to her avatar.  I probabaly seemed the same to her.

Right: Buying souvenir t-shirts at Artropolis
Left: End of tour in our Artropolis t-shirts


Cas gave me some landmarks to go shopping, so I have spent the past few hours shopping in Second life and then finding a changing room and trying on my outfits and doing some mixing and matching.  There are some great free shopping areas to take advantage of, even if a lot of outfits are a little skimpy.  I collate some outfit shots into the image below.

Delicious and Libraries

I have found Delicious a great resource for organizing resources for the social networking assignment for this subject. I loved the stack feature,it enabled me to separate my assignment topics well. Once the stacks were removed tags became much more important.  I hadn't been very consistent with my tagging for example 'social media' and 'socialmedia' which makes rediscovery much harder.  This is common with tagging or folksomonies which can lack precision and structure (Redden, 2010, p.224). Bookmarking is easy, it is rediscovery or retrieval that would be difficult especially when using Delicious collaboratively.  Too many bookmarks in tag catagories, multiple bookmarking of the same site, inconsistent tag names could reduces the effectiveness and usability of  Delicious. 

Other features that I have found useful are:

Following people in the same industry as me, and users I notice that  have bookmarked similar sites to me so that I can discover, and possibly bookmark their bookmarks.This is a great way resources could be shared between libraries 

Tag Bundles have allowed me to collect my social media technology sites togehter and for me replaces the stack feature.  For libraries bundles could group together all the children's services links or all the easy reference bookmarks.  

Annotations/Descriptions  I have used this feature to remind myself on what I used the site for or why it was a good resource. This is especially important when there are are lots of bookmarks with similar tags as can happen when Delicious is used collaboratively or limited the number of tags to be used.  

How libraries can use delicious

• As means of sharing reference resources for staff to use on desk while helping patrons.

• For staff to share resources with each other such as bookmarking sites with ideas for programs, child's activities, and displays.

• As a resource portal for patrons.  Brimbank Library has a Delicious cloud of useful links  while Geelong Library has a catagorized useful Weblinks and use Delicious to store all their links.

For libraries one of the best features of Delicious is that it is web-based. It can be accessed from any PC and doesn't need altering when computers are upgraded.

References:
Redden, C.S. (2010). Social bookmarking in academic libraries: Trends and applications. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(3), 219–227

Libraries and Facebook

I have been using Facebook personally for a few years but being part of the INF206-506 group was a different experience for me. I didn't realize that groups were able to have features like files and that I could interact with a group of people who weren't my 'friends'.

As part of my investigation into Facebook I experimented with setting up my own community page as this is what libraries would do to have a presence on Facebook. Customizing the page is pretty similar to a personal page but I found installing applications tricky. Libraries use applications (apps) to allow users to access library information without leaving Facebook (Harris & Lessick, 2007, p. 30). When looking at the literature for good applications for libraries to use, I found that most of these application were no longer available. Facebook is an changing platform in its ambition to improve its user's experience and so do apps that often of third-party origin. However it makes it difficult for libraries who look to literature for advice on starting a Facebook page.

When I started this course I began following some public libraries on Facebook, as this is my area of interest. I am pleased to note how active some of the libraries I follow are, in posting to their wall daily, even on weekends. As Aharony noted, I have found that public libraries use Facebook as as a way to deliver information to users and as a marketing tool rather than as a means of interactive dialoging with users (Arhony, 2012 p. 366) This is disappointing as one of the strengths of social networking technologies as they tools that facilitate collaboration and social connections. Some libraries are more active in encouraging users to participate. Some examples include: 

• Asking questions, mostly along a literary theme such as “What adventure story (fictional or true) do you most wish you’d been part of?” (Geelong Regional Libraries)

• Posting interesting photos that evoke responses such as book based foods. (MooneValley Libraries)

• Live book chats (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Since the library I work at is not presently using any social networking technologies. I would suggest to begin with a Facebook page. It is relatively easy to set up, it offers a way of promoting the library as well as creating new relationships and interactions with patrons. Also, once the library increases its social media presence to other technologies, those technologies can be promoted and accessed though apps on Facebook.

References:

Aharony, N. (2012) Facebook use in libraries: an exploratory analysis . Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives , 64(4), 358-372 .

Harris, A. & Lessick, S. (2007). Libraries Get Personal: Facebook Applications, Google Gadgets, and MySpace Profiles Library Hi Tech News, 24(8), 30-32, DOI: 10.1108/07419050710836018

First Experiences in Second Life

Me on a camel in the desert of Giza

I am not much of a gamer. I really don't see the point of them. I don't do well at games, I think it is my inability to automatically determine my left from my right and I lack mouse co-ordination. So I approached my first experiences with Second Life with trepidation.
My first experience in second life had be bumping into objects with my hands out like a zombie wearing a steam punk outfit. I tried to chat to some people around me but they had as much idea as to what to do as I did. I had considerable lag on my actions, so I always seemed to move much further than I wanted to and found the experience disappointing and frustrating..
I have always wanted to visit Egypt, so for my second visit I searched for Egyptian themed places. Amongst the places I visit was a Giza pyramid where I learned to sit on a camel and took some photos.
My third experience in second life was a introduction with Cas Geordie. This turned out to be frustrating as I had trouble with sound. In the end people could hear me, but I couldn't hear them. I was able to get some chat summaries from one of the other students about what was happening but felt left out.
My best experience was on a virtual tour with another student who taught me how to interact more with objects and where, among other places, we visited Info Island and took a cushion tour.
Some of the functions I have learned on SL include sitting, running, walking, flying, changing camera angles, changing my outfit in a dressing room, dancing, interacting with objects.
I will continue to experiment with Second Life and try to look for experiences in using a library in this virtual world.

Pinterest for Libraries

In an earlier post   I wrote that I had just realized that Pinterest was not just a place to pin pretty pictures but was a social book-marking site similar to Delicious  but instead of text each bookmark was represented by an image. This changed using Pinterest for me as it meant I could bookmark instructions for making crafts and not just images to inspire me. In creating pins I now think of them as resources and not images.  Check out my Pinterest profile.  I have learned how to manipulate the placement of my boards and to set board covers so that they display the most visually appealing or relevant images. I have done lots of repinning and get excited when other repin or follow my boards.  

I have interacted more in Pinterest by repinning, liking and commenting on images and I have created a collaborative board. The board is called Social Media in Libraries which now has 8 collaborators including people from my course and library colleagues. I have also joined and collaborated on other boards such as The Librarian's List: All Time Favourite Books and What Are You Reading? 

As I am interested in how libraries are using Pinterest I have began following libraries. Most libraries are using Pinterest for promotion  Somers library  promotes books in many categories such as teen reads, bullying resources, staff picks, action and adventure. However the library has used Google to source the images and all the bookmarks or pins link back to Google. This is a missed opportunity for the library to direct traffic back to the library catalogue. The library could select a book cover image from Google and customize the URL to link to the item on the catalogue. Fullerton Libraries has linked all its book recommendations to the library catalogue.  

Libraries are also promoting events and services on Pinterest with images of flyers and photo of events and the best libraries are directing user back to the library websites

One of the essentials of social networking is participation. Followers of library boards can like, repin or comment on a library pin. Some libraries are more active in encouraging participation by inviting patrons to collaborate on boards. New York Public library invites patrons to pin images with the hashtag #NYPLLittlelions images of cats that represent the library logo of a lion. NYPL then searches on Pinterest for this hashtag and pins the image to their Little Lions board. Fullerton Library has 68 collaborators on its Patron Favourites board 

The one issue I have encountered in the literature about Pinterest is that of copyright and intellectual property on images that are pinned (Ferguson, 2012, p.84). Anecdotally, many companies are happy to have their contents pinned as it increases traffic to their website, however if in doubt libraries should not pin images that they don't have the copyright of or permission form the artist (Hayden, 2012, p.169).

Summary for using Pinterest in Libraries

• Use Pinterest for both promotion and to engage users

• Link image such as book recommendations and new acquisitions back to the library catalogue

• Pin Regularly to keep users engaged and giving them content to like, repin or comment on

• Look for ways to collaborate on boards with patrons

• Be aware of copyright issues.

References:

Ferguson, Cris (2012). Technology Left Behind — Pinning in the Library. Against the Grain, 24(3), 83-85. Retrieved from http://www.against-the-grain.com/2012/07/v24-3-technology-left-behind/

Hayden, Beth (2012) Pinfluence : The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.

Libraries and QR Codes

Image: QR code for the shelf location of  Princess Bride by William Goldman at UQ Library

I have seen QR codes in magazines and at the movies but I really had no idea of what they were. For those of you in the same situation as me, I can tell you that QR codes stands for Quick Response codes and are a type of barcode but can hold more information as they are two dimensional (Walsh, 2009 p.7). They are readable by smart phones and mobile phones with cameras which use a downloadable QR reader. QR Codes can store different types of information such as text and more often a URL and links you a website.

I have difficulty with the concept of QR as social media or social networking software, as on its own it doesn't involve any social interaction. However it is certainly a tool that facilitates social networking as is a means of sharing information and leading people to places where they can collaborate and create content. To me they are more of a marketing tool that is the digital equivalent of business cards. A QR code could be displayed on a shop front which links people to a website which contain more information than could be typed on a business card.

However when I look at how libraries are using QR codes it can be used from more than marketing, and does link people to sites where they can create and share content. QR codes on book can link to information about the author and other books they have written, they can be added to the catalogue to get the shelf location of books, can be linked to library services (Massis, 2011, p.467). QR codes can link patrons to content sharing sites such as Blogs, Facebook pages and Flickr streams which invites them to dialogue with the library on these sites. It can also encourage creation of content. For example a QR code on a book can link patrons to a site where they can review the book. For more ways on how libraries are using QR codes see QR codes on Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

The benefits of QR codes to libraries is that it joins together the physical and the virtual spaces of the library. They are low cost, easy to implement and have the potential to link patrons to lots of information (Ashford, 2010, p.527). One issue with QR codes is that users require a mobile device that can take photos and those patrons who do not have this technology will not be able to access this added information.

References:

Ashford, R. (2010). QR codes and academic libraries: Reaching mobile users.
College and Research Libraries News, 71(10), 526-530. Retrieved from http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/10/526.full
Massis, Bruce E. (2011). QR codes in the library New Library World, 112 (9), 466-469
Walsh. Andrew. (2009).Quick response codes and libraries. Library Hi Tech News, 26(5), 7-9.

RSS Use In Public Libraries

I used to think that RSS was the poor sister in the range of social media tools that were available, but after seeing is ease of use and its benefits, I am changing my tune. RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication others refer to it as Rich Site Summary (Wusteman, 2004 p. 404). It is an application used on sites that are regularly updated. Users subscribe to a feed using a newsreader which then checks that site on a regular interval and notifies users of changes to those sites of pages(Wusteman, 2004 p.404). It is a fantastic time saver. Instead of visiting these sites regularly to note updates, new blog posts, or the lastest news all you need to do is regularly access your newsreader and it pulls on the new information from your feeds into a central place (Mu, 2008 p.10).

I have been investigating how Australian public libraries are using RSS, and I selected two examples  Eastern Regional Libraries and Yarra Plenty Regional Library to explore how they are using RSS.

Many libraries now have their own blogs either on their library websites or on a blog hosting site with links to them. Many of these have a RRS feed that notifies subscribers of a new post and pushes it out to them. YPRL has a quite a few blogs but not all of them offer a RSS feed.  ERL has 4 blogs,  all that can use RSS technology.

Some libraries use RSS to alert subscribers to changes in library locations and opening times. ERL's Find a library page has a google map of all the branches of the libraries, has the phone number of each library and the opening hours. RSS allows subscribers to be alerted to any changes on this page which means that patrons would be quickly notified of any change in opening hours that may occur, especially relevant for public holidays  or emergency closings.

Usually the RSS feed symbol is found on the address bar in your browser, ERL has placed symbols direction on their pages which makes it much more prominent – especially to people who are not so familiar with RSS. Many individual pages on the ERL website have RSS feeds. ERL has possible gone overboard with its use of RSS. RSS is particularly use for pages that regularly contain new information. ERL has RSS on pages such as on online resources and newspaper holdings  which are quite static pages. However, for those users that particularly use online resources at the library being notified of a new resource can be invaluable.  Interestingly, there is both a ERL newsletter and a YPRL newsletter  but at the time of this blog entry they can only be subscribed to via email and not RSS.

Getting feedback from patrons is an important aspect the social media technologies offer. Eastern Regional Libraries has a feedback page that is part of the I love Libraries campaign in Victoria. Visitors to the website and library users are invited to share their memories and experiences of the library. These are posted to a page entitled 'Why I love my library” It has an RSS option. As subscribers are notified when changes are made to the page they will be able to read of new memories other have of the library and builds a feeling of connectedness to the library and those who use it especially if people have similar experiences.

A great way of keeping patrons informed about new acquisitions to the library is to create a RSS feed linked to the catalogue. This way subscribers are the first to find out the new books and can reserve them. Although ERL and YPRL don't  Central West Libraries  has RSS feeds of the new titles added to the catalogue.  Users can subscribe to new titles, series issues and rating and reviews of books.

Another option for using RSS that none of these libraries are using (yet) is linking an RSS feed to a users library card. This then alerts the user to any changed on their card, overdues, fines, and reserves ready to pick up. An example of this is the University of Sydney's Myloans 

References:
Wusteman, J. (2004). RSS: the latest feed. Library Hi Tech, 22(4), 404-413.
DOI 10.1108/07378830410570511

Mu , Cuiying (2008). Using RSS feeds and social bookmarking tools to keep current . Library Hi Tech News 25(9) 2008, 10-11. DOI 10.1108/07419050810946196



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Twittering about spam

I joined Twitter over a year ago, sent my first tweet and felt proud! However that was the extent of my tweeting experience. Now my account has become more active as I interact with students from my class and as I post tweets to do with social networking. I have found that more of my friends are on twitter than I thought and I am  communicating with them and I am tweeting support to Australian athletes in London for the Olympics.
However, it has not been all smooth sailing, actually I am finding things about Twitter quite frustrating. I was happily tweeting away adding tags to my tweets that would allow my classmates to search from my tweets. However after a while I began to notice that some of my tweets were not being captured in a search. Any tweet with a URL link would not show up in the #tag search. This was frustrating as I had felt that these tweets with links were important articles that I wanted to share, yet unless my classmates specifically subscribed to my tweets, they wouldn't be able to see these tweets.
Unsure of what was going on as all my setting seemed fine I went to Google to investigate and found that there were other users that have reported other problems, but had no solution. I searched Twitter help and information about why tweets weren't appearing, but none of they quite fit my situation of why only some of my tweets were missing from search.
This is when it was suggested to me that perhaps it has to do with spam protection. My account had very little activity and suddenly I was tweeting a lot and using links. It could look a little suspicious. One of the ways in which twitter looks at spamming is “If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates” I was wondering if Twitters spam protection was stopping these links from coming up in search.
A question to Twitter support suggested that “The best course of action is to continue tweeting, re-tweeting and mentioning others to gain resonance amongst your followers” So it seems that I have to gain authenticity as a Tweeter for all my tweets to show up in #tag searches. It seems disappointing that spammers do make it difficult for everyone else.  This raises the question of how this need to gain resonance amongst followers affects a library that is just starting to tweet and wants to link to their library site.

Delving into Pinterest

I mentioned in my earlier post some of the social media sites that I use. Some of the sites that I use I don't feel that I use effectively.  For example Pinterest contains photos of images I like, and craft ideas.  These are images that I have found myself on the internet. I haven't 'repinned' anyone's images.  I may as well just have a file on my computer with these images as I am treating Pinterest as a storage area.
So this week I am going to make more of an effort to developed my networks, following people I know and repinning images to delve into the social networks of Pinterest.
ADDITION: August 28, 2012
I began using Pinterest in 2011 after an invite from a friend who was using it. It was a very visually appealing so I thought I would join up. I was one of those people who was always saving images from the internet on to my computer but this seemed like a really easy way to do it. I could see images that other people had pinned and if I liked it I could repin it. I started up two boards one for food and one for craft and happily repinned people's pins, and I found friends that were using Pinterest and followed them and in turn they followed me. After a few weeks of doing this, I realised that I didn't just have to repin other people's pins but I could find an image on the website and pin it myself using a bookmarklet called “pin it”. This added a whole new dimension to my pinning, now I was 'surfing the net' and pinning.
Starting this subject made me look more closely and my now favourite social networking site, and I discovered that it is actually a bookmarking site!!! I had no idea, I was just adding pretty pictures! It made me wonder how many others don't realize that when you pin an image that image is associated with a URL which directs you to the website that the image came from.
This knowledge changed my use of Pinterest and a further post will document the result and how I think libraries may be able to use Pinterest.  

Facebook is the new MySpace

I have been reading a report to the OCLC on people's use use of the internet and what has stuck out for me is that how quickly things can change in social media. The report was written in 2007 while MySpace was "THE" social networking site. Then in 2008 Facebook overtook MySpace. Now, according to Alexia Facebook is ranked 2nd in Alexia's top sites and MySpace is 164 (according to traffic rank).
It makes me realize how important it is to have the most up-to-date information on websites before deciding which sites to use professionally. Based on the 2007 MySpace would be where libraries would go to meet the most users, but in the space of a year all that changed. Of course, the largest audience is not the only basis for for evaluating a site, but having an on-line presence where people already are, is important.