Take a look at Loudon County's "Learning 2.0" program.
It's designed help bring staff up to speed on Web 2.0 technologies (including blogs, podcasts, RSS, and Wikis). Plus it has the added advantage of a cool reward (a free MP3 player!) at the end of the program for all staff members who complete the entire program.
At PPL I think this would be a great training program but might work best along with a traditional presentation of new technologies, since it can be hard to follow along with a self guided technology training program unless you are an early adapter. When you are all by yourself there's no one to ask for help, but if this kind of thing could be rolled out after the initial overview to staff about these new technologies , then that would be great!
This kind of training program is modeled on the very successful "Learning 2.0" program at the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenberg County. Kudos to Helene Blowers of PLCMC for creating this idea and encouraging others to steal it for their own libraries.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Learning 2.0-Arizona style
For those of you who couldn't attend the MCLD Library 2.0 program Thursday, it was very interesting.
Our speaker, Michael Stephens, is a library school professor and proponent of Library 2.0 technologies. He spoke about the OCLC perceptions report of libraries, the changing mission, purpose and role of libraries in our communities, and how we might be able to fulfill those roles using a variety of new technologies. He argues that the library should work to take back the role of being the center of social and cultural networking in our communities.His website Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology features two postings about our session in Phoenix and some of the feedback from the participants.
He certainly brings a different perspective than we've heard before, and his comment below has implications for the future of libraries (emphasis added was mine).
Talking about a Shift & Putting Up Barriers
Yesterday I spent four hours with 70 Arizona librarians at a workshop sponsored by the Maricopa County Library System. We talked Web 2.0, trends guiding technologies and the shift toward a collaborative and social networked society. It's apropo that while catching up on my edubloggers, I discover this quote posted by Will Richardson from the new book Wikinomics:
These changes, among others, are ushering us toward a world where knowledge, power, and productive capability will be more dispersed than at any time in our history—a world where value creation will be fast, fluid, and persistently disruptive. A world where only the connected will survive. A power shift is underway, and a tough new business rule is emerging: Harness the new collaboration or perish. Those who fail to grasp this will find themselves ever more isolated—cut off from the networks that are sharing, adapting, and updating knowledge to create value.
His session was thought provoking and it would be great to have him as a speaker for a wider group at our library at some point in the future.
Thanks to Marshall Shore and his vision in putting this workshop together and opening it to Valley librarians!
Our speaker, Michael Stephens, is a library school professor and proponent of Library 2.0 technologies. He spoke about the OCLC perceptions report of libraries, the changing mission, purpose and role of libraries in our communities, and how we might be able to fulfill those roles using a variety of new technologies. He argues that the library should work to take back the role of being the center of social and cultural networking in our communities.His website Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology features two postings about our session in Phoenix and some of the feedback from the participants.
He certainly brings a different perspective than we've heard before, and his comment below has implications for the future of libraries (emphasis added was mine).
Talking about a Shift & Putting Up Barriers
Yesterday I spent four hours with 70 Arizona librarians at a workshop sponsored by the Maricopa County Library System. We talked Web 2.0, trends guiding technologies and the shift toward a collaborative and social networked society. It's apropo that while catching up on my edubloggers, I discover this quote posted by Will Richardson from the new book Wikinomics:
These changes, among others, are ushering us toward a world where knowledge, power, and productive capability will be more dispersed than at any time in our history—a world where value creation will be fast, fluid, and persistently disruptive. A world where only the connected will survive. A power shift is underway, and a tough new business rule is emerging: Harness the new collaboration or perish. Those who fail to grasp this will find themselves ever more isolated—cut off from the networks that are sharing, adapting, and updating knowledge to create value.
His session was thought provoking and it would be great to have him as a speaker for a wider group at our library at some point in the future.
Thanks to Marshall Shore and his vision in putting this workshop together and opening it to Valley librarians!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
RSS of your library account updates
If you use RSS feeds in a newsreader, you already know the value of inviting frequently updated information to come directly to your desktop. It's a way to save time while still keeping up with the tons of information we want to see each day. You save time by going only to one website--your own customized newsreader with your selected news ready to go whenever you are ready.
If you haven't used RSS feeds before here's a quick way to learn them. Let's use our own library card account information as an example. There are two parts to doing an RSS: Finding the info you want to receive and setting it up in your newsreader. Let's do the first part now.
Part A. Finding the information you want to receive
Step 1. On the library's website , login to your library card account using your library card number and last name (or if you have signed up for a username and password use that to get to your account). Choose the Check my Account option on the left under My Account.
Step 2. Underneath the "Library card account" and "Summary" features, you'll see an entry for "Items checked out". Find the red box that says "RSS Receive Courtesy notifications by RSS". Click on that.
Step 3. A new page will open up that has a description of the RSS under "About this feed" then a long page of computer instructions. Don't worry - you don't need to do anything with the content of this page, you only need the URL in the address bar. All you need to do is find the address bar and copy the URL of the page into your clipboard. Now that we've done that, hold on while we find our newsreader then we can set up the RSS feed.
Part B. Setting up an RSS feed in a newsreader
Step 1. Go to any free newsreader and register (one of the easiest is Newsgator) and create a free account. It's a lot like signing up for a free email account, very tedious but necessary. Be sure to write down your username and password (whatever you do, don't do what I do, which is to just use the same username and password that I use for my email or other easily remembered online accounts).
Step 2. Now we are ready to add the RSS feed from the library account to our newsreader. Each newsreader will have a way to add a feed and on Newsgator it's near the top left labeled "Add Feed". When you click on that you have 4 options for adding feeds: we want the one called "URL and Import".
Step 3. Enter the feed's URL. Here is where we paste the previously copied URL from our library account RSS page. Don't forget to move down to the second section of that page to enter your credentials. The RSS feed needs your library card number and last name to access and deliver this feed each day, so here is where you put that information. Newsgator calls them "Custom credentials" and has a space for username and password, so enter your library card and last name.
Step 4. Your new library courtesy notices will appear in your list of RSS feeds on the left side of your newsgator account. You can check your library information while you read any other newsfeeds you've signed up for. It's an easy way to stay on top of things by letting them come to you.
You are done! Now each day you'll receive the latest information about your holds, courtesy reminders, and overdue notices directly to your desktop.
If you are new to RSS you may want to add other RSS feeds. Here are a few of interest to library folks because they are mainstream library blogs that offer daily updates. With these feeds you either paste in the URL to your "Add feeds" section or go to this website and look for the RSS or XML buttons to find the URL.
The Shifted Librarian
Tame the Web: a Weblog by Michael Stephens
PW Daily News
And here are two that are just news (it makes sense for a newsreader to deliver news doesn't it?):
cnn.com
azcentral's RSS options are amazing
Let me know if this works for you. I hope it's an easy way to learn about a new feature of our website and help patrons with questions on RSS.
If you haven't used RSS feeds before here's a quick way to learn them. Let's use our own library card account information as an example. There are two parts to doing an RSS: Finding the info you want to receive and setting it up in your newsreader. Let's do the first part now.
Part A. Finding the information you want to receive
Step 1. On the library's website , login to your library card account using your library card number and last name (or if you have signed up for a username and password use that to get to your account). Choose the Check my Account option on the left under My Account.
Step 2. Underneath the "Library card account" and "Summary" features, you'll see an entry for "Items checked out". Find the red box that says "RSS Receive Courtesy notifications by RSS". Click on that.
Step 3. A new page will open up that has a description of the RSS under "About this feed" then a long page of computer instructions. Don't worry - you don't need to do anything with the content of this page, you only need the URL in the address bar. All you need to do is find the address bar and copy the URL of the page into your clipboard. Now that we've done that, hold on while we find our newsreader then we can set up the RSS feed.
Part B. Setting up an RSS feed in a newsreader
Step 1. Go to any free newsreader and register (one of the easiest is Newsgator) and create a free account. It's a lot like signing up for a free email account, very tedious but necessary. Be sure to write down your username and password (whatever you do, don't do what I do, which is to just use the same username and password that I use for my email or other easily remembered online accounts).
Step 2. Now we are ready to add the RSS feed from the library account to our newsreader. Each newsreader will have a way to add a feed and on Newsgator it's near the top left labeled "Add Feed". When you click on that you have 4 options for adding feeds: we want the one called "URL and Import".
Step 3. Enter the feed's URL. Here is where we paste the previously copied URL from our library account RSS page. Don't forget to move down to the second section of that page to enter your credentials. The RSS feed needs your library card number and last name to access and deliver this feed each day, so here is where you put that information. Newsgator calls them "Custom credentials" and has a space for username and password, so enter your library card and last name.
Step 4. Your new library courtesy notices will appear in your list of RSS feeds on the left side of your newsgator account. You can check your library information while you read any other newsfeeds you've signed up for. It's an easy way to stay on top of things by letting them come to you.
You are done! Now each day you'll receive the latest information about your holds, courtesy reminders, and overdue notices directly to your desktop.
If you are new to RSS you may want to add other RSS feeds. Here are a few of interest to library folks because they are mainstream library blogs that offer daily updates. With these feeds you either paste in the URL to your "Add feeds" section or go to this website and look for the RSS or XML buttons to find the URL.
The Shifted Librarian
Tame the Web: a Weblog by Michael Stephens
PW Daily News
And here are two that are just news (it makes sense for a newsreader to deliver news doesn't it?):
cnn.com
azcentral's RSS options are amazing
Let me know if this works for you. I hope it's an easy way to learn about a new feature of our website and help patrons with questions on RSS.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Why do we have RSS boxes on our new website?
The new Phoenix Public Library catalog has 4 separate applications for RSS available to patrons.
1. Save a search and syndicate the daily results to your newsreader (Would you like to know when you can put a hold on the next Harry Potter? Use an RSS to run the search daily and have the results delivered to your desktop).
2.Subscribe to library card account updates (hold notices, overdues and soon to be due notices).
3. Subscribe to the calendar of events
4. Subscribe to a customized subset of the calendar of events get personalized information
(perhaps just about Teen events or just about events at your neighborhood branch).
There will be training for staff to learn how to use these RSS feeds on our website but for now the best way to explain them is to tell patrons something like this:
RSS is just one more option for patrons to receive information from the library. The nice part about RSS is that it allows you to get this information delivered directly to your desktop, wihtout having to log into our website to get it.
1. Save a search and syndicate the daily results to your newsreader (Would you like to know when you can put a hold on the next Harry Potter? Use an RSS to run the search daily and have the results delivered to your desktop).
2.Subscribe to library card account updates (hold notices, overdues and soon to be due notices).
3. Subscribe to the calendar of events
4. Subscribe to a customized subset of the calendar of events get personalized information
(perhaps just about Teen events or just about events at your neighborhood branch).
There will be training for staff to learn how to use these RSS feeds on our website but for now the best way to explain them is to tell patrons something like this:
RSS is just one more option for patrons to receive information from the library. The nice part about RSS is that it allows you to get this information delivered directly to your desktop, wihtout having to log into our website to get it.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Search is king and results rule
At PPL we are previewing a new version of our website that's been created using Endeca. What in heaven's name is Endeca? Good question!
As far as we can tell it's not a new star cluster in space but a cool new software program that sits on top of our bibliographic database to perform searches easily and quickly. The search feature of our old website was notorious for returning results that were slow, inefficient or just plain wrong.
Endeca has been used in the retail world by giants like Walmart and Barnes and Noble to help customers find items quickly in their mega online stores. That certainly describes a library doesn't it? With over 800,000 items in our catalog, our patrons deserve the best search possible. The only other library application is for Endeca so far is at North Carolina State University.
One thing that makes Endeca unique for library catalogs is that it uses clustering software to dynamically generate ways to narrow your search. Those possibilities are listed along the left hand side of the screen which is quickly becoming a web standard.
That means an NSCU search on "dogs" will bring up a list of books in the center window, but also a list of custom generated possibilities for limiting. Do you want books videos or online sources about dogs? Do you want fiction, handbooks or anecdotes about dogs? Do you want a dog book in English, or in other languages? Endeca only presents options for narrowing when there are options, in fact the options are generated from the results set itself. That makes Endeca unique.
NCSU has gone a step further than we have by adding a Limit to Currently available, a way cool option that we don't have. It's good to dream. PPL's Endeca website will be available for public preview starting January 8th (assuming no major bugs are discovered by staff by then).
We think this will be absolutely awesome for patrons and staff. Librarians love to search but patrons love to find. This should take them to finding heaven.
As far as we can tell it's not a new star cluster in space but a cool new software program that sits on top of our bibliographic database to perform searches easily and quickly. The search feature of our old website was notorious for returning results that were slow, inefficient or just plain wrong.
Endeca has been used in the retail world by giants like Walmart and Barnes and Noble to help customers find items quickly in their mega online stores. That certainly describes a library doesn't it? With over 800,000 items in our catalog, our patrons deserve the best search possible. The only other library application is for Endeca so far is at North Carolina State University.
One thing that makes Endeca unique for library catalogs is that it uses clustering software to dynamically generate ways to narrow your search. Those possibilities are listed along the left hand side of the screen which is quickly becoming a web standard.
That means an NSCU search on "dogs" will bring up a list of books in the center window, but also a list of custom generated possibilities for limiting. Do you want books videos or online sources about dogs? Do you want fiction, handbooks or anecdotes about dogs? Do you want a dog book in English, or in other languages? Endeca only presents options for narrowing when there are options, in fact the options are generated from the results set itself. That makes Endeca unique.
NCSU has gone a step further than we have by adding a Limit to Currently available, a way cool option that we don't have. It's good to dream. PPL's Endeca website will be available for public preview starting January 8th (assuming no major bugs are discovered by staff by then).
We think this will be absolutely awesome for patrons and staff. Librarians love to search but patrons love to find. This should take them to finding heaven.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Is our OPAC fun?
You might wonder how an OPAC can be fun but here's a post on Librarything where their founder explores this idea. Do patrons want to use our OPAC or do they have to?
The good news for PPL is that as of yesterday we have our new Endeca website open for staff preview and that is a great improvement in user friendly searching, but this post challenges us to continue to improve our patron experience. The goal is to increase the fun factor by centering patron participation and social networking around books and library collections and services.
But can that be fun for patrons? You bet!
The good news for PPL is that as of yesterday we have our new Endeca website open for staff preview and that is a great improvement in user friendly searching, but this post challenges us to continue to improve our patron experience. The goal is to increase the fun factor by centering patron participation and social networking around books and library collections and services.
But can that be fun for patrons? You bet!
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