Delicious

Bookmarking is very useful for those who regularly visit a variety of websites. Delicious is one of the better-known bookmarking options. It enables you to quickly access websites, either by name, or by the tags you choose to assign.

For my bookmarking, I selected two financial sites that I frequently visit. I was surprised that marketwatch.com had many bookmarks and yahoo finance had very few. (Perhaps it is an undiscovered treasure trove.)

Because I tend to go back to a very select group of websites, bookmarking is not something I have used a lot. However, Delicious makes it easy, and is worth pursuing.

Here is the link to my list of bookmarks: http://delicious.com/FPLJ

(I included a reference to Delicious when I taught the computer class on using the internet.)

Tagging

If we always had the computer database available, tagging could replace a structured system of subject headings. There are many sections of any subject heading cataloging system that are not intuitive to patrons. For example, finance is in Dewey 300 and business is in Dewey 600: most users say business and finance, necessitating a longer reference interview to discern more precisely what they want. Self-help is another common "lay term" or tag that is spread through many areas of Dewey (and LC is similar). Tagging provides a means for everyone to add terms without requiring revisions to a structured system. The current buzzword can immediately be applied.
When the computer is not available to assist in searching for and retrieving tags, a structured system is necessary to locate items. And the tags must be tied to a physical location of an item (unless we are dealing only with electronic resources).

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is a great tool when "instant" is required. The challenge is that all parties must be using the same system.

Within an organization, it works well. Between organizations or individuals, a little pre-planning is required. This is not unlike the PC sharing software, where parties must select a software tool and both log on.

For interactions between library staff and patrons, there are certainly situations where instant messaging would be helpful and appropriate. Examples would be health sciences, business, military, and similar time-sensitive cases.

In the public library setting, patrons may desire instant responses but rarely are these essential. Looking at our library, I see that we already have cases where phone calls are coming in to the Ask Us desk while staff is handling "in-person" patrons. Adding instant messaging to the mix would not seem to improve service - unless there is staff dedicated to telephone, email, IM and other electronic reference.

Digg is an innovative example of supply and demand: the users provide the supply and define the demand by their control of the ratings. I do notice the Digg button when I view articles on websites but have never voted.

Like search engines, there is no formal search term structure or subject headings. In the library, we tend to be more constrained by subject headings and defined categories. This is sometimes advantageous, but less intuitive to our users.

The voting on Digg is analogous to our weeding process: if no one is interested, the item is discarded. However, we move in a much slower time frame.

While I found some great articles (such as one on tablet computers), and I got a chuckle out of "What did the Google phone say to the iPhone?", a lot of the entries seemed superficial. Confession time: I read Newsweek and Wall Street Journal instead of People magazine, and I read more nonfiction that fiction. I understand that entertainment is an important component of life, and Digg could be entertaining.

I was surprised to encounter commerically sponsored entries (such as AVG anti-virus) as I did not know this was part of Digg.

So should the library create a Digg account and recommend articles? In my opinion, there are more effective ways to promote our services.

Twitter Blog

I visited several library sites, including Library of Congress, New York Public, Hennepin County Library, Austin Public Library, King County (in order of number of followers). Without knowing how long each library has been using Twitter, the order of number of followers was a bit surprising to me.

I also looked at Iran Election as it has one of the larger followings (according to Mashable).

Can Twitter make a librarian’s task easier? Well, “easier” is perhaps not the right word, because it is one more venue requiring maintenance.

Can it allow a library to be more effective? If you agree with Pete Cashmore that it is THE way to reach a significant demographic group, then the answer is yes. While it is A way, I would not say it is THE only way. So it could reach out to some persons not reached by other means. More likely, those who tweet also use other electronic communication/social media options.

The basic Twitter question “What are you doing?” implies that (a) everyone is doing something significant at every moment, and (b) everyone wants to share what he/she is doing. I think that both assumptions are unsound. Thankfully, Twitter has evolved from that simple premise. However, I would disagree with Twitter’s statement “tweets have evolved … and take the shape of shared links to… most importantly, real-time accounts from people who are in the midst of a newsworthy event, crisis, or natural disaster.” I hope that if I am ever in the midst of such a crisis I will have a more important priority that tweeting. (Of course, there is the possibility, though slim, that Twitter might be the only available communication mode.)

See Reference & User Services Quarterly, Vol. 49, issue 2, page 119, for a comparison of Twitter versus Facebook in Libraries (Accidental Technologist column about Next Generation Catalogs).

Photos exercise:
I edited my first blog posting to include a photo I took last weekend.

I have tried Flickr and Picassa so did exercise 1 (library photo postings). Here are my comments on some of the sites:

Copenhagen Public Library devoted the first several pages to interior shots of the library; a couple of them needed rotation. Overall, it was not very intriguing. Later pages have events and people and it seems they should have come first, or direct access provided in a more obvious way.

Waterloo Ontario had old postcards and interiors of libraries – interesting, but not tied to that library.

I was underwhelmed by the several that I visited. If this is supposed to be a marketing tool, then it should specifically promote the library and entice people to visit, physically or virtually. For example, if the images were from specific events at the library, that would be better than pictures of library spaces and computers.

One of my personal favorite websites with photos is wunderground.com with great weather pictures. And visitors to the site can vote / rate the photos. The photos tie directly to the main focus of the website, and those who don’t photo can “participate” by rating. This is more controlled that a photobucket approach. Maybe a library could solicit patons' photos of library events and then ask for votes to select the favorite activity.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are indeed pro-active. That is, the creator is going to to recipient, rather than the recipient seeking out the RSS feed. However, as with email, it is likely that many of the feeds go unread.

I like the USA.gov feeds, with a "one-liner" and a link to the full article. This could be a good format for library outreach.

The feed that has had the most practical use to me the the Department of State travel alerts. I enjoy the Crabby Lady feeds from Microsoft because of the mixture of humor and technical content.

I have the feeds sent to Outlook because I move from one workstation to another and the RSS feeds have to be reset at each station.