Drexel University Special Libraries Association (DUSLA)

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) announced today that it has partnered with NewsGator to launch an online service that delivers RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to the desktops of thousands of information professionals. This exclusive service is free only to members of SLA, and is available at www.sla.org as part of the SLA News Connections.

I got a chance to have a peak at this new reader - it's pretty nifty - especially for RSS newbies. They have predefined sets of feeds that people can subscribe to with one click - which is very handy when you're new to all of this.

Read the Press Release.

Posted by Nicole Engard at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

Meredith Farkas & Paul Pival gave a fun presentation on RSS (something I use tons of) & JS (something I don't use much of).

Using JS and RSS Paul & Meredith showed us how to create a dynamic subject page for your library site. The problem with traditional subject pages is that they aren't updated often, they're not easy to update (HTML required), and since no field is static a static page isn't the right solution. Why not use some of the tools mentioned to create a dynamic page that pulls news, journal updates, and new books from RSS feeds? You can even mix together RSS feeds into one consolidated feed using RSS Mix (doesn't show the source), KickRSS (registration required), or FeedBlendr (shows the source & no registration).

Another suggestion from Meredith - if you don't have access to edit your library's website easily, why not create a blog and put the updates there - then use JS to pull in the RSS feed to your subject guide - that means the webmaster only has to update the page once (to add the JS code) and then you can make updates whenever you want. This works great for people with locked down servers and websites.

One last tool lets you add an RSS feed reader widget on your site. Grazr imports an OPML and lets you put the reader right on your website. Meredith used my IL2006 OPML as an example!

Up until now I have been using PHP to parse RSS feeds for our intranet - I'm going in to work on Monday to switch to JS. Meredith & Paul have provided a nice long list of tools here on their wiki.

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

So I'm sitting in the presentation about Flickr & Libraries and I realize I wanted to see John Blyberg's talk on mashups - so I run to the other side of the conference center and sit down right in front. Of course I missed the introduction - so I had to jump in in the middle.

The main reason I wanted to see John was because of his PatREST application.

PatREST (Patron REST) is an XML specification developed at the Ann Arbor District Library for the purpose of providing a simple and easy method of accessing various data and methods. The PatREST service is intended to be used by both professional and amateur programmers as it’s data objects are clean, simple and intuitive. The idea behind having a simple interface to online library services is to bring library-oriented development tools into the hands of non-librarians--the library users themselves.

I had skimmed some of the documentation in the past and wasn't sure I really understood. So John shows us all of the neat things he's been able to do - like his award winning Google widgets, most popular books in the catalog and the card catalog images.

Then he tells us that you need III's XMLOPAC "feature" to use this class - and they're no longer selling it!!

So, my disappointment aside - Why should we create applications like this for our patrons?

1. Creates a sense of stewardship. It lets the patrons feel like they're a part of the library and makes them more likely to become library advocates. Also you're tapping into a community of knowledge you wouldn't normally have access to. John urges us all to get our our Super Patron - just so long as we don't take his.
2. It encourages innovation (and isn't that what this whole conference has been about so far?)
3. It has the potential to benefit other libraries - applications that wouldn't otherwise be developed can be shared across boundaries.
4. It solicits high quality feedback - when the users feel like you're listening and care about their input they're going to give you more valuable information
5. Most importantly - it's a promotable service - you're offering a service to your patrons to let them have access to your data and mash it up the way that bast suits them.

John was followed by Chris Deweese who told us about Google Map Mashups - I was a little disappointed that he didn't have more time, but he did make me feel like it might be pretty darn easy to add a Google Map to our library's site - so that's something I'm going to add to the mile long list I have of projects for the Intranet & library website.

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

The description for this talk read:

Web site redesign used to be a chore, but no longer! By using a process that combines evidence-based design, user-driven planning, and extensive user testing, you can create a site that practically designs itself. Wisnewski will map out how a bottom-up design process is both easier, as well as more effective, at producing an attractive and functional Web site that meets user needs.

Sounds promising doesn't it?? Well if you're in a public or academic library it probably is - but I'm not so sure how these techniques will work in an environment where time is money for our patrons. Jeff Wisnewski was a great speaker and fun to listen to. He started by defining bottom-up web design for us. Usually when it comes time to redesign a page we start at the top and list the things we want. Jeff says we should start with the users and work our way up to what we think we want.

Some hallmarks of Bottom-Up Design are:

It is evidence based

Using tools like usability.gov, Library Terms That Users Understand, and Yahoo! Pattern Library we can see evidence that certain web designs work and others don't. The example Jeff used was that drop down menus are not the best design technique and that left menus are better than right. Why should we spend time answering silly questions like "where should the menu be" when they have already been tested and answered? Jeff also reminds us to ask users what they think things should be named - there is no reason for librarians to debate whether it should be called "research" or "reference" because it's likely the user doesn't understand either of those terms.

It is user driven

We have to include the users all throughout the process, not just when it comes time for testing. Keep data logs to see what tasks people are completing on your site and how they're going about doing them. Use affinity mapping to let your users organize the site the way that makes sense to them - trust me it won't be the same way you think the site should be designed. Ask users questions like "If you could design the site - what would it look like?" Let them draw out a sketch or just talk through it with you.

It is highly credible

How willing are people to trust your site? Jeff includes some results from a report (I didn't note with one) that lists the impact certain factors have on credibility when people look at a site. The first was Design/Look with 46% saying it was the most important.

Conclusions

As I said before, it's not quite as easy to get people to stop and talk to you about your website when they have to bill that time to someone, but I'm hoping that we can put some of these practices into play because it sounds like such an obvious (and less painful) way to redesign a site.


Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments

Glenn Peterson from engagedpatrons.org started out this presentation with template that read "Libraries Change Lives Through Lifelong Learning" - I LOVE IT!!

Glenn reminded us of some big OPAC developments in the past year:

• ILS Customer Bill of Rights
• PatREST (more about this later)
• NCSU/Endeca Catalog
• NGC4Lib Mailing List
• Catalog searches everywhere (Amazon, Google, MySpace)

One of the things that we do at our library and is a pet peeve of mine when other libraries don't is integrating the catalog into the website. This is not an easy task given the inadequate tools our ILS vendors provide to work with the pages - but it's well worth taking the time to implement. Glenn mentioned that this will increase the user's experience (and I agree) and will save the user's time - if you catalog is a separate template than it's not easy for the users to get to other library resources while in the catalog - by integrating everything you make all of your resources available from everywhere.

There are 2 options for this integration. The first is to use a portal - this hands over the control of the design to your vendor - but not every library can have someone on staff with these skills. The second is to integrate the catalog as a web-based resource (like we do at Jenkins) - this option is for users (like me) who don't want their site co-opted by their vendor.

Other suggestions from Glenn include linking right into your catalog from your website (something else we do on Jenkins with our New & Noteworthy section) on booklists, newsletters, and new book alerts. The fanciest thing Glenn showed us was a script that he (or his team - I don't remember) wrote that keeps the patrons logged into the catalog as they browse the site! I love this! This is exactly what he meant by save the user's time.

Nanette Donohue took over from here and talked about her library's redesign project (funded by a grant). I have to say I loved hearing from Nanette, she said so many great things about redesign projects - things I think all librarians need to keep in mind when making changes to the website and/or catalog.

So where do you start? A survey of course (which wasn't very successful for us - but might work better for you). Ask the users what features they're using - give them options and leave room for an open ended answer as well. Ask what they'd like to see - once again provide some options. lastly, ask them what their thoughts are on usability. We need to focus on the user's prospective when it comes to catalog redesigns. Nanette reminds us that we are not trying to make this easier for the departments within the library - it's all about the user!!

So, where else do we look for information before starting our redesign? She suggested consulting (and listening to) your public services staff. They are out there on the forefront all day long, they know the users better than your catalogers or IT staff do. And Nanette reminds us to DREAM BIG! Go in without dismissing anything - who knows what you might be able to achieve - par your list down later if you have to.

What can libraries do to help this process along?

Hire programmers - and if you can't do that grow your own! This will make all of the difference in the world to the end product. I'd like to add a note - that you should hire a library programmer or grow your own - programmers are great at what they do - but they have no idea what we do and it's better to get someone who understands our silly little quirks and rules ;)

We need to only support the vendors who will provide us with APIs - and this means real APIs (Glenn pointed out later that the vendor said they'd give an API - but their idea of an API was not what an API actually is). If you can't find a vendor willing to open up the data (back to Paul Miller's presentation) then go open source - if we all demand this feature or start moving to open source then the vendors are going to have to make some major changes in they way they do work - and that's what we want!!

Along those same lines, insist on features that your "power users" want - these are the features your average users will want in a year or two - why not have it in place for them already?

What can the vendors do?

For starters they can do what Talis is doing - join in the discussion - get out there where you users are and listen to what we're saying! By doing that they will be able to anticipate our needs and maybe have the innovations in place before we ask ;) . They can look at what librarians are doing to "hack" the catalog and offer those features as standard in the next release. And last but not least - OPEN APIs - if Microsoft can provide them then so can our vendors - stop being so stingy - it's our data after all - we should be able to do with it as we please.

What can catalogers do?

Nanette has some strong feelings about cataloging & catalogers (and she's allowed - cause she is a cataloger herself). She reminds the catalogers out there that we are competing with Google and we need to modernize our practices! Catalogs need to understand that tagging is not the end of controlled vocabulary - it's just a way to help provide access on another level.

Nanette ended with this quote on the screen:

Until we change the way materials are cataloged, any enhancements to an online catalog are tantamount to spraying perfume on a skunk.

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Cool Tools for Webmasters from Darlene & Frank:

Site Maps

• eXactMapper Lite
• Google Sitemap Builder

Bling
Create Flash animations

• Wink
  Not very sophisticated - great for tutorials
  
• Powerbullet Presenter
  A bit more sophisticated
  

Maps

• Communitywalk.com
• yourgmap.com
• mapbuilder.net
• googlemapbuilder.com (not free - but powerful)

Yahoo! User Interface Library

Flickr

• Captionr!
• ColrPickr (search for pictures by color)
• retrievr (search for pictures like yours)

More Photos

• Web Gallery Creator (goes through directories on your computer and creates pages with pictures and thumbnails)
• BIMP Lite (compresses photos in batch mode)
• Gliffy (quickly draw and share diagrams on the web)

For Libraries

• Conduit.com (make a library toolbar)

Firefox

• Duplicate Tab
• Tails Exports
• Browster
• Google Notebook
• Linkification

Learn more from Darlene’s Furl List - and hopefully the ppt will be online soon so I can link to that - because this is just the list I was able to catch

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

Karen Coombs started out the session on Innovative Uses of Web 2.0 Technologies by sharing some basic principles of Web 2.0.

Radical Decentralization

An example of centralization is people sending content to one web person and that person making the necessary web edits. Decentralization is the opposite - letting the people change the necessary pages as they need. The perfect example of this is Wikis & Blogs - giving the people the power - and saving us web people from the day to day web edits so that we can spend time developing nifty applications for you (this last bit is added by me).

Small Pieces Loosely Joined

Modular is the key - having huge systems that do everything and having everything intertwined is no longer a good business model. You need to be able to plug things in and pull things out with ease - but you also have to make it seamless for the user.

Perpetual Data

No more lengthy programming processes (kind of sounds a bit like Extreme Programming which we went over briefly in my System Analysis course) - release things early and constantly make improvements. I think that the drawn out processes do nothing but let people’s fears fester - making the change all that more difficult in the end. Karen called this the “Paper Cut” effect - change hurts - I say rip the Band-Aid off quick and it won’t hurt as much :) Also by constantly changing, people are more prepared - they know it’s coming because it’s always coming.

Remixable Content

This is all about sharing data. Why not make the library’s data available to be published on other pages? Why lock it up in the library? And the reverse applies - why should we develop all of the content on our own - why not take some from other places?

User As Contributor

Comes back to the first point - all the users to edit the content - why not - they know it better than we do - we’re in the IT department. Let the users then tag their data so that they can easily find it later and to make it more accessible to other users (I’m going to talk about this more later - because I saw an exciting presentation that has me ready to add tags to our intranet). Why not host blogs at the library so that your members (or students) can create their own content through your site? Karen mentioned UThink at the U of Minnesota).

Rich User Experience

Add fun things to the site to make the experience more enjoyable. Use multimedia like images and videos - maybe a video tour of your library. Allow for personalization of the site - we all want things differently - why not let us pick & choose? And my favorite - offer a space for collaboration - this is key and really makes the user feel like a part of the library.

Next Up - Jason Clark

Jason Clark followed Karen to share his experiences with user tagging (and this is what I was talking about before). Tagging is the act of adding metadata and my Systems Analysis text defines metadata as data about the business’ data.

Jason showed us something I should have known about (considering it’s location) - PennTags. This is a tagging site hosted by the library at the University of Penn. From the site:

PennTags is a social bookmarking tool for locating, organizing, and sharing your favorite online resources. Members of the Penn Community can collect and maintain URLs, links to journal articles, and records in Franklin, our online catalog and VCat, our online video catalog. Once these resources are compiled, you can organize them by assigning tags (free-text keywords) and/or by grouping them into projects, according to your specific preferences. PennTags can also be used collaboratively, because it acts as a repository of the varied interests and academic pursuits of the Penn community, and can help you find topics and users related to your own favorite online resources.

It’s pretty nifty.

So why does tagging work & why should libraries be using them? Jason mentioned the “Wisdoms of the Crowds”. Also they’re adaptable, current, and scale well. It’s not all good - there are some hitches. There is a lack of precision (controlled vocabulary), there is a lack of hierarchy, users can be wrong (but then again so can librarians - yes we can be wrong!), and lastly, there is a chance for people to spam (or “game” the system) to make certain tags more important than others.

After listening to Jason’s talk, I came up with all kinds of ideas of how we can use this in house on our staff intranet - so keep an eye out for upgrade announcements from me!

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

Today I had the pleasure of getting to hear Paul Miller from Talis talk again. You may remember my enthusiastic post from CIL last year. His talk was not titled Shared Innovation - but it was a lot about Shared Innovation (and the talk had the same title as at CIL so I didn’t want to title another post with the same name :) )

Paul reminds us that library 2.0 is not just technology, but a fundamental shift in the way that we reach our users. Library 2.0 is about opening the library up and pushing the library everywhere.

He mentioned that librarians like to say that the reason the user doesn’t find what they need in the catalog is that they aren’t searching right. Paul says - no they’re not! The OPAC is wrong. It’s the “customer is always right” philosophy - and while I don’t completely buy in to that - in this case I agree 100%. If the users can’t find what they need, than the system is broken!

He went on to remind us that these monolithic library systems are a hindrance on the way we work. We need to break them down into pieces and let the library plug in the bits they want and need. Modular systems are the way of the future, and if the ILS vendors don’t get a clue they’re going to be left behind - there’s only so much us users can take before we decide to move on!

We also need to open our catalogs up so that our data can be used by others (and this is not only on the librarians, but the vendors providing the locked down systems). There’s tons of useful info in there - why aren’t we sharing? This is what libraries need to get better at - opening up our catalogs and sharing, but sharing innovation as well.

This is one of the things I have a hard time with - not that I don’t want to share, but I never learned object-oriented PHP - and that means that my applications are all hard coded for my organization.

Talis has the innovation directory for this very purpose - sharing programs across library boundaries.

Library 2.0 - Why Now?

1. Dramatically falling cost of storage


2. Falling cost of computer power


3. Growing connectivity


4. …And more

Essence of Library 2.0

Paul used a phrase of Tim O’Reilly’s when he said that library 2.0 is “an architecture of participation”. It is about making it possible for people who wouldn’t normally meet to collaborate together with ease. For this to happen librarians have to come off of their high horses a bit and have some fun with the data - he used John Blyberg’s card catalog as an example.

Some examples Paul gave us were the Georgia PINES library catalog and Talis’ Keystone (a module that can be put on top of our catalogs - as a temporary solution).

Are the Vendors Participating?

Paul asks - are the vendors engaging us - the librarians? Do they have an open developer network? Are they engaging in the communication that is going around? The answer is no - and Paul thinks it’s because they all know that we’re going to buy the products (because there aren’t many choices out there - YET!) and don’t care what we have to say. On this note, I had lunch with Paul and we talked about Talis opening a US office - since they are the one vendor (that I’ve heard of) that are engaging the users and putting themselves out there with us - and sadly the answer is “no” :(

The current model is broken

Paul says the current model for sharing bibliographic data is broken. Why are we paying to share our information? This is something we should be able to do for free. The answer is because it’s difficult to share data because we’re all running different systems - well guess what? Talis has a solution for that as well. Silkworm is a directory of libraries that provides the necessary information for users to use web services to get at the data - I need to check this out more thoroughly - but it sounds amazing!

Conclusions

Paul closed with 2 conclusions that stuck with me. 1) Liberate the Data & 2) Open, Open, Open - open up everything - there is no reason for it to be so hard for us to share and work together!!

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

Judy Jance was the speaker for today's Keynote - and while I haven't read her books (or heard of her before today :( ) I'm so glad I got to hear her talk!! When I have time to read something other than a textbook (a year from now) I'm going out to buy one of this woman's books. She has lived through so much and had such amazing experiences and that really comes across when she talks - I can just imagine how great her books are.

Judy was a bit like me - she wanted to be a writer from the time she was in second grade. So when she got to college she wanted to sign up for a creative writing class. Unfortunately, her professor was a real ____ (fill in the blank). He said to her "Girls become teachers or nurses, boys become writers" and he wouldn't let her take the class. Here's where Judy's powerful speaking came in - her responses just made us all laugh. She said (and I'm not quoting here) girls who wanted to become engineers became science teachers and women who wanted to be doctors became nurses, she wanted to become a writer so she married one.

Her talk went on to share stories in her life that brought tears to my eyes one minute and had me laughing the next. After leaving her husband (and a few other details in between - don't want to repeat her whole talk here) she wrote her first book and when her agent said it was no good she started her second book. She has since written 35 books and still has the same agent.

Judy said that her inspiration for writing comes from many places - but her cure for writer's block is anger. I find that very similar to what sets me off on the best writing I do on this blog - anger - and being inspired (like the speakers I'm hearing here).

Why was Judy the keynote at an Internet Librarian conference? Because she says things like this "The Internet allows me to hear from people in a very immediate way." How true is that? That's the whole point of this conference getting to our users and letting them get to us in a very immediate way.

It was an amazing talk & I urge you to visit her site - and read her books - and hear her talk if you ever have a chance! I took pictures but apparently, my camera wasn't happy with the lighting. I'm going to try and edit them - but I'm sure some of the other attendees will post their pictures on Flickr soon.

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

I have just gotten back from the SLA reception (and after party). I had such a great time I got to talk to so many people about so many things I'm passionate about! The reception was hosted by InfoToday for the SLA members because they had just held their board meetings here in Monterey (I think I got that right) and the food and wine was great!! The best part was talking to so many people from SLA from such different backgrounds and areas. I was able to have some techie talk time as well as some general girl talk ;)

After the reception (which I have pictures of and will eventually upload) I went out for coffee (tea for me) with some fellow conference goers/presenters. It was fun to listen to everyone share their stories from previous conferences - and it was a great way to keep me awake.

On that note - it's 8:30pm here which is 11:30pm at home and I've been up since 3:45am (home time) so it's time for me to crash - I have a busy day ahead.

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is the first in a series of Internet Librarian Conference Reports from me.

---

So I have arrived here in Monterey (with more bags than I care to tell you about). Turns out that Monterey has the smallest airport I have ever been in! You get off the plane by walking down these scary steps and then you have to walk a while (outside - it was a nice day) before you get into the terminal - and by terminal I mean one room with a few desks for you to checkin and another room is a metal - um - can't think of a word - but it's the replacement for the baggage claim belts you're used to seeing. So you stand around in the baggage claim room and wait for the truck to come along with your bags. It comes in and parks next to the claim area and 2 men place you bags on the metal table - and since the "belt" doesn't move you have to push and shove & bump into people to get to your bags.

So finally, I'm out of the airport and it turns out that the airport isn't the only thing that's small - the fleet of taxi's ain't so big either. There are 2 companies and no taxis. So we wait in a line with 20-30 other librarians and slowly the cabs come in pairs to whisk us away!

The point of this rant is that I'm here - in an amazing room and I am exhausted and ready for bed - but I can't go to bed just yet (mostly cause it's 4:30pm here) because I have an SLA reception to go to and then a dine-around with other web geeks like me ;)

Technorati Tags: il2006, il06

Posted by Nicole Engard at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

The DUSLA Meet and Greet was held on Tuesday, October 10. After enjoying pizza, drinks and conversation, Tim Siftar, Reference Librarian for the IST at Hagerty Library, showed a film about the Lubuto Library. The Lubuto Library is a project that creates library collections for orphans or vulnerable children in Africa. By creating libraries the Lubuto Library brings educational opportunities to children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Tim suggested that DUSLA might want to get involved in collecting books to help with this project. After Tim’s presentation, there was a demonstration of DUSLA’s Wiki and blog. These will be great tools to help facilitate communication between DUSLA officers and members.

DUSLA’s officers were introduced and upcoming events for the 2006-2007 school year were discussed. Events being planned include a possible bowling party, happy hours and a round table discussion. Some possible trips will be to the Library Company, Library of Congress, NPR, Jenkins Law Library and QVC.

More details about upcoming events as they are planned will be posted on the blog, the wiki and by email.

Posted by Anonymous at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

Hello all, for my introductory post here at the DUSLA blog I'd like to point out some resources I recently read about that are great for us students.

First, a little bit about me. My name is Nicole Engard, I'm the Web Manager at Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia and the author of What I Learned Today... I'm in my first term here at Drexel and am hoping to get my MLIS in one year (fingers crossed). You can learn more about me at my blog.

Now for the stuff you really care about. I found these resources recently and they're all worth looking at:

• Zotera
  Zotero is a free, easy-to-use research tool that helps you gather and organize resources (whether bibliography or the full text of articles), and then lets you to annotate, organize, and share the results of your research. It includes the best parts of older reference manager software (like EndNote)—the ability to store full reference information in author, title, and publication fields and to export that as formatted references—and the best parts of modern software such as del.icio.us or iTunes, like the ability to sort, tag, and search in advanced ways. (if you have an old version of Firefox - check the comments here)
  
• ottobib
  Get citations for books in MLA, APA, Chicago, and AMA format just by entering an ISBN.
• Library Student Journal
  A peer-reviewed student publication of the University at Buffalo Department of Library and Information Studies.
• NoteMesh
  There are plenty of notes services out there; NoteMesh is a different way of thinking about your notes. Collaborate with your classmates to create a unified set of notes for your class. It's like Wikipedia for your notes.
• Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0
  A list of handy 2.0 resources for students.

I look forward to working with you all and continuing to share resources with everyone.

Posted by Nicole Engard at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments