Presenters: Brent Husher & Cindy Thompson, UMKC Miller Nichols Library
This presentation is how to incorporate an idea into your library fast.
Beginnings
-How do you make the decisions
-Sometimes if you don't have the authority, you may still need to take the authority
Authority
-If you don't feel comfortable taking the authority by yourself, get others to help
-Understand the culture you work in
-Write a proposal if others initially say no
Buy In
-Politics is a part of most of our work environments
-Negotiate and try to get buy in from those that would be the most involved/interested before throwing it out to everyone
-Think about everyone who will be affected by your proposal and talk to then first
-If you are not the person in charge, make sure you have buy in from your administrator(s)
-Say "I think this is important for our library, I would love to be involved in this, what do you think." Start a discussion, don't just go straight to asking permission. A dialogue should be started which should then lead to permission in the end.
Keep the Ball Rolling
-Need to have frequent follow-up
-Do not necessarily need to have a lot of meetings, but a lot of communication
-Pull a team together thinking who needs to be on the team
-Keep your group focused
-Set deadlines and follow them
-Keep all stakeholders informed as the process is going on
Stumbling Blocks
-Missed deadlines - having a good leader to keep in top of things, and when forming a team if you know they are good at being on top of things can help keep deadlines
-If only one person has the ability to work on a specific area, yet is busy with other things can delay the project. Try to get progress reports and keep communication going with the person.
Finish Line
-With almost any project, there really isn't a finish line. There will always be something that will need to be updated, follow-up, etc.
-Try to have some sort of finish line so that there is some gratification that this process has been completed.
This was a good presentation, with lots of ideas that I can take and use.
Friday, October 8, 2010
MLA Conference 2010: The Role of the Academic Library in the Future
This presentation's full title is - The Role of the Academic Library in the Future: Perspectives from a Sabbatical Visit to the U.K.
Presenter: Genie McKee, Dean of the University Library, Maryville University in Saint Louis
The presenter decided to tour aroung Great Britain looking at modern libraries. She started in Glasgow and finished in London and attended a seminar sponsored by the UNC Library School and UCL Library School: "British Libraries and Librarianship: Past, Present and Future."
The presenter was able to visit with Bodley's Librarian, JISC representatives, SCONUL chair, consultant who focuses on strategic visioning for the future, the author of "Recent Developments in Cambridge College Libraries", and others.
What the libraries do and the services they provide is really tied to the educational purpose of the university.
Libraries use a smart card access. The smart card allows access into the library and also allows the user to self-checkout the book. It also allows for retrieval of statistics.
University of Edinburgh has a HUB Room (Highly Used Book)
-Access to assigned readings
-Secure entrance
-Self check out
-No staff needed
Because they have the self-checkout the circ desk has become a help desk with a combination of library and technology people.
Subject Liaison Librarian
-Paid by the History Dept.
-Office in the Department, not the library
-Does hold a library degree and two degrees in history
-Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
De Montfort University - Combined Service Desk
-Combination of IT and Professional Librarian
-All staff are roving and are expected to have front-facing activity
-Each person has a certain knowldege set
Chartered Librarians
-Librarians apply to be chartered through CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formerly Library Association)
Glasgow Caledonian Univeristy
The Saltire Center
Services for our students
Active approaches to
Learning and
Teaching, a 21st centruy way of managing our
Information, the repository of our
Research collections, and
Engaging our students
Librarian's Place in the University
Librarians are considered the bes hybrid managers
-operational mangers (offer a big and complex service)
-acadmic orientation
-have professional and technical expertise
Including a 24/7 opportunity for service
Future of the Academic Library
-Technological Assistance to Students
-Library as the Learning Place with Many Services
-Collaborative Spaces for Learning
-Books will still be an Integral Part of Learning
The presenter stated that after this trip, she has learned that anything that helps student learning she is willing to try in her library.
This presentation was really interesting. There was so much more that I didn't write in the blog the information was great and makes me want to take a trip to England to see these libraries in person.
Presenter: Genie McKee, Dean of the University Library, Maryville University in Saint Louis
The presenter decided to tour aroung Great Britain looking at modern libraries. She started in Glasgow and finished in London and attended a seminar sponsored by the UNC Library School and UCL Library School: "British Libraries and Librarianship: Past, Present and Future."
The presenter was able to visit with Bodley's Librarian, JISC representatives, SCONUL chair, consultant who focuses on strategic visioning for the future, the author of "Recent Developments in Cambridge College Libraries", and others.
What the libraries do and the services they provide is really tied to the educational purpose of the university.
Libraries use a smart card access. The smart card allows access into the library and also allows the user to self-checkout the book. It also allows for retrieval of statistics.
University of Edinburgh has a HUB Room (Highly Used Book)
-Access to assigned readings
-Secure entrance
-Self check out
-No staff needed
Because they have the self-checkout the circ desk has become a help desk with a combination of library and technology people.
Subject Liaison Librarian
-Paid by the History Dept.
-Office in the Department, not the library
-Does hold a library degree and two degrees in history
-Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
De Montfort University - Combined Service Desk
-Combination of IT and Professional Librarian
-All staff are roving and are expected to have front-facing activity
-Each person has a certain knowldege set
Chartered Librarians
-Librarians apply to be chartered through CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formerly Library Association)
Glasgow Caledonian Univeristy
The Saltire Center
Services for our students
Active approaches to
Learning and
Teaching, a 21st centruy way of managing our
Information, the repository of our
Research collections, and
Engaging our students
Librarian's Place in the University
Librarians are considered the bes hybrid managers
-operational mangers (offer a big and complex service)
-acadmic orientation
-have professional and technical expertise
Including a 24/7 opportunity for service
Future of the Academic Library
-Technological Assistance to Students
-Library as the Learning Place with Many Services
-Collaborative Spaces for Learning
-Books will still be an Integral Part of Learning
The presenter stated that after this trip, she has learned that anything that helps student learning she is willing to try in her library.
This presentation was really interesting. There was so much more that I didn't write in the blog the information was great and makes me want to take a trip to England to see these libraries in person.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
MLA Conference 2010: Firefox Add-Ons
Presenter: Bob Martin from Morenet
Firefox Add-Ons
Do not turn on more than 2-3 add-ons at a time because it can slow down Firefox the first time you bring it up.
Most of these add-ons are version specific, so if Firefox updates, then the add-on may not work. Will need to reinstall the add-ons so that they will work, after updating Firefox.
To find Add-ons, in Firefox, go to Tools and click on Add-ons. Then choose Get Add-ons. Can also click on Browse all Add-ons and it will take you to the Add-ons page for Firefox. Can also search if you know the name of an add-on.
Zotero - collect bib information in one place as you are doing research. It is going to watch what you do and watch where you go. Will not work with Gale and Ebsco, can still put in the information manually.
Amplify - clip and share excerpts from articles, blogs, tweets, and webpages.
Zoodles - Kid mode for Firefox. A safe place for kids to play online.
Video Download Helper - Instead of streaming video, will download it and store it on your desktop. Can also convert the file if you need to.
Similar Web - searches for sites related to the one that you are looking at. You can rate to see how similar it really is. You are allowed to vote if it is similar or not similar.
Cooliris.com - media browser plug-in. Need to prescreen if showing to kids.
Good presentation. Lots of stuff to play with. Can't wait!
Firefox Add-Ons
Do not turn on more than 2-3 add-ons at a time because it can slow down Firefox the first time you bring it up.
Most of these add-ons are version specific, so if Firefox updates, then the add-on may not work. Will need to reinstall the add-ons so that they will work, after updating Firefox.
To find Add-ons, in Firefox, go to Tools and click on Add-ons. Then choose Get Add-ons. Can also click on Browse all Add-ons and it will take you to the Add-ons page for Firefox. Can also search if you know the name of an add-on.
Zotero - collect bib information in one place as you are doing research. It is going to watch what you do and watch where you go. Will not work with Gale and Ebsco, can still put in the information manually.
Amplify - clip and share excerpts from articles, blogs, tweets, and webpages.
Zoodles - Kid mode for Firefox. A safe place for kids to play online.
Video Download Helper - Instead of streaming video, will download it and store it on your desktop. Can also convert the file if you need to.
Similar Web - searches for sites related to the one that you are looking at. You can rate to see how similar it really is. You are allowed to vote if it is similar or not similar.
Cooliris.com - media browser plug-in. Need to prescreen if showing to kids.
Good presentation. Lots of stuff to play with. Can't wait!
MLA Conference 2010: Top 5 (or more) Online Tools
Presenter: Denise from MLNC
Jog the web is where the presenter's presentation is located. Search for dtksmile and find all of her presentations.
Top 5 (or more) Tools
1. Jogtheweb.com
2. Yolink - will keep searching in the background as it looks through all the results.
Adds some boolean searching, will highlight all the search terms.
3. Next Vista For Learning - an online library of free videos. Lightbulb videos are put there by students and teachers.
4. Creative Commons - A way to license your works to share with others. This is another form of publishing. Can also use without having to ask for permission.
5.International Children's Digital Library - Books available in different languages. Nothing flashy, but good quality children's literature.
6. Google Search Features - able to get weather, conversion charts, etc.
7. Learning Express Library - practice for multiple tests
8. Symbaloo - allows you to organize your bookmarks with a visual organizer. Looks like app icons which are becoming more popular.
Good session, just some technical difficulties. Looking forward to getting home and trying some of these out.
Jog the web is where the presenter's presentation is located. Search for dtksmile and find all of her presentations.
Top 5 (or more) Tools
1. Jogtheweb.com
2. Yolink - will keep searching in the background as it looks through all the results.
Adds some boolean searching, will highlight all the search terms.
3. Next Vista For Learning - an online library of free videos. Lightbulb videos are put there by students and teachers.
4. Creative Commons - A way to license your works to share with others. This is another form of publishing. Can also use without having to ask for permission.
5.International Children's Digital Library - Books available in different languages. Nothing flashy, but good quality children's literature.
6. Google Search Features - able to get weather, conversion charts, etc.
7. Learning Express Library - practice for multiple tests
8. Symbaloo - allows you to organize your bookmarks with a visual organizer. Looks like app icons which are becoming more popular.
Good session, just some technical difficulties. Looking forward to getting home and trying some of these out.
MLA 2010 Conference: Web 2.x Tools to Make You Look Cool: The Internet Strikes Back!
Presenter: Cynthia Dudenhoffer, Director of Information Services, Central Methodist University
Will be discussing all free, web based,.com that require no downloads.
Aviary - image editor, screen capture, audio editor, music creator effect editor, eolor editor, image markup, etc.
Analogue - ondemand, anonymous, multi-user chat interface
Bubbl.US - brainstorming tool, do need to create an account to keep. create flowcharts, etc.
Bounceapp - Let's you comment, share, or post stuff to any website, great for comments for webdesign
Cramberry.net - make your own flash cards, also available as an iPhone and Blackberry app
Crappygraphs.com - can make a graph of whatever you want, really just for fun.
Dragontape.com - lets you stream videos together so you can string them together to watch all at once, instead of watching in sections can watch all at once.
Followupthen.com - Time management system that sends emails and reminders to do your work.
Heapr.com - aggregated search engine that allows you to search social networking as well as search engines
Kwout.com - Can highlight and quote a webpage and email it out to someone
Librivox.org - free audio books, or create your own audiobook and share it with others
Lynda.com - free tutorials on anything you can think of.
MyWeboo.com - manages everything that you do on the internet.
Prettygraph.com - lets you make professional graphs for free, and provides the source code so you can put it anywhere you want.
Paper.li - allows you to read twitter as a daily newspaper.
Redkid.net - a safe, educational website for all ages, for tweens, does have image generators, upload image and make into a sign
Replyz.com - People asking and answering questions in real time. Caution: may not always be appropriate.
Scribblemaps.com - Let's you write and more on top of any google map and then share. Can search any google map or google earth.
Sciencestage.com - Includes science tutorials, demonstration videos, lectures, etc. Starts at middle school and then goes up.
ShareSomeSugar.com - Allows you to borrow items from others within your zip code. Allows you to share items without having to buy something.
Smories.com - Original stories for kids, by kids, and read by kids.
Totspot.com - A safe place for kids that allows you to create a safe website for and about your child to share with those you want to see.
Visualizing.org - A creative commons infographics.
XSketch.com - Online pictionary, realtime virtual.
YourFonts.com - Does require a scanner, but allows you to create a font from your own handwriting.
YTTM.tv - YouTube time machine, goes back all the way to 1880 up to current day. You can choose a year and pick a video from that year. Can filter subjects such as commercials, current events, sports, etc. Great for the assignment of students looking to see what happened the year they were born.
ZamZar.com - convert files from one format to another.
This is a great presentation. Lots of websites I want to go home and play with. I can't wait.
Will be discussing all free, web based,.com that require no downloads.
Aviary - image editor, screen capture, audio editor, music creator effect editor, eolor editor, image markup, etc.
Analogue - ondemand, anonymous, multi-user chat interface
Bubbl.US - brainstorming tool, do need to create an account to keep. create flowcharts, etc.
Bounceapp - Let's you comment, share, or post stuff to any website, great for comments for webdesign
Cramberry.net - make your own flash cards, also available as an iPhone and Blackberry app
Crappygraphs.com - can make a graph of whatever you want, really just for fun.
Dragontape.com - lets you stream videos together so you can string them together to watch all at once, instead of watching in sections can watch all at once.
Followupthen.com - Time management system that sends emails and reminders to do your work.
Heapr.com - aggregated search engine that allows you to search social networking as well as search engines
Kwout.com - Can highlight and quote a webpage and email it out to someone
Librivox.org - free audio books, or create your own audiobook and share it with others
Lynda.com - free tutorials on anything you can think of.
MyWeboo.com - manages everything that you do on the internet.
Prettygraph.com - lets you make professional graphs for free, and provides the source code so you can put it anywhere you want.
Paper.li - allows you to read twitter as a daily newspaper.
Redkid.net - a safe, educational website for all ages, for tweens, does have image generators, upload image and make into a sign
Replyz.com - People asking and answering questions in real time. Caution: may not always be appropriate.
Scribblemaps.com - Let's you write and more on top of any google map and then share. Can search any google map or google earth.
Sciencestage.com - Includes science tutorials, demonstration videos, lectures, etc. Starts at middle school and then goes up.
ShareSomeSugar.com - Allows you to borrow items from others within your zip code. Allows you to share items without having to buy something.
Smories.com - Original stories for kids, by kids, and read by kids.
Totspot.com - A safe place for kids that allows you to create a safe website for and about your child to share with those you want to see.
Visualizing.org - A creative commons infographics.
XSketch.com - Online pictionary, realtime virtual.
YourFonts.com - Does require a scanner, but allows you to create a font from your own handwriting.
YTTM.tv - YouTube time machine, goes back all the way to 1880 up to current day. You can choose a year and pick a video from that year. Can filter subjects such as commercials, current events, sports, etc. Great for the assignment of students looking to see what happened the year they were born.
ZamZar.com - convert files from one format to another.
This is a great presentation. Lots of websites I want to go home and play with. I can't wait.
MLA 2010 Conference: Mobile Library: What's Important and What's Practical
The presenter for this session is Ying Z. Lin, Electronic Resources and Information Literacy Librarian from Maryville University.
People use mobile phones, especially iphones to get information, so libraries need to go where the users are. Sometimes all the user has is a mobile phone and it is all they can use where they are. Libraries need to provide that information or they will not be used. Users wil find other resources to use.
Mobile Components - smart phone (a phone that is able to use applications in order to find information)
Web App - what you can find on the web to download. Example: http://m.mit.edu
This is what a lot of Universisties use because of cost and time.
Native App - What is developed initially for the phone. Download and install it and can use it across different phones.
Network 3G and 4G - Allows you to call and access the internet at the same time. Only difference between 3G and 4G is the speed. 4G needs to be at least 4x faster than 3G. At this time really can't tell the difference because of the phone rather than the network. The phones at this time can not handle the amount of information.
Important vs. Practical
-Important: what users care about
-Practical: what can we do to best satisfy them with our limited resources
When speaker went to look at to see what libraries had mobile apps and found that a lot of libraries hide their resources.
12 common library website features on their mobile pages. Research on this done in Nov. 2009
-Catalog
-Database Search
-Subject Guides
-Computer Availability
-IM a Librarian
-Text a Librarian
-Feedback
-News/Features
-Hours
-Contact Us
-Help/How to
-Available Computer
What Maryville Mobile page has: Directions, Databases, Hours of Operation, news and Events, and Ask a Librarian
The hours and the news and events are done within a mobile blog page.
Why did they do it that way? They have 5 out of the 6 highest ranking features except the catalog. They did not include the catalog because they can't really make it mobile. Need extra money in ordder to make an open API.
When repeated the research on mobile library pages a year later, the most rapid growth on what was included was text a librarian, database search, and news & events.
More and more libraries are using blogs for their news & events, which means these blogs can be mobilized very easily.
Took a closer look at the catalog search feature. Out of 29 libraries, 20 had the library catalog feature, but only 14 had a real mobile catalog. On the database search, 22 out of 29 libraries had this feature on their mobile page, but only 20 had a real mobile database search.
Out of the 20 real mobile database searches, 15 of them provide users with a partial list of all their database. These are the databases which come with mobile interfaces.
The Trends
On the interface side more icons ad graphics are friendlier and easier to read than text. Citation tools are going mobile. A lot of universities are making a separate page for medical/health professions.
What Now?
Practical: Implement the hours, locations features and give links to databases tha provide mobile interfaces, which from most vendors is free. The important part is to take a look at the discovery service, and text a librarian would be a good way to promote ourselves.
What about Native Apps?
It can do everything that was talked about, plus you could utilize the camera as a scanner to scan the barcode to do self-checkout or to scan the ISBN of a book to see if your library has it, or request it. You would also be able to use smart phone to locate a book's specific shelf location inside the library.
yzhang@maryville.edu
This was a great presentation. Filled with information about apps in general and also about how libraries are using them. I don't know how this speaker was able to provide all the information she did a the little time provided, but I am so glad that she did!
People use mobile phones, especially iphones to get information, so libraries need to go where the users are. Sometimes all the user has is a mobile phone and it is all they can use where they are. Libraries need to provide that information or they will not be used. Users wil find other resources to use.
Mobile Components - smart phone (a phone that is able to use applications in order to find information)
Web App - what you can find on the web to download. Example: http://m.mit.edu
This is what a lot of Universisties use because of cost and time.
Native App - What is developed initially for the phone. Download and install it and can use it across different phones.
Network 3G and 4G - Allows you to call and access the internet at the same time. Only difference between 3G and 4G is the speed. 4G needs to be at least 4x faster than 3G. At this time really can't tell the difference because of the phone rather than the network. The phones at this time can not handle the amount of information.
Important vs. Practical
-Important: what users care about
-Practical: what can we do to best satisfy them with our limited resources
When speaker went to look at to see what libraries had mobile apps and found that a lot of libraries hide their resources.
12 common library website features on their mobile pages. Research on this done in Nov. 2009
-Catalog
-Database Search
-Subject Guides
-Computer Availability
-IM a Librarian
-Text a Librarian
-Feedback
-News/Features
-Hours
-Contact Us
-Help/How to
-Available Computer
What Maryville Mobile page has: Directions, Databases, Hours of Operation, news and Events, and Ask a Librarian
The hours and the news and events are done within a mobile blog page.
Why did they do it that way? They have 5 out of the 6 highest ranking features except the catalog. They did not include the catalog because they can't really make it mobile. Need extra money in ordder to make an open API.
When repeated the research on mobile library pages a year later, the most rapid growth on what was included was text a librarian, database search, and news & events.
More and more libraries are using blogs for their news & events, which means these blogs can be mobilized very easily.
Took a closer look at the catalog search feature. Out of 29 libraries, 20 had the library catalog feature, but only 14 had a real mobile catalog. On the database search, 22 out of 29 libraries had this feature on their mobile page, but only 20 had a real mobile database search.
Out of the 20 real mobile database searches, 15 of them provide users with a partial list of all their database. These are the databases which come with mobile interfaces.
The Trends
On the interface side more icons ad graphics are friendlier and easier to read than text. Citation tools are going mobile. A lot of universities are making a separate page for medical/health professions.
What Now?
Practical: Implement the hours, locations features and give links to databases tha provide mobile interfaces, which from most vendors is free. The important part is to take a look at the discovery service, and text a librarian would be a good way to promote ourselves.
What about Native Apps?
It can do everything that was talked about, plus you could utilize the camera as a scanner to scan the barcode to do self-checkout or to scan the ISBN of a book to see if your library has it, or request it. You would also be able to use smart phone to locate a book's specific shelf location inside the library.
yzhang@maryville.edu
This was a great presentation. Filled with information about apps in general and also about how libraries are using them. I don't know how this speaker was able to provide all the information she did a the little time provided, but I am so glad that she did!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
MLA Conference 2010: How to Get Others to Do What You Want: Leadership in the Library
Presenters: Steven Potter, Laura Rein, and Shirley Baker
Steve Potter, Director of Libraries, Mid-Continent Public Library
Topic: Pulling Together So You Don't Pull Apart
Need to make sure that everyone has the same perception of what "real" work is. This includes desk work, helping patrons in the stacks, and doing outreach. It takes all of this to make the library work. This led to writing a vision for the library. If everyone knows the vision of the library and if everyone can articulate it, everyone can be on the same page. Everything that was done needed to be attached to the goals and vision of the library. Strategic environment matters. There are a couple of keys to this. There needs to be buy-in from the highest level. The plan also needs to be presented to the employees. Communication and connecting everything back is key. There is a distinct difference between managing and leading. Take time to plan and make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Need to think of things as one of four criteria: Urgent and Important, Urgent and not important, Not Urgent and important, and Not urgent and not important.
Laura Rein, Dean of University Library, Webster University
Topic: Bottom-up Strategic Planning and Finding ways to say Yes!
2/3 of the students and faculty do not reside on campus. They are either online or at a different campus across the world. Bottom-up strategic planning is writing the goals and objectives from the staff and then up. One of their library goals is take the library to where users are. Another goal is to integrate the library into university life, by saying yes to the groups that want to use the library outside the normal use of the library. Also do continual assessment, which get a high response by allowing the students to entire a drawing for an iTouch. By doing this they get 1000 responses. Basically this director not only listens to the users, but also responds to the user needs by acting on the requests and doing something about what is being asked for. It is not always possible to say yes. Also there are times where some staff are upset, and also some students are upset by decisions, but in the end there is a reward in seeing the users happy with the library overall.
Shirley Baker, Dean of University Libraries & Vice Chancellor for Scholarly Resources, Washington University.
Topic: Fearless and Fair
It is important to look for the potential in your staff and nurture each one. Even if they do not want to be challenged, or to do more than the basic necessities, but it is important to push them to their full potential.
In a new job, 20% will accept you no matter what, 20% will oppose you no matter what, and the rest will sit on the fence and see who wins. A leaders job is to fix those that aren't doing anything. Hold up pay check and say to get this you have to do what I want, If you don't want it, then you can do anything you want. You won't always succeed when doing something brave and firm, but you will succeed more times than not.
Remember: It is either you or your replacement that will do what it takes to get the job done.
This presentation was good. With three presenters each having only 10 minutes there was more that I would have wanted to hear from each one of them. However what they did say was good food for thought which I can take back to my job and incorporate.
Steve Potter, Director of Libraries, Mid-Continent Public Library
Topic: Pulling Together So You Don't Pull Apart
Need to make sure that everyone has the same perception of what "real" work is. This includes desk work, helping patrons in the stacks, and doing outreach. It takes all of this to make the library work. This led to writing a vision for the library. If everyone knows the vision of the library and if everyone can articulate it, everyone can be on the same page. Everything that was done needed to be attached to the goals and vision of the library. Strategic environment matters. There are a couple of keys to this. There needs to be buy-in from the highest level. The plan also needs to be presented to the employees. Communication and connecting everything back is key. There is a distinct difference between managing and leading. Take time to plan and make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Need to think of things as one of four criteria: Urgent and Important, Urgent and not important, Not Urgent and important, and Not urgent and not important.
Laura Rein, Dean of University Library, Webster University
Topic: Bottom-up Strategic Planning and Finding ways to say Yes!
2/3 of the students and faculty do not reside on campus. They are either online or at a different campus across the world. Bottom-up strategic planning is writing the goals and objectives from the staff and then up. One of their library goals is take the library to where users are. Another goal is to integrate the library into university life, by saying yes to the groups that want to use the library outside the normal use of the library. Also do continual assessment, which get a high response by allowing the students to entire a drawing for an iTouch. By doing this they get 1000 responses. Basically this director not only listens to the users, but also responds to the user needs by acting on the requests and doing something about what is being asked for. It is not always possible to say yes. Also there are times where some staff are upset, and also some students are upset by decisions, but in the end there is a reward in seeing the users happy with the library overall.
Shirley Baker, Dean of University Libraries & Vice Chancellor for Scholarly Resources, Washington University.
Topic: Fearless and Fair
It is important to look for the potential in your staff and nurture each one. Even if they do not want to be challenged, or to do more than the basic necessities, but it is important to push them to their full potential.
In a new job, 20% will accept you no matter what, 20% will oppose you no matter what, and the rest will sit on the fence and see who wins. A leaders job is to fix those that aren't doing anything. Hold up pay check and say to get this you have to do what I want, If you don't want it, then you can do anything you want. You won't always succeed when doing something brave and firm, but you will succeed more times than not.
Remember: It is either you or your replacement that will do what it takes to get the job done.
This presentation was good. With three presenters each having only 10 minutes there was more that I would have wanted to hear from each one of them. However what they did say was good food for thought which I can take back to my job and incorporate.
MLA (Missouri Library Association) Conference
I am now attending the 2010 MLA conference at Lodge of the Four Seasons. I am attending my first session since I have been working on the registration desk. Looking forward to a great conference!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Persuasion, Influence, & Innovative Ideas, CIL2010 session
Persuasion, Influence & Innovative Ideas
Rebecca Jones, Partner Dysart & Jones Associates
How to influence your colleagues and your users
Important to Keep in Mind
-An idea or anything new = change
-People don't like change when it involves them, unless there is something in it for them.
-Group = people brought together to work
Discovery, knowledge, exploring, inspiration - words used in mission/vision statements, yet libraries don't really want ideas to inspire or discover or change.
Why are some naysayers?
-Don't see what's in it for them
-Fear
-"laters" or "laggards"
Influencing is built on:
-competence
-clarity
-relationships
Influencing others starts with ourselves
-Presence is the most important part of influencing
-We have to see ourselves as influencers
-We must be clear on what we want to see happen
-We must learn new approaches
"Influence is one of the highest skills that we have as humans" Rebecca Jones
Consider the broader Context
-"Leadership is a process of social influence through which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." Chemers
Some Underlying Principles
-One in ten Americans tel the other nine how to vote, where to eat, and what to buy
-Passionate, informed, well-connected, articulate people with broad social networks, to whom others look for advice & recommendations
-"talkers"
Effective influencers tend to be:
-"expert" in a specific domain
-"early adopters" or certainly know how to build relationships with early adopters to move change through
-Opinion leaders
-Knowledgeable about the issues being dealt with
-viewed as trustworthy
-with connections
Influence without authority
-Assumptions/everyone is a potential ally
-Clarity/be clear on your goal or objective
-Diagnosis/Understand the other person's situation
-Currencies/Identify what's important at this point for our & them
-Relationships/Develop & deal with
-Influence/Through give & take
Wooing (The Art of Woo)
-Knowing what you want
-Getting it in front of a few people
-Forming, molding & building a snowball
-Following the network
-One idea, one ally, one email, one conversation, one meeting, one presentation at a time
-use their knowledge & connections to help others
Competence
-Know your strengths & weaknesses
-Work to your strengths
-Keep the organizational perspective
-Critical success factor for credibility & expertise
Relationships
-Get to know people, what they do, & keep in touch - regardless of level
-Build trust; it's incremental & fragile
-Must understand your organization's hidden yet important relationships & where the real power lies
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time." J.S. Knox
Our language needs to change to make it more streamlined. Presenter never wants to hear the term "bibliographic instruction" again. No one really knows what that means.
Being Part of the Quotient - To move to the decision-making table:
-Clear direction which can be articulated
Clarity
-Be clear on what you want
-Be clear on what you've got & where your lines will be drawn
-Communicate clearly, in the style of the listener
Influencing Styles
-Involving: "pull" communication style matches others'; building collaboration
-Inquiring: "push" listening carefully to identify others' needs & 'currencies'; to give & take
-Leading: "pull" engaging people to share stories & common grounds
-Proposing - "push" presenting possible solutions or a choice of options; structured & rational
Inquiring
-Based on assumption that people are more motivated by what they'll lose
-Requires a good blend of both expertise & credibility - & trust
-Use images & metaphors, not facts & logic
YES!
Core principles that increase your persuasiveness:
1. Reciprocation
2. Authority
3. Commitment/consistency
4. Scarcity
5. Liking
6. Social proof
***This was another good session with lots of information to process.***
Rebecca Jones, Partner Dysart & Jones Associates
How to influence your colleagues and your users
Important to Keep in Mind
-An idea or anything new = change
-People don't like change when it involves them, unless there is something in it for them.
-Group = people brought together to work
Discovery, knowledge, exploring, inspiration - words used in mission/vision statements, yet libraries don't really want ideas to inspire or discover or change.
Why are some naysayers?
-Don't see what's in it for them
-Fear
-"laters" or "laggards"
Influencing is built on:
-competence
-clarity
-relationships
Influencing others starts with ourselves
-Presence is the most important part of influencing
-We have to see ourselves as influencers
-We must be clear on what we want to see happen
-We must learn new approaches
"Influence is one of the highest skills that we have as humans" Rebecca Jones
Consider the broader Context
-"Leadership is a process of social influence through which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." Chemers
Some Underlying Principles
-One in ten Americans tel the other nine how to vote, where to eat, and what to buy
-Passionate, informed, well-connected, articulate people with broad social networks, to whom others look for advice & recommendations
-"talkers"
Effective influencers tend to be:
-"expert" in a specific domain
-"early adopters" or certainly know how to build relationships with early adopters to move change through
-Opinion leaders
-Knowledgeable about the issues being dealt with
-viewed as trustworthy
-with connections
Influence without authority
-Assumptions/everyone is a potential ally
-Clarity/be clear on your goal or objective
-Diagnosis/Understand the other person's situation
-Currencies/Identify what's important at this point for our & them
-Relationships/Develop & deal with
-Influence/Through give & take
Wooing (The Art of Woo)
-Knowing what you want
-Getting it in front of a few people
-Forming, molding & building a snowball
-Following the network
-One idea, one ally, one email, one conversation, one meeting, one presentation at a time
-use their knowledge & connections to help others
Competence
-Know your strengths & weaknesses
-Work to your strengths
-Keep the organizational perspective
-Critical success factor for credibility & expertise
Relationships
-Get to know people, what they do, & keep in touch - regardless of level
-Build trust; it's incremental & fragile
-Must understand your organization's hidden yet important relationships & where the real power lies
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time." J.S. Knox
Our language needs to change to make it more streamlined. Presenter never wants to hear the term "bibliographic instruction" again. No one really knows what that means.
Being Part of the Quotient - To move to the decision-making table:
-Clear direction which can be articulated
Clarity
-Be clear on what you want
-Be clear on what you've got & where your lines will be drawn
-Communicate clearly, in the style of the listener
Influencing Styles
-Involving: "pull" communication style matches others'; building collaboration
-Inquiring: "push" listening carefully to identify others' needs & 'currencies'; to give & take
-Leading: "pull" engaging people to share stories & common grounds
-Proposing - "push" presenting possible solutions or a choice of options; structured & rational
Inquiring
-Based on assumption that people are more motivated by what they'll lose
-Requires a good blend of both expertise & credibility - & trust
-Use images & metaphors, not facts & logic
YES!
Core principles that increase your persuasiveness:
1. Reciprocation
2. Authority
3. Commitment/consistency
4. Scarcity
5. Liking
6. Social proof
***This was another good session with lots of information to process.***
The 24th Thing CIL2010 Session
The 24th Thing: What's Next
Sean Robinson, Allen County Public Library
Lori Reed, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Christa Burns
Michael Sauers
Helene Blowers was supposed to present this session, but unfortunately she was unable to attend.
What is your vision?
-What are you trying to do with these 2.0 tools?
3 tenets of the 23 things
Engage
Enrich - reach people, if you blog you want people to read it. How can you have a message that resonates?
Empower - empower others and fight for what you love
What is your strategy? "If you are in a great organization your mission/vision statement is a cooperative effort among all." -
3 Questions
1. How are people finding us
2. What are they
How are they finding us?
-Users need to find us outside the actually building
-We need to go where are users are
Engagement is not an idea, it is a practice
"I'm not desperate for attention, I just like spending ten hours a day on twitter."
Nebraska now has an ongoing 23 things that started in May of 2009. They learn 1 thing a month until they run out of things. May have been better to have 2 things a month to keep participation up.
Have to keep promoting the 23 things in order to keep people participating.
Innovating During a Time Of Change
Libraries are facing a time where budgets are being cut and some are being completely closed.
At the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library -
Budget was cut by 2 million, and 120 people were laid off.
Now they are talking about losing over half the staff in July
"In calm weather, all ships have good captains"
To get through these tough times had to advocate and started SaveLibraries.org
Five Quick Ways your library can innovate during tough times
1. Innovation is more than technology
2. Be willing to do what's right for the organization and the profession
3. You can't communicate too much
4. Accept the fact that libraries are going to look very different in the future
5. This is an opportunity to learn, grow, adapt, improve, and let go of what's not working
We should not have to tell people why libraries are important, that should be inherent in everything that we do.
***This presentation was very good. It took a turn at the end, but Lori had some great thoughts on libraries in peril. I really enjoyed this session and while I didn't get to hear the presenter that I was hoping to, I thought they did a great job at the last minute.***
Sean Robinson, Allen County Public Library
Lori Reed, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Christa Burns
Michael Sauers
Helene Blowers was supposed to present this session, but unfortunately she was unable to attend.
What is your vision?
-What are you trying to do with these 2.0 tools?
3 tenets of the 23 things
Engage
Enrich - reach people, if you blog you want people to read it. How can you have a message that resonates?
Empower - empower others and fight for what you love
What is your strategy? "If you are in a great organization your mission/vision statement is a cooperative effort among all." -
3 Questions
1. How are people finding us
2. What are they
How are they finding us?
-Users need to find us outside the actually building
-We need to go where are users are
Engagement is not an idea, it is a practice
"I'm not desperate for attention, I just like spending ten hours a day on twitter."
Nebraska now has an ongoing 23 things that started in May of 2009. They learn 1 thing a month until they run out of things. May have been better to have 2 things a month to keep participation up.
Have to keep promoting the 23 things in order to keep people participating.
Innovating During a Time Of Change
Libraries are facing a time where budgets are being cut and some are being completely closed.
At the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library -
Budget was cut by 2 million, and 120 people were laid off.
Now they are talking about losing over half the staff in July
"In calm weather, all ships have good captains"
To get through these tough times had to advocate and started SaveLibraries.org
Five Quick Ways your library can innovate during tough times
1. Innovation is more than technology
2. Be willing to do what's right for the organization and the profession
3. You can't communicate too much
4. Accept the fact that libraries are going to look very different in the future
5. This is an opportunity to learn, grow, adapt, improve, and let go of what's not working
We should not have to tell people why libraries are important, that should be inherent in everything that we do.
***This presentation was very good. It took a turn at the end, but Lori had some great thoughts on libraries in peril. I really enjoyed this session and while I didn't get to hear the presenter that I was hoping to, I thought they did a great job at the last minute.***
Making It Happen Key Note CIL2010
Making It Happen: Getting Things Done
Dr. Ken Haycock, Director, School of Library & Information Science, San Jose State University
Applying What We Know
-Users don't complain about needing more money for the library **not sure if I completely agree with this***
-As long as the library employees smile, the users are satisfied with lousy service.
Death by Opportunity
-Where can we make the best difference/where we have the opportunity to make an impact
Opportunity Costs
-We need to be more strategic in what we do. We can not be all things to all people.
We are all Leaders
-Leadership is a process of social influence through which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.
Power or Influence
-Power: possession of control, authority or influence ver others
-Types of power
-Influence: act of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command
-Control>Direct Influence>
Indirect Influence>Zone of No Influence
Successful people are influential
-Trust is the most critical component in relationships
-A good reputation is priceless
-Integrity cannot be bought and should never be sold
-Most people are filled with self-doubt
-Listening is more important than talking
-Caring managers always help their staff to succeed
-Carefully select those you wish to mentor
-Mentoring is a manager's most powerful tool
-Some people are not interested in being mentored
Trust
-Character
-Competence
-Confidence
-Credibility
-Congruence
Advocacy Defined
-Public Relations are not advocacy, public relations is all about us
-Need to stop talking about libraries and start talking about social and cultural issues and how we are making a difference to what matters (student success, faculty research, etc.)
Advocacy Rules
-It is all about respect
-Connect the agenda
-Recognize that people do things for their reasons not ours
-Connect with the values of the people
-Make a deposit by letting people understand what you are about and how you affect people
Advocacy is like banking, you can't make a withdraw until you make a deposit.
Universal Principles
-Reciprocation (feel obliged to return favors)
-Authority (look to experts)
-Commitment/Consistency (with commitments and values)
-Scarcity (less available more we want it)
-Liking (more we like more we want to say yes)
-Social Proof (what others are doing)
Yes! (Book)
-When they think about persuasion, most people emphasize their own experiences too much, rather than depending on data or techniques.
-Increase your persuasive power by understanding the core principles:
--A small gift or favor will make you more persuasive. People will want to pay you back.
--The public believes in authority, so enlist higher-ups on your side
Pillars
-The relationship
-The intended approach
-The desired results
-The context - for the issue, for the individual, and for the organization
R.O.T.I. - Return On Time Invested
We can't afford to be perfectionists, we do not have time. The most precious resource is time. We need to spend the most time on those things that are the most important.
Basic Questions
-Am I the right person
-Is this the right time
Focus
-Flexible
-Observable
-Courageous
-Useful
-Supportive
Focus and Plan
-On the Relationship
-On the Approach
-On the Context (Individual; System; Organization; Culture; Timing)
-On the issues (arguments that support/against;
A mediocre plan today is far better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
Major Inhibitors
-It is not my job
-Lack of competence (or a plan)
-Talking is not influencing
-There are no silver bullets or quick fixes
-Do not try to influence everyone (focus on reports and opinion leaders)
***This was a good session with some thought provoking ideas on advocacy. So many times we are advocating for a building, not for our services. We don't make the connection for others on how our services impact students, faculty, and staff. I thought this was very good and also one that I need to go back and digest at a later date.***
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Instructional Technology: It's A Team Thing CIL2010 Session
Instructional Technology: It's a Team Thing
Beth Filar Williams, Distance Education Librarian
Lynda Kellam, Data Services & Government Information Librarian
Amy Harris, First Year Instruction Coordinator
Hannah Winkler, Libraries' Digital Designer
University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
High Impact/High Effort
-JIT instruction
-Outcome based assessment
High Impact/Low Effort
-Wikis
-Clickers
-Pod/Vodcasting
-LMS content
Low Impact/High Effort
-Virtual Worlds
-Games
Low Impact/Low Effort
-BIZ Game
-Subject specific content
***I should have just stayed in the room during this session. This isn't a slam to the presenters because they were very good and engaging, my heart just isn't in it right now.***
Beth Filar Williams, Distance Education Librarian
Lynda Kellam, Data Services & Government Information Librarian
Amy Harris, First Year Instruction Coordinator
Hannah Winkler, Libraries' Digital Designer
University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
High Impact/High Effort
-JIT instruction
-Outcome based assessment
High Impact/Low Effort
-Wikis
-Clickers
-Pod/Vodcasting
-LMS content
Low Impact/High Effort
-Virtual Worlds
-Games
Low Impact/Low Effort
-BIZ Game
-Subject specific content
***I should have just stayed in the room during this session. This isn't a slam to the presenters because they were very good and engaging, my heart just isn't in it right now.***
Virtual Learning & Training: From Classrooms to Communities CIL2010 Session
Virtual Learning & Training: From Classrooms to Communities
Alison miller, Distance Education Research, The Internet Public Library (IPL)
Meredith Farkas, Head, Instructional Initiatives, Norwich University
Online learning needs to include more than just written lecture notes, written assignments, etc. f2f classes include more discussion, questions that can come up during lectures, etc. How do we translate that to an online environment?
Web 2.0 ideas for the classroom
-Age of participation
-The wisdom of crowds (can learn from the students as well as the instructor)
-Social constructivism (the instructor should be more of a facilitator)
Used Drupal an open source resource that can be used as websites, LMS, etc.
Students can blog and they can find it all in one place. The core of the classroom is the conversation between students and teacher
Why Blogs?
-Familiar medium: new types of blogging: in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
-Faculty communication with students
-Builds student sense of ownership over the medium
-Community-building
-Reflective learning
-Discussion and debate
-Writing in public
-Everyone is teacher and learner
Blogs can...
-Promote critical and reflective thinking
-Enable collaboration and knowledge-sharing
-Create an informal environment for student discussion and community-building
-Encourage dialogue and debate
-Encourage students to teach as well as learn and co-construct their learning experience
Lessons Learned on blogging
-Looking good on paper isn't enough
-Take advantage of key moments
-The most exciting technology isn't always the best for users
-Own your disasters
-Define success
-Ill-considered ideas hastily implemented can be a great success
***This session was really good and had some great ideas for me to take back and incorporate in the course that I teach. I already knew that I need to add more interaction within the course, but this session really solidified this.***
Alison miller, Distance Education Research, The Internet Public Library (IPL)
Meredith Farkas, Head, Instructional Initiatives, Norwich University
Online learning needs to include more than just written lecture notes, written assignments, etc. f2f classes include more discussion, questions that can come up during lectures, etc. How do we translate that to an online environment?
Web 2.0 ideas for the classroom
-Age of participation
-The wisdom of crowds (can learn from the students as well as the instructor)
-Social constructivism (the instructor should be more of a facilitator)
Used Drupal an open source resource that can be used as websites, LMS, etc.
Students can blog and they can find it all in one place. The core of the classroom is the conversation between students and teacher
Why Blogs?
-Familiar medium: new types of blogging: in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
-Faculty communication with students
-Builds student sense of ownership over the medium
-Community-building
-Reflective learning
-Discussion and debate
-Writing in public
-Everyone is teacher and learner
Blogs can...
-Promote critical and reflective thinking
-Enable collaboration and knowledge-sharing
-Create an informal environment for student discussion and community-building
-Encourage dialogue and debate
-Encourage students to teach as well as learn and co-construct their learning experience
Lessons Learned on blogging
-Looking good on paper isn't enough
-Take advantage of key moments
-The most exciting technology isn't always the best for users
-Own your disasters
-Define success
-Ill-considered ideas hastily implemented can be a great success
***This session was really good and had some great ideas for me to take back and incorporate in the course that I teach. I already knew that I need to add more interaction within the course, but this session really solidified this.***
Usability & Libraries CIL2010 Session
Usability & Libraries
Peter Webster, Systems Librarian, Saint Mary's University
Yu-Hui Chen, Bibliographer & outreach Librarian for Education
Carol Anne Germain, Networked Resources Education Librarian, University at Albany
Libraries know that their online services are not perfect.
But users view library online services as "broken" and unusable
What We Hear from Users
-There are too many places and choices to search, I can't find what I need.
-The library needs more stuff. Finding good references that are not available is really frustrating. ***I get this ALL the time.***
-I'll just use Google instead. Everything is in Google anyway.
Beyond user friendly software and reliable hardware
-users expect easy, direct and immediate access to needed info
-users have ever improving alternatives to judge library services by
-users have little tolerance for services which fail to meet rising expectations
Basic Service expectations
-Confusing, Inconvenient, Unreliable, Slow = broken
-Less than immediate access to information = broken
-Limited or incomplete collections = broken
Areas for focus for the future
-seamless, simple, fast and reliable systems and services
-Common interfaces, seamless and integrated discovery
-Comprehensive information access
Project Overview
-Online survey ARL academic libraries
-84 institutions participated
-Survey content
--Policies/standards/guidelines
--Usability testing
--Resources (staff, time, training)
Issues, Challenges, & Recommendations
-Stakeholders
--Little knowledge of and support for usability
--Limited usability expertise
--Political agenda
-Resources
--Staff and time
--Organizational knowledge
If we have good usability, then users will stay. If we do not have what they want or can use then they will go elsewhere. ***I have been saying this for years, yet I still do not have any listeners. Librarians do not necessarily know what is best for the user.***
Peter Webster, Systems Librarian, Saint Mary's University
Yu-Hui Chen, Bibliographer & outreach Librarian for Education
Carol Anne Germain, Networked Resources Education Librarian, University at Albany
Libraries know that their online services are not perfect.
But users view library online services as "broken" and unusable
What We Hear from Users
-There are too many places and choices to search, I can't find what I need.
-The library needs more stuff. Finding good references that are not available is really frustrating. ***I get this ALL the time.***
-I'll just use Google instead. Everything is in Google anyway.
Beyond user friendly software and reliable hardware
-users expect easy, direct and immediate access to needed info
-users have ever improving alternatives to judge library services by
-users have little tolerance for services which fail to meet rising expectations
Basic Service expectations
-Confusing, Inconvenient, Unreliable, Slow = broken
-Less than immediate access to information = broken
-Limited or incomplete collections = broken
Areas for focus for the future
-seamless, simple, fast and reliable systems and services
-Common interfaces, seamless and integrated discovery
-Comprehensive information access
Project Overview
-Online survey ARL academic libraries
-84 institutions participated
-Survey content
--Policies/standards/guidelines
--Usability testing
--Resources (staff, time, training)
Issues, Challenges, & Recommendations
-Stakeholders
--Little knowledge of and support for usability
--Limited usability expertise
--Political agenda
-Resources
--Staff and time
--Organizational knowledge
If we have good usability, then users will stay. If we do not have what they want or can use then they will go elsewhere. ***I have been saying this for years, yet I still do not have any listeners. Librarians do not necessarily know what is best for the user.***
Critical Thinking: Getting to the Right Decision CIL2010 Session
Critical Thinking: Getting to the Right Decision
Rebecca Jones, Partner, Dysart & Jones Associates
Deb Wallace, Managing Director, Knowledge & Library Services, Harvard Business School
If you are not prepared to change, don't even bother doing a strategic plan. - Rebecca Jones
So true!
slideshare.net/beckyjojojones
Critical Thinking is really about
-Decision-making & problem-solving
-Open-mindedness
-Productive dialogue
We can't make decisions alone or in a vacuum, the decisions & problems we face are increasingly complex. The decisions we make end up impacting someone else.
Good Critical Thinking
-Raises the right questions
-Focuses on the real problem or decision to be taken
-Gathers & assesses relevant information
-Uses abstract ideas to interpret info effectively
-Develops well-reasoned conclusions & solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
-Relies on recognizing & assessing assumptions, implications, & consequences
-Communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems
Why?
-For our users
-For our organizations
-For ourselves, and our professional credibility
"Set in our ways" won't move us forward
"Naming" the process at first makes it legitimate to:
-Challenge usual practices
-Rethink what has been thought
-Expand the emphasis from short-term fixes to long-term fusion
Common Decision Traps
-Framing
-Status quo
-Anchoring
-Sunk Cost
Critical thinking is not about being critical.
KLS Enduring Goals (Do not change goals every year or two years)
-Deliver the greatest possible value to KLS's customers by integrating our expertise and resources in support of their teaching, learning, and research.
-Build and enrich a knowledge of information ecosystem that delivers what the customer needs when they need it, seamlessly.
-Be the "trusted advisor" for Harvard Business School in knowledge, information and learning practices
Free people up to think in different ways. Think critically about how best to meet our missions, to meet our user needs.
The libraries at Harvard constantly rank the lowest among employee satisfaction among Harvard departments. Need to realize that it is not a top down, but administrators/managers need to listen to all employees.
If you are not happy in your work or your position, will not be able to think critically and contribute to your organization.
Critical Characteristics
-Communication skills; listen
-Self-awareness & self-acceptance
-Curious, interested, & questioning
-Admits lack of valid information & understanding
-Assess & evaluates information & propositions for their value at the issue on hand
What's Critical?
-Awareness
-Discipline your decision making to uncover thinking errors & prevent judgment errors
-Trying it
***Wonderful presentation, lots to think about and process.***
Rebecca Jones, Partner, Dysart & Jones Associates
Deb Wallace, Managing Director, Knowledge & Library Services, Harvard Business School
If you are not prepared to change, don't even bother doing a strategic plan. - Rebecca Jones
So true!
slideshare.net/beckyjojojones
Critical Thinking is really about
-Decision-making & problem-solving
-Open-mindedness
-Productive dialogue
We can't make decisions alone or in a vacuum, the decisions & problems we face are increasingly complex. The decisions we make end up impacting someone else.
Good Critical Thinking
-Raises the right questions
-Focuses on the real problem or decision to be taken
-Gathers & assesses relevant information
-Uses abstract ideas to interpret info effectively
-Develops well-reasoned conclusions & solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
-Relies on recognizing & assessing assumptions, implications, & consequences
-Communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems
Why?
-For our users
-For our organizations
-For ourselves, and our professional credibility
"Set in our ways" won't move us forward
"Naming" the process at first makes it legitimate to:
-Challenge usual practices
-Rethink what has been thought
-Expand the emphasis from short-term fixes to long-term fusion
Common Decision Traps
-Framing
-Status quo
-Anchoring
-Sunk Cost
Critical thinking is not about being critical.
KLS Enduring Goals (Do not change goals every year or two years)
-Deliver the greatest possible value to KLS's customers by integrating our expertise and resources in support of their teaching, learning, and research.
-Build and enrich a knowledge of information ecosystem that delivers what the customer needs when they need it, seamlessly.
-Be the "trusted advisor" for Harvard Business School in knowledge, information and learning practices
Free people up to think in different ways. Think critically about how best to meet our missions, to meet our user needs.
The libraries at Harvard constantly rank the lowest among employee satisfaction among Harvard departments. Need to realize that it is not a top down, but administrators/managers need to listen to all employees.
If you are not happy in your work or your position, will not be able to think critically and contribute to your organization.
Critical Characteristics
-Communication skills; listen
-Self-awareness & self-acceptance
-Curious, interested, & questioning
-Admits lack of valid information & understanding
-Assess & evaluates information & propositions for their value at the issue on hand
What's Critical?
-Awareness
-Discipline your decision making to uncover thinking errors & prevent judgment errors
-Trying it
***Wonderful presentation, lots to think about and process.***
Strategic Planning & Encouraging Change CIL2010 Session
Strategic Planning & Encouraging Change
Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy, Office of the CIO, Smithsonian Institution
Currently developing a prototype for the Smithsonian Commons. A way for users to find what they want to see, plan a trip, find more information about items, take pictures, upload to fb, and share with others as well as make comments for others to read.
Note: There is so much more to this presentation then what I have blogged about. This presentation was great, but provided a lot of information in a short amount of time. The presentation slides can be found at: Slideshare.net/edsonm
Smithosonian Strategic Plan - 5 year
1. Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe
2. Understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet
3. Valuing World Cultures
4. Understanding the American Experience
Strategic planning should let us do work that matters. This is relevance earned through a job well done.
Where is this work going to take place?
What kind of organization, infrastructure, platforms will be needed to support it?
What is the organizational change model?
Who will be the innovators?
In workplace like so may others, is deeply conflicted about these changes
Thermocline (a metaphor) Stratified water temperature between warm water at the top and cold dense water at the bottom. Thermocline issues define the change environment and explain why strategy is needed ( and shy for us the commons is so important)
Thermocline Issues
Complacency
Urgency (John P. Kotter, A Sense of Urgency)
Museums are for...In exchange for public funds and public trust, museums should do work for society.
Institutions built on the model of enduring wisdom
We need to think big, start small, and move fast.
Catalyze innovation/discovery outside the institution
Every user is a hero in their own epic journey, Kathy Sierra
"Most organizations don't get serious about strategy until they are afraid or in pain." Leo Mulen, CEO Navigation Arts.
Web & New Media Strategy Structure
Three Themes
-Updated the Smithsonian Digital Experience
-Updated the Smithsonian Learning Model
-Balance Autonomy and Control within SI
Eight Goals - four external and four internal
Prototype - Push/pull between understanding what this thing is and understanding how to sell it.
Start a public wiki to have everyone talk about it. Change starts from the bottom up.
Vast, Findable, Shareable, and Free
***Presenter is very excited to see how the Smithsonian Institution is used outside the walls. This is how our thinking needs to be. We need to stop being so protective and overbearing when it comes to library materials. The four ideas that the SI Commons embraces is Vast, Findable, Shareable, and Free. As librarians we really need to get not only information, but our resources to our users.***
Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy, Office of the CIO, Smithsonian Institution
Currently developing a prototype for the Smithsonian Commons. A way for users to find what they want to see, plan a trip, find more information about items, take pictures, upload to fb, and share with others as well as make comments for others to read.
Note: There is so much more to this presentation then what I have blogged about. This presentation was great, but provided a lot of information in a short amount of time. The presentation slides can be found at: Slideshare.net/edsonm
Smithosonian Strategic Plan - 5 year
1. Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe
2. Understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet
3. Valuing World Cultures
4. Understanding the American Experience
Strategic planning should let us do work that matters. This is relevance earned through a job well done.
Where is this work going to take place?
What kind of organization, infrastructure, platforms will be needed to support it?
What is the organizational change model?
Who will be the innovators?
In workplace like so may others, is deeply conflicted about these changes
Thermocline (a metaphor) Stratified water temperature between warm water at the top and cold dense water at the bottom. Thermocline issues define the change environment and explain why strategy is needed ( and shy for us the commons is so important)
Thermocline Issues
Complacency
Urgency (John P. Kotter, A Sense of Urgency)
Museums are for...In exchange for public funds and public trust, museums should do work for society.
Institutions built on the model of enduring wisdom
We need to think big, start small, and move fast.
Catalyze innovation/discovery outside the institution
Every user is a hero in their own epic journey, Kathy Sierra
"Most organizations don't get serious about strategy until they are afraid or in pain." Leo Mulen, CEO Navigation Arts.
Web & New Media Strategy Structure
Three Themes
-Updated the Smithsonian Digital Experience
-Updated the Smithsonian Learning Model
-Balance Autonomy and Control within SI
Eight Goals - four external and four internal
Prototype - Push/pull between understanding what this thing is and understanding how to sell it.
Start a public wiki to have everyone talk about it. Change starts from the bottom up.
Vast, Findable, Shareable, and Free
***Presenter is very excited to see how the Smithsonian Institution is used outside the walls. This is how our thinking needs to be. We need to stop being so protective and overbearing when it comes to library materials. The four ideas that the SI Commons embraces is Vast, Findable, Shareable, and Free. As librarians we really need to get not only information, but our resources to our users.***
Tuesday Key Note Speaker CIL 2010 Conference
Conversations With the Archivist of the United States
David Ferriero, AOTUS
Responsible for the records of the government with about 2% becoming archived.
Typical Day: Just into the 5th month of the job. Still have a steep learning curve. Trying to get a sense of the staff and their needs. National Archives ranks second from the bottom in employee satisfaction. Will spend time trying to change this.
He is the highest ranking librarian in the administration, and the only librarian in the administration.
Q: Why is it important for a librarian to be the AOTUS?
A: Got a call from the Whitehouse wanting him to become the archivist and he didn't immediately respond. President was looking for someone who thinks outside the box, someone who is into technology, and willing to be a forward thinker. David wanted to take this job to make a difference.
Obama has charged him with two extraordinary initiatives
1. Declassification of Documents
Have an enormous backlog of classified documents going back to WWII. The intent is to open up the records by declassifying of them. What it involves is a major review of the documents by the agencies that classified them. There are 2400 different classification guides and the classification guides are supposed to be reviewed every five years. Over 50% of the classification systems have not been reviewed in the last nine years. Need to revamp the classification system so it is more stream lined. Intend to incorporate technology to do this.
2. Open Government Initiative - Transparency and collaboration
Means that government agencies need to have good record management so that open government can be obtained. Two groups that have never met, will meet to discuss this, the CIO Council and the Records Managers to discuss how to better manage records. Every agency has been authorized to go off and build their own electronic record systems, or put them on their shelves, etc. It is the archivist that has to try and corral the records and digest them. He is hoping that they can create one record management system.
Is currently looking at opening up the archives the way it has never been opened up before. This will allow those that have never had access to the archives before. This includes expanding website, especially targeting K-12 aged kids, new exhibits, and really working with public schools to get kids excited about history, and also their country.
In response to a comment about low morale from workers in the archives, David says that he understands a lot of the jobs within the archives are mundane. There are ways of enriching the job and there are ways to make the worker realize how important the job is so that they have a sense of ownership and also feel important which they are. Is really going to all the staff to talk to them and learn what they want and what their feelings are.
The guards of the archives have actually never toured the archives.
In the digital age we save everything, but preserve little. We are not saving what we should be especially when it comes to electronic records. On the federal side e-mail is not recognized as a record. Which means we are not saving, we are losing records.
Thinking about the divide between digital and print, there is something aesthetic about print on page. While he still uses Wikipedia, Google, and he does own a Kindle, he still prefers holding and reading a book.
The greatest burden and challenges that he faces is the electronic records. The greatest joy is a balance between getting to know the staff and the collection. Still in awe of the collection that is in the Archives.
His message to librarians today - push your supervisors, look for opportunities to get involved, get your ideas out there. One of his best hires has taught him so much, when it comes to packaging and distributing information and where the library should be and what it should be to the users.
***This was a great keynote speaker done in the form of an interview. I have learned some great things and realized that the Archives, while housing some of the most important documents related to U.S. History is really just like any other library. They have the same struggles and the same hopes.***
David Ferriero, AOTUS
Responsible for the records of the government with about 2% becoming archived.
Typical Day: Just into the 5th month of the job. Still have a steep learning curve. Trying to get a sense of the staff and their needs. National Archives ranks second from the bottom in employee satisfaction. Will spend time trying to change this.
He is the highest ranking librarian in the administration, and the only librarian in the administration.
Q: Why is it important for a librarian to be the AOTUS?
A: Got a call from the Whitehouse wanting him to become the archivist and he didn't immediately respond. President was looking for someone who thinks outside the box, someone who is into technology, and willing to be a forward thinker. David wanted to take this job to make a difference.
Obama has charged him with two extraordinary initiatives
1. Declassification of Documents
Have an enormous backlog of classified documents going back to WWII. The intent is to open up the records by declassifying of them. What it involves is a major review of the documents by the agencies that classified them. There are 2400 different classification guides and the classification guides are supposed to be reviewed every five years. Over 50% of the classification systems have not been reviewed in the last nine years. Need to revamp the classification system so it is more stream lined. Intend to incorporate technology to do this.
2. Open Government Initiative - Transparency and collaboration
Means that government agencies need to have good record management so that open government can be obtained. Two groups that have never met, will meet to discuss this, the CIO Council and the Records Managers to discuss how to better manage records. Every agency has been authorized to go off and build their own electronic record systems, or put them on their shelves, etc. It is the archivist that has to try and corral the records and digest them. He is hoping that they can create one record management system.
Is currently looking at opening up the archives the way it has never been opened up before. This will allow those that have never had access to the archives before. This includes expanding website, especially targeting K-12 aged kids, new exhibits, and really working with public schools to get kids excited about history, and also their country.
In response to a comment about low morale from workers in the archives, David says that he understands a lot of the jobs within the archives are mundane. There are ways of enriching the job and there are ways to make the worker realize how important the job is so that they have a sense of ownership and also feel important which they are. Is really going to all the staff to talk to them and learn what they want and what their feelings are.
The guards of the archives have actually never toured the archives.
In the digital age we save everything, but preserve little. We are not saving what we should be especially when it comes to electronic records. On the federal side e-mail is not recognized as a record. Which means we are not saving, we are losing records.
Thinking about the divide between digital and print, there is something aesthetic about print on page. While he still uses Wikipedia, Google, and he does own a Kindle, he still prefers holding and reading a book.
The greatest burden and challenges that he faces is the electronic records. The greatest joy is a balance between getting to know the staff and the collection. Still in awe of the collection that is in the Archives.
His message to librarians today - push your supervisors, look for opportunities to get involved, get your ideas out there. One of his best hires has taught him so much, when it comes to packaging and distributing information and where the library should be and what it should be to the users.
***This was a great keynote speaker done in the form of an interview. I have learned some great things and realized that the Archives, while housing some of the most important documents related to U.S. History is really just like any other library. They have the same struggles and the same hopes.***
Monday, April 12, 2010
Gen X Librarians: Leading From the Middle CIL2010 Session
Gen X Librarians: Leading From the Middle
Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Digital Services Librarian, Southern Connecticut State University
Karen Sobel, Reference & Instruction Librarian, University of Colorado Denver
Nina McHale, Web Librarian, University of Colorado Denver
Nina - Generation X and Technology
Generational Generalizations...
Generational diversity can be a positive element of the workplace (Jason Martin)
There are 20-something "digital novices" and 80-year-old "tech gurus"
Generation Terminology
-Traditionalists - born before mid-1940s
-Baby Boomers - born mid-1940s to early 1960s
-Generation X - born early/mid 1960s to early 1980s
-Generation Y/Millennials - born early 1980s-early 2000s
Growing Up and Along with Technology
-Gen X librarians developed technology skills as necessary as computers were introduced for research and productivity in school and work environments
When Computers entered their lives
Boomer - after their education
Gen X - during their education
Gen Y - before their education
Generation X: Between Two Worlds
-Typewriters and word processors
-Card catalogs and OPACS
-Print and Electronic
-Analog and digital
-Traditional and Social
-Land line and Cell phones
-VCR and DVR
There has always been a generation in the middle, but tech adds a new dimension
Proficient with technology
Accepting of change
More likely to connect traditional institutions and new modes of communication
The Sandwich Generation
Two "Sandwich" Perspectives
-In the library instruction classroom
-Interactions among librarian colleagues
Generalizations
-How do we make them?
-Do we make them?
During their educations, Gen X:
-Learned to use computers
-Learned other educational technologies
-Researched in print
-Researched online
-Used many print and electronic formats
-Used the card catalog!
-Learned to adapt
Bridging Gaps in the Workplace
Gen X: "I like technology, but I'm not an addict."
What does it mean to say, "I'm not a computer person"?
Gen X Librarians lead in:
-Technology-related task forces
-digitization projects
Making History
There are currently 4 generations in workplace
-Generation x: In the middle of this organizational dynamic
-Rising into management positions
-Unique values = unique benefit
Independence
-Loyal to profession
-require personal/professional life balance
-self-driven and self-motivated
Innovation
-Flexible, entrepreneurial
-Apply skills in new contexts to achieve goals
-Think "outside the box"
Individualism
-Define own paths for personal fulfillment
-Work is a "lifestyle decision"
-Not tied into traditional career development goals
Promoting Innovation: Seek challenges, integrate lifelong learning
Mediating Change: Building relationships, mentoring, training
Translating Cultural Norms: Making a difference, leaving a legacy
**This session was not quite what I thought it would be. However it did provide some good information about generation x.***
Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Digital Services Librarian, Southern Connecticut State University
Karen Sobel, Reference & Instruction Librarian, University of Colorado Denver
Nina McHale, Web Librarian, University of Colorado Denver
Nina - Generation X and Technology
Generational Generalizations...
Generational diversity can be a positive element of the workplace (Jason Martin)
There are 20-something "digital novices" and 80-year-old "tech gurus"
Generation Terminology
-Traditionalists - born before mid-1940s
-Baby Boomers - born mid-1940s to early 1960s
-Generation X - born early/mid 1960s to early 1980s
-Generation Y/Millennials - born early 1980s-early 2000s
Growing Up and Along with Technology
-Gen X librarians developed technology skills as necessary as computers were introduced for research and productivity in school and work environments
When Computers entered their lives
Boomer - after their education
Gen X - during their education
Gen Y - before their education
Generation X: Between Two Worlds
-Typewriters and word processors
-Card catalogs and OPACS
-Print and Electronic
-Analog and digital
-Traditional and Social
-Land line and Cell phones
-VCR and DVR
There has always been a generation in the middle, but tech adds a new dimension
Proficient with technology
Accepting of change
More likely to connect traditional institutions and new modes of communication
The Sandwich Generation
Two "Sandwich" Perspectives
-In the library instruction classroom
-Interactions among librarian colleagues
Generalizations
-How do we make them?
-Do we make them?
During their educations, Gen X:
-Learned to use computers
-Learned other educational technologies
-Researched in print
-Researched online
-Used many print and electronic formats
-Used the card catalog!
-Learned to adapt
Bridging Gaps in the Workplace
Gen X: "I like technology, but I'm not an addict."
What does it mean to say, "I'm not a computer person"?
Gen X Librarians lead in:
-Technology-related task forces
-digitization projects
Making History
There are currently 4 generations in workplace
-Generation x: In the middle of this organizational dynamic
-Rising into management positions
-Unique values = unique benefit
Independence
-Loyal to profession
-require personal/professional life balance
-self-driven and self-motivated
Innovation
-Flexible, entrepreneurial
-Apply skills in new contexts to achieve goals
-Think "outside the box"
Individualism
-Define own paths for personal fulfillment
-Work is a "lifestyle decision"
-Not tied into traditional career development goals
Promoting Innovation: Seek challenges, integrate lifelong learning
Mediating Change: Building relationships, mentoring, training
Translating Cultural Norms: Making a difference, leaving a legacy
**This session was not quite what I thought it would be. However it did provide some good information about generation x.***
What Administrators Need to Know About Technology CIL2010 Session
What Administrators Need to Know About Technology
Roy Tennant, Senior Program Manager, OCLC Programs & Research
Writes the Blog: Tech Essence Info
-Blog is targeted to library administrators
Techessence.com/topten
1. Technology isn't as hard as you think
2. Technology gets easier all the time
3. Technology gets cheaper all the time
4. Maximize the effectiveness
5. Iterate, don't perfect
--Get something out there early, learn from mistakes, listen to comments and then iterate and put it back out there. (Look at Business 2.0, Netflix Mailers)
6. Be prepared to fail. We think by being perfect we won't fail, but nothing is farther from the truth. Failure is a useful teacher. We can learn from our failures.
7. Be prepared to succeed.
8. Never underestimate the power of a prototype.
9. A major part of any technology implementation is good project management.
10. The single biggest threat to any technology project is political in nature.
--This includes not having enough support within your organization to see it through to the end, or not having enough resources.
What Others Have Said Via Twitter
1. Have an exit strategy. No platform is forever. Ask not only how you'll move onto it, but how you'll move off of it.
2. Vendor solutions still require knowledgeable staff to make them work.
3. IT won't solve any of your problems without proper staffing and management policies which you should allow techies to shape.
4. Administrators need to know that just because a staff member can support certain technologies, doesn't mean they can support all technologies.
5. Allow your staff time and resources to experiment even if nothing comes of it. Innovation comes with risk.
6. Believe a staff member's opinion over a vendor's. Always. ALWAYS.
7. Never depend on technology alone to save your library.
8. The youngest people on staff aren't automatically techno-geeks.
9. Delegate the discovery phase to those who can dedicate more resources to coming up with concise answers to "how" and justify "why."
Comments from the Peanut Gallery
Technology is easy; it is the people that are hard. Having to change people's thinking is harder than incorporating technology.
Avoid the herd mentality. Don't implement just because everyone else has.
Consult the people that work with the users to find out what are the needs of the users.
An administrator with a little bit of technology knowledge is a dangerous thing. Administrators should have more faith in their tech staff.
Need to have ongoing training for library staff. Change in technology is constant, so training for new technologies should also be constant.
Technology can only take you so far. You still need people to make it happen.
***This session was good, and provided some good information. I have more complaints with the room and the fact that I did not have access to wi-fi in the room. The way the room was set up, it was almost impossible to see the screen and the PowerPoint slides. But there were definitely good points brought up for more than just administrators.***
Roy Tennant, Senior Program Manager, OCLC Programs & Research
Writes the Blog: Tech Essence Info
-Blog is targeted to library administrators
Techessence.com/topten
1. Technology isn't as hard as you think
2. Technology gets easier all the time
3. Technology gets cheaper all the time
4. Maximize the effectiveness
5. Iterate, don't perfect
--Get something out there early, learn from mistakes, listen to comments and then iterate and put it back out there. (Look at Business 2.0, Netflix Mailers)
6. Be prepared to fail. We think by being perfect we won't fail, but nothing is farther from the truth. Failure is a useful teacher. We can learn from our failures.
7. Be prepared to succeed.
8. Never underestimate the power of a prototype.
9. A major part of any technology implementation is good project management.
10. The single biggest threat to any technology project is political in nature.
--This includes not having enough support within your organization to see it through to the end, or not having enough resources.
What Others Have Said Via Twitter
1. Have an exit strategy. No platform is forever. Ask not only how you'll move onto it, but how you'll move off of it.
2. Vendor solutions still require knowledgeable staff to make them work.
3. IT won't solve any of your problems without proper staffing and management policies which you should allow techies to shape.
4. Administrators need to know that just because a staff member can support certain technologies, doesn't mean they can support all technologies.
5. Allow your staff time and resources to experiment even if nothing comes of it. Innovation comes with risk.
6. Believe a staff member's opinion over a vendor's. Always. ALWAYS.
7. Never depend on technology alone to save your library.
8. The youngest people on staff aren't automatically techno-geeks.
9. Delegate the discovery phase to those who can dedicate more resources to coming up with concise answers to "how" and justify "why."
Comments from the Peanut Gallery
Technology is easy; it is the people that are hard. Having to change people's thinking is harder than incorporating technology.
Avoid the herd mentality. Don't implement just because everyone else has.
Consult the people that work with the users to find out what are the needs of the users.
An administrator with a little bit of technology knowledge is a dangerous thing. Administrators should have more faith in their tech staff.
Need to have ongoing training for library staff. Change in technology is constant, so training for new technologies should also be constant.
Technology can only take you so far. You still need people to make it happen.
***This session was good, and provided some good information. I have more complaints with the room and the fact that I did not have access to wi-fi in the room. The way the room was set up, it was almost impossible to see the screen and the PowerPoint slides. But there were definitely good points brought up for more than just administrators.***
Achieving Org 2.0 CIL2010 Session
Organization 2.0 (or Can't Get There From Here)
Meredith Farkas, Norwich University
Why is that Web 2.0 initiatives are failing in libraries? A lot of libraries are going where users are, but not being useful.
To keep 2.0 initiatives going, there needs to have more than one person involved with Web 2.0 technologies. Really need to get as many of the co-workers on board to make it work.
So what's the problem? There are a lot of dead blogs, wikis, etc. out there on the web.
Why does it fail?
-Use of social software is not seen as furthering the library's mission
-Social software is treated as someone's "pet project"
-Social software is not planned for strategically like other technologies
-Once the newness wears off, people are less motivated to contribute
-Staff are not given time to work on social software
Library 2.0 is a state of mind
-Working to meet changing user needs
-Trusting our users (radical trust)
-Getting rid of the culture of perfect
-Aware of emerging technologies and opportunities
-Looking outside of the library world for applications, opportunities, inspiration
Know Your Users
-Find where your users are and what your users are using, then go there
Encourage staff to learn and play
-part of the job should be to keep up with blogs, twitter posts, social media, etc. to keep up with emerging technologies and trends in the profession. This should happen with both librarians and library staff.
Question Everything
-It is so easy to get into a rut.
-When a new person starts, question them what they feel is wrong. Don't try to change them to your point of view, learn from their fresh perspective
Set Technology Goals
-Incorporate technology into strategic plans, there will be more of a buy-in when this happens.
Treat Technologies as Goals and Use them to Solve Problems
-Improve communication with our users
-Provide reference services at the point of need
-RSS feeds by subject
-Put links in wikipedia to library collections, making them more accessible
-Put historical photos in Flickr
Make Our Services More Visible
-Make a plan before starting so that it can be more usable (Manchester Library in FB)
Improve Internal Knowledge Sharing
Develop a Risk-Tolerant Culture
-We can learn so much by failure, than by not doing anything in the first place.
Beware the Culture of Perfect
-Just because librarians love it and think it is great, doesn't mean that it will help users. LISTEN TO YOUR USERS and take their feedback to heart. THEY are the ones that are using the services, not librarians! **Amen, sister!**
Be Agile, Don't Get Attached
-It is okay to let go of old technologies if they are not working anymore. We don't need to hang on to what is not working for our users.
Good Ideas can Come from Anyone and Anywhere
Nurture Talent
Give Staff Time for Creative Endeavors
-Google gives 20% time to staff for creative endeavors
Encourage Network-Building
-Facebook can become your rolodex
Create Partnerships
-Will become harder and harder for librarians to survive if they don't start creating partnerships
Provide a wiki for first year students to provide information. Administration, faculty, staff, and students can contribute.
Be transparent with patrons
-Can have a library suggestion blog. Will let users know that you care and that you are listening and working to provide what they want
Time Must Be Provided! May need to create new jobs, or may just need to shuffle responsibilities.
Aboslutely need to assess everything that we are doing. We must converse with our patrons and learn from them.
http://meredithfarkas.wetpaint.com
***This session was great! It just solidifies my thinking when it comes to Web 2.0 technologies. The big problem I have is getting others on board. We need to start thinking outside the box, we need to LISTEN to our users, we need to stop assuming that because we are the librarians we know best. We don't! We are there for our users! Why don't we start listening to them and going where they are? We can all learn from each other. We need to stop treating our users like 5 year olds. Okay I will get off my soapbox for now.***
Meredith Farkas, Norwich University
Why is that Web 2.0 initiatives are failing in libraries? A lot of libraries are going where users are, but not being useful.
To keep 2.0 initiatives going, there needs to have more than one person involved with Web 2.0 technologies. Really need to get as many of the co-workers on board to make it work.
So what's the problem? There are a lot of dead blogs, wikis, etc. out there on the web.
Why does it fail?
-Use of social software is not seen as furthering the library's mission
-Social software is treated as someone's "pet project"
-Social software is not planned for strategically like other technologies
-Once the newness wears off, people are less motivated to contribute
-Staff are not given time to work on social software
Library 2.0 is a state of mind
-Working to meet changing user needs
-Trusting our users (radical trust)
-Getting rid of the culture of perfect
-Aware of emerging technologies and opportunities
-Looking outside of the library world for applications, opportunities, inspiration
Know Your Users
-Find where your users are and what your users are using, then go there
Encourage staff to learn and play
-part of the job should be to keep up with blogs, twitter posts, social media, etc. to keep up with emerging technologies and trends in the profession. This should happen with both librarians and library staff.
Question Everything
-It is so easy to get into a rut.
-When a new person starts, question them what they feel is wrong. Don't try to change them to your point of view, learn from their fresh perspective
Set Technology Goals
-Incorporate technology into strategic plans, there will be more of a buy-in when this happens.
Treat Technologies as Goals and Use them to Solve Problems
-Improve communication with our users
-Provide reference services at the point of need
-RSS feeds by subject
-Put links in wikipedia to library collections, making them more accessible
-Put historical photos in Flickr
Make Our Services More Visible
-Make a plan before starting so that it can be more usable (Manchester Library in FB)
Improve Internal Knowledge Sharing
Develop a Risk-Tolerant Culture
-We can learn so much by failure, than by not doing anything in the first place.
Beware the Culture of Perfect
-Just because librarians love it and think it is great, doesn't mean that it will help users. LISTEN TO YOUR USERS and take their feedback to heart. THEY are the ones that are using the services, not librarians! **Amen, sister!**
Be Agile, Don't Get Attached
-It is okay to let go of old technologies if they are not working anymore. We don't need to hang on to what is not working for our users.
Good Ideas can Come from Anyone and Anywhere
Nurture Talent
Give Staff Time for Creative Endeavors
-Google gives 20% time to staff for creative endeavors
Encourage Network-Building
-Facebook can become your rolodex
Create Partnerships
-Will become harder and harder for librarians to survive if they don't start creating partnerships
Provide a wiki for first year students to provide information. Administration, faculty, staff, and students can contribute.
Be transparent with patrons
-Can have a library suggestion blog. Will let users know that you care and that you are listening and working to provide what they want
Time Must Be Provided! May need to create new jobs, or may just need to shuffle responsibilities.
Aboslutely need to assess everything that we are doing. We must converse with our patrons and learn from them.
http://meredithfarkas.wetpaint.com
***This session was great! It just solidifies my thinking when it comes to Web 2.0 technologies. The big problem I have is getting others on board. We need to start thinking outside the box, we need to LISTEN to our users, we need to stop assuming that because we are the librarians we know best. We don't! We are there for our users! Why don't we start listening to them and going where they are? We can all learn from each other. We need to stop treating our users like 5 year olds. Okay I will get off my soapbox for now.***
Super Searcher Shares: Search Tips Spectacular! Session
Super Searcher Shares
Mary Ellen Bates, Owner, Bates Information Services, Inc.
BatesInfo.com
Slide Deck found at BatesInfo.com/extras
Newsy.com - The Week meets YouTube
-Human editors summarize the news
-One-sentence summary
-Walter Cronkite of the 21st century
-Links to original sources
Google Buzz - Competition for Twitter
-Access via Gmail; comments to a post go to email
-Nice browse features
-Includes Google Stars; you can star a link on a search, will automatically be saved to your goole bookmarks; you can star a google buzz
-Rudimentary search; no date sort of results; includes other social media sources
-Offers recommendations
BuZZZy.com
-Searches Google Buzz plus Twitter, Friendfeed, etc.
-Results are chronological (unlike Buzz)
-Can limit by language
***Side note: Google Language Search, need to search other languages***
Factery.net
-Searches Yahoo BOSS and Twitter
-Ranks by FactRank
-FactRank secret sauce includes
--Tweeted URLs
--Frequency of factual sentences (One Riot indexes URLs that have been mentioned in Twitter)
-Looks for more fact based sites
-SERP (Search Engine Result Page) has facts, not extracts
-Great for mobile devices
-Tools to extract data from a web page
See latest web "facts"
Technorati - technorati.com
-Authority is working!
-Cuts out spam
-Search by blog title or blog post
-sort by date or relevance
-shows hottest posts in various channels (topics)
SlideFinder.net
-great search tool for slide decks
-they crawl individual PPT pages; emphasis on university sites
-SERP includes thumbnails of indiviual pages; one click to full slide deck, one click to download
-Search by: presentation name, slide and note text!, language
-Try strategic
-Add in lets you know you can search within PowerPoint
World Govt Data
-Compiled by The Guardian
-Metasearch of govt data from US, UK, Australia, New Zealand
-Standardized format; can compare data from multiple sources
-User ratings
Factual.com
-Search data sets
-Like Wolfram/Alpha, but as a wiki
-Now, primarily wikipedia content
Twitter Lists
-Create and publish an RSS of your faves
-Can see who is listed on other lists
-Can see what lists a user follows; who does the guru monitor?
-Can't search the lists
Listorious.com
-Spiders (public) Twitter LIsts
--Find lists on a topic
--ID experts
What you're worth per hour
-Your salary x 1.3
--$74,000 is SLA median salary (=$96,200)
-Divide by BILLABLE weeks
--47 weeks ($2050/week)
-Divide that by 40 hours/week
--$50/hour
***This has been a great session. Instead of presenting a session such as 45 sites in 45 minutes or Top 20, Mary Ellen really discussed some great websites that are USABLE. While I love to hear about those fun cute sites, these sites she discussed are ones that not only can I use for myself, but also show to my library users, as well as incorporate into my class. I just know my students are going to love it!***
Mary Ellen Bates, Owner, Bates Information Services, Inc.
BatesInfo.com
Slide Deck found at BatesInfo.com/extras
Newsy.com - The Week meets YouTube
-Human editors summarize the news
-One-sentence summary
-Walter Cronkite of the 21st century
-Links to original sources
Google Buzz - Competition for Twitter
-Access via Gmail; comments to a post go to email
-Nice browse features
-Includes Google Stars; you can star a link on a search, will automatically be saved to your goole bookmarks; you can star a google buzz
-Rudimentary search; no date sort of results; includes other social media sources
-Offers recommendations
BuZZZy.com
-Searches Google Buzz plus Twitter, Friendfeed, etc.
-Results are chronological (unlike Buzz)
-Can limit by language
***Side note: Google Language Search, need to search other languages***
Factery.net
-Searches Yahoo BOSS and Twitter
-Ranks by FactRank
-FactRank secret sauce includes
--Tweeted URLs
--Frequency of factual sentences (One Riot indexes URLs that have been mentioned in Twitter)
-Looks for more fact based sites
-SERP (Search Engine Result Page) has facts, not extracts
-Great for mobile devices
-Tools to extract data from a web page
See latest web "facts"
Technorati - technorati.com
-Authority is working!
-Cuts out spam
-Search by blog title or blog post
-sort by date or relevance
-shows hottest posts in various channels (topics)
SlideFinder.net
-great search tool for slide decks
-they crawl individual PPT pages; emphasis on university sites
-SERP includes thumbnails of indiviual pages; one click to full slide deck, one click to download
-Search by: presentation name, slide and note text!, language
-Try
-Add in lets you know you can search within PowerPoint
World Govt Data
-Compiled by The Guardian
-Metasearch of govt data from US, UK, Australia, New Zealand
-Standardized format; can compare data from multiple sources
-User ratings
Factual.com
-Search data sets
-Like Wolfram/Alpha, but as a wiki
-Now, primarily wikipedia content
Twitter Lists
-Create and publish an RSS of your faves
-Can see who is listed on other lists
-Can see what lists a user follows; who does the guru monitor?
-Can't search the lists
Listorious.com
-Spiders (public) Twitter LIsts
--Find lists on a topic
--ID experts
What you're worth per hour
-Your salary x 1.3
--$74,000 is SLA median salary (=$96,200)
-Divide by BILLABLE weeks
--47 weeks ($2050/week)
-Divide that by 40 hours/week
--$50/hour
***This has been a great session. Instead of presenting a session such as 45 sites in 45 minutes or Top 20, Mary Ellen really discussed some great websites that are USABLE. While I love to hear about those fun cute sites, these sites she discussed are ones that not only can I use for myself, but also show to my library users, as well as incorporate into my class. I just know my students are going to love it!***
CIL 2010 Keynote Address
Information Fluency
Lee Rainie - Director - Pew Internet Project
The internet is the change agent
2000
46% of adults use internet
5% with broadband at home
50% own a cell phone
0% connect to internet wirelessly
<10% use "cloud"
2010
75% of adults use intent
62% with broadband at home
80% own a cell phone
53% connect to internet wirelessly
>two-thirds use "cloud"
= fast, mobile connections built around outside servers
Networked Creator Universe
57% are social networking site users
37% share photos
30% share personal creations
30% contribute rankings and ratings
28% create content tags
26% post comments on sites and blogs
19% use Twiter/other status update features
15% have personal website
15% are content remixers
14% are bloggers
The Internet Galaxy, by Manuel Castells
-Four cultures shaped the internet
1. Techno-elites
-Scientific method enshrined, openness, peer review, meritocracy
2. Hackers
-Stallman: Free speech in the computer age; freedom to create, to appropriate, to redistribute
3. Virtual Communitarians
-Early usenet groups, horizontal free communication, primacy of self-directing networks
4. Entrepreneurs
-Netscape IPO
5th culture of the internet: Networked creators
-democratized the voices in media
-challenged traditional media gatekeepers
-Inserted themselves in "expert" affairs
-Enhanced their civic and community roles
-37% of internet users contributed to news
-20% contributed to health content
-19% contributed to civic and political activities
4 ways content creater build communities
1. Produce content that helps them expand their social netowrk and increase their social standing.
Advantages to creators
-Negotiating friendship, status, identity
-Creating spaces for building social netowrks among friends AND those who share their interests
-Creating learning opportunities
-Gaining reputational capital
2. Produce content to create social posses to solve problems
Advantages to creators in posse situations
-Fact checking and transparency
-Crowdsourcing wisdom, especially among "strangers" who share a common purpose
-Production and accumulation of evidence that is easily search-able
3. Produce content to contruct "just-in-time-just-like-me" support groups
Just-in-time-just-like-me communities
-Communities of just-in-time information and support - ad hoc and "on the fly"
-Communities of "rare species" - homophily par excellence (birds of a feather)
-Communities of practice that are "space-less"
4. Produce content unlike traditional news organizations
Social media-sphere is the "5th estate"
70% of the time the top stories in social media are different from those in traditional media
Week of March 30-April 5, 2009
While the traditional press focus on Obama and the Economy, Blogosphere is filled with an eclectic mix of stories including the Guardian Prank, enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA, Angie Harmon's comments, online security, etc.
5th estate publishing tates
-Technology developments, especially activities in the social media environment
-Bloggers as "rocket boosters"
-Links as social currency
-Off-beat stories, especially those with quirky humor
-American exceptionalism stoires
-Cultural cleavages and social issues more than economic issues
Implications for libraries
1. You can be a node in people's social networks as they seek information to help them solve problems and meet their needs.
2. You can teach new literacies
-screen literacy-graphics and symbols
-navigation literacy
-conections and context literacy
-skepticism
-value of contemplative time
-how to create content
-ethical behavior in new world
3. Neet to re-vision your role in a world where much has changed
-Access to information
-Value of information
-Curating info means more than collections
-Creating media - networked creators should be your allies
***This was a good session - a lot to think about, which this early in the morning I will have to reread this post and process later. ***
Lee Rainie - Director - Pew Internet Project
The internet is the change agent
2000
46% of adults use internet
5% with broadband at home
50% own a cell phone
0% connect to internet wirelessly
<10% use "cloud"
2010
75% of adults use intent
62% with broadband at home
80% own a cell phone
53% connect to internet wirelessly
>two-thirds use "cloud"
= fast, mobile connections built around outside servers
Networked Creator Universe
57% are social networking site users
37% share photos
30% share personal creations
30% contribute rankings and ratings
28% create content tags
26% post comments on sites and blogs
19% use Twiter/other status update features
15% have personal website
15% are content remixers
14% are bloggers
The Internet Galaxy, by Manuel Castells
-Four cultures shaped the internet
1. Techno-elites
-Scientific method enshrined, openness, peer review, meritocracy
2. Hackers
-Stallman: Free speech in the computer age; freedom to create, to appropriate, to redistribute
3. Virtual Communitarians
-Early usenet groups, horizontal free communication, primacy of self-directing networks
4. Entrepreneurs
-Netscape IPO
5th culture of the internet: Networked creators
-democratized the voices in media
-challenged traditional media gatekeepers
-Inserted themselves in "expert" affairs
-Enhanced their civic and community roles
-37% of internet users contributed to news
-20% contributed to health content
-19% contributed to civic and political activities
4 ways content creater build communities
1. Produce content that helps them expand their social netowrk and increase their social standing.
Advantages to creators
-Negotiating friendship, status, identity
-Creating spaces for building social netowrks among friends AND those who share their interests
-Creating learning opportunities
-Gaining reputational capital
2. Produce content to create social posses to solve problems
Advantages to creators in posse situations
-Fact checking and transparency
-Crowdsourcing wisdom, especially among "strangers" who share a common purpose
-Production and accumulation of evidence that is easily search-able
3. Produce content to contruct "just-in-time-just-like-me" support groups
Just-in-time-just-like-me communities
-Communities of just-in-time information and support - ad hoc and "on the fly"
-Communities of "rare species" - homophily par excellence (birds of a feather)
-Communities of practice that are "space-less"
4. Produce content unlike traditional news organizations
Social media-sphere is the "5th estate"
70% of the time the top stories in social media are different from those in traditional media
Week of March 30-April 5, 2009
While the traditional press focus on Obama and the Economy, Blogosphere is filled with an eclectic mix of stories including the Guardian Prank, enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA, Angie Harmon's comments, online security, etc.
5th estate publishing tates
-Technology developments, especially activities in the social media environment
-Bloggers as "rocket boosters"
-Links as social currency
-Off-beat stories, especially those with quirky humor
-American exceptionalism stoires
-Cultural cleavages and social issues more than economic issues
Implications for libraries
1. You can be a node in people's social networks as they seek information to help them solve problems and meet their needs.
2. You can teach new literacies
-screen literacy-graphics and symbols
-navigation literacy
-conections and context literacy
-skepticism
-value of contemplative time
-how to create content
-ethical behavior in new world
3. Neet to re-vision your role in a world where much has changed
-Access to information
-Value of information
-Curating info means more than collections
-Creating media - networked creators should be your allies
***This was a good session - a lot to think about, which this early in the morning I will have to reread this post and process later. ***
Computers In Libraries Conference 2010
I am currently at the Computers in Libraries conference in Washington, D.C. I am very excited about this conference as it has been 3 years since I have been to it and the last one was awesome. I am expecting great things and I am sure that I will not be disappointed.
I will be blogging each of the sessions for everyone to read. I hope that you all enjoy!
Quote for the Day: "Technology is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other." C.P. Snow
I will be blogging each of the sessions for everyone to read. I hope that you all enjoy!
Quote for the Day: "Technology is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other." C.P. Snow
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