Steph

The Four Corners Branch of the Brampton Public Library is the branch that I have always used.  It is located in the downtown area of Brampton, just off of one of the major streets, and backs onto one of the oldest residential areas of Brampton.

In the neighbourhood there is an elementary and secondary school, a retirement home, the local theatre, and a park all within a five minute walk from the library. 

One of the first things I noticed was a single sign on a wooden fence that could easily missed.  The sign indicated that there was parking here for the Library.  As you can see in the image below the sign says, “Brampton Public Library” which is no longer the name of the library; the current library in Brampton is called the Brampton Library.  In addition, the logo in the bottom right of the image that is also outdated.

When you turn into the library parking lot, I notice the small amount of parking that is available.  There are only enough parking spaces available for less than 20 cars.  There are only two signs on this side of the building, one is a warning sign that is almost completely faded, but it does say “NUTECH Secutirty”.  On the other sign it says “Additional Library Parking off John St.” with an arrow.  The main parking lot I am in is supposed to be a one way parking lot.

The image below is my map of where this branch is located and where the library parking lot is in relation to the building and access to those lots.  If you go the proper way through the main parking lot, you will end on Queen Street, which does not directly go to John Street.  If you return to the one way street that I came off of, and continue to the stop sign and turn left, it will lead you to the extra parking lot which holds less than 30 additional vehicles.  I did not see any available bike or skateboard stations in either the main parking lot or the secondary parking lot which may be an indication that people using this library prefer to walk or drive.  Another possibility is that the bike and/or skateboard lock stations are covered in snow.

From the secondary parking lot, you can see the loading dock and the children’s area on the first floor, and desks facing the parking lot on the second floor.  From this parking lot, patrons must walk through the long outdoor corridor to the second entrance in the front.  In the image below you can see the long outdoor corridor from the secondary parking lot on the right of the image.

I was surprised to find that there was not a sign that had an arrow indicating how to get to the main entrance.  On this side of the building there was also not an indication that this building was indeed the Four Corners Branch.  The only indications that this building was the library (apart from the windows where you can clearly see the children’s department), was signage from John Street indicating that there was parking for the library, and in the parking lot which said the maximum amount of time that could be spent parking there.  The signage from the four way stop at John Street has the old logo and library name.

After walking through the outdoor corridor, you are brought to a small set of stairs which lead to a set of doors, with no signage. 

If a patron had a difficult time with stairs they would have to go down a small hill around the large Brampton Library Sign and then up to the doors.

The image below is of the large Brampton Library sign which can only been seen from Queen Street next to a road entrance.  This road entrance cannot be entered from Queen Street.  This sign is the only one outside the building which demonstrates the library’s name change.

When I park in the first parking lot, I walk towards the first set of doors (on the right side of the image below), past a garden with benches around it, and tried to open the locked doors.  These doors have windows on them and I can see a small area and another set of doors, which I know from experience is the entrance to the auditorium. 

The other set of doors (on the left side of the image above) from this parking lot are open and next to them is a book drop, which is only open after the library closes. 

When I walked through these doors directly across is the entrance on the Queen Street side of the branch.  On the wall to my left is a wall labelled “Info City” and it is covered in cork boards and clear shelves.  This holds general information about Brampton, park and recreation, local theatre booklets, and local business advertisements.

To the right of the entrance is the circulation desk and one book drop spot with books stacking higher than the desk.  To the right of the desk, next to the doors are three shelving carts full with videos that have been recently returned.  To the left of the circulation desk there are crate like boxes, which I can only guess were the inter-branch currier system boxes.  There were probably eight boxes and they were stacked.

I looked around the circulation desk and was surprised to see that there was no signage at all around the desk that indicated it was where you could sign books in and out.  There were a couple of people in line waiting to check their books out.

Past the circulation desk, looking at the length of the building, my immediate thought is that it is like a hallway without walls, it is the main aisle on the lower level.  I enter the library in the evening and there are approximately 20 people on the lower level.  The atmosphere is very quiet, despite that there are children in the children’s department at the back of the library on this lower level.

Past the circulation desk on the left side is the elevator, DVD, CD, and Audio Book area.  There was one cart of unshelved materials.  The DVD shelves were also messy with DVDs on their side when they are meant to stand upright.  This to me is an indication that the collection is well used and browsed. 

To the right side of the circulation desk is the auditorium, a staircase, and a photocopier.  Next to the staircase are express use computers.  These computers can be used to quick use for up to 15 minutes to search the catalogue or use the internet.  There was signage for this area, however, the computers were quite high and I am not sure if someone in a wheel chair would be able to access them.

Past the electronic collection (CD, DVD, and Audio Books) is a small shelf, one large shelf, and two shelving carts packed with holds.  This is another indication that this a well circulated library.  When I went to collect the books I had on hold, I noticed that there were a lot of holds for the same person.  I did not inspect further because I felt like that was a violation of privacy and unprofessional. 

Along the wall on the left side of the library are the Large Print books and perpendicular to the Large Print books are the Adult General Fiction books.  Both sections are organized alphabetically by author.  I was disappointed in the amount of room available in the aisle for the Large Print books.  I automatically thought about a senior with a walker and I don’t think there would be enough room for them to be comfortable between the aisles.  I also noticed that there was not clear indications of what alphabetical books each shelf had.

While I was thinking about aisle sizes, I conducted the “bum” test.  The “bum” test is something that I learned from working at Chapters.  In training the managers told us that during a study, which videotaped shoppers in retail stores revealed many things about shopping habits.  One of the study’s findings was that if a woman shopping bends down to get something from a lower shelf and their bottom touches the shelf behind her, she will immediately leave the aisle.  When I tested the aisles, I bent over to look at a book on the bottom shelf in the Adult General Fiction book section, and am proud to say the shelving past the “bum” test.

For the entire duration that I watched the Adult General Fiction book area there were only two people besides myself browsing the shelves.  I was surprised not see more people browsing because of the large amount of returns, unshelved returns, and holds.  I again looked for signage and there was only 8 1/2 x 11  laminated paper signs with small print on the end caps.  These signs indicated the alphabetical range of authors shelved there.  The laminated signs said, “Adult Fiction” and “Authors __  __ – __  __”.  On almost all the end caps that faced the main aisle were clear plastic shelves for book displays .  There were no easily identified display themes, if there were themes at all.  On the shelves that were shorter there were shelving carts of books waiting to be shelved; another indication that this library has a good circulation.

On the wall across the main aisle on the opposite wall is the Adult Mystery and Science Fiction books.  In front of those books are spinners for the paperback Mysteries, Science Fiction, Westerns, True Crime, and Non-Fiction.  In front of the spinners next to the main aisle is seating for nearly 40 people and 8 computers.  Most of the computers are being used while I am there and no one is waiting to use them.  The available seating is being used by a couple of students, 2 readers, and one family of three. 

Just past the Mystery and Science Fiction Section is the Young Adult area.  I was disappointed at the size of this section because I love reading Young Adult Fiction.  There was a whole shelving cart with Manga in the Teen area which seemed like it was their permanent home.  I was pleased that there were spinners that separated the Young Adult material from the large seating area available.  I was surprised to find a large Teen display in front of that area.  It was complete with a poster created by the library youth group and information pamphlets that could be taken.

In the middle of the main aisle next to the teen area is the Information Desk. This information desk is closer to a circle than any other shape (in other words, it’s a rounded-corner oval) and it is approximately a meter high. There was one person working at the desk at that time but there were two computers; for one person to face the front doors and circulation of the library and the other facing the back of the library towards the children’s department.  There are ottomans around the desk for people to sit on while they interact with the librarian on duty.  I think these chairs are fantastic because then there can be a relaxed reference interview.  The top of the desk is mostly clear there are a couple of binders.  On the back side of the information desk, there is a themed display for children.  In this display are varying levels of children’s books, relevant toys, posters and images.   Again, there is no signage which indicates what the desk is and what the people at the desk do.  However, just that there is a desk demonstrate that the people sitting there have a position of power and knowledge. 

Just behind the teen area is the Children’s Non-Fiction area and on the opposite side of the main aisle are chapter books on spinners, shelves with children’s audio books, junior chapter books, and computers for children. 

The children’s department is clearly indicated with a multi-coloured sign hanging from the ceiling.  The children’s reading and play area is sectioned off with shelving for picture books organized alphabetically.  The shelving in the children’s department is fantastic, there are two shelves which is about a meter high and then there is a small a frame on top of the shelving.  In the children’s area are small seating areas, small tables and chairs.  Along the left wall of the children’s area near the Junior Chapter Book shelf are a couple of shelves for materials in other languages, which indicates that there is a very small population of people that speak another language in community this library serves.  This is consistent with the information provided by StatsCan.

I then went upstairs to the second floor and immediately noticed the difference between the two floors in terms of atmosphere.  The lower level was quiet but it was a more relaxed environment with comfortable seating.  The upper level was also very quiet however, the atmosphere was very work oriented.  There were approximately 20 tables to the left of the staircase and one third of them were being used mostly for work.  On a surrounding wall were magazines and there were a couple of people browsing them which surprised me because the atmosphere was tense and I often associate magazines with a more leisurely ambiance. 

Directly across where I emerged from the staircase were these beautiful wooden shelves with glass doors.  I had never seen these shelves before and I wasn’t sure what they were for.  When I looked around there was signage that indicated that this area was the Local History and Genealogy collection.  Although the shelving was beautiful, they had doors on them which immediately made me think that they were closed stacks.  These stacks are indexed in a special catalogue accessible only in the library.  My overall impression of this collection is that the library is trying to control access to it.  I cannot imagine trying to use that collection on my own without a staff member helping me, not because I think I am incapable, but because they have taken measures to control its use.  The local history collection should be well used and cherished which cannot be achieved when the space itself suggests that it is an out of bounds collection.

Next to the Local History and Genealogy collection are 20 computers, most of which are being used.  I observed patrons using them for games, email, using word processing applications, and searching the internet.  Most of the computers were being used by individuals; I only saw one group working around a single computer.  There were no line ups and it was very quiet.

To the right of the staircase is the main aisle with the information desk in the middle in front of the collection.  This information desk, similar to the lower level of the library is a rounded corner oval with no signage, and ottoman seating around the desk.  The placement of this desk is more of a sign of power than the lower level desk because it is in the centre of the main aisle, situated before the stacks began.  I think the placement of this desk enforces the librarian stereotype of being “gatekeepers” because you must past the information desk to get to the stacks.   The desk is positioned near the reference collection and I think that is both wise and controlling.  I think it is wise because some of the books are difficult to use if a patron has never used one before, and librarians will be able to quickly re-shelve materials.  On the other hand placing the information desk next to the reference collection is controlling it because it demonstrates that these items need to be returned and cannot be taken out.  However, I have seen libraries where the reference collection is directly behind the information desk and can only be accessed with a librarian’s help; at least this is open for people to access the information in their own way. 

On the right side of the information desk is a study room and a meeting room.  There are also four quick access computers, a display wall, and seating along the right wall of the library. 

The stacks behind the librarians on the left wall are for the non-fiction collection organized by the Dewey Decimal System.  At the very back of the library is a seating area that faces out to the secondary parking lot.  When I entered this area, there were two people working and they both looked up and gave me the “this is a serious workspace”.  When I sat down and reflected, I realized that there were no study carrels there was only a study room.  After reflecting on the furniture used on this level, I think that the library is trying to make the library a more comfortable and inviting work area.  Whereas, the furniture on the lower level invites a more social atmosphere.

Overall, I was really disappointed with the lack of reader’s advisory services.  There were several a frames throughout the library though the display themes were unknown, there were no pathfinders available, and no shelf talkers. 

I was also disappointed with the lack of signage.  I think that anyone that did not understand libraries would be intimidated because they would not understand where to go for what they are looking for. 

I was surprised with how quiet the library was; the libraries I worked in had very social atmospheres.  The quiet atmosphere may be due to my visit during exam week, though only half of the patrons in the library were students.

I also had expected to see more people browsing the stacks because of the amount of holds, returns, and materials that still needed to be shelved.  During my observation, I also did not see any roving reference to my surprise and disappointment.  I think roving reference is just as important as is having someone at the circulation and information desk.  I also did not see any signs of a community outside the Teen Display, which was again disappointing.  There was very little advertising of the services they provide and the only advertisement was their calendar on display on the lower level.  This calendar’s placement, I think is placed too closely to the children’s area and is too colourful.  The calendar could easily be passed over by someone that does not have children or is uninterested in the children’s services because of it is very colourful and its proximity to the children’s department.

When I identified myself to the librarians, they were all very friendly and interested in what I was doing.  I asked to take pictures in the library and the librarians informed me that they had a policy against it.  I am looking forward to proposing new ideas to improve the library service at the Four Corners Branch in Brampton.

Thank you to everyone that posted comments! I really appreciated what everyone said. 

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

Check out this Thank You ecard:
http://www.egreetings.com/display?bfrom=2&prodnum=3023413&path=2454873

Remembering question-answer homework from high school…

1. I don’t think my view of social software has changed since the beginning of this course.  I think it validated my feelings towards them because I have always thought many of these tools could be implemented into a library. 

2. Favourite Tools:

Wikis: I had used wikis before and I loved the ability to collaborate with this tool.  I think it is easy and I have seen it be used effectively, it’s free, and the training is quick & painless.

Tagging: I think this is one of my favourite tools in the perfect world.  I think it is especially useful for patrons and it adds an easy-to-use/understand layer to catalogues…Are my preferences showing?!?! I think the way that it is used in Bibliocommons is the way to go for catalogues because we all have experienced poorly developed online catalogues.

Facebook: I don’t particularly love Facebook personally, but it is way easier to reach your audience through that medium because updates come through on your home page.  It is quick and easy to update, and there are so many tabs with special interests that can be added to it.

RSS & Mashups:  These are my personal favourites because mashups were new to me and I already had a lot of RSS feeds.  After learning Yahoo pipes, this organized by feeds and that was thrilling!  Once you learn Yahoo pipes or other mash ups they are incredibly useful!    As I am looking for a job I wish that more sites had an RSS feed so that I didn’t have to look every day! They would be neatly organized.

3. The tools I think have the least potential for library service is all of them!  Wait did I just say that?! Just Kidding!  — the END IS NEAR (can you tell?)

I think they all can be useful but it truly depends on what service the library is trying to provide.  I commented on this last week on how libraries need to chose the right tool for the right job.  If the library is choosing the wrong tool for a service then it won’t work as well as it could.  Each tool has a limitation for its use and I think that there is not one specific tool that is not useful because it depends on what is trying to be accomplished.

4.  My Love-Hate Personal Relationship with Social Media:

LOVE: Twitter was new for me this term; I had always heard of it and didn’t really understand it.  Then there was the ALMOST-STRIKE and it was FANTASTIC.  I absolutely fell in love with it.

HATE: Social Book Marking:  Truly I see the use in it, but I hate it!  I have seen libraries use it and I completely understand why they do, but it drives me nuts!  On my little net book the last thing I want is another toolbar added to my web browser and I don’t want to visit the website and then sign in every time I want to add something.  I think that it saves organizational time and because it’s in the cloud that is valuable-but I hate it and will probably succumb to it when I have to work at multiple places/computers.

5. I LOVE DISTANCE~ but I knew that already.  This was a different kind of distance course than I experienced in my undergraduate degree.  I didn’t particularly like not going over the syllabus as a group.  Even though going through the syllabus seems irrelevant because its there for our reference—I think in my case it is a security thing and I enjoy hearing other people’s questions about the syllabus.

6. I like the idea of having weekly activities.  Maybe not every week but from weeks 1-3 try one of these tools and blog about it.  Weeks 4-6 try one of these tools and post it.

7. I think blogging was an interesting and valuable experience.  I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had made a routine.  At first I was incredibly nervous because I wasn’t sure how to balance the academic parts of blogging and be honest with what I wanted to say.  I’m not sure if I preferred it to in-class discussions.  I certainly appreciated the ability to step back when I felt strongly about a particular topic because in class I don’t think before I speak in a heated discussion (verbal diarrhea).  Now I can go into a meeting about my proposal to incorporate a library blog and state that I have experience blogging (and received comments too).

Social Software in a Library Service Position:
                I am going to assume that everyone in class agrees that there is a place for social software in the library.  I think they are especially useful for “creating transparency”.  On the first day of several different courses throughout my time at FIMS, classes have been coming up with different stereotypes for libraries and librarians.  Several of the stereotypes classes came up with included the “mysterious library”, “gatekeeper librarian”, and the “unapproachable” librarian.  Social software can help break down those barriers by creating transparency and makes the library/librarians more accessible, whether it is through IM, FB, etc.

 Web 2.0:
     I think web 2.0 services are expected for every service & company.  It would be interesting to see a study that compares companies and services that use web 2.0 and those that do not. Were their businesses and services affected?  Did the services and companies benefit from using web 2.0 technologies? Does the cost of maintenance equal or outweigh the benefits?

Best Practices:

• Don’t over extend yourselves.
  • If you are going to create a blog, FB page, delicious account, etc.: ensure that there is the man power to maintain it, otherwise it will be a flop
• Quality is just as important as quantity! Just as important is not to go overboard with quantity especially in regards to Twitter.  Don’t turn your social software into SPAM.
• Training
  • These tools can only be used if they are first accepted and everyone is well trained on how to use them and understand their purpose.
  • In addition to staff that is responsible for the service other staff members need to be informed to promote the service
• Marketing
  • Essential! There is no point in having social software if no one knows about it.
• • Staff can promote the service
  • Cross-advertise on other social media services.
  • Problems:  There are always problems with reaching groups that do not use the library.  To solve this problem marketing to the target audience that the service is intended for.
• KISS (Keep It Simple Silly)
  • Don’t try to complicate the service.  A ridiculous example:  library card number and pin to view a blog.
• Clear objectives, achievable outcomes, and a link to mission statement.
  • Specific things to think about:
    • Update frequency?
    • Responsibility: which staff members are responsible?
    • Content: who writes it? who posts it? what are the main communication goals?
    • Contact: Who is the main contact?
    • Commenting: is it going to be moderated?
    • Evaluation: How often is this service going to be evaluated? What are measurable outcomes?
• Don’t have to use all of these tools, pick the best ones for your purposes.

Check out this email forward if you haven’t already If Facebook Existed Years Ago.

Steph

Don’t know if you guys saw this and I had to share it!

Blog Break 2.

During this weeks readings I found that I had very strong feelings towards the article by David Stewart.  Here they are:

I don’t want to qualify why he wrote this article, but it seems as though he is writing from the perspective that librarians need to be familiar with tools that will connect them with users because the librarians he interacts with currently don’t.  I also think my perspective is skewed:  I am in a program with budding librarians, many of which have the basic programming skills, understand web 2.0 and use it daily.  My impression from working at a library for two summers is that they are using the tools that make the most sense for their organization.  If they don’t have a fb page its probably because they don’t have enough staff to support it and make it worth while (not that there are many without a fb page). 

The other point I want to make about this article is that librarians are already swamped with other responsibilities.  My impression of the library world is that they separately hire web masters.  Librarians would provide the content and the webmaster makes it happen and working collaboratively they create something useful, easy, understandable, and manageable.  Having said that, it is not the responsibility of the librarian to learn all the ‘webmasters’ lingo, nor is it the webmaster’s job to learn ‘librarian’ lingo. Both sides will learn from each other.  The point I’m trying to make is that I think it shouldn’t be a requirement to know exactly how to use Visual Basic, but understand what programs like these can offer.  If librarians understand what programs/web 2.0/ websites/etc., then they can become more creative with the services they offer.  To me adding google maps to your website is an obvious service necessity and that is probably because I expect it, but like I said I have a skewed view.  Though before today, I didn’t know it was called an API, why would I learn that terminology when I am asking the webmaster if she/he could put it up, when the exact same thing is being said by simply asking.  KISS (Keep It Simple Silly)!

Jeffrey Toste (a colleague) in LIS 9363 ask the question something along the lines of ‘are libraries getting too far from what they’re good at?’.  I think this is a case where the expectations are too far from the librarian’s responsibilities/professional requirements. My opinion is that it is a segment of the librarian’s job to create interesting and creative ways to communicate the message to their audience in an interesting way regardless if they know exactly what technological codes/buttons to put in to get it that way. 

I have gotten the impression from being at library school that there are very distinct departments in libraries and for whatever reasons some departments seem to think they are superior to others.  I am including the “librarian” group in that too.  That’s not a profession I want to get into.  I want to get into a profession that works collaboratively with the other departments.  I think that part of this article was to encourage easier collaboration between webmasters and librarians, though learning Python isn’t going to solve the problem. What I believe is the solution to what he is referring to is that librarians need to be aware of the new technology and what can be done with it.  I think that it is also a part of the webmaster to advocate for software that may work better for what the librarian wants to get across.

 RSS Feeds:

Adding RSS feeds to any website means that you must keep adding content, or else I don’t see the purpose of it.  If people are going to check your website once a month and you only update it once a month then they may forget it, though if you are constantly updating it with content you are more likely to have people visit.  Another important thing is to ensure that the content is interesting and relevant to your audience.   If your library is posting things about Boolean searching in a boring way, no one is going to look at it!  If your library is posting something Boolean in a play on words that entices the audience to read further one day and a couple of days later is posting a book trailer they created then it works. 
        I think that when we can specify what information we ‘think’ we want to know about we are missing out on information that we may have learned about serendipitously and still found interesting.   

Case Studies

                Book Carousel:  I think this is incredibly cool, sleek, clean-lined, and trendy.  I think that it needs to be taken one step further by having a readers’ advisory aspect added because most of those titles had were taken out or had a lot of holds.  The readers’ advisory aspect could be in the form of a pathfinder option in case the title was taken out.  Though it served its purpose, it demonstrated that the library did collect new titles and some are available (come and get them), and hopefully in the future when patrons are looking forward to a new title, they will a) put in a request and b) place a hold on it earlier.  I am wondering how this service is promoted because it appears to be on a separate page that would be located either if you already knew about it or if it was a link from the newly acquired items.  I think it could probably be embedded in their website (similarly to Bibliocommons). 

                Hennepin County Library: this library seems to be the leading library in many aspects, because it has been popping up in many of my classes.  They have a ton of RSS feeds available!  At first I was overwhelmed but then I really saw what they are trying to do!  What I have learned this week is that RSS feeds are especially useful for a niche audience, and Hennepin has captured that in this listing.  They are providing feeds for specific libraries in their 41-library system which is awesome!  This is incredibly useful for the patrons that are not interested in what the other systems are doing because it doesn’t apply to them and this way they are only receiving the information they need.  They provided the same service for points of interest, again a special audience which can follow only the information they want to know about (instead of regularly shifting through buckets of information).

                The Dublin City Council:  I also really enjoyed this one but I thought it was really slow and I thought there may be some accessibility issues.  Also at first it is quite overwhelming when I first got into it. I liked that everything was laid out for you there.  If you looked closely you would find what I would think most people would want without trying to figure out some brutal municipal government’s website (London, Ontario and overnight parking!).

That’s it for me this week.
Steph

I had a really difficult time wrapping my head around this weeks topic. I think it is probably because I have never turly experienced problems discussed the the readings. So the example I have been trying to remember in order to understand this topic is bookmarking. Without cloud computing you only have the bookmarks on a single computer…but now you can place your bookmarks online and access them from anywhere.

The problem with cloud computing is when the internet connection is lost. I have mentioned in a couple of classes that the internet was down at the library I worked at one summer. Heavens! There were so many angry people. So at this point I think that cloud computer is excellent for backing up your data, just to ensure that when you slip and fall on stairs and the laptop in your backpack smashed into pieces that you can still access your data.

The other thing is that whenever you want to work on something, you have to first download it and then make changes and re-upload it. This is quite tedious. I’m not sure it is quite the norm but I imagine it will be the norm very soon. I think another associated problem that will not exist for much longer is that many professionals are probably not trained on google docs etc. I think I am beginning to get nervous about how trained other professionals are because I need to start applying for jobs! Perhaps I am just re-enforcing the stereotype of the unchanging librarian.

Who is the iphone audience? I imagine teens are probably a part of this audience judging from other courses where we learned that they have a large disposable income (parents and part-time jobs). I think we are also talking about people who can afford the iphones (at this point not too many people I know). Though it seems as though this is the way technology is going, so this is an opportunity for libraries not to play catch up but to grow with society.

In the Winter term in our 9003 class, there was a presentation about library catalogues for mobile phones. The presenters discussed how they didn’t realize that the catalogue and library websites didn’t translate well onto mobile devices. I think the first order of business is to make the library websites mobile device-friendly.

The second order of business is for a library is to create alerting services or create some other way to get call numbers to the users. I find that writing those call numbers, author and title information down is quite irritating. This is especially important because it is a) easy to do (I imagine), and b) can be done with any mobile device. The alternative to this would be similar to what Chapters does, create a print out system. However, that is expensive to install, maintain, and it is horrible for the environment.

With RFID and mobile devices I think it would be cool for libraries if the mobile device worked like a metal detector. You book (or material) alerts could be sent or saved to your phone and then when you are ready to go looking for your items, you could pull up a map and it would tell you what floor you need to go to. It could map out your route like a pirate map (and there would be different themes you could download… like a mermaid tracker if you were looking up mermaid books). This service would be especially useful for when items are shelved incorrectly or someone has it on their desk. This service would be especially useful in a large public or academic library. I think this service could completely change how libraries work. It would change how libraries work because we wouldn’t necessarily need the dewey or LCC classification systems, books could be displayed for browseability.

Just on a final note, I thought the QR codes on library displays was REALLY COOL! They would be especially useful for smaller branches without space for large displays.

My attempt at quoting a movie I have only seen once: (Easy A 2010)

Teacher: “I don’t know why you kids feel the need to publish every thought that comes into your heads.  Not all of your thoughts are gems.”

I will admit that this quote has stuck with me and shaped my feelings towards lifestreaming, especially during those Telus commercials before a movie in the theatres. 

On Tuesday evening in my web design course, Mark Rayner (the professor) was discussing website promotion.  During this discussion we covered Twitter, Facebook, and blogging.  Prof. Rayner’s advice was to choose which mediums suit your website best, and participate or else they will not be effective.   

Tuesday evening (uwo vs. uwofa) at midnight, I signed on to MSN to talk with other uwo students.  I was looking for information on what was happening with the strike (praying that it would happen actually).  One student (who may identify themselves if they chose to do so), sent me a link to some guy’s Twitter accounts, who I think works for the Western Newspaper.  Anyways, he was providing the most current news regarding the strike.  Through his Twitter account, he linked to the Western Twitter account.  Western did have some postings and the most current (which was still the most current until this morning  [Friday]) said that the discussion was still continuing at 12:05.   This guy was providing the most current news and I gotta admit, IT WAS EXCITING.

So now that I am onboard with Twitter (have already decided to get a new phone in December), I think that it could absolutely be used for libraries without it being ridiculous or becoming junk.

The most popular twitter account from the case studies this week was from the Yale Science Library.  I think that this particular example was so successful is because it had a very specific audience, science students at Yale.  I imagine part of the appeal for that audience is that all the tweets would be useful and relevant to their science Yale bubble (similarly to the LIS bubble I often find myself in).  We all check our uwo emails and all of us get the TA emails regardless of if we are or are not TAs, which is super irritating.

The other example I thought was successful is from the West Palm Beach Library.  When you watch their feed, I noticed that they are replying to other’s feeds and joining the conversation (that phrase urks me, but it works).  I think this example demonstrated how important it was not just to have followers but also to follow other’s streams. 

For Twitter and Libraries to be successful, I think the information that is being put out there isn’t overloading your follower’s.  Libraries could create different accounts for specific audiences.  Libraries would need to participate and create/follow conversations.

Let me apologize, I had no interesting title ideas for this week.

Libraries and Facebook (FB):
                I was a part of the group project this week.  Check it out when it’s posted on Katie’s blog.  It is an example of what we think libraries can do with FB and I stand behind everything we did.  Everything we added to the Peak’s library we thought was something our target group would want.  There are things I would change with FB because at times we felt restricted by the parameters set by FB.  I think the most innovative idea the group came up with was to add catalogue and database tutorials. 
         I think FB can almost compensate for not having a ‘teen’-friendly website.  My understanding of web design and the way library websites work, is that they try to keep it consistent, while the needs of the teen user group are different in many ways.  Rather than redesigning an entirely new interface for teen user’s, FB can provide that ‘middle-man’.  It can be a way to direct the teens to what they want in the library’s website in a method that they have already taken the time to understand.

 IM on FB:
         Libraries can certainly implement IM on FB because I think that it is a way to get reach an audience.  As Daniel Mack, Anne Behler, Beth Roberts, and Emily Rimland point out their reference stats in a single term demonstrated that FB was the most used method for students to ask reference questions.  They also identified the population that was using each method for reference questions.  I think part of the reason electronic methods were so popular is because it is difficult to find the right person to ask when you are in the library, and it is intimidating. 
         At Carleton, what I think was the reference desk (I never used it) was one long fancy table along a wall on the first floor.  There was no way I was approaching that thing and then I had to teach myself how to use the electronic resources.  I think the electronic methods are also popular because when students are working on something FB and MSN Messenger are usually already open and thus, it is much more convenient than packing everything up and heading to the library to ask a question (to get the answer and return home to work..bleh). 
         There is also a certain amount of anonymity attached to electronic methods of communication which helps decrease, I believe, the intimidation of asking a reference question.   I’m not sure IM on FB (or MSN Messenger) appropriate for all reference questions because some will be more complex than others and providing a variety of methods to ask questions is ideal! 

Live Journal for Western:
                I definitely see the value in this site but it is completely clunky and ugly.  It also hasn’t been used in a very long time and I think it would be much more effective if all the faculties on campus used it to post events and respond to some of the questions (if not completely answer them at least refer them to who could).  Another possibility to make this site more effective is to have messages from the university and another ‘tab’ or page that is for student communication.  I believe the site was meant for communication but only a select few people were using it and there didn’t seem to be responses to the questions being asked.  Many of things on this live journal seem to either advertise an event or questions that they could not find answers for on the poorly designed website (opps..did I say that?) or they want advice on a course.  These conversations could easily take place on FB because it is used more widely and there would be responses.  On FB the conversations are easier to follow and respond to than on the Western Live Journal.

 Authenticity on FB

***WARNING*** RANT ON THE WAY

                This is probably the only problem I have with FB is that it is NOT always authentic.  Think of when it is your birthday.  How many people that you have not spoken to in a year or longer is saying Happy Birthday to you.  This drives me insane!  How many of those people actually remembered your birthday?  Sure, it is a nice gesture, whatever, but it doesn’t actually mean anything from most of those people.  Granted, I am a little funny about birthdays, I think they are private and if you disagree with me that is fine.  However, what about those people that you haven’t spoken to since high school (and you didn’t really talk to them then)?  They are adding you to get their #’s up (the number of FB friends they have).  How do I know this?  Well have they sent you a message asking how’s it going, no they are Face-creeping you and that’s it! It just annoys me that’s all…I think its useful for many other things (ie. When people change their email and you want to contact them).