Dorothea Salo [spelling corrected...thanks, Eric] regularly writes about institutional data repositories. The ALA Washington Office reports on a meeting where libraries were viewed as having a key role in data curation.
Eric Hellman asks if public libraries are in a death spiral. He reflects on his experience in industry when a major contraction took place. He suggests that cutting hours is counter-productive, and advocates more fund raising like NPR. I respect Eric and his writing, but it is clear to me that he has not had to manage in the public sector. Much of the public does not believe the bad news of budgets until it hits them. Been there, done that. He includes a list of links to articles about public libraries being in trouble. I have talked about some of my experiences in July 2008, (twice), August 2008, and even earlier embedded in a post on customer service.
I am no longer sure where I picked up this citation, but it has good advice for bloggers, Bloggers: 7 questions to ask before hitting "Publish".
There was also a thoughtful post about copyright by Laura Crossett with both some good information, and interesting insights and reflections.
One of my electronic friends posted a link to this article which simply demonstrates the wrongness of the Arizona bill and other efforts to target immigrants legal (like this kid) and others. After all, there is only a very, very small number of my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances whose ancestors (or they) are not immigrants. Certainly somewhere back there (in the 1800s) all my ancestors came from another country! This attitude scares the crap out of me!
Facebook privacy settings take another beating in this blog post from John Henry Clippinger. (Is that a pseudonym?) David Lee King also posted about the settings, with a screen shot and some cogent observations.
There is a great post for anyone thinking about freelancing. (It is a thought I entertain from time to time...) It is a good mix of philosophical and practical. [Note to self: see if there is a part two and/or three!]
And finally, I noted the issue with the California Digital Library and Nature Publishing Group. Steve Lawson was first on my radar with "UC to Nature Publishing Group: DROP DEAD." I then picked up on the story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. There are three which summarized the issue well for me, starting with Dorothea Salvo, and including both Eric Hellman and Steve Lawson. Eric's post includes links to actual documents. And here is the Library Journal summary of the dust-up.
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Links
Here is a set of random links...first in a while, but lets me clear a bunch of tabs...
- Knowing how to find out, Rory Litwin of Library Juice press has a great post about librarians and finding out.
- Facebook and privacy settings.
- Here is an interesting take from a school librarian for a Jewish school on various social media sites. (Oh, and it is a wiki rather than a blog...)
- Why Banning Social Media Often Backfires [need I say more?]
- Nice article from Boston.com about the new library director at Boston Public Library. Having grown up in Massachusetts, and spent time in Wisconsin (not far from Minneapolis/St. Paul), I can really identify with a lot of the comments on culture in this piece.
- Stephen Abram has a great chart on the role of libraries in life-long learning. He got it from Minitex, and was done by my friend Jennifer Hootman! Way to go, Hoot!
- Finally, an interesting take on teens and Twitter from mk Eagle [spelling from the blog] on the YALSA blog. Interesting perspective presented here.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tweet, Tag, Connect: Using Social Networking in Your Public Library
Staff from the Terrebonne Parish Library did the presentation. Lauren Ledet and Tracy Guyan.
Much of the discussion is on the Facebook "Fan Page" and differences between the two.
As a library they have a profile page, and do not see much use. See a lot of spam, marketing from authors on the profile page. For the general public, most use the fan page. For events, you cannot "invite" people who are fans, even though you can invite those who are "friends" on the profile page.
The fan page is linked to their Twitter account. One disadvantages is that Twitter is limited to 140 characters. They use tinyurl.com for shortened links.
They have a MySpace account, but are finding that the volume of use is very much lower. Also feel like Facebook is "more professional."
As the administrator of their Facebook page, they can see demographics of users. In Terrebonne, Lauren is the only one who posts. Some libraries have multiple posters. In Terrebonne, Lauren does post at the request of other staff (like her director!).
Use Facebook for marketing of events, and Lauren showed several examples. She has "friended" all of the local reporters so that they get all the updates and tweets. Tries to post every day, takes about 30 - 60 minutes distributed over the day. Because it is for the whole parish system, she tries to be sure to post for each of the locations.
They do not promote at library card sign ups, but do promote it in newsletters and signature files for email. An excellent question about choosing between Twitter and Facebook. Lauren noted that she deals with more people on Facebook, and with more organizations on Twitter.
Ouachita Parish Library is using links to promote summer reading and expects that the use of the Facebook page will skyrocket.
Tracy mentioned that they do not have a policy on social networking. They monitor what is said, however.
Tracy talked about "Text a Librarian" service which costs them about $1600 per year [originally incorrectly posted as $16,000 per year -- Lauren corrected me]. Cost is based on how many people are available to answer a question. She demonstrated the service. For them, they use Meebo to integrate all of the chat and message services. There are set hours, and there is an auto-response for when they are closed. It does have templates to answer common questions (like hours). For the people answering there is also a toolbox of commonly used URLs. Not a high volume serve.
Some of the libraries represented in the audience have much higher use (1,800/month in one). Those libraries market directly to teens, and encourage them to save the number when they make the presentation.
Terrebonne has a Meebo widget on the web site. Meebo is answers questions only at the Reference Desk at the main library (the branches are small, and have very limited staff). They have a poll on their web site.
They have also posted some things to YouTube including how to use databases, Interlibrary Loan, how to use "Text-a-Librarian," and other events. They had a former staff member who had also been a film maker so the quality is good. They have a total of 19 videos posted.
The Reference Department also has a blog. They monitor what is posted. It reflects the color scheme of the library web site. Staff will post items relevant to the date, and they repeat some of the items from Facebook/Twitter.
They had a spike in users when the offered workshops on how to use social networking sites.
The Library Director noted that when they added Facebook, etc. on the Library's site, the schools were required to block the site.
Discussion continued, but I want to add this before the session ends.
Much of the discussion is on the Facebook "Fan Page" and differences between the two.
As a library they have a profile page, and do not see much use. See a lot of spam, marketing from authors on the profile page. For the general public, most use the fan page. For events, you cannot "invite" people who are fans, even though you can invite those who are "friends" on the profile page.
The fan page is linked to their Twitter account. One disadvantages is that Twitter is limited to 140 characters. They use tinyurl.com for shortened links.
They have a MySpace account, but are finding that the volume of use is very much lower. Also feel like Facebook is "more professional."
As the administrator of their Facebook page, they can see demographics of users. In Terrebonne, Lauren is the only one who posts. Some libraries have multiple posters. In Terrebonne, Lauren does post at the request of other staff (like her director!).
Use Facebook for marketing of events, and Lauren showed several examples. She has "friended" all of the local reporters so that they get all the updates and tweets. Tries to post every day, takes about 30 - 60 minutes distributed over the day. Because it is for the whole parish system, she tries to be sure to post for each of the locations.
They do not promote at library card sign ups, but do promote it in newsletters and signature files for email. An excellent question about choosing between Twitter and Facebook. Lauren noted that she deals with more people on Facebook, and with more organizations on Twitter.
Ouachita Parish Library is using links to promote summer reading and expects that the use of the Facebook page will skyrocket.
Tracy mentioned that they do not have a policy on social networking. They monitor what is said, however.
Tracy talked about "Text a Librarian" service which costs them about $1600 per year [originally incorrectly posted as $16,000 per year -- Lauren corrected me]. Cost is based on how many people are available to answer a question. She demonstrated the service. For them, they use Meebo to integrate all of the chat and message services. There are set hours, and there is an auto-response for when they are closed. It does have templates to answer common questions (like hours). For the people answering there is also a toolbox of commonly used URLs. Not a high volume serve.
Some of the libraries represented in the audience have much higher use (1,800/month in one). Those libraries market directly to teens, and encourage them to save the number when they make the presentation.
Terrebonne has a Meebo widget on the web site. Meebo is answers questions only at the Reference Desk at the main library (the branches are small, and have very limited staff). They have a poll on their web site.
They have also posted some things to YouTube including how to use databases, Interlibrary Loan, how to use "Text-a-Librarian," and other events. They had a former staff member who had also been a film maker so the quality is good. They have a total of 19 videos posted.
The Reference Department also has a blog. They monitor what is posted. It reflects the color scheme of the library web site. Staff will post items relevant to the date, and they repeat some of the items from Facebook/Twitter.
They had a spike in users when the offered workshops on how to use social networking sites.
The Library Director noted that when they added Facebook, etc. on the Library's site, the schools were required to block the site.
Discussion continued, but I want to add this before the session ends.
Friday, January 29, 2010
January links - part 2
LibLime purchase what does it mean? Go to Hellman has an interesting take.
EBSCO exclusive contract comments the great Open Access advocate Dorothea Salvo has a great set of thoughts about the implications of the EBSCO contract
Getting older? An interesting post
A great post on Twitter and ALA is Everything I Needed to Know about Twitter I Learned at Midwinter on the YALSA blog
Heidi Blanton has an interesting post on managing conference information.
The Learning Commons is one of the hot topics in academia. I have a close personal friend who "coordinates" the Learning Commons for a Louisiana private university, so I hear a lot about it. Kim Leeder has an early January post on In the Library with the Lead Pipe (a great blog title, I think) with a very broad vision of what LC is all about. Read it here.
The New York Times is back-sliding! In the beginning of the web, their web site was free. Then they went to a pay site. Folks stopped reading it, and did not pay, so they went free. Now, they are going back to pay or at least "partial pay." Ars Technica has a good overview.
Facebook's privacy changes caught attention. Here is some of what I picked up:
Violating contract with users
Facebook developer says privacy is over
And then a comment about why the new policy is wrong
What the Internet and filters can do. A respected Canadian magazine has to change its name. Here is the story.
Will Manley is blogging at a new location. Here is his new blog. Even though we worked in Arizona at the same time, I never met him until he spoke at the Connecticut Library Association back in the late 80s or early 90s.
One of my nieces is working at the Olympics as part of an internship. She is blogging, and it should be interesting to read her experiences.
Agnostic, Maybe [Andy, in New Jersey]has a couple of interesting posts, the first is on the future of libraries, and the second is a reaction to another author's post called "Nothing is the future."
EBSCO exclusive contract comments the great Open Access advocate Dorothea Salvo has a great set of thoughts about the implications of the EBSCO contract
Getting older? An interesting post
A great post on Twitter and ALA is Everything I Needed to Know about Twitter I Learned at Midwinter on the YALSA blog
Heidi Blanton has an interesting post on managing conference information.
The Learning Commons is one of the hot topics in academia. I have a close personal friend who "coordinates" the Learning Commons for a Louisiana private university, so I hear a lot about it. Kim Leeder has an early January post on In the Library with the Lead Pipe (a great blog title, I think) with a very broad vision of what LC is all about. Read it here.
The New York Times is back-sliding! In the beginning of the web, their web site was free. Then they went to a pay site. Folks stopped reading it, and did not pay, so they went free. Now, they are going back to pay or at least "partial pay." Ars Technica has a good overview.
Facebook's privacy changes caught attention. Here is some of what I picked up:
Violating contract with users
Facebook developer says privacy is over
And then a comment about why the new policy is wrong
What the Internet and filters can do. A respected Canadian magazine has to change its name. Here is the story.
Will Manley is blogging at a new location. Here is his new blog. Even though we worked in Arizona at the same time, I never met him until he spoke at the Connecticut Library Association back in the late 80s or early 90s.
One of my nieces is working at the Olympics as part of an internship. She is blogging, and it should be interesting to read her experiences.
Agnostic, Maybe [Andy, in New Jersey]has a couple of interesting posts, the first is on the future of libraries, and the second is a reaction to another author's post called "Nothing is the future."
Thursday, July 30, 2009
One night -- Two #FAIL
Last night I came home from work. The gas utility company (Entergy) which has now dug up part of the parking in front of the house twice, for a week or more each time, since May, had filled in the hole. I heated some left-overs in the microwave. Then I went to do some cleaning. Now, in New Orleans, the house is raised above the ground, and the hot (and cold) water pipes run under the house with no insulation. To get hot water, you have to let it run a bit. Well, it ran, and did not get hot. It ran some more, still not hot. So, I checked the water heater (outside, in a little shed attached, and sitting on a slab), and tried to re-light it. It would not light. On a whim, I tried the (gas) stove. It does not light. Called the utility. About 90 minutes later someone shows up, looks at the meter -- ours is off, our next door neighbor's is on [we live in a "shotgun double," aka a duplex]. Why? He doesn't know. He tests the stove and lights the water heater.
Meanwhile, I tweet it. It shows up as a status update in Facebook. First time it happens to me. I tweet that. I got some suggestions, tweaked the settings, and it happens again. (But not any of the RT messages or @ messages!) This morning I find the answer.
So, #FAIL to Entergy, and #FAIL to Facebook (again).
Meanwhile, I tweet it. It shows up as a status update in Facebook. First time it happens to me. I tweet that. I got some suggestions, tweaked the settings, and it happens again. (But not any of the RT messages or @ messages!) This morning I find the answer.
So, #FAIL to Entergy, and #FAIL to Facebook (again).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)