Keynote: Libraries Solve Problems!
Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet and American Life Project
Lee Rainie started his presentations comparing the Industrial Age to the Information Age. In the past, information was scarce expensive and institutionally oriented. Compare that to the Information Age of today where it is abundant, cheap and personally oriented.
He continued with recent statistics comparing 2000 with 2008. Adult usage of the internet is 75% compared to 46% eight years ago. 54% of people have broadband at home, compared to 5%. 62% are connecting to the internet wirelessly as opposed to 0% in 2000. He summarized 2000 as slow and stationery, and today as fast and mobile.
He went on to discuss a national survey on how Americans use the internet and libraries when facing issues in their lives. 53% of American adults visited the library in the last year. 63% of teens have been to the library in the same time period. Library users tend to be college graduates, having a higher income, and are more likely to have broadband at home.
When dealing with a problem to solve, most people use the internet to get help, followed by professionals and family members. Only 13% surveyed went to the public library beating out 11% saying they used "another source not mentioned in survey." Those that did turn to the library, young adults were the most likely to show up and tended to get information regarding schooling, training, or paying for education. Of those looking for help, 69% asked library staff, 68% used a library computer, 58% sought reference materials.
Why do young people use libraries? Rainie stated: "Young people have the most recent experience with the library…They are more aware of how [libraries] have changed…and they know that [libraries] can help." Even though 53% is a good "market share", opportunities exist. Awareness appears to be the limiting factor. Patrons are happy and some are zealous advocates. Users have a sense of ownership in their library. What we need to do is build awareness, create nice environments (creature comforts) and provide mentoring skills (technical support, training). We should aspire to be a node in people's social networks; one that provides learning, news, and support.
http://www.www.pewinternet.org/ppt/2008%20-%204.7.08%20-%20Computers%20in%20Libraries%20-%20Libraries%20Solve%20Problems.ppt
Hi Tech & Hi Touch
This focused on social networks compared to our OPACs.
BIBLIO commons. They want users to focus on adjectives: Talky, Bland, etc.
AquaBrowser – Demo: http://aqua.queenslibrary.org/
LibraryThing for Libraries – Demo: http://cat.danburylibrary.org/
This technology is not just for users.
Library 2.0 network - http://library20.ning.com/
Library society of the world - http://librarysociety.pbwiki.com/
Twitter - http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/a-guide-to-twitter-in-libraries/
Mobile Search
http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/mobile
Mobile searches differ from typical searches. Users are looking for a fact/answer, not a list of results to wade through. Users want to search doing as little typing as possible. Technology used to deliver content to mobile users includes drill downs, camera/upc search, and location search.
Tools:
All mobile search tools should be "carrier agnostic" meaning they should work on all platforms regardless of hardware and software on a particular device
- 4INFO provides access to live sports, business, travel, local, and entertainment information. Get answers, not links.
- Medio -- http://www.mediosystems.com/
- UpSNAP SMS search allows you to search for a wide variety of multimedia content right from your phone. It will work with any phone that is capable of supporting text messaging or SMS, which is virtually all of the phones in the United States.
- Obovo.com features comprehensive search tools and innovative search technologies to deliver fast and relevant information along with robust content and resources from leading providers.
Photo mobile search:
Use your cell phone camera to retrieve object information. This technology can use pictures or 2D barcodes.
Voice queries:
- Ask any question in conversational English and receive an accurate answer as a text message in just a few minutes.
Location based:
Social Searches:
SMS:
- Google, Yahoo, MSN Live
- Thumbplay
Others: Clusty, boopsee, slifter, spinvox, searchme
Mobile Web Protocols: XHTML, WAP, WML
Library Web Presence: Engaging the Audience
Widgetbox - Penn State libraries
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/jumpstart.htm
http://www.widgetbox.com/
This looks like a quick and dirty way to implement widgets. I'd be very interested in testing ideas using widgetbox.com.
LibGuides - Temple University
http://guides.temple.edu/
SpringShare - LibGuides
They originally used Contribute but didn't like it. It kept their sites very static.
Benefits:
- Ease of use: customizable, instant results
- Flexability: type, time, topic, Modular
- Interactive: Discovery -> search, most recent; Rate resources, comments; Polls; QuickBibs; widgets; Search boxes; RSS feeds; embed video;
Numbers: page hits more than doubled after implementing
Guides need marketing, but guides can be used as marketing.
Libguides as a tool for information literacy – What's a primary source? How to find sheet music?
as a collaboration tool with faculty – coedit guides with faculty. Promote faculty content – embedded faculty videos, etc.
It lets them highlight resources, content, and services in dynamic engaging ways.
Other options:
MyLibrary, SubjectsPlus, LibData, ResearchGuide, delicious, blogs, wikis
http://madinkbeard.com/library
http://www.madinkbeard.com/library/SubjectGuides.ppt
Widgets, tools and doodads for library webmasters
Firefox tools
Meebo, Link bunch, docsyncer, twirl, polldaddy
Web Dev
- VisCheck http://www.vischeck.com/
colorblind simulation
- Feng GUI http://www.feng-gui.com/
Automatic eye tracking
- Browsershots http://browsershots.org/
screen shots from different browsers
- Flickr photo badge
- Photoshop express online
- Addthis.com – forget location, add to social bookmarking sites
- Google gadgets – countdown, etc.
- Altavista Babelfish site translator
- Google translate this page
Nifty utils
- ProcessTamer – monitors CPU
- File Hamster – realtime backup
- SyncBack – backup all files with one click
- Linkextractor
Large files
- Mailbigfile.com
- Pando
- Mediafire
- Recaptcha
- Anonymouse – check resources outside your IP range
- Prism – run web app local.
Others
Library Staff Training: High Tech and High Touch