Thoughts on: Richard Watson “In praise of public libraries – and librarians”

I came across this post on Richard Watson’s Top Trends blog today: In praise of public libraries – and librarians.

In it, Richard comments on the fact that he predicted the extinction of public libraries some time ago, “because, in an age of e-books and Google who needs them.” and since this prediction he has changed his mind.

“I got it totally wrong. Probably.

Whether or not we will want libraries in the future I cannot say, but I can categorically state we will need them, because libraries aren’t just about the books they contain. Moreover, it is a big mistake, in my view, to confuse the future of books or publishing with the future of public libraries. They are not the same thing.”

His blog post highlights why he believes public libraries will still be relevant in the future.

He emphasises the public library (and public library services) as…

  • A place that is “more than mere facts, information or ‘content’”
  • A social hub
  • An information resource that is accessible to all
  • An ideas hub where…
    • existing ideas are valued,  stored and made freely available to all
    • new ideas are created and developed
    • the right setting is provided to nurture ideas
    • librarians act as a catalyst in helping develop these ideas. They are “sifters, guides and co-creators of human connection.”
  • An information resource where personal/human interaction is an important part of the service
  • An influential method of delivering information – library services are still regarded as trustworthy information sources.

This quote about lack of use by younger generations really appealed to me:

“…admittedly many younger people still see no need to visit a library… But this could be because they still see libraries as spaces full of old books rather than places full of new ideas.”

And in summing up, Richard’s quote makes a clear point.

“There is a considerable amount of discussion at the moment about obesity. The idea that we should watch what we eat or we will end up prematurely dead. But where is the debate about the quality of what and where we read or write? Surely what we put inside our heads – where we create or consume information – is just as important as what we put inside our mouths.”

Leave a Comment
by garygre on December 29, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in libraries
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by garygre on December 29, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/thoughts-on-richard-watson-in-praise-of-public-libraries-and-librarians/

Thanks From A Public Librarian To Anyone Who Said No To Library Cuts #savelibraries

This year has been a bit of a bummer in some ways in the world of public libraries, mostly caused by the threatened closure or handing over of libraries to volunteers, by local authorities. Lots of people have been working on fighting against the cuts.

Scores of friends of libraries and campaign groups have formed all over the country, taking on Ed Vaizey and Jeremy Hunt’s roles as superintendents of their own local library services – standing up and saying “No!”, whilst Mr Hunt and Mr Vaizey (who both have some kind of Government responsibility for libraries) do very little.

Ed Vaizey's Unused Sheriff Badge

Ed Vaizey's Unused Sheriff Badge (c) ggstopflat/Flickr

People are fighting the cuts in so many ways…

  • As part of an organised campaign or friends group.
  • By signing the Women’s Institute libraries petition. (15,798 online signatures so far. Come on, we need more signatures than this!)
  • By signing local petitions.
  • Writing newspaper articles or blog posts to highlight what’s going on.
  • Commenting upon newspaper articles or blog posts about the cuts.
  • Responding to library consultations.
  • Local Councillors voting against decisions to cut in their areas.
  • Anyone who has spoken to friends, families or strangers to highlight what’s going on.
  • Anyone whose taken note of someone who’s spoken to them about UK public library cuts.
  • Sharing a web link or a news article about the cuts.
  • Running library events as a way to highlight the message.
  • New and existing library users who have found out that libraries are of more use to them than they realised and are making use of them in new ways.

Any of these actions make me realise that I (and other library service colleagues around the country) are valued. It’s a thought that gives me a smile, despite having to watch the battle between those who want hack away at library services and those who want to save them.

This post was triggered by a thought I had after reading the Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries open letter addressed to Ed Vaizey. This letter  highlighted concerns about his inaction over the past year regarding public library cuts and asked for people to support and sign the letter too.

I looked at that letter yesterday to see who had signed it and, as a public librarian, I was genuinely touched by the number and wide range of people who had signed it and left comments in support of public libraries and their staff.

After reading that letter I realised that as a public librarian I hadn’t said thank you for a long time for the support people are giving public libraries during this tough time. I know some people are putting so much effort in that it’s basically like having a second job!

So… thank you to everyone and anyone, wherever you are, who has said “No” to public library cuts over the past year or so. It’s the nicest Christmas present you could have given me. :-) You really don’t know how much I appreciate it.

22 11 11 whodunnit indeed

22 11 11 whodunnit indeed (c) Kikishua/Flickr

1 Comment
by garygre on December 18, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in libraries
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by garygre on December 18, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/thanks-from-a-public-librarian-to-anyone-who-said-no-to-library-cuts-savelibraries/

Dapper.net: How To Make Feeds From Web Pages That Really Don’t Want You To

If I ever want to put together a mashup or just tinker with data on the web my first port of call is Yahoo pipes. However, even though I really like pipes, it frustrates me a fair amount of the time too. Sometimes it behaves erratically and I get a sulk on with it. So, I decided to have a scout around  to look for other ways of achieving what I want.

My first great find is Dapper. I imagine this is old hat to some people, as it’s been around for a few years. It’s actually owned by Yahoo too. As the site itself says…

Dapper is a tool that enables users to create update feeds for their favorite sites and website owners to optimize and distribute their content in new ways.

It doesn’t do the same thing as Yahoo pipes, but is extremely handy for pulling out data from web pages where a feed doesn’t exist, and it provides the output in the following formats (if it’s relevant to the data on the page) – XML, RSS, HTML, Google Gadget, Google Map, Image Loop, iCalendar, ATOM, CSV, JSON, XSL, YAML. I’m not going to pretend that I know what all of the feeds are, but they seem like a fairly handy group of feeds to be able to use.

I thought I’d see if I could create an RSS feed for our library catalogue. I’ve always wanted an RSS for it (so we can feed stock information through to different places easily) and I’ve also wanted a way to produce alerts for new titles (so users can be informed about any new stock they may be interested in), but our library catalogue neither. But now, using Dapper, I can do both easily.

Dapp Factory screen capture

To achieve this Dapper asks you to:

  1. Provide URL’s of web pages your data appears in. You just need to provide sample pages here. I gave it URLs of catalogue search results pages.
  2. Highlight samples of the data on these pages that you want in your feed. I highlighted fields containing Title, Author, Format (eg Hardback, DVD, etc), Book cover, Number of copies and then told Dapper what to call these fields.
  3. Group together data fields – this effectively puts related data together in a single record. If you don’t do this you end up with a list of unrelated data items in your RSS feed, rather than a list of ready formed records.
  4. Identify any portion of the url that can be changed by the user to create a brand new search using that resource. For example, in my url I changed “_TitleResults.aspx?page=1&searchTerm=cake&searchType=99&searchTerm2=&media=&br” to “_TitleResults.aspx?page=1&searchTerm={Query}&searchType=99&searchTerm2=&media=&br”, so I could easily create a new feed for a search for any other keyword without having to go through the whole process again.
  5. Choose the output format of the feed eg RSS, ATOM, HTML, iCalendar, etc (as mentioned earlier). You can also say which fields you want to appear in the output feed.

In response to this Dapper gives you a unique URL for your feed.

From this stage you can also:

  1. Change the query text, as mentioned in (4) and get its own unique URL for this new feed.
  2. Set up a service using the feed you created. Here you can make it public and allow others to create their own searches by changing the query text. This is the service I created. I also created a Google Gadget and added it to my iGoogle page.
  3. Set up an email alert for your feed. So, if a new item is added to the feed (eg a new book comes in stock matching your search query) it will send you an email notification.

I’ve only been tinkering with it for a few hours, but it looks like it’s going to come in handy for pulling out and re-using data in web pages that has in the past been difficult for me to get at. :-)

3 Comments
by garygre on December 10, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in internet, programming
Tagged , , ,

Posted by garygre on December 10, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/dapper-net-how-to-make-feeds-from-web-pages-that-really-dont-want-you-to/

No More Access To Your Twapper Keeper Archives

Yesterday I found out via a friend on Twitter that Hootsuite had acquired Twapper keeper in September.

If you don’t know, Twapper keeper is a service that allows you to archive tweets. I use this service quite a bit and paid for the upgrade, so that I could archive more than the free account would allow me to. It’s a great service and I’m pleased that Hootsuite has realised how useful it is too – it’s just a shame that the first time I’d heard that it had been bought was yesterday – there’s been no announcement on the Twapper keeper blog about this. The site does now include a message though…

“Dec 8th, 2011: Transition update

Twapper Keeper’s archiving is now available in HootSuite! As a result, we will be shutting down Twapper Keeper. Existing archives will be kept running until Jan 6, 2012, after which you will not be able to access your archives anymore.

Thanks for using TwapperKeeper – we look forward to seeing you at HootSuite.”

“Oh good! It’s available in Hootsuite,” I thought, but I also saw the “you will not be able to access your archives anymore.” bit too.

Panic stations! What will happen to my archives? Will they be deleted? Maybe they’ll be available in Hootsuite?

In an attempt to find out, I left a comment on the Hootsuite blog yesterday.

Comment on Hootsuite blog post “HootSuite Announces 3 Million in Financing, Strategic Acquisition and Executive Team Appointments”

As a frequent user of Twapperkeeper can you tell me:
1) How will this integration happen?
2) Will it be available for the free Hootsuite accounts?
3) What will happen to the archives I have created on the Twapperkeeper site? I don’t want to lose any of them. If I do lose them it would have been a total waste of time me setting them up, especially as I paid to do so.

The response pointed me to their feedback site asking for suggestions about integrating Twapper keeper with Hootsuite, so I left these 2 suggestions – one regarding access to existing Twapper keeper archives and another suggesting ideas for development on the service, as I really feel Hootsuite could do something with Twapper keeper’s original idea.
Maintain access to existing archives that have been created on Twapperkeeper.

Twapperkeeper is often used to archive tweets for conferences and events – the tweets are used to document the event/conference and are accessed not only around that time, but also at later dates.

Due to changes in Twitter’s terms of service, users have not been able to download these archives for some time and therefore the only way these archives can can be accessed and manipulated is via the Twapperkeeper sites RSS & HTML archive links.

Can Hootsuite provide access to these existing archives in some form, so that they can be read and shared with other non Hootsuite users?

Ideas for Twapper keeper integration.

1) Allow Twapper keeper archives to be made public or private.

2) Allow the sharing of Twapper keeper archives to a broad range of external services. eg Twitter; Facebook; G+; Delicious; Tumblr…

3) Provide each archive with an RSS/XML output feed containing details of individual tweets eg status text, twitter name, status id, date stamp, etc.

4) Update archives regularly ie once an hour – or allow users to define how often the archive should be updated.

5) Allow archives to be created from any search functionality that Twitter currently provides, including lists.

6) Make Twapper keeper archive functionality available for free Hootsuite accounts as well as paid.

7) Allow filtering of tweets in archive using similar criteria as existing filters in Twapper keeper’s “Search” function.

8) Expand archiving function to other services available in Hootsuite eg Facebook, Linkedin, Tumblr, WordPress, etc.

9) Re. 8 – allow archives from different services to be combined into a single archive if desired.

10) Provide capability to mark and share favourite tweets (or posts if option 8 exists) in an archive.

11) Add tags (hashtags?) to archive upon creation and allow them to be subsequently amended.

12) Add description of archive and allow it to be subesequently amended

13) Ability to cross reference archives, for example (a) if you click on a person whose tweet has been archived, display all of the other archives they are linked to ie anywhere their tweets have been archived – this might be useful to highlight expertise or interests of individual users. (b) If any of the tweets appears in any other archive too.

14) Allow capability to bundle together archives in themes.

That made me feel better…

but I’ve just seen this tweet – sent today from the Twapper keeper account.

TwapperKeeper fans: archiving services are now migrated to HootSuite.com and available to #HootSuite Pro customers c/@hootsuite_help

So the archives are available to those who will pay $5.99 a month! What about the money I and other people have paid to Twapper keeper to set up our original archives? If we can’t access these archives any more there was no point in them being set up in the first place.
My problem isn’t so much that I can’t archive anything any more, because there are alternatives (eg The Archivist), but those services don’t give me a live RSS output (which is my main method of accessing and reusing tweets from Twapper keeper) and those services won’t provide existing Twapper keeper users with a back-catalogue of our archives in a nice clean format.
Some clever techy person with better programming skills than me will no doubt be able to pull out and save their full archives in an elegant way, but I think I’m going to have to resort to doing a bit of Gary clunky tinkering to get mine and then see if I can reformat them at a later date.
In the long-term I will find a way around this, and I do appreciate the service Twapper keeper has provided me over the past couple of years – irrespective of whether I’ll be able to access my existing archives in future, or not, it has been extremely useful – and John (who created Twapper keeper) has been extremely helpful whenever I’ve had any questions or needed help.
However, it would have been nice to have known that this was happening sooner – and I don’t mean the two tweets that happened in September. Couldn’t it have been announced on the Twapper keeper blog at the same time? Hootsuite announced it on theirs… but if you’re not a Hootsuite user how would you have known?
3 Comments
by garygre on December 8, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in internet, programming
Tagged , , ,

Posted by garygre on December 8, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/no-more-access-to-your-twapper-keeper-archives/

My Library Mojo Has Been Flushed Down The Bog

I’ve been reading a few blog posts about how to keep your library mojo and re-energise it when it’s left you… and at the moment I feel I really need to read those sort of articles, because I’ve been hit by thoughts which seems to spiral around:

  • “What the F is going on?”
  • “What am I doing?”
  • “I’m tired and I want to go back to bed.”

I’d like to contribute to the “Keeping your library mojo intact” debate…

My words of wisdom are…

Do it before you get to the age where you are:

  • Making those funny sighing noises when you bend over.
  • Struggling to get out of the bath.
  • Snoozing on the sofa a little bit more than you used to.

I’m not saying anyone at that age is not going to have any mojo, but at the moment I don’t and I’m guilty of all 3 points above. So, in the true spirit of making the evidence fit the conclusion, this is why I believe my library mojo has been drained awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Or maybe I’m just:

  • Disheartened by a lack of support for libraries
  • Sick of the shit going on around public libraries
  • Sick of the lack of leadership in all quarters
  • Sick of toss-pots who think they know about libraries when they haven’t used one for years
  • Sick of having to fight for libraries as one of the little people, when the people who have much more power do…

“F’ ALL!”

At the moment all this frustration is making me want to take an Incredible Hulk stance

“HULK SMASH!”

Incredible Hulk

(c) Kiwanja / Flickr

And if anyone posts a comment here giving the usual crap about how:

  • You can buy books cheaply from Amazon
  • Everyone has the internet at home
  • You can just Google it
  • You can get it all on e-books
  • Why do you need librarians?
  • etc, etc, etc

They will be told to…

“PISS OFF!”

An unprofessional attitude, I know, but I can’t really see many other people higher up actually fighting for professional staff anyway! I can hear them talking about it, but that’s about it!

Yours grumpily….

NB: This is probably just a blip in my library mojo.

3 Comments
by garygre on November 24, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in libraries
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by garygre on November 24, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/my-library-mojo-has-been-flushed-down-the-bog/

CILIP Elections 2012 #cilip2012

I’m currently trying to decide who to vote for in the CILIP 2012 Council Elections, but to be honest I’m dithering. I’m not even sure I can vote for 4 out of the 6 standing for the trustee/councillor roles. Most of them aren’t saying what I want to hear them say most of the time. I’m not saying I can’t vote for any of them, but I’m not sure my ballot paper is going to have 4 crosses on it… which is worrying for me.
I’ve read their manifestos; read their responses to questions posted on the CILIP e-hustings; asked them a few questions via the e-hustings and the live hustings myself – although I couldn’t follow the live hustings video stream, I did follow the Twitter stream and picked up on various points via follow up blog posts.
But still I’m wavering about my decision! I get to the point where I think ”They’ll do for me,” and then I re-read something else they’ve said and I realise I disagree with them on it. I should say I can agree with most candidates on at least one of their major points, but this isn’t enough to make me want to vote for them.
I understand that once they’re elected they will have to work within the restrictions of CILIP Council and won’t be able to stage a coup and over-run CILIP with ideas that have me a bit worried, so maybe I should have faith in others on CILIP Council to stop anything unwanted from happening.
I was going to say CILIP is at a cross-roads regarding its future, but following on from the “Defining Our Professional Future” report, it seems as if it has made its decision about the direction it is going in, has indicated, and has pulled away… Now it needs a bit of gas to race from 0 to 60mph to get where it’s going as quickly as possible. So, in my mind, that’s why it’s important for me to choose very carefully who’s on the CILIP bus helping to drive it, service it and willing to push it up a few steep hills if it needs a bit of extra Oomph!
But time is running out for me to choose… so, I need to go and dither a little bit more.
All aboard CILIP's funky bus

All aboard CILIP's funky bus (c) Mattes

9 Comments
by garygre on November 21, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in libraries
Tagged , ,

Posted by garygre on November 21, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/cilip-elections-2012-cilip2012/

Thoughts on CILIP’s RFID in Libraries conference 2011 #RFID11

I attended the CILIP RFID in Libraries 2011 conference last week. It was the second time for me. It was interesting this year to see the increased emphasis on using RFID beyond the self-issue of library stock, including innovations around mobile devices and RFID.  Here are the points I tweeted during the conference and below that, thoughts I had about the day.

  • Mick Fortune talking about what happened in the past year around RFID
  • ISO 28560 standard finally published in 2011
  • UK data model published; BLCF published (UK); SIP3.0 due at end of 2011
  • More interest globally in library RFID
  • Suppliers – Bibliotecha/ITG/Intellident merged; New self-service suppliers; new suppliers using RFID/NFC in smart phones
  • Moving on from RFID solely for self-service circulation and into discovery tools.
  • Tags are being seen more than just labels – they hold data and new applications are being built on this idea
  • HF frequency is still dominant over UHF
  • What lies ahead? RFID transform from dumb label; Use of standards will become vital; US market will lead on RFID lib. market
  • RFID suppliers may become next LMS suppliers
  • Mark Hughes from Swansea up now.
  • Mark Hughes was one of authors of ORILS specification document
  • Mark Hughes talking about BIC NAG specification for RFID
  • Need to make sure your RFID system is future proof; be realistic; take note of the suppliers expertise
  • NAG BIC standards are supposed to evolve. The situation is constantly changing and the specification needs to move with this.
  • People need to ensure they don’t underestimate the time it takes to tag stock.
  • SIP2 is sometimes interpreted slightly differently by suppliers and you may need to iron out niggles!
  • Peter Kilborn talking about LMS/RFID communication.
  • What’s wrong with SIP2? … Not much; it’s free to use; but it’s getting quite old; there’s now more to RFID than self-service
  • RT @mickfortune: Slides from my presentation at #RFID11 now available at http://t.co/7Y87va4x
  • Communication. What does BLCF do that SIP2 doesn’t?… Built for extensibility; built to cope with web services; open; free
  • BLCF designed by RFID experts. Was commissioned by BIC. Info here http://t.co/jzlimPvC
  • BLCF is currently in draft stage.
  • Alternative standards – SIP3, but does little more than update SIP2; & NCIP
  • Viv Bradshaw (Intellident/Bibliotecha) – BLCF: Why did Intellident get involved?
  • BLCF: web services; better support for non-LMS sys; secure http; uses world wide standards eg XML; handle multi process at same time
  • BLCF: can go beyond library services – eg council wide services; one card systems
  • BLCF – backwards compatible with SIP2; use modern web based standards; RFID/LMS vendors can offer more; will be controlled by BIC
  • RT @mickfortune: Gap analysis between BLCF and SIP 3.0 reveals the circulation orientation of the latter – Viv at #RFID11
  • Should libraries be going for BLCF & ignore SIP3.0? Possibly available within 6 months, but need library service to pilot it
  • Library services need to ask their vendors to support BLCF.
  • RT @robmajor: BLCF is the new acronym on the block #RFID11
  • Paul Chartier talking about ISO conformance and interoperability.
  • There’s never been an authority for mandating certification of ISO This will change. Compliance testing will be available
  • Study undertaken by UCLA ininteroperability of RFID tags; readers; etc.
  • RT @Mark_H_Swansea: #rfid11 in effect standards compliance prevents you as purchaser from getting ‘locked in’ to proprietary technology …
  • ISO will open up the market; new vendors; will help with new technology developments
  • European Commission recently received response re. RFID privacy- all libs will be expected to undertake privacy impact assessment!
  • Don’t know if last tweet was just suggestion or fact!!!
  • John Cunningham. Extending RFID self-service
  • Talking about budget cuts creating pressures on services.
  • Talking about John Laing & Hounslow library services.
  • Shared services and integrated council services approach – RFID can assist in this.
  • Using skills of library staff to deliver extended services.
  • Intellident myCommunity self-service beyond libraries – eg council payments
  • Sandra Bruce-Gordon (John Laing) – using myCommunity at Hounslow. 
  • Hounslow say 1 aim of introducing RFID self-service was to expand/improve library staff customer service skills
  • Hounslow efficiency savings – 6 FTE staff through “natural wastage”.
  • Hounslow “will not be closing any of our libraries.” That doesn’t necessarily mean no cuts. See http://t.co/En7p2TrG
  • myCommunity service looks interesting.
  • Chris Millican: Taking stock – innovative approaches to stock management through use of RFID
  • Stock taking time can be reduced. “Revolutionising the stock management process.”
  • Wondering if anyone has successful RFID solution for assessing use of reference stock? #RFID11
  • Uni of Central Lancs. Lib. faced with budget reduction, but will still be expected to provide great service to fee paying students.
  • RFID gadgets look great. I sometimes wonder how many designers think “Hmm! I’ll design this like a photon stun-gun, just cos I can”?
  • Handy that students don’t always put books back on shelves – can be put through sorter to assess use of material that’s not issued
  • Issue laptop with RFID tags at Uni of Lancs.
  • Why can’t we use our own mobile phones to issue books?
  • Mickfortune talks ISO standard & how suppliers intend to get us to the stage where we are all RFID standardised
  • Paul Dalton – Intellident. Talking about migrating to new data model.
  • UK RFID vendors are already interoperable, but based on legacy/proprietary data models.
  • Mike Chambers – 2CQR & the RFID Alliance. Doesn’t feel proprietary data models aimed to lock-in services, but to provide a service.
  • Surprisingly few people in conference said they wanted to move to standard! :-/ Or did I dream that!!!!
  • @mickfortune points out suppliers highlight fact they are interoperable with other systems, but what if a new RFID supplier pops up?
  • @mickfortune was also surprised that very few library services are looking towards moving to standards!!!
  • University of Central Lancashire win the “RFID in Libraries Innovation Award. (also involved Capita and 3M)
  • Nicky Kaye talking about Bracknell Forest Council RFID Smartcards. One card for many services.
  • Smart Card Networking Forum is useful place to discuss issues.
  • Smart cards – enrol once and it enrols you on other services. Transaction data can be passed back from individual services
  • Provides a lot of detailed management information back to Council’s, so they can develop their services.
  • Stephen Mossop: Managing laptop loans. Laptop, lockers, key control was problem with Uni of Exeter laptop loans.
  • Laptop lockers were a long way away from were you could use them ie not in a study area or library.
  • Laptops were bought by University – thin client, so not likely to be stolen and sold in the pub! They needed to manage themselves.
  • RT @Mark_H_Swansea: #rfid11 involvement of mobido to solve the problem of how to integrate existing RFID with laptop loan lockers with n …
  • Jennifer from Mobido http://t.co/PoBwebiG sounds as if she started in the same way as @juliancheal with RFID. Tagging at home :)
RFID circuit board

RFID circuit board (adapted from cgommel)

  • Richard Stewart: Smartphones in the library.
  • I expected more people at the conference to be smart phone owners!!!
  • NFC – near field communication. Can buy smart tickets with phone.
  • Huddersfield University gets a mention re. e-payment kiosks
  • Could my phone be used for payment? As money? Saves carrying cards etc. Yes they can.
  • Handling cash costs money – libraries could save money through users using NFC and ‘wallet’ software. Maybe use phone as lib card.
  • NFC use in libraries – user authentication; secure fine payments; age restricted stock use; peer-to-peer comms; book issues
  • Access digital content from the item you’re looking at.
  • Pay for services via e-voucher. Idea: Get e-voucher downloaded automatically to phone as soon as you walk into library. Get 3 e-vouchers and get free DVD!
  • Eric Grosshans
  • By George! An American chappie just took to the stage and quoted Shakespeare at us. *Applause* Encore. :)
  • The Library phone: Focus on business, function, increased accessibility.
  • Mobile phone use inside library – checkout; notification of reserved items; events
  • Phone use outside library – capture market share (scan barcode in shop & see if it’s in library); lib info eg location/times; events
  • The Library Phone: virtual library card; online cat; paperless receipts; notifications; ; qr-code
  • Library phone: The users provide the technology – library services don’t have to provide it for them.
  • Smart connect card system only allows individual systems within the whole system to see personal info they are only entitled to see
  • Nicholas Lewis: Reducing total cost of ownership.
  • Do you continue to benchmark your services against other services? Look at workflow processes.
  • What technical functionality is missing? Listen to your users to find out what processes work.
  • Innovation comes from all the suppliers, so why would we want to be lumbered with a single suppliers system.
  • Users need to get involved in the discussion around RFID development. These are services we pay for & have a say in what happens.
  • Martin Palmer concluding the event. You can use systems in ways they weren’t intended for; Make use of mobile technology; Standards!
  • Is self-service about providing better customer service or now just a way to provide ANY service in a time of cuts? #savelibraries
Thoughts on the conference – Standards
It was good to see that various RFID standards are moving on, but it was disheartening to hear that so few customers were interested in/planning to move to ISO 28560. When asked, only a handful of delegates indicated that they were intending to go down the standards route. I suppose if you have an RFID system installed you may not want to spend money on doing whatever is necessary to meet the standard, but in the long-term how much money is this going to cost you if you want to move to a new system – if your existing supplier goes down the pan or decides they aren’t going to support that system any more, because it’s out of date? What happens if you see a fantastic new RFID feature/function provided by another supplier that will benefit users or staff and you want to integrate it into your current system. How much will it cost you to integrate it with your current system? How long will it take to integrate it? Will your suppliers be interested in integrating it if you’re the only customer who wants to use it? It also seems as if suppliers were happy to be able to work with other suppliers systems based upon proprietary/in-house standards, but how will they work with new players to the market who meet the ISO standards? Also, how does the lack of enthusiasm for standards look to those library services who are still considering installing RFID in the hope that the standards will be taken up and they won’t be forking out on a system that isn’t compliant? A system they can’t really build on easily or cost-effectively and one that won’t necessarily let them work with partner libraries or other services in the future! In a time of cuts/money-saving would it make sense to go with an RFID system that doesn’t yet emphasise the use of the standards if some way down the line more money may need to be spent on achieving those standards? However, the plans to introduce conformance testing to ensure that systems are compliant with the standards offers some hope in this area… if possible future customers can see that a suppliers RFID service isn’t compliant how likely are they to go with that supplier?
With regard to communication between systems, BLCF looks very promising, as a means to move on from SIP2.0 and ensure communication is compatible with web services and also services in customers organisations eg Council-wide services.
We also need to remember that the U.S.A.  is now showing more interest in RFID library services/systems and, though the U.K. was a leader in this area, the U.S.A. has such global influence that it may affect future RFID developments.
Visa sticks NFC into a microSD card

Visa sticks NFC into a microSD card (c) Tom Purves/Flickr

Thoughts on the conference – Beyond Self-Service
Up until recently the main topic of conversation around RFID library services has been the self-issue/return of stock. Other capabilities were available, but they had often taken second place to the circulation of library stock. The recognition that RFID tags are more than just labels – they are sources of data – may have encouraged these developments. This year the conference highlighted innovations beyond self-issue of library stock eg.
  • Loan of laptops
  • Stock management
  • Smart cards
  • Use of RFID/NFC enabled mobile phones/devices.

For me, the area that most appealed was the use of mobile devices as a means of paying for services; accessing/issuing stock; as discovery tools; as a way to handle peer-to-peer communications; offering benefits that are automatically triggered on entry to a library. The onus here is also on the users providing the technology (the phone) to access the service in the way they want to, rather than the way the library service tells them how it has to be accessed.

I’m not sure if I’ll be there next year, but it will be interesting once again to see how far things have moved on in 12 months; if any more RFID customers have gone down the standards route; if new suppliers have come into the market; and what innovations in RFID people will be talking about?

2 Comments
by garygre on November 18, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in information, internet, libraries, programming
Tagged , ,

Posted by garygre on November 18, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/thoughts-on-cilips-rfid-in-libraries-conference-2011-rfid11/

Thoughts From Internet Librarian International 2011 Conference #ILI2011

I attended Internet Librarian International 2011 a couple of weeks ago. It was a great event. Below are the tweets I sent out during the conference, just to give you a feel for the event.

Below them, I’ve also included some thoughts on the event itself.

How the Future Internet will Shape Libraries (Klaus Tochtermann, Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, University of Kiel and Professor of Computer Media)

  • Future internet. (3) Internet of things. Any item with an internet connection/IP address.
  • Future internet. (4) Internet of services.
  • Internet of services. Your services available wherever you have a presence – not just pull people back to your website to use them.
  • Put the book anywhere in Hamburg & geolocate them! Users find it via phone & share idea about book. What a crazy idea. I love it :)
  • Linked open data won’t replace marc. Catalogues are available immediately, but need to sync catalogues & L.O.D. service.

Visibility and Collaboration in Digital Domains (Linda Vidlund / Cecilia Petersson, Uppsala University Library)

  • Uppsala uni. – used qr codes around campus with temptation of free gifts from library. Also small digi screens on shelves with info
  • Qr-codes used to put references at end of physical books.

Visibility and Collaboration in Digital Domains (David McMenemy, University of Strathclyde)

  • Now listening to @D_McMenemy talking about collaboration in the digital domain. #ili2011
  • Digital libraries are moving on from content based – now greater interactivity.
  • Looking at processes in public libraries to see where collaboration could be put into place.
  • 98% UK public libraries don’t have a digital strategy.
  • If uk public libraries go down the fragmented volunteer route who will collaborate to provide coherent services?
  • Why are so many local authorities duplicating the same content?

New Ways of Analysing to Prove Value (Frank Cervone, Purdue University Calumet)

  • In session talking about how social networks work. How connections work.
  • How are nodes connected in social networks?
  • Measure of ties based on strength (frequency; duration; direction). Important because strong ties affect people & weak ties link…
  • http://t.co/kgIQDOQt is good for analysing social networks. Twendz is good. Twapperkeeper/summarizr is good for analysing…

New Ways of Analysing to Prove Value (Penny Bailey, Bailey Solutions)

  • RT @bethanar: PB: knowledge should not live in your email inbox #ili2011
  • Need to measure value of services where possible.

Innovations in Usage Analysis (Dave Pattern, University of Huddersfield / Bryony Ramsden, University of Huddersfield)

  • #lidp Huddersfield project – looked at library usage inc non-usage.
  • #lidp How does library borrowing affect user grades?
  • #lidp Needed to be aware of data protection and legal issues.
  • #lidp Found relationship between use of library resources and degree attainment, but not necessarily between visits and attainment.
  • #lidp More info about project at http://t.co/s2scvsOy

Innovations in Usage Analysis (Lisa Charnock, Intute / Andy Land, University of Manchester)

  • SALT project at Mimas. Library circ. data activity could help promote underused but relevant stock.
  • How do people select books they use? Serendipity; Anxiety; Trust concerns; Cynical about ratings & reviews
  • Mimas SALT. User evaluation of service to see whether recommender service would work. Amended thresholds to get accurate recomends
  • Will be testing SALT at John Rylands Uni. to see how it works across subjects.
  • John Rylands want to go live with SALT locally or nationally & also make it available in Primo.
  • MIMAS looking at how this can be developed – inc. aggregate more data; how could this help collection development?
  • Look at http://t.co/EPBBdx9n & http://t.co/wrm9HLFv for more info about SALT project.

Cutting-Edge Technology Projects (Terence Huwe, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California – Berkeley)

  • Meaning Based Computing: How do you modify your beliefs based on new facts available?
  • Bayesian analysis uses inc. breaking the Enigma code; handwriting and speech recognition; military uses…
  • Market success must take into account unstructured data as well as structured data. Social media interaction is unstructured data.
  • Many Fortune 500 organisations recognise they need new tools for managing structured & unstructured data. 15:23:04
  • Autonomy’s Meaning Based Computing tools http://t.co/tuo6zid8
  • New York Times article talking about how cheap software might replace lawyers. http://t.co/JxeFEmkq #savelawyers
  • Meaning Based Computing & Taxonomy based search might co-exist in future.
Cutting-Edge Technology Projects (Alexandre Lemaire, Ministry of Culture – Department of Public Libraries / Jean-François Füeg, Ministry of Culture – Department of public libraries / Christian Ducharme, W3line)
  • Samarcande – union catalogue of French speaking libraries in Belgium
  • Political issues slowed down development of Samarcande catalogue.
  • RT @ostephens: Depressing and almost unbelievable refusal by libraries and/or their political masters to share bibliographic metadata in Belgian #ili2011
  • RT @bethanar: Catalogue: http://t.co/RMacayzD. Comes frm union cats of provinces, harvested by OAI. Also supports SRU & z39.50 #ili2011
  • Tools for librarians for Samarcande – Getting bib. descriptions – z39.50; SRU;OAI / MoCCAM for ILL’s / Getting stats
  • Not a real-time catalogue – need to develop availability functions
  • Samarcande – FRBR; Web2.0; Users contribute with Web2.0 functions; Sharing/monitoring tools. Want to develop social media presence.
  • Bring in external data to Samarcande.
  • W3Line http://t.co/dxhbCh3Y were responsible for technical development of the Samarcande union catalogue.
Simply I love you

Simply I love you (c) Wasfi Akab (Painting) / Flickr

Library Users in Turbulent Times (Kayo Chang, Bahrain Polytechnic)

  • Talking about Bahrain demonstrations and effect on Bahrain polytechnic
  • Effected library service. Facebook and Twitter use was banned because this was seen as part of reason why disturbances started.
  • Commenting or liking picture taken at demonstration could lead to suspension of student.
  • Had to make more use of library blog than Twitter and Facebook after social media was banned.

Library Users in Turbulent Times (Feda Kulenovic, Peace Support Operations Training Centre BiH and Reading for Ubuntu (www.citanje.org) )

  • Potential roles of libraries in post-conflict societies: Bosnia & Herzegovina
  • Libraries can transform. The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation and information.
  • Librarians need to be the person people go to for reliable information in times of conflict were misinformation is prevalent.
  • Created a library wherever he could – embedded librarian. Beyond the walls of the library.
  • “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” (Helen Keller)
  • RT @kulinba: #ili2011 My latest SlideShare upload : Potential Role of Libraries in post-conflict… http://t.co/bAulqRBn
Library Users in Turbulent Times (Maria Cotera, African Prisons Project)
  • Maria talking about African Prisons project (mainly in Uganda)
  • Literacy is a big problem in the prisons.
  • Moderator highlighting similarities and differences between the situations of 3 speakers situations.
  • Most important role in social change is providing information. Librarians have the power to progress social change. #savelibraries
Innovative Services to Engage Users (Joanna Ptolomey, Joanna Ptolomey Information Services)
  • Now on stage talking about health information content.
  • Old model is that health information is pushed out to users/patients, but can’t push information back in.
  • How do you manage the finding, collection, sharing of health content that is relevant to you?
  • Librarians will be very important as chaperones/stewards for helping others to curate their own health collections.

Innovative Services to Engage Users (András Kardos, library.me.uk)

  • Project http://t.co/o1UFoWBh developed in Hungary. Central portal for all libraries – contains all info. for all libraries.
  • Want to develop it for UK libraries too.
  • Contains info re. library services; catalogue; news for libraries in Hungary
  • Similar projects in UK. http://t.co/crLAhtb8; http://t.co/QU8DgtXJ
Innovative Services to Engage Users ( Dave Puplett, London School of Economics)
  • I’m a lefty librarian and proud of it.
  • “People first, Content second” is a new social model.
  • Areas of opportunity – marketing; widening communication; user feedback; 2 way communication
  • RT @calire: #ili2011 Social design – Services designed around people. #b202
  • LSE Library use social media to be part of the conversation and engage with users.
  • 4square is a great marketing opportunity – people saying publicly that they’ve used the library to their friends.
  • Flickr – people are tagging photos; parts of photos
  • People will interact with social media accounts if they think it’s a real person they’re talking to.

Developing ourselves (Julio dos Anjos, INCITE: Associação Portuguesa para a Gestão da Informação)

  • 23 Things is now being run in Portugal.

Developing ourselves (Jo Alcock, Birmingham City University)

  • Heeeeeeeeres @joeyanne talking about productivity #ili2011 & #cpd23
  • Get things done: Record ideas so it’s not clogging up your head space; prioritise & do it; create trusted storage space…
  • Inbox flowchart for organisation. I wonder if this can be translated into automated actions using http://t.co/TJGca8wN
  • Some really interesting productivity tools coming from @joeyanne
  • Huzzah. Ifttt gets a mention by @Joeyanne
 Searching without Google (Karen Blakeman, RBA Information Services)
  • Looking at search tools beyond Google, inc. specialist search.
  • Google is launching its “standout” tag which will allow publishers to highlight a number of their articles to improve their ranking
  • Login to your Google dashboard and see what info they know about you.
  • Yeeeeeeeees. @Karenblakeman mentions mild beer. :)
  • Google sometimes thinks it knows what you really want when you search, rather than what you actually want.
  • What are Yahoo playing at? Seems as if they just can’t be arsed developing anything any more!
  • Search tools: Duckduckgo; Blekko (also shows who else has linked to site);Wolfram alpha (I still don’t get it!); Zanran (charts)
  • Silobreaker for news searches.
  • Specialist searches: chemspider; biznar; techextra; philpapers; mednar; scirus; pubmed; healthmash; offstats; guardian data store
  • Social media search: topsy; socialmention; blogpulse / Create search engine – blekko / zuula
The New Normal Needs a New You
  • Ulla de Stricker says expand definitions of what we do in a time-scarce economy.
  • @Chibbie Talking about how TEDx would be great for inspiration.
  • Michael Stephens: Libraries have the potential to be anywhere and everywhere.
  • @chibbie Says if you look for roles to take on don’t look for the word ‘librarian’ in description. Our skills go beyond the name.
  • Surprisingly even though conference is technology based, there has been a great focus on people interaction.
Thoughts on the conference

I really enjoyed the whole event, including meeting friends/people I know on Twitter and plenty of other library/information based people from so many different countries.

Even though they weren’t always of direct relevance to my current role, most of the presentations I sat-in on were of interest to me. They helped me put my job and library service into the wider context of library and information services in general. It’s useful to attend an event like this to remind yourself where your place might be in the grand scheme of things and how librarians and information specialist throughout the world are working towards common goals.

The key themes that came across during the conference were:

  • Library and information services and our information skills don’t have to be constrained by the walls of the library or the title “librarian”.
  • We need to share resources and knowledge with each other – by either collaborating with others to share the load or by pulling together isolated silos of information.
  • Libraries are key to developing social change and improving society – they open up access to reliable and relevant sources of information to everyone, and we are the chaperones of that information and those who want to access it.
  • We can help improve ourselves and our services by making sure we use the most appropriate tools available.
  • We are in an age where people are just as much content creators as information consumers and we need to understand how this impacts on the provision and management of information services

Even though it was a technology based conference, there was just as much emphasis on the human side of things, which appealed to me. Maybe within this area there’s a suggestion here that technology in information and library work will still need a reasonable amount of human input and not just steam along like a Google search engine, without anyone there to say “Hold up! Are you sure this information is correct?”

As I say, I really enjoyed the conference, and hopefully I’ll get the chance to attend again some time in the future.

Leave a Comment
by garygre on November 9, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in information, internet, libraries
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by garygre on November 9, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/thoughts-from-internet-librarian-international-2011-conference-ili2011/

#ili2011 “Library Campaigning With A Virtual Voice” Presentation With Notes

The following is an outline of the presentation I gave about Voices For The Library’s use of social media and online tools to develop campaigning methods at “Internet Librarian International 2011” last week.

Slide 1

We are a national campaign group highlighting the value of UK public libraries

Talking about how social media and online tools formed the group and how we have used them in our campaign

Slide 2

We have 3 main online presences – website; Twitter; Facebook

Slide 3

Why did we form?

In Mid 2010 there was an increased threat of library funding cuts leading to library closures and reductions in service. (Currently 430+ public libraries are under threat – out of a total network of 4600+)

People were questioning the relevance of libraries and librarians – common misconceptions included… you can find everything on Google; books can bought cheaply from Amazon; everyone has the internet; all books are available as e-books

Slide 4

Many people in the profession were talking about the situation on library discussion lists and Twitter

This included a group of us (about 7of us) on Twitter, who decided we wanted to do something pro-active, rather than just talk about it.

Slide 5

We did it very quickly – from intending to do something to setting up site/blog with content; Twitter & Facebook accounts took us 2 weeks.

We didn’t have to meet in real life to do this – it all happened online.

Most of us in the group hadn’t met in real life before and many of us didn’t meet in real life for a good few months after the campaign had been running.

Slide 6

Online presence wasn’t the only important thing, but it was the quickest way to organise and had the widest reach

Wanted to support local campaigners

Wanted to ensure we talked to others offline ie library users/campaigners; media

Slide 7

We are doing this voluntarily outside our day jobs and need to do it as cheaply (free) as possible and within limits of time outside work.

Lots of the online tools we use are free and easy to use

Slide 8

Social media tools we use for informing others – our site/blog; Twitter; Facebook; Tumblr; paper.li; Flickr; Foursquare

Provide guidance for campaigners

Comment on national situation

Positive library user stories

Links to news articles, other campaigners sites, retweet other campaigners tweets

Slide 9

Social media tools we use to find out what is happening – Google and Yahoo news; other peoples blogs; Government sites; Facebook; delicious; Twitter; email

Slide 10

Tools we use to discuss the situation – our website/blog; Facebook; Twitter; email; comment on other peoples blogs & news articles; forums

Talk to anyone with a part to play in the situation – library users; campaigners; journalists; politicians; library detractors

Slide 11

Social media tools for behind the scenes – Twapperkeeper; Twitterfeed; Packrati.us; delicious; Google maps (Ian Anstice/Public libraries news); If This Then That; Yahoo pipes; Pbworks wiki; chatzy

Use to discuss, meet, store, share, re-use information

Slide 12

In summer 2010 started archiving tweets containing keywords around saving libraries eg. #save libraries, #love libraries, ’I love libraries’ –  as a way to give a positive morale boost – can retweet them.

In January 2011 @mardixon tweeted the tweet on this slide and responses to it caused the #save libraries hash tag to trend worldwide. We got involved by promoting the tweet and retweeting responses  by others.

It helped promote the value of libraries and highlight library cuts in the UK.

Most of the quotes on the slides in this presentation are taken from Twitter in response to this tweet sent out by @mardixon

#savelibraries archive now contains 53,000+ tweets.

Slide 13

Not just VFTL campaign using social media – other local campaigns do too.

They also have blogs/sites; Twitter; Facebook accounts

Not just about online presence, but they too recognise online presence has wide reach and can get your message across the world

Slide 14

We use a wide range of tools to pull together info from many places and pass on information to others

We experiment to see what works well and what doesn’t

Slide 15

We thought about how the information flows and interconnects – where possible we try to automate and re-use information eg. Feed blog posts to Twitter and Facebook; Facebook to Twitter; Flickr to Twitter/Facebook; Twitter to paper.li; etc

Slide 16

Not sure how much of a difference our activities have made, but I like to think it’s made some difference

Maybe it’s made people more aware of the situation – library users; journalists; politicians

Maybe it’s inspired people to campaign in their area

Maybe it’s helped to stop some closures/cuts

Maybe it’s made people realise the value of public libraries

Slide 17

What next?

Last week we jointly ran a conference with The Library Campaign with the aim of bringing campaigners from across the UK together to discuss a way forward

Clear that campaigners want to work more closely together with other campaigners in the UK

Plans for rally in the near future

We’ll continue trying to save libraries in the UK!

Library Campaigning With A Virtual Voice

View more presentations from garygre
Leave a Comment
by garygre on October 31, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in libraries
Tagged , , ,

Posted by garygre on October 31, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/ili2011-library-campaigning-with-a-virtual-voice-presentation-with-notes/

Library Camp UK 2011 #libcampuk11

I recently attended Library Camp UK 2011 in Birmingham. It was an event that focused around the future of libraries – any type – what that future for them may involve and how we could develop library services to keep them relevant to the world around us. The event was also attended by other people who either had an interest or a stake in the future of libraries – not just librarians – and there were an amazing 150 to 175 people there. “Amazing” because so many people had decided to attend a work related event on a Saturday and because of the genuine buzz that you could feel throughout the day.
Library Camp Sessions

Library Camp Sessions (c) c_l_b/Flickr

There were about 35 sessions run on the day. They covered technological, political and social aspects of libraries. I went for the techy focus and attended 3 of them (Virtual tour of the Library of Birmingham; Gamification in libraries; Use of mobile devices/services), plus the introduction and final session. During the rest of the day I was generally talking to others about what they were getting up to in their library related work and forcing people into marathon length hug fests.
Here are a few points I noted, but more detailed blogs from others can be found on Pinboard and on the Library Camp wiki.
Virtual tour of Birmingham Library

Virtual tour of Birmingham Library (c) bae22 / Flickr

Virtual tour of the Library of Birmingham
This library is due to open in 2013, but a virtual version has been created in Second Life and we were shown a walk through of all the areas, which in addition to stock related areas, included business spaces for rent to new businesses, music practice areas and a rooftop garden area. It looks like it’s going to be fantastic. As well as a walk through, there’s a virtual fly through on a book as well.
Gamification in Libraries
This session was not only about how games can be used in libraries, but how games can be used to solve problems, provide information and improve interaction between libraries and their users. Some points I picked up on were:
(1) libraries already have an element of gaming and achievement around them, particularly with regard to children’s summer reading schemes.
(2) Games help improve digital literacy in general. eg how to use a mouse.
(3) Simulations can be used to represent the attitudes/personalities of different types of people and can be used to inform others about how it feels to be that person.
(4) Contribution by users to information provision eg tagging catalogue records, could lead onto achievement awards.
Mobile devices
This session covered the value of providing information via mobile devices. The mobile internet market is expanding and it’s important that organisations think seriously about resources they provide via this method. There was a discussion about what the purpose of mobile device apps and sites is? Is it for carrying out tasks (eg. renew your books) or providing info? There was also a discussion about whether it was better to provide an app or a mobile site?
Hug fest
It was a bloody good one, actually. Seeing friends I knew from events like Mashed Libraries and my Voices For The Library friends gave me a great opportunity to dish out and demand hugs from lots of people. I am genuinely fond of my Twitter friends and the more I get to meet in person the better… although I do feel sorry for those I hugged towards the end of the day as I’m sure my deoderant was running out. I also got to meet lots of other people I didn’t know before the event and I’m looking forward to meeting them again too.
JoBo and Elif Hhhhhhuuuuuuuuggggggg

JoBo and Elif Hhhhhhuuuuuuuuggggggg (c) ggstopflat/Flickr

When we started the day we were all asked what we wanted to get out of it. My response was “To be reassured about the future of libraries, and by the end of the day I was reassured by the fact that so many people (150+) came to a work related event on a Saturday, with so much enthusiasm and a buzz around them. These people really seemed as if they wanted to ensure the future of libraries and fight for them to have an important role to play. I also have no doubt that there are many other people out there who couldn’t make it on the day that are just as enthusiastic too. With these people involved, libraries will have a better chance of fulfilling their potential, more so than if we left it to the politicians and people in power who seem to be indifferent as to what happens with libraries – even when they shouldn’t be and are, in fact, paid not to be indifferent about them.
I’m really looking forward to Library Camp UK 2012.
Leave a Comment
by garygre on October 17, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in information, libraries
Tagged ,

Posted by garygre on October 17, 2011

http://informationtwist.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/library-camp-uk-2011-libcampuk11/

« Older Posts
Newer Posts »