Val Fisher’s ILS 599 Web 2.0 Blog

The library which I chose to do my Web 2.0 project for, is New Milford Public Library in New Milford, Ct. New Milford Library is headed by a Board of Directors and a Director. According to CERC Town Profile (2006), the town has a population of 29,090. Its ethnicity is 94.3% white (27,435). African American’s number 398 (l.4%), Asians 585 (1.9%), Native Americans 67 (.1%), Hispanics of any race 994 (2.8%), other is 184 or .7% and mixed races are 406 or l.5%. The age statistics of the population which this study is focusing Five to seventeen year olds make up 18% of the population or 5,340 people.

The Children’s Department is headed by one full time MLS and one full time MLS who takes care of the Young Adult and Teen collection and programming. This department also has four part timers and several volunteers including many youth volunteers. The total expenditures for the library are $1,299,851 or $56.30 per person. Junior Programming $3,300; Young Adult Programming $1,400 and Supplies $1,520. The money for the Junior, Young Adult and Teen areas is pretty much interchangeable and overlaps significantly.

The Project which I am choosing is a Teen Blog. The reason I feel a Teen Blog would be successful is summed up in the comment in Science Daily. According to ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2008) “While most teenagers (60 percent) spend on average 20 hours per week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend closer to 40 hours per week, and about 7 percent are exposed to more than 50 hours of ‘screen-time’ per week “

It has been shown that teens get a large portion of information from their computer, through blogs, chat rooms, wikis, etc. If you ignore this fact, you are not capturing that sector of the population. I have noticed that youth participation declines beginning with the teen years. Teens seem to use the library mostly at this age for school projects. I would like to see teens participate more in library events as well as take a more active interest in expressing their opinions about the library and what they would like to see at their library I therefore, would like to bring the Young Adult Department of the library into the 21st century beginning with a Teen Blog, that would list events, have a Flickr link as a Photo Wall, which would include ever changing photos of Young Adult and Teen Events, have a Meebo Widget to encourage chat interaction, a podcast widget and a list of useable links. The following facts and descriptions would be presented to the Board to gain their backing.

Teen Blog
I chose the blog format because it seems to be best suited to include articles about the library or those relevant to teens including book reviews, contests (such as the “One Thing” Idea Contest with your ideas to preserve the planet—a contest run in conjunction with Channel 8 and the Connecticut Library Consortium) etc. A blog would encourage comments and interaction from teens. The Teen Blog would have a left hand sidebar which listed the library hours. I would also include a search box for the library catalog and a search box for Google. On the left hand side, I would also include a Meebo Widget for questions, reference, etc. On the right hand side I would include links listed below. My Welcome would include:
“Welcome to our teen blog. This blog will keep you posted on the newest books, movies and music at the Library and you can share your thoughts and lists of favorites.

Comment or to let us know what else you would like to see here. We look forward to seeing ideas from all of you!”

I would try to keep the design as simple as possible because the amount of information contained can be overwhelming. As time allowed, I would also acknowledge or answer comments as often as possible. The blog would be updated at least once a week with new events and articles. This would probably involve about an hour a week after everything is set up.

Photo Wall
The Photo Wall would include ever changing photos of Young Adult and Teen Events, including those in the past and advertising those in the future (for example, photos of speakers or a new program poster). It is a type of moving collage and I included this because it is eyecatching and would capture the interest of the Teen crowd. Implementation of this would involve the taking of the photos with the digital camera which the library owns, and the selection and compilation of these into the actual Photo Wall through Flickr. Permission slips would be available at each event and any photo used, would have written parental permission through one of these. I have already been collecting these permission slips at each event which I host. Flickr is free for a limited number of photos or $24.95 for an annual account with unlimited access.

Meebo Widget
I would also include a Meebo Widget on the blog, so that Young Adults could ask questions, either reference or event related throughout the day. Meebo is a tool that combines all of the instant messaging services so that you can talk to anyone who has such services as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google talk. It lets you access instant messaging from almost anywhere. This would be online during library hours. It would not be necessary to man this throughout the day, because there is enough time when computer work is being done that IM’s would be caught within a few minutes. It would therefore, require no additional personnel. Meebo is free and setup time is minimal.

Podcast Widget
The podcast link that I would include on the Blog would be to Teen Podcasts through
http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=create. Because this site enables Podcasts
through the telephone, the only equipment required is a speaker phone. This would require having a podcast program about once a month to create a new podcast. Although I would encourage the teens to plan the podcast, the general format would be some upbeat introductory music, a welcome to NMPL Podcast #1, a different teen announcing each upcoming event with a brief description, and a short number any combination of book reviews, movie review, CD reviews or game reviews. The windup would be “See you at New Milford Public Library” and some a few bars of closing music. The cost of this preliminary program would only be the salary of the YA Librarian for approximately two hours a month to record and perhaps another hour/month to edit the podcast and download it to add to the link. Gabcast is free for 60/minutes per episode or 30 minutes/episode for a conference call. This includes RSS feeds to notify of new additions and blog integration. Upgrade is $6/month. Podcasts would be done by the teens who signed up for the program. The reason that I included this is that it is a way to involve teens in technology. They can create podcasts to express opinions, or share their interests and passions and become involved in the library.

Favorite Links
I would include links (direct connections to specific web sites) that would keep teens connected to the library as well as give them information which they can use. Some of these would be:
1.A link to the library home page
2.A link to the Library Teen Site
3.A link to the other library blogs and library teen webpages (such as the Stockmarket Game, the Chess Club and the Young Adult Council).
4. I would also like to include a link to Teen Library Podcasts.
5.A link to “Visit us on myspace” (which would involve setting up a myspace page) along with a note to follow family guidelines for using the internet advising that this link is best suited for older teens and adults.
6.A link to downloadable books for teens
7.A link to join our email list.

Implementation
I would first present the idea to the head of the department to be approved. Creation of the blog would be done on a gradual basis as time permitted. This would probably take about a month for actual creation. The most time consuming part would be the creating of the podcast because this would involve coordinating teens and available times, with a few rehearsals to make the podcast run as smooth as possible. A brief explanation to the staff of such tools as Meebo, podcast widgets, RSS Feeds and how to get to the blog and a note would be added to the staff notebook for reference. Because I would be doing the updates, specific training would not be necessary. Most teens are more tech savvy than the librarians, however, I would expect the staff with the above mentioned training, to be able to answer patron questions. The hardest part of this project would be to get the advertising put on the website without being buried under several layers.questions.

Marketing
The most important part of any new addition to a business or a library is to let people know that it is available. I would make sure that there were easily accessible links to the blog from the Library Website. I would print bookmarks listing “Check out our NEW Teen Blog—leave a comment!!” I would through word of mouth make sure patrons knew about the blog and that staff was aware of it. There would be a blurb in the quarterly newsletter, and in newspapers.

Negative Consequences
One of the negative consequences of any blog are inappropriate comments. I would have a blog feed as notification of comments in my email which I check daily. That way I am able to catch inappropriate comments and delete them. I would also make sure that I have permission to use any photos.

Evaluation
Evaluation would be through a hit counter placed at the end of the links indicating how many times the blog was viewed. Evaluation would also be the number of comments placed. Evaluation would also be through patron feedback.

Bibliography
“Many Teens Spend 30 Hours A Week On ‘Screen Time’ During High School.” Science Daily 03/14/2008 26 Jun 2008 .

(more…)

I signed up for Meebo, however, no one from class was there when I showed up.  I think that the concept would work for small group instruction or online office hours, and the benefit of a chat is that reply’s are immediate.  I have used Vista chat in a few courses.  I found, however, that often the hours were when I was at work.  And the chats often were unrelated to the course. On the other hand, chat rooms lend a more personal touch.  It is more like an on campus class with more of a connection to a live human rather than a computer, but also a regulated time which defeats the purpose of distance learning. What I do like about Meebo is the ability to put the widget directly into your blog, or webpage. I think that preference depends upon the individual, their schedule and their style of learning.

I chose to IM my own library, New Milford Public Library with questions about their IM service.

As I stated in the class discussions, the school discourages the use of IM Reference at the library because they feel that it will be abused.  The library, also, does not promote the fact that IM Reference is available. On their website they completely ignore the fact stating that they ” provide reference services in person, by telephone and email.”  Some of the reference personel are not trained in using the instant message as well.  Since I have left the department at the beginning of June, they apparently have had no IM Reference.  When I worked there, I would average about one or two questions a month.  The questions were similar to phone reference where I would be asked if we had information on a certain subject and then asked to put the reference aside.  The IM was used for Art Gallery questions, but because I have brought that part of the job with me, it is no longer in reference.

I have also used infoAnytime, the 24/7 Ask a Librarian Reference Service.  This has been extremely helpful when I am working on my classes late at night and need an answer to a reference questions.  I remember using that a few times in Reference Class when I couldn’t find the answer I needed.

I find IM Reference a wonderful service, which has to be marketed to be used.  I am hoping, now that I am in the Young Adult Department, that we can establish a working service, available to this age group needing immediate answers to their library questions.

The Flickr Toy which I chose to use was the slideshow.  http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/slideshow.php?id=50537

I am in charge of the Art Gallery at two libraries and I felt that creating a preview slideshow of current or upcoming shows which can be added to the webpage or library blogs, would be a useful marketing tool for the artists as well as for the library.  This could even be included in print publicity, to encourage people who normally do not visit the library, to come and check us out. I tried including a badge on this website but it would not load, however, I did get it to load at http://nmplartgallery.googlepages.com/home

Bill Drew’s Library 2.0 Blog is very informative.  (http://library20.ning.com/profile/BillDrew).   It is headed “This network is for Library 2.0 stuff.”  Its main purpose is stated from the start:  “a network for librarians and others interested in Library 2.0.”  The content is mixed, leaning toward the professional side.  Bill Drew is the interim director at Tomkins Cortland Community College in New York as well as a Systems Librarian.  The Blog is authored by Bill Drew and invites discussion and comments from anyone who wishes to sign up.  Because of his temporary position as director, posts are sporadic, averaging once a week, however, sometimes publishing several days in a row.  The blog serves its purpose as a social networking tool.    It allows the user to share their views, ask questions and add comments.

I feel that the audience is librarians or as stated above, anyone interested in 2.0  The set up is appealing, the colors used attractive.  The site is crammed with information both about Bill Drew and Web 2.0.  I found that many of the posts, while not particularly detailed, do introduce the reader, especially a novice, to interesting Web 2.0 concepts.

I have worked in libraries for over thirteen years, beginning with my son’s high school library. From there, I went to my hometown public library and worked in the children’s department part time, supplementing this with part time work in other area libraries.  Right now, I work in Reference and Children’s and soon will become the YA Librarian in my hometown.

At the end of the summer, I will have only two classes left to complete the program. I am fairly comfortable with technology but wish that I knew more. I have used blogs, wikis and webpages