Future of Libraries Conference: Social Software in the Library--MySpace, Wikis, IM, Blogs, and Flickr

The first panel that I moderated was dedicated to Social Software (whoopah!).  The first two panelists (Suzanne Vito and Catherine Scheer from the Contra Costa County Library) discussed the creation of their library's MySpace profile.  They started by looking at the libraries on the Library Success Wiki that had MySpace pages and made notes of what worked well and what didn't.  They considered carefully the purpose of the profile, which was to reach out to teens in a way that they wanted and in their terms. 

The features of their page that they discussed as being successful are:

• the music that blasts as soon as you get to the page
• the falling background (kind of Matrix-y) that was chosen by local teens
• lots of graphics - photos of teens in the library, a graphic rotating with book cover images (they used Rock You to create the rotating graphics)
• the avatar they chose (which came out of a contest where teens designed avatars, and then everyone voted on their favorite)
• The library has 128 friends on MySpace - the majority of whom are local teens

Suzanne talked about how important it was that the virtual branch be a real part of the library - considered to be one off the community branches.  The MySpace profile is part of that presence.  In the last month the profile has received 1,000 visits - a great number!

The next presenter was Michele Mizejewski.  She talked about how her library, the Redwood City Public Library, engages the public using their online services.  One goal was to add some interactivity to their web presence, so they added blogs and a Flickr account.  They used Wordpress to set up a Staff Picks blog with entries for books and movies, including a cover shot, title link, description, and tags to identify the entry.  The library also added an events blog, with each entry advertising an upcoming event.  The Staff Picks blog also features commenting, so users can add their own thoughts about the title.  RSS feeds are available for both blogs, allowing users to get updates automatically. She also discussed how the library's Flickr account.  The library does not get release forms from the customers because they felt that they would not be able to get releases and that the project would not be successful otherwise.  They also took a small number of their historical photos and digitized them and posted them on Flickr.  She also discussed Flickr commenting, and also the groups you can join in Flickr and how that connects you with a larger community.  She closed by saying how easy and cheap it was to create this presence--a total of $0.  Whoo hoo!

Next up was Ann Miller from the Solano County Library, who spoke about how to use wikis to communicate with the public.  She talked about the desire to reach out to customers and some of the non-wiki efforts they have explored, such as a YouTube contest (the winner will be shown on MTV).  They created two wikis: a volunteer orientation manual for the staff and an "about the library" wiki for the public.  The wiki gives information about the various services they offer: adult services, hours, literacy, multilingual services.  Every time the wiki is updated, a notice is sent to the email address of choice.  They chose PBwiki because it is quite easy to use and promoted the wiki heavily to staff so they could promote them to users.  What worked: a short formal proposal before starting, the PBwiki technology, and the ability to make contact with "invisible" users.  What didn't work: the proomotion which was focucsed on the technology rather than the content, and the public wiki was not something that many people contributed to, perhaps because of the subject matter.  She thinks that wikis will work well for internal projects where staff are discussing team or committee work.  She recommends to think about whether or not a wiki is the right tool, how to promote it, and how to use the contributions.

The final presenter was Rosemary Dukelow from the Livermore Public Library who discussed using instant messaging in the library. They started iM reference after attending a BALIS workshop I gave on the subject (aw, shucks).  To start off, they created a virtual services taskforce that looked into different aggregators -- services that pick up different services (AIM, MSN, etc.).  They decied to use the MeeboMe widget - a way for people who use IM to contact you and also website visitors to contact you through a small chat window on your site.   The library staff keep the Meebo window open at the public service desk, and it is available all of the hours the library is open.  They offered training to the staff on IM, including handouts.  They also kept an IM Reference log, keeping basic track of the subjects of the questions they were receiving.  The types of questions received are the same as the type of questions that come in other ways - through the phone, etc.  Currently, the average is 3 reference questions per day, but their email reference service is still used more.  To advertise the service, they created a flyer and press release (and they got good press from that in a newspaper editorial and then a magazine article, which stemmed from the columnist IMing the library with silly questions to see what response she would get [a good one!]).  She also recommends promoting the service during class visits, and also creating an online page for specific homework assignments including a MeeboMe widget too!  Rosemary said that you should think long and hard about the placement of the widget on your website.  Technical problems are minimal, though there are some contact issues with Google IM users contacting them.  Also, you need to remember to keep your sound on so you will be alerted to new questions.  The software was free and the required staff time has been minimal.  She also recommends setting up function keys to insert text macros of the typical phrases you use when chatting with users.