The World at 2100

Stephen's Lighthouse points out an interesting "curation at The Bibliothèque nationale de France. There is a wonderful online gallery of illustrations by Villemard from 1910 imagining what life would be like in the year 2000."

A few envision the world of mass transport:

• Trains
• Personal Transport (roller skates with rockets!)
• Motorcycles
• Airplanes (with an extremely slow airport - the only employee is sweeping the floor while giving directions to the ONE passenger).

A few envision automation:

• Construction (one architect with a bunch of machines)
• Barber Shop (I would never...I repeat, NEVER go to a place like this)

And another envisions warfare (sort of a Mad Max scene - SHOOT AT THE TIRES!). And this is interesting as this is prior to World War I and the introduction of the tank. Tanks did not really come into play until World War II. And the French and British did not think that the tank was that important... until Germany showed them how the tank was supposed to be used. So the fact that a French artist in 1910 saw mobile fighting units as being important in the future is interesting indeed (sorry for the historical aside...)

So why is this series important? The paintings envision a future with the tools that were possible (sort of) at the time that the paintings were made. It is difficult to plan for or predict the future when you have no idea what tools will be available for you at that time.

I started working at the library 10 years ago in LINC at the Main Library. We did not have one public Internet access computer in the building. I don't know if I would have predicted the library's importance in providing that access to the public. Because I would not have known that companies would be "forcing" people to fill out online job applications, that e-mail accounts would be a necessity for all.

And when I started my current job as Technical Trainer just three years ago, I had no clue that I would be placing so much content on the Web for all to use. Because these tools were not readily available then.

So how will the library adjust over the next five, ten years? We can certainly envision what we can do with the existing tools at hand. But we cannot predict what new tools will become available to us during that time.

Subscribing to Search Results with the New EPS

Customers will be able to "subscribe" to a search with the new EPS public catalog. How would they be able to do this? More and more people are utilizing web feed subscriptions as a way to handle information. You use an aggregator to subscribe to a web feed and you would then be notified whenever new content is added.

So basically, whenever you perform a search with our catalog, you can subscribe to the results. You would then be notified whenever a new item was added the the catalog that now appears in that search.

For example, a Civil War buff would subscribe to a search for "Civil War". Whenever a new item was added to the collection that included the phrase "civil war", the customer would be notified via their aggregator.

For more information on web feeds, see the previous articles I have written on that subject.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

Librarians vs. The Terminator

The embedded movie below started out as a project of a Director of Technology for a High School.


Here is a list of sources.

So, does this make you want to hang it up and buy a ranch in Wyoming? Or perhaps The Terminator or The Matrix were not too far off?

But what role do libraries (and librarians) play in this current and future scenario?

Jakob Nielsen, the "king of web usability", recently wrote about lifelong computer skills. Basically, he says that schools should move away from teaching applications [ex. Word, Excel] directly and move towards teaching broader concepts, because today's applications will be completely different than tomorrow's.

I disagree and think Mr. Nielsen was trying to prove a point, but, as Techdirt states, the way to learn a concept is to see it in action. The only way to see it in action is to know the applications.

Nielsen then moves on to the part I agree with. He lists a number of concepts that should be taught, the first three of which librarians can have great impact.

• Search Strategies
• Information Credibility
• Information Overload
  

So what role do libraries (and librarians) play in this current and future scenario?

We can continue providing access to the computer applications (Web, Word, Excel, etc.). We can help them with common stumbling blocks that occur with these applications. We can steer customers to better search queries and more reliable sources. And we can help make sense of all this information.

If librarians cannot do this, the world will certainly be taken over by computers. We don't want that, do we?

Creativity and Technology

As I think about ways the library can use technology to extend our customer reach, it is important to have the right frame of mind. And this applies to other aspects of this Strategic Planning process and, well, to everything we do here.

So when you see a new tool, envision how it can be applied to best suit your needs. You don't have to implement some predetermined notion of what the tool should be used for. The growing hatred of PowerPoint can be directly attributed to numerous people who use the built-in templates as a background to dump their paraphrased speech. But when someone uses PowerPoint to extend their message instead of replace, it is a truly beautiful thing.

When librarians came across flickr, it was not long before they started using this tool in ways that one would not think was intended. How could a photo-sharing site be used as a tool to advertise the library?

It is this sort of creativity that is required for libraries to adjust and impact future citizens as they have impacted present and past citizens. And this is nothing new. When Memphis Public Library made the decision to force women and men to mingle in the same room so that children could have a dedicated place, do you think it was seen as the obvious thing to do?

So for a decent visual as to the sort of thinking required for us to move forward, let us watch a recent "presentation". This person had the opportunity to do the same sort of presentation that had been done hundreds of times before, and he chose to do something completely different. Enjoy. It's Friday.

Help Me Integrate Technology to Increase Customer Reach

As a member of the newly formed Strategic Planning Group, I am charged with researching ways our library can integrate technology to increase customer reach. We already have a number of initiatives in place, the most obvious being the ILS upgrade.

Another future initiative is the concept of a "smart card", one card that customers use to check out books, make copies, register for computers, etc.

Another way to integrate technology to increase customer reach would be to increase our online presence. I have gathered a number of ideas under the del.icio.us tag "Online Presence" (found on the sidebar). What are some of these ideas that other libraries have been implementing? MySpace accounts, Flickr accounts, Wikipedia entries, and more.

Do you have any other suggestions on possible ways to use technology to increase customer reach? Let me know by adding a comment.

Another Library Search Engine

Libworm is another search engine devoted solely to library-related blogs feeds. The main difference between this one and the other library search engine I wrote about is that LibWorm offers RSS feeds of searches.

So, if you are interested in a certain topic and you want to know when someone in the library world blogs about it, perform a search and subscribe to it. You will be notified when a new result appears.

MapLib Google Map Mash-Up Test

I'm testing a new tool, maplib.net. This allows you to create your own Google Map; however it doesn't have to be a map per se. You can upload any image. Then, you can add markers with descriptions at various points, just like on Google Maps.

Then you can embed the map in your blog. Let's see if this works. I have created a "map" of a screen shot of our future ILS. I added several markers that explain the process of searching for a periodical.

Find Books Totally Different Than the Books You Hate

Here is a unique reader's advisory tool that LibraryThing offers (what is LibraryThing?)

It is called Unsuggester. Here is LibraryThing's description:

It analyzes the seven million books LibraryThing members have recorded as owned or read, and comes back with books least likely to share a library with the book you suggest.

This could be used two ways. 1) If a customer really needs to shake things up, they have lost all inspiration in their current readings, and they want something new, enter a book they have read recently into Unsuggester. 2) If you know of a book that is totally something you would never read, ever, enter it into Unsuggester.

Unsuggester will then return books that are completely different from the book you searched for.

Crazy.

Of course, Library Thing offers a Suggester, too.

Found via Stephen's Lighthouse.

Bloglines Presentation for Managers, Nov. 9

Here is the slide show for the presentation at the Manager's Meeting for November 9.



Additional assistance in getting started using http://www.bloglines.com can be obtained by viewing the Bloglines Video Series.

Tag Clouds

I have mentioned tagging before, but I haven't really discussed a "tag cloud".

Tagging allows users to give something a subject heading, whether it is a video, picture, book, whatever. On the sidebar, you will see a tag cloud of various articles that I have found on some topics, ranging from "trainingstaff" to "wikipedia". The larger the word, the more articles under that topic.

A tag cloud does not necessarily have to be associated with a tag (or subject heading). Sometimes a tag cloud can be created by the words in a speech or a book. For example, here is a site that produces a tag cloud of the 100 most used words in major Presidential speeches from John Adams to now. This quickly gives you an idea as to what was important to these Presidents at the time of their speech.

Also, a long time ago, I wrote about the Amazon Concordance tool that does the same thing with books. You can quickly decipher what a book is about and who the main characters are by simply looking at a group of words in various size.

The alternate to tag clouds is something like my Index on the sidebar. This lists the various subject headings with numbers next to them, the numbers being the amount of posts about a topic. This is fine for a small list, but a larger list would leave you scanning back and forth looking at various numbers and memorizing their priority.

Or, you could arrange your topics by the amount, but then you lose the alphabetical order that allows you to easily scan all topics.

The tag cloud allows you to quickly see all topics in alphabetical order while at the same time giving you an idea as to what topics are more important.

Blog, Wiki, Aggregator Training for MALC

Last week, Damone and I conducted a training on blogs, wikis, and aggregators for the Memphis Area Library Council. Participants did not receive a paper handout for the training. They did receive access to a wiki and a blog that explains everything we covered in the class and more.

Using a wiki to explain a wiki, and using a blog to explain a blog just reinforced the material. Participants also had a chance to add content to the wiki and create their own blog posts (We used "pre-made" training blogs that participants could use in the class).

We then had everyone log into "pre-made" training aggregators so that they could see how easy it is to subscribe to web feeds.

One of my favorite moments of the training was showing a table that explained the difference between a blog and a wiki. I had added that table from a presentation at the Internet Librarian 2006 conference that was still going on at the time of our training. (I just recently wrote about these conference bloggers)

Through blogs, information that was shared in a conference in Monterey just the day before, was now being shared with the participants of this training. Also, since our "handout" was a wiki, I was able to add the content quickly. Had we used a paper handout, I would have been able to mention the new content, but I would not have been able to add it to the handout as we would have been required to turn in our final copy about three weeks before the training.

Go to a Conference Without Leaving Your Agency

So, going to conferences these days has been tough. However, I have been "attending" the Internet Librarian 2006 conference in Monterey, CA all day today.

Thanks to the many volunteer bloggers (click here to see a list) who are dutifully sharing their notes and thoughts on the programs they have been attending, I get to digest the knowledge that is being dispersed over in Monterey without the hassle of visiting such a desolate part of the country (ha).

All kidding aside, there is no way I could have attended this conference. However, it does not mean I cannot gain a part of the knowledge that is being shared. I have already gathered ideas on staff technical training as well as found a wonderful addition to the MALC Blogs and Wikis training Damone and I will be conducting on Thursday.

I have discovered than some people are better "note takers" than others. So if you find yourself wondering what someone is talking about, try another blogger.

Bloglines Video Series

Since blogs show the newest stuff first, the videos appear in reverse order. However, I'll list the links to the posts in chronological order here. As a recap, for those of you who were interested in attending one of my aggregator workshops but cannot because of whatever reason, you can view these videos.

I. Bloglines Registration
II. Finding and Adding Web Feeds
III. Reading Your Web Feed Articles
IV. Saving Articles from Your Web Feeds

Here is the "handout" used during the training.

If you are having difficulty finding things you are interested in, you can take a look at all of my subscriptions. They are listed on the right side bar of this blog. Just scroll down and bit and you will see them. And, no, I won't make a video showing you how to do that!

IV. Saving Articles from Your Web Feeds

The final video (for now, at least) about getting started with Bloglines. This one shows you how to save an article in case you want to read it later.

III. Reading Your Web Feed Articles

Here is the third video for the Bloglines series. This shows you how to read your web feeds once you have subscribed to them.

The Library as a Human and Local Destination

An opinion piece in Lawrence, Kansas stated that libraries are inefficient, limited and obsolete. It goes on to state that rather than building a brand new central library (which is being proposed in Lawrence), that the money should be spent providing internet access to the entire community.

To see the library response, see the many links in the post from This Week in LibraryBlogLand.

On a related note, Stephen Abram of SirsiDynix has just released the second part of a three part series about libraries adjusting to Google and its ilk, called Waiting for Your Cat to Bark.

The first part of his series lists all the things Google does well (and poorly). This second part lists all the things that libraries do well (and poorly).

One of the things that libraries do well is a reference interview. Google and other search engines are trying their best to guess what the customer needs. We have the benefit of looking the person in the eye and finding the real need behind a vague question.

As the Reference Highway pointed out, a couple of sites exist for the sole purpose of connecting a caller to a real, human company representative. If people do not like talking to machines, then why does there seem to be a push to replace librarians with search engines? The fact that anyone can walk into one of our libraries and ask an actual human being a question seems to be more fascinating than ever.

Another thing that libraries do well, according to Stephen Abram's article, is "local". We are in our communities. We know our communities and we know what they need. While our Collection Development has a strong history of purchasing materials that suit the community's needs, MPLIC's new First Responders program is taking it a step further and finding ways to push certain parts of our collection (at a moment's notice) in order to respond to a need in the community.

Perhaps we could also learn something from the independent record and book stores. As mentioned in this TechDirt article, these places are adjusting to the fact that anyone can purchase books and music on the Web by offering something more, a destination. Our situations are similar. If I can buy a book on the Web, why do I need a bookstore? If I can find an answer to a question on the Web, why do I need a library? By adjusting and adding emphasis that the library is a destination (a place that offers more than a stack of books), we automatically trump the online world in that aspect.

So, while MPLIC (and libraries in general) need to continue to improve their online presence and offerings, at the same time, we need to focus on our qualities that make us different from the online world. We're human. We're local. And we're real.

II. Finding and Adding Web Feeds

Here is the second video on getting started with bloglines. This explains the basics of identifying and adding web feeds to bloglines. Enjoy!

I. Bloglines Registration

OK, for you folks who were not able to attend any of the aggregator workshops I am conducting, here is a boring video on registering for bloglines. I am going to do some follow-up videos on the fun part of bloglines but wanted to start from the beginning.

Mainly, though, you will see just how darn easy (and quick) it is to get started.

Library Blog Land Summaries

With my bloglines account, I subscribe to numerous library blogs from across the land. This keeps me in touch with trends, ideas, concepts and services like never before. But I can see where it would be problematic for some folks to keep up with the reading.

Enter the blog LISNews, a blog about numerous topics, one of which is This Week in LibraryBlogLand. Each Monday, they post a summary of all the major topics that many library bloggers have been talking about with links to the actual blog posts.

This is a wonderful way for "time-limited" or "interest-limited" folks to keep up with the trends being addressed in the many library blogs.

Libraries in Transition

Here is a nice article from the Kansas City Star about how their local libraries are dealing with the new "wired" world. They are experiencing an increase in circulation and customers since the introduction of computers. It appears their customers that arrive for computers also grab a book or two on their way out the door. However, the "accidental" discoveries are not occurring because more and more people come to get exactly what they want and do not wander.

via

NOTE: I was able to read the article just fine the first time, but after that, the Kansas City Star asked for me to register.