Jennie

Del.icio.us Info

jennie03 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:55:19 +0000

I started using del.icio.us early this year and have really enjoyed it. Since I use multiple computers for school and work, this type of online bookmarking site is ideal for managing sites. During my pre-del.icio.us days, I relied on the favorites option provided by my browser. If I was at work and realized a site would also be useful for school, I would email the link to myself. Ahh…I do not miss those unorganized, confused ways of managing my links! Del.icio.us is great for tagging possibilities as well. This allows for me to assign tags that make sense to me and I can also add many different tags. I want to go back through my own personal del.icio.us account and clean up the tags along with maybe creating bundles.

For this class, I created a separate del.icio.us account. The login is: jblibrary. Feel free to check it out!

Final Reflection

jennie03 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:47:43 +0000

The libraries 2.0 class opened a world of new technology. Since I am have not been exposed to this new technology in a library setting, I learned how libraries are embracing social technologies as a way to reach out to users. Before this class, I try to embrace a strong customer service value in my work; this class has helped me add another dimension to customer service. While I have always been so focused on meeting the users needs, answering the reference question, getting the document, I realize how important it is to know how they use information and what they are actually using information. Since I do not actively participate personally with many of these technologies, I think understanding this technology and learning how to use professionally is one of the most important things I can do to connect with my future users. This class helped me try out this new technology and think about how ways these technologies can be used in libraries. Actually using the technology is much more useful, then simply reading or viewing examples. Another aspect I will take away from this class is learning to let go of control and perfection. While I value quality, I do not think that by letting go of perfection quality must be compromised. The only way to true learning and growing is to take chances and see what happens – maybe the new technology will work, maybe it will not.

Academic Library Web sites Paper

jennie03 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:47:21 +0000

Academic library web sites and how the redesign efforts are embracing library 2.0. The literature review examines academic library web sites and examines how user studies and current redesign efforts highlight problems communication barriers and lack of true user centered focus. Many of the studies point how user studies do encourage user interaction. However, this interaction is only after the site is developed, rarely were students engaged in the process during the web site creation. Also, some studies were pushing for technologies that require learning curves and user participation. The paper discusses some of these problems and how adopting a library 2.0 philosophy can push libraries and creating web sites that are useful to students in a new direction.

Library Instruction meets Social Networking

jennie03 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:42:47 +0000

Often academic libraries have subject guides and tutorials on their homepages. This information is great but I often wonder about the possibilities of creating a social networking space. Placing these subject guides and tutorials in a virtual space that involves interaction with students. Using a ning or wiki may help foster an environment that helps academic librarians and students interact and develop a sense of community. Sometimes library instruction is only one session. If a class is doing an involved research paper, the students will need more than one session. So how do librarians reach out to them if the traditional classroom or user instruction is not a viable option? I see nings or wikis as a possibility. Students can check in throughout the semester and interact with the librarians. These are just my thoughts, though. I have not done research to see the impact of wikis or nings in library user instruction.

I often see these tools as much more than a way to interact with the students; these tools also help us interact and share with each other. Instead of emailing ideas back and forth, wikis and nings allow for ideas to be stored in one place. This environment enables the librarians to build on collective knowledge. In our group, we used a ning to collaborate and share ideas. This space helped us share ideas and resources and was more productive than emailing each other! I plan on writing more about the experience later : )

YouTube

jennie03 — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:51:08 +0000

I am really interested in information literacy and library user instruction in academic libraries, so I see great potential for YouTube. Creating instructional videos on how to use databases or the library catalog could possibly help connect our users with the library. What if they cannot make it to library instructional sessions or only remember parts of the library session? Posting videos will enable students to find the information when they need it. These videos can also offer library extension services to distance learners. Though, these videos need to be quality and not just thrown together in an effort to seem “cool.” The idea of YouTube is tempting but the library needs to know their users. If you have a high volume of commuters or you know that students are interested in visual learning, then YouTube may be a great tool for your library.

YouTube can also serve as a marketing tool. By participating in the videos, librarians put themselves out there. Librarians can also use YouTube to promote new services, events or just tell a little bit about themselves. These videos help students to see and hear the librarians. While that may seem like an obvious statement, students who experience library anxiety or do not use the library can see that these are people who want to help.

Fact Checkers Unit

jennie03 — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:04:12 +0000

Below is one of my favorite videos. My job involves searching information usually on an ASAP basis. One of my friends emailed me this video and it still makes me smile.

Mid-Semester Reflections

jennie03 — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:11:39 +0000

I spent some time thinking about the Annoyed Librarian’s blog this past week. This blog helps me see a different aspect of the field. At times, I found the blog so over the top that I could not help to laugh. I appreciate a critical and different opinion, again minus the personal attacks. These different views, even if they are not all pro-active, help to us to understand each other and what is going on in the field. Seeing how others react to this class and our gaming night has helped me also see the importance of how we represent our stories online.

I am thankful to have a class where I am learning about the social software and new technologies. This class goes beyond exploring technology; we do discuss ideas related to these tools. Discussions about our library experiences with this software are also helpful! I often wonder if I would really take the time and energy to actually explore these tools during my free time. Honestly, I do not think so.

Game Night: Second Life

jennie03 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:25:56 +0000

What is Second Life? I had no idea until last Wednesday night. My Libraries 2.0 class had game night which helped me explore Second Life. What is all the buzz about Second Life? After hearing brief conversations about Second Life, I was curious to explore this game. I set up my avatar and decided to explore. I had a mission! I wanted to find librarians and see how libraries present information in the virtual environment. Despite a clunky beginning, in no time, I found the scared Information Island. One complaint I often heard about Second Life is the lack of people. My experience confirmed the quiet nature of the Second Life world. However, I came across a happening university library. A reference librarian staffed the library and I had a very brief encounter. I managed to ask her how many reference questions she encounters on a daily basis. She said that it is typical to everyday reference: some days many, other days not so much. I wanted to ask some many more questions, but the library was busy. So part one of my mission accomplished: I found someone, and a librarian at that, to chat with. As for types of information available on Second Life, I actually found a special library with patent information, tips on how to use library catalogs and subject guides. I am thankful for the opportunity to explore these tools.

Interesting side note: The next day I received an email about a course called,”Libraries and Immersive Learning in 3D Virtual Environments,” offered by by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. This course is exploring Second Life as one of the 3d environments. Though the class is already in progress, the fact that these types of courses are taking place is interesting. For more information, check out this link.

Explorations in LibraryThing and MySpace

jennie03 — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:39:13 +0000

I explored Library Thing and academic libraries on MySpace. Library Thing is so simple to set up. After entering a valid username and password, I had an account and could not helping thinking, is this it?! Simplicity and user friendliness are the key components of this site. One of my favorite features is the ability to see how many members also have this book. If I have a unique book in my collection and I see other people also have it in their collection, I may be tempted to look at their collections or contact them. Overall, I like how LibraryThing packages so many options into one site: I can collect, find, discuss, and buy books. Check out my LibraryThing.

Since I am interested in academic libraries, I thought I would see how these libraries represent themselves on MySpace. I explored Brooklyn College, Perry-Castaneda Library at UT-Austin campus, and UIUC Undergrad Library and each MySpace site took a unique approach. For example, Brooklyn College currently has a Halloween theme. The libraries were promoting their services and reaching out to users. Brooklyn College also has a calendar of library happenings. These sites also promote library services, such as Brooklyn College’s calendar of library happenings and Perry-Castaneda Library’s tips on how to find books, music and movies in the library catalog. Some of the comments also had feedback about hours or book suggestions, so this tool offers another way to elicit feedback from the users. Overall, I liked Brooklyn College’s MySpace site because the site is engaging and fun while offering quality information.

IM and Reference: Can they co-exist?

jennie03 — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:59:12 +0000

I imed a reference librarian at DePaul University. We chatted for over 25 minutes – he was not busy and was so willing to share his experience. I tried to ask questions that focused on the actual experience of the im chat – what is it really like? I asked the reference librarian many open-ended questions and he often added so much information!

I asked the following questions: How long you have been doing im reference? How has it been going? Do you like it? Do you find that students take advantage of
the service? Does it ever get overwhelming? Wow was it implementing this technology; were some staff resistant? Do you notice a difference in the type of questions that are asked through im? Has im influenced the reference interview? When the librarians im, are they at the
reference desk or in an office? Do you happen to know if more students are using reference im or coming by the reference desk?

This conversation made me think about class. For example, I have read that some librarians are concerned that the reference interview is lost through iming and Brian indicated that this is not the case. He communicated that if questions are complex, the students are asked to call or come in to the library. He did indicate that one of his patrons had a complex question and could not come in. The patron indicated that he could not call or stop by because he was in class!!! I thought this example illustrates the just in time reference. We also talked about the actual technology of im and what types of chat are helpful. In his communication, he often mentioned flexibility in implementing technology. I inquired about outreach strategies, such as marketing this service. Other than the webpage, the library is not marketing im. I also asked if the library keeps usage statistics for this type of reference and had any idea how often students are using this service. All they do is mark if a question is asked; this style of marking is also done for reference questions asked at the reference desk. This quantitative method does not reflect the quality of the questions which the librarian mentioned several times. Since reference questions are down in general, the quality of questions may hold more value. This whole conversation reinforced what we are learning in class: flexibility, adaptability, reaching out to where the users are and having an open mind.

I think im reference is a great idea. Though, libraries need to make sure the staff is properly trained. I think if a service is implemented without preparation and is just a service to reach out then it can be lead to poor experiences and students may not come back. I am thinking of a few of my im reference interactions… Im reference definitely is another option and can be a way to connect the users with the information they need. I actually use im reference at work! Though iming is not a library wide practice, a couple of us communicate with each other via im. If we need to ask a question about work, it is so much easier just to im. We are in a corporate setting where time is money and we are in our own offices and hardly communicate with each other. Iming allows some of us to try to continue communicating, sharing our knowledge, and helping each other out. I have been grateful for this experience and can see how im also enhances working relationships. So often, I think people assume it can get overwhelming. However, you know if I am working on a project and cannot answer im – I ignore it until I am ready. Though actually answering complex reference questions that are time sensitive is different than asking my co-worker a question about a database.