The Liminal Librarian

Moderating a track today on CIL about Innovation in Smaller Libraries,in a very weird long room with pillars and multiple screens. But that aside… session 1 is…

Sarah Houghton-Jan — The 10 LOL Cat Laws of Web Services for Smaller and Underfunded Libraries:

Photos of LOL cats — guess what they represent about what you s/b doing in your library. Presentation will be up on her site if you need a copy.

– What’s a LOLcat — cats with funny, gramatically incorrect, yet smart captions.

1) Talk with your customers — email, IM, chat widgets, VoIP (like answering a phone call, but online — if users use at work or w/ friends, like it from you), video chat (Skype, AIM), SMS (text msg reference, for ex.). UNLV IM service page. Put chat windows/assistance links where customers are upset — DLK putting chat windows in the item not found page.  Doesn’t have to be chat, can be text giving contact info. Ohio University Libraries Skype a librarian kiosks. SMS — good place to dump a few K. More texts than email are sent in US. Holds or late notices via SMS. Hack options have security and feature issues. Mosio — text a librarian — users interface on phones, librarians see and answer on PC.

2) Interact with your customers — Welcome comments on everything, respond like a human being. Ex: online books clubs mix of staff and customers. San Jose PL Teen book club on LibraryThing called “luv2read.” Get book recommendations automatically — most commonly shared — can see what friends in group are reading. Use blogs for recommended materials (each entry cb own review) or wikis (subject/age based pages with reviews) — encourage full staff participation — template with tags/categories — welcome customer comments/entries. AADL  example. Tag genre/age/format so call see all at once. Madison PL MADreads — categories instead of tags.

3) Be engaged. Service called EngagedPatrons.org — free/low-cost web 2.0 services for libraries, Glenn Peterson Hennepin County PL. If your budget under 1million$, get it for free. Events calendar w/ online reg., blogs, google maps mashups for library locations, library contact forms, RSS feeds, etc. Monterey PL example — get own look and feel.

4) Social networking. Be present where your users are, be real, be reliable and continuously new. Look at SN for kids — Disney Club Penguin, MySpace, Moshi Monsters, Tee Bee Dee. Ning, Friendster, Facebook. Ask your users what they use, be present where they are. Talk like a person, don’t be fake. Post new content, don’t leave same old stuff up for a year — SN is about change, communication, sharing. Topeka and Shawnee County/Hennepin Facebook sites — integrated with other stuff — catalog search, chat service, right in facebook page. Advertising — targeted to people in your ZIP code, etc. $10 = 5000 Facebook Flyers to targeted audiences.

5) Use multimedia — photos/images, podcasts, videocasts, games. Fingerknitting program example — photos stimulated questions (other branches wanted program, books). Westmont PL — Flickr display of new fiction, notes/links around each title that go to catalog entry for that book. San Jose PL Flickr — use for contests (teensreach tag). Exploit image generators: GeneratorBlog.blogspot.com, ImageGenerator.org, ImageChef.com — type text in, you have a cool image. Podcasting — people who can talk/sing, digital microphone (free online), Audacity (free), a Blogger blog (free). Freeafterrebate.info. Videocasting — people who aren’t camera shy, digital video camera ($100+), Avidemux editing software (free)+, A Blogger blog (free).

6) Offer treats — offer something shiny for little money — ask people what they want and then find them some. Show text a librarian to your mayor. Look at HCPL catalog — treats (related subject headings right on right), simple increase font button, link to comment, ask a librarian. Staff avatars — Nashville PL had for teen staff, ppl came in looking for people they’d seen online. Do with image generators. My account text messages (Skokie PL).

7) Free stuff — exploit the free — web hosting, statistics, and gadgets. Google webmaster central, Google analytics, wordpress.com, tinypic, google gadgets for your webpage, statcounter, google base, onestat, google sites, bravenet, gimp, yousendit, polldaddy (free polls), zamzar, colorblender, stock.xchng, webmonkey, surveymonkey.com, dzone, programmableweb, zoomerang, imageafter, openphoto. Tap google — calendar, blogger, custom search, translate, picasa, groups, docs.

Respect your customers — you never know when you’re lunch. Expect the best not the worst. Treat with respect regardless of age/which services they use.

9) Offer users choices — how to contact you, how communicate w/ them, how they find things, what they find (format/content) — e-audio books. Mashups — Library ELF (account tracking by email, RSS, text), Library LookUp (bookmarklet — page w/ ISBN, look up item in catalog), LibX toolbar (direct access web browser to catalog and more). Good catalog — think of overlay like AquaBrowser, LibraryThing for Libraries (purchased by bowker, now costs twice as much), VuFind (oss).

10) Keep going! Try new things, push admin — they like 24/7 nature of web services, minimal staffing, cheap costs, highest ROI in lib. Rejoice in failures (you’re pushing boundaries!).

Take a break.

Questions: Facebook page w/200 fans — is this a success?

Answer: Depends on your library, size of your community, what you’re trying to do with that page. 200 fans, she’d be happy, vehicle to reach 200 people at once.

Question: Bowker rep — their parent company CIG made equity investment, Bowker did not buy it, prices haven’t changed since the acquisition.

Question: Recommendation for Tech Soup (public library or 5013c — software at discounted rates).

Question: will these be on slideshare?

Answer: They will be on librarianinblack.net