All Good Things Must Come to an End

 I am so glad that I took this class, and would recommend it to anyone.  I learned so much, and my perspective on Web 2.0 technology has certainly changed.  Whereas I used to laugh at anyone who had a Twitter account, I can now see the benefits of the service and I have enjoyed blogging far more than I could have imagined.  Also, learning the positive and negative aspects of Content Management Systems (I keep wanting to say "CMS systems" but that's redundant) has really helped me appreciate the work of all staff members at my libraries and other facilities as well.  For my final project, I liked learning about how different libraries employ these services, and my group members Amy and Carol were top-notch, and anyone who works with them in the future will be quite lucky.  Below is my final assignment, and in the words of the great Porky Pig: "Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!"  Thanks for a great Maymester....

    

Libraries 2.0: Technology and Connectivity in Four Libraries

Amy Ellison, Carol Waggoner-Angleton, & Amy Willard

As libraries move forward with technological changes, they must also move according to societal needs and demands. Emerging Web 2.0 technologies address both technical and social requirements, as connectivity requirements increase not only for hardware and software, but also for the realm of social networking. For this examination of libraries using both web and library 2.0 technologies, we interviewed four libraries: Ingram Library at the University of West Georgia, Forsyth County Public Library, Aiken Technical College and South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina. Overall, we found that while these libraries differ in approach, they all aspire to achieve connectivity for--and communication with--their patrons.

Ingram Library at the University of West Georgia employs blogging (including an RSS feed), Facebook, and Twitter feeds to reach their patrons. The library additionally offers a “Live Chat Help” component so that patrons might request instant virtual assistance. In some cases, such as Twitter and Facebook, the library did not require research since the popular demand for those social services was so apparent; similarly, blogging became another obvious social extension for the facility(Carol Goodson, personal communication, May 29, 2012). Goodson estimated that they have more than tripled the numbers of student involvement in scheduled library activities, simply as a result of using the technology of their patrons. “Live Chat Help” remains the most often used virtual program, with an average of 30-50 assistance requests per day, although this number greatly increases during the midterm and final weeks of the semester.

Academic libraries are not the only ones benefiting from social media sites, and Donna Fowler (personal communication, May 30, 2012), programming specialist for the Forsyth County Public Library (FCPL), knows firsthand about the impact of these services. Presenting programs and special events, as well as assisting with technological upgrades at the library, has helped her bridge the gap between understanding how patrons interact with the facility in a physical and virtual way. Since FCPL’s Facebook page was created in early 2012, patrons have mentioned how convenient it is being reminded of programs on the newsfeed of a site they frequently utilize rather than having to refer to an outside source. There are only 600 or so members of the library’s group on the social media site, but the numbers are growing as the page is regularly updated and increasingly includes links to popular and newsworthy articles. Fowler mentions that the facility’s blog, created just a few months ago in conjunction with the launch of the library’s new website, still seems to be a “work in progress” because the facility is still deciding what direction they want the blog to take. To improve, librarians are researching what other libraries offer their communities on their blogs, analyzing and incorporating patron feedback in relation to the service, and training staff to update the blog and keep the information current and appealing.       

Forsyth County is not alone; in fact, some academic libraries greatly struggle to employ web 2.0 to its fullest extent. South Carolina Political Collections, for example, does not use all of the social media outlets at its disposal. While policies allow Twitter and YouTube, SCPC solely posts information about upcoming events and collections developments through their blog site (http://library.sc.edu/communications/socialMedia.html, accessed May 29, 2012). Facebook alerts followers about new blog posts rather than duplicating content (Dorothy Walker, personal interview, May 31, 2012). Similarly, Aiken Technical College Library participates in social media technology with a Meebo Me widget that provides instant messaging service between the library and users. While ATC uses a blog, Facebook and Twitter to connect with students, and the library supports these efforts by the prominent placement of icons on its homepage, there is no indication that the library itself has plans to deploy these tools (Newkirk Barnes, personal interview May 31, 2012).

For strictly informational purposes, some libraries are creating collections of information for quick public access. Ingram Library elected to create closed staff-created LibGuides, but makes certain to involve subject-specific faculty and graduate students in building these resources. Since the website is powered by Springshare, a fairly user-friendly and extremely library-oriented Content Management System (CMS), publishing and reviewing the content takes very little effort. While there was a slight learning curve, the information was extremely simple to input and edit and the staff is encouraged to freely build resources and contribute to the guide (Goodson, 2012). Most staff members seem happy to use the website, and the library has received positive feedback from departments and individual students.

Earlier this year, Forsyth County Public Library launched a new website, which included a Content Management System aimed at increasing staff productivity and efficiency, as well as made the facility’s page more accessible and user-friendly for patrons. The CMS does not have a specific name because it was created by a committee composed of IT, programming, and administration participants to fit the facility’s needs, and therefore is not powered by an external site. Fowler (2012) mentioned there has been some confusion over maintenance responsibilities or material being accidentally deleted, but the positive aspects of the CMS decidedly outweigh any negative factors. The greatest benefit is that patrons can now self-register for programs online and librarians handling the events can maintain those records, streamlining a great deal of the necessary work. In addition, with more library employees controlling the website, strained IT staff now has a greater amount of time to focus on other endeavors.     

For other libraries, social networking represents their attempt to overcome information control issues and appear more technologically connected, and they have not yet attempted CMS or Wiki projects. SCPC began their blog in 2008 to obtain direct control of their outreach content and address difficulties in updating the webpage and avoiding a long chain of command in order to institute content changes on their webpage. Aiken Technical College Library deployed the Meebo Me widget after consultation between the Learning Resources Director and the Public Services Director. Although the widget has a more streamlined web appearance and a natural learning curve, staff constraints only allow the service to be live two hours a day.

However, the common theme between 2.0 libraries, no matter their level of usage, resides within their focus on outreach. Ingram Library employs 2.0 technology in order to better connect with the Millennial student population. They recognize the desire for instant research assistance and believe that students will more readily seek virtual assistance than in-person guidance due to library anxiety. Students appear more willing to ask for help online, and they are definitely more likely to attend an event if the details are accessible through social networking sites. The ability to connect to both students and faculty on the patrons’ terms far outweighs the resource expenditure, particularly since maintaining a virtual presence typically requires very little time.

Forsyth County Public Library also uses online outreach to draw in patrons, and Fowler (2012) attributes much of the success of in-library programs to their publicity on the facility’s Facebook page. Instead of children and teens simply reading a flier with a basic description of upcoming events, they can now view photos of recent programs, including images of peers participating and crafts that are created, and decide whether they want to sign up for the next session. These pictures greatly boosted the youths’ enjoyment as well as made parents more comfortable leaving their children at the library because they can actually see what each session entails. A single click on FCPL’s Facebook page can take patrons to the library website, where they can register online for any of these programs.

SCPC uses their blog as their primary outreach tool, posting news on upcoming events, collection development, donor acknowledgements and archival issues. Not only does the blog provide SCPC news to patrons, donors and the other University Libraries, it also allows staff to teach students the importance of public relations in archival management (Walker 2012). While Facebook is primarily used for the notification of blog content updates, it has the advantage of reaching a different demographic and eliciting discussion on items the SCPC brings to their followers. In the same light, the ATC Library looks at their Meebo Me widget as a way to be more approachable to students’ questions--especially their distance education students. They also feel that their demographic finds the Meebo widget friendlier than a “formal” email (Barnes 2012).

All four libraries attempt to meet their mission and vision statements by employing Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 technologies. While the wording of these statements differs, all outline the desire to provide a range of services to meet the increasingly diverse and technologically driven needs of their patrons. Ingram Library specifically attempts to become an important point of contact and resources for students, both on-campus and off, just as Forsyth County Public Library provides service on the patrons’ terms. Even emerging 2.0 libraries such as South Carolina Political Collections and Aiken Technical College Library also desire to be accessible to patrons, although they still work to discover how to best integrate such technologies into established librarianship. Each of these 2.0-oriented libraries recognizes, to some degree, the necessity of meeting the needs of their patrons through technology, interconnectivity, and both physical and virtual outreach.

Appendix

Group Interview Questions

1.      What kinds of virtual presence does your library maintain?

2.      What system do you find most integral to your library's mission?

3.      What was the motivation or rationale for starting this social media project?

4.      Was this a project intuitively started by an individual, designed by a committee or  assigned by a senior administrator?

5.      Did the library follow a hunch or conduct market research?

6.      Were several different tools for this service evaluated, or was this tool recommended by peers or colleagues?

7.      Is this a first-time project or a replacement for a project? If it is a replacement, why move to another service?

8.      Which departments receive the most benefit from this project?

9.      Who is your average user?

10.  Do you keep user statistics on the service? If so, what type of statistics do you collect?

11.  What services have been affected by these statistics?

12.  How do you assign workflow to keep the services updated?

13.  Why does this particular workflow best achieve the service or project?

Chirp, Chirp, Chirp

There was so much virtual interaction going on for the past few weeks in this class but now that the discussion boards are through with and there's only one assignment left, I can already hear the crickets chirping.  I guess everyone is working on their final project!  I have just a couple more paragraphs to write, and then other than some editing, I guess I'll be done for the semester. Sad, but I suppose all good things have to end.  I have learned so much. Also, while I have used Google docs before, it seems easier this time around.  Maybe because before it was new to me, and now I'm comparing it to the frustration of Joomla... :) 

CMS Interview

Interview with Holly Barfield, IT specialist for Forsyth County Public Library...

1.      How and where did you hear about CMS?

I started hearing about CMS about 5 years ago.  I would see IT articles on the Internet and in popular magazines.

2.      What were your motivations to adopt CMS for its current use (library website or any other purpose)?

To make things easier.  Everything I try to do is to make things easier for staff and patrons.  We use CMS for posting items on our website.  Before CMS, it was a scheduling nightmare because we wanted to change items on the website frequently but with staff having to have IT staff post things for them, it was causing IT to be a bottleneck in the process.  By removing this bottleneck staff can work on their own time schedule and if they don’t like the posting they can edit it immediately.

3.      What was your decision making criteria for choosing the right one and meeting the library’s needs?

We built our own.  We felt like we did not need anything fancy.  We have a great web department that were able to make things happen.  With SharePoint (staff website) it was even easier because we were able to use the security area of SharePoint to lock down CMS to only approved staff.

4.      What is the name of the CMS we are using now?

It does not have a name since we built our own.

5.      What are the important benefits or advantages of CMS we are using now over the old system or another CMS system we've used in the past?

We did not use a CMS system before the previous one.

6.      Are there any disadvantages of the CMS we are using now?

It can always be better and easier to use and have more features.

7.      How was the learning curve for IT and other staff members?

I think it was easier for IT employees than other staff.  I think staff learning how to navigate and work with pictures has been the hardest.  The graphics on certain areas of the CMS have to be a certain ratio and that has been hard for staff to use stand why a picture will not work.

8.      How has the CMS and the ability for other staff members to maintain the website affected the job duties of IT staff members?  (Has it alleviated work or caused new responsibilities?)

I think that it has freed up time for IT staff to work on other tasks.

I work at the same library as Holly, and while  knew how I felt about certain aspects of our new CMS system, it was interesting to hear about its impact on the IT department.  As she mentioned, whenever there used to be an issue with the website, staff members had to send a "Track-It" to IT to fix it, even if it was a slight change such as a typo or deleting an ad for a program when the date has already passed.  It was obviously frustrating for both parties, and the CMS has alleviated some stress for every staff member.  While I use the CMS to update program registrations, I did not realize that our web department created their own system, and I am really impressed with their skills.  Thankfully, I have not had to upload any photos to the site (because I do not have those permissions) but I would not have predicted that would be the most challenging factor when it came to making a community-based site.  While the system was just launched a couple of months ago and is still new and fresh, I am glad to see how much it has benefited those in the IT department, because I know I much prefer being able to erase a registration in a snap on my own, rather than sending a request email for IT to do it and waiting for them to have time to complete the task, as well as sending me a confirmation email that my Track-It has been processed.  Overall, the CMS seems to be great for everyone, and I think it can only get better as it is further developed.

 

Joomla

This is a bit boring and pretty much like my discussion post, but...

http://amywillard.cloudaccess.net/

I found my experience with Joomla to be frustrating but also fun.  It was not very user-friendly, and was also a bit counter-intuitive.  I tried to use Joomla without watching the webinar first, and eventually gave in and went through the step-by-step process.  I find it odd that someone has to watch a pretty long tutorial in order to learn how to even do the basics on the site.  Even more peculiar is that the first step is to erase all the default data that was put in, which is a bit frustrating when trying to create a fresh, new page.  It was also pretty humorous to me that the narrator of the video strongly advised against using the stock templates that were available with the trial, and that a downloadable template that had to be found through a search engine was the recommended format.  Also, it was a bit irritating that the Cloudbase background patterns were simply listed by number, and could only be seen after saving them and going to a “front end” view.  That being said, despite all these bumps in the road, I did enjoy making my site once I got the hang of it.  I liked all of the options I had and how it was easy to insert images with text, and linking the menus to articles was not difficult at all.  Nevertheless, I feel there may be other systems more user-friendly than Joomla, and would shop around before doing anything past the demo or recommending it to others.