Libraries and Facebook - cautions

I posted a while back about academic libraries and Facebook and a friend sent me along some interesting cautionary links I thought I would share.

• Facebook & Privacy? a blog post from Rhonda Gonzalez of "@ the library".
• She links to a compeling video entitled: Does what happens in the Facebook stay in the Facebook?. It's short and well worth the listen.
• This came across my desk today from the Toronto Star "Facebook banned for Ontario staffers". The staff this refers to are Ontario Public Service employees. Can you believe that MySpace wasn't banned as well? I wonder why?

Encouraging reluctant web content providers to ... provide content

I'm sure you've run into them if you are a web developer... or may be you are one. The reluctant web content provider. These are people who feel they have nothing to contribute to your library web site but are veritable fonts of specialized subject information that REALLY needs to be shared.

These are the people that don't have time to learn how to create web pages or really just don't want to do it. It's shocking but there are people like that! I can completely respect people not wanting to learn another set of skills when their work lives are already crammed... that's what I'm there for in my work place. However, I want their expertise for my web site.

So I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to get them to contribute but to do so painlessly on their part. This is where my renewed interest in social bookmarking software comes in. I've tried a variety of social bookmarking software and lately I've landed on del.icio.us.

I think that this might be the way to get those reluctant web content providers to provide content!

So I've sent instructions to a few colleagues to get a del.icio.us account and how they can "send" me bookmarks they find interesting in their daily romp through the web. Here's how it would work. ---------------

1. Get an account in Del.icio.us. Open Firefox and go here to register:
   https://secure.del.icio.us/register
2. Download the Firefox Add-on to help you easily collect bookmarks (Note: this is actually step two of the registration process.) https://secure.del.icio.us/register?step2
• Click "Install extension now"
• When it's available click "Install now"
• Click "Restart Firefox"
3. You now have a "Tag" button right next to your address window in Firefox. Navigate to the page you wish to add to your del.icio.us account and click this button. You can add a description, notes, and tags to the page before saving it.
4. Add me to your network. This allows you to tag your bookmarks with my nickname and they will display in my del.icio.us account. Click on "your network". Off to the right hand side in the box under "your network" type in my nickname ... click add.

General notes:

• Don't set any bookmarks you want to share with me to "do not share". I won't be able to see them.
• When tagging the bookmarks use spaces to differentiate each tag. If you have a phrase mush it together to create your tag (e.g. evidencebasedmedicine)
• When tagging the bookmarks use a word that represents the project we are working on together. If you want some other subheading on the page; include that as a tag. this will indicate to me that this bookmark is for this particular project and not just a nifty site you want to share.

How to do this stuff.

1. Navigate to a web page.
2. Click the "tag" icon.
3. del.icio.us opens a window containing the page title and the URL. Edit the title if you choose. Add any relevant notes (I'll include these on the web page). Tag the page.
4. Under the tag field you will see a "your network" area and the tag for:mynickname. To add this tag to your tag field click on it. As you gather tags in del.icio.us you will be able to click on previously used tags instead of having to type them over and over again.

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I've set up an RSS feed on my end so that I am notified when a link is added for me. When there are a reasonable amount of sites or the person is tired of the project I'll fire them into a web page.

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to get them to remove the tag for me so that it doesn't clutter up my del.icio.us account! Perhaps someone can tell me if one of the other social bookmarking software allows you to do this?

I'll let you know if this idea is successful.

Drop me a line at: cacemlis[at]gmail.com

Facebook in libraries

I admit to being behind the times when it comes to Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and other social networking sites. I became interested when a colleague of mine gave a presentation at the Manitoba Libraries Conference earlier this month. [Note to Mark: I'm still awaiting that podcast!] It was one of those instances that you hear about something and then every time you turn around it's there. So when I tumbled across the article "Checking Out Facebook.com: The impact of a Digital trend on Academic Libraries" by Laurie Charnigo (Information Technology & Libraries; Mar 2007, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p23-34) I thought "I have to read this article". Like a lot of early adopters I had already leaped before I read this article. I had created a profile on Facebook and was eagerly seeking out old colleagues and friends to see if they were there. A surprising number are which leads me to believe that I am totally out of the loop! Back to the article... Charnigo discusses her study done in the US which was "designed to target three areas of inquiry: awareness of Facebook, practical impact of the site on library services, and perspectives of librarians toward online social networks."(pg 27) In a nutshell, according to the results of this study "[t]he overwhelming majority of librarians were aware of Facebook's existence".(pg 27) Which confirms that I am totally out of the loop. The discussion of the practical impact of the site refers to the technological impact of the site on library services such as "an increase in bandwidth, library traffic, and noise, or in use of public-access computers, scanners, or other equipment" (pg 28). The results showed minimal impact. Being a totally practical person I wanted to know from this article how I could use this software in my library, so I was particularly interested in the next section revealing librarians perspectives on this software. I didn't get much information about the practical application of Facebook in libraries but I did get a sense that librarians were interested in building a community with their students... where their students congregated and using Facebook as a marketing tool. Uses brought up in the article include: - Communication tool for student collaboration - building rapport with students - virtual extension of the campus (bringing in distance ed students) - fostering collegial bonds - using it to promote library services -- advertising library events -- study groups -- book clubs -- marketing libraries (any ideas how?) I really recommend reading this article as it gives you an idea of what issues are faced in libraries with social networking software.

A little more conference blogging

Keynote: Elizabeth Lane Lawley (Forecasting the Future) Liz Lawley - Tagging and Folksonomies Liz is a very compelling speaker. If you ever have a chance to attend one of her sessions you won't be disappointed. Linda White and Kenlyn Collins - Technology on a Shoe String

A little spot of conference blogging

Manitoba Libraries Conference (Winnipeg, MB) Keynote address: Bill Richardson Mark Leggott - Weaving a social tapestry for your library Jocelyn Phillips - E-books

Gone but not forgotten?

Okay, so maintaining this blog was a little more work and required a lot more commitment than I expected! :) I am back on the blogging circuit but a little more low key. If you're curious I can be found at: Carol's Space I hope to get back to up dating this space soon.