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LIS-PUB-LIBS  March 2010

LIS-PUB-LIBS March 2010

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Subject:

Re: Fw: Re: Fw: Evaluating use of Web 2.0 in Libraries

From:

"Sinar, Glyn" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Sinar, Glyn

Date:

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 17:21:51 -0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (118 lines)

Apologies for cross- posting but I wanted to extend my thanks to Linda for this very succinct and reasoned reply - and to all the others who have contributed in response to my original request for information about evaluating Web 2.0  - it's not often I get the opportunity to open up such a wide ranging and mind broadening public debate!

I think the lessons I have learnt from this are, in a nutshell:

- It is possible to evaluate Web 2.0 and provide good evidence but you have to look beyond the traditional methods of counting heads etc.  (We have also started logging posts and corresponding followers on twitter etc)

- Web 2.0 is here to stay, it is as Phil Bradley points out, more a state of mind or an attitude than a set of tools and applications, so it can't be banned  

- There is a need for huge investment in Web 2.0, mainly in time, staff development and communication

- Web 2.0 needs to be embraced across the organisation because it is pointless trying to manage it or control it centrally when the community has already leapt ahead of us

I feel that I have come full circle now because one of the case studies you quote, Linda, the Get It Loud In Libraries, was started in Lancashire!
http://www.myspace.com/getitloudinlibraries  

Regards,

Glyn Sinar
Applications and Systems Senior Manager
Lancashire County Library and Information Service
Lancashire County Council 
Adult and Community Services
East Cliff
PO Box 162
PRESTON
PR1 3EA
 
Tel: 01772 534006
Fax: 01772 534880

[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda Berube
Sent: 05 March 2010 15:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: Fw: Evaluating use of Web 2.0 in Libraries

Hello

Many interesting points to consider on this and the Web2 list.  
 
I was working with public libraries, both nationally and regionally, when the 
encouragement to experiment with Web 2.0 tools started to take hold through 
numerous courses, articles, books, etc.  I myself was approached to write 
such a book, largely of the similar type of exhortation, and because I did 
believe that the Web 2.0 ethos, along with the tools themselves, had 
something to offer public libraries trying to connect with communities, I 
accepted the onerous task.  But the book, while including many inspiring 
examples, is mostly about hard lessons learned from the successes and 
failures,  and advice from public librarians which might assist their colleagues 
in ‘getting it right the first time.’  (although I’m not sure if this ever truly 
happens!)

Yes, there are the success stories (I had my pick of case studies and 
examples to include in the book), but, I would say more often than anyone 
would care to admit, there were failures, or perhaps an awful lot of sites 
suffering from benign neglect.  And some of the successes were near failures 
because of the myriad challenges public libraries have to face, even to 
implement a blog or a wiki that is hosted by a third-party supplier, never mind 
their own IT departments. The librarians I interviewed were incredibly honest 
about problems with their local authority IT, legal, and corporate 
communication departments (because even if you are using third-party wiki 
software, the local authority may discourage you from using branding that 
associates it with the site!)

As others have pointed out, cost is not the only motivation behind the 
pressure to get it right the first time.  As someone who has had my fair share 
of success and failures implementing public library cooperative services, I was 
familiar with the catalogue of obstacles listed by librarians that are placed in a 
library's path in the name of avoiding risk.  The business case need not be a 
paper exercise to please the masters:  it can be a tool of self-discovery; to 
evaluate whether a library is truly ready to be 'social'; to answer those 
questions Phil posed as well as to change its manner of interacting with 
communities.  

The original question had to do with evaluation: there has been a 
notable 'evaluation by-pass' in the use of these tools--most librarians I spoke 
with said it was too early in the process for evaluation.  But maybe it is the 
difficulty of determining success:  after all, how do most users of Facebook 
and Twitter determine success, and is that an appropriate measure for 
libraries?  Do we really want to consider success based on number of visits to 
social networking sites, when those visits have not resulted in social 
interaction with librarians and other users?  Ken spoke of the role of LMS 
suppliers and the integration of Web 2.0 tools, which called to my mind the 
current examples of social catalogues:  BiblioCommons from Canada 
(http://www.bibliocommons.com/) and SOPAC from the US  (see 
http://www.darienlibrary.org/catalog ), as well as LibraryThing for Libraries 
(http://www.librarything.com/forlibraries/) .  But, even with all this innovation 
about, the challenge is still how to get users to not only visit and take in 
information, but also to stay awhile, communicate with us and each other.  It 
was ever thus.

This has turned into a bit of a treatise for which I can only apologise and in 
compensation leave you with some great sites I found:
StoryTubes   http://www.storytubes.info/drupal/  (you’ve got to see the 
chicken girl!)

Worthingteens www.myspace.com/worthingteens (I like especially the pop-out 
music player)

Get It Loud in Libraries http://www.myspace.com/getitloudinlibraries 

Worthington Libraries-Just Read It! www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqBl2lV6dEQ  
(you’ll be rotfl!)

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