Do You Compute?

Yes, computers certainly have made their mark, and taken up some space in our ever popular libraries across the world. But having technology in the library to satisfy public need should not be the only goal of providing them to the public; we should be thinking ahead of how we are offering the service. Sounds like something to discuss at a conference eh?

Well it has been! and whilst I was a continent away and unable to arrange transport, sufficient funds, leave etc. some lucky people, such as the esteemed David Lee King were able to attend CIL2009 and take some lovely notes for us distance challenged types. Hell most of my favourite bloggers were there!

Reading his notes it's great to see librarians thinking about the future of how we can adapt technology to our current services, rethinking and retooling the role of libraries and the librarian. One post of interest was on training which I have found invaluable in crafting ideas for the new courses my own library will implement in the future. The most important thing I pulled from this was this:

Don’t put the cart before the horse - there are some things you have to figure out first:

• Determine what the need is first - what do they need to learn/to improve their jobs, etc
  
• Then determine who the audience is.

It also mentioned some great new tools, Talkshoe and WebJunction, and of course Twitter.

Of course, my favourite was the John Blyberg headed a presentation on Innovation Services & Practices at the Darien Library. It completely blows apart the way traditional library services are being offered by meeting users at their points of need, rather that simply persevering with a service that is old and clunky. Its really amazing to read the direction that they are going in; Open source, roaming(!!!) one-on-one reference, and Instant Messaging through Meebo (though they are moving to LibraryH3lp).

It is conferences like this that really give us time to think about what it is we are offering to the public. Rather than setting up a service they may be able to use and be interested in, why not spend the time finding out what your community would like to see, investing in their interests, adapting to their usage patterns. Most importantly Libraries should not being afraid to try new things, to emphasise a culture of change. So if your operating under an Imperial Death Star structure, blow it it Rogue Librarian Squardron Style!

Diigo

Diigo provides an easy way of sharing relevant web content with friends, colleagues and collaborators. Once signed up, you can highlight a passage of interest within a webpage and even add a sticky note with comments. You're able to then bookmark the page so you can return and read more later or share it with others via, for example, email or blog. It seems like a very useful tool for collaborators to use to communicate between meetings. It presents a way of bringing information together in a way that isn't onerous and doesn't require reinterpretation of the content for it to be shared. By creating a group, when a member finds something of interest it can easily be distributed to other group members. Groups can be made public or private allowing you to control who you are communicating with. It makes it easier to pool resources, recommend reading to others and reduce the need for duplication of searches.

Michael Stephens

Michael Stephens
Originally uploaded by laura-ann

With the announcement that Dr Michael Stephens, from the blog Tame the web, will be working with Townsville Libraries' Warren Cheetham to 'Measure the value and effect of Learning 2.0 programs in Australia'.

It is exciting news from that the first study of how effective Learning 2.0 programs are is being studied here in Australia.

I will be looking forward seeing what the studies findings are. With the Library having had the highest participation and completion of staff in the program in the state of NSW and the implementation of a committee to investigate and implement new and emerging web 2.0 technologies. It will be good to see how we as a library service have effectively used the training.