Posted by stephen at 1:01 PM | Comments (0)

Library Darling Meebo

Meebo is definitely a library fave. And I suspect it will remain so.

I'd recommend everyone read this report and analysis from PaidContent.org.

Highlights:

Meebo: Raising $25-$30 Million By One Report; Shifting Into Revenue Mode
- "the service is still seen as service or a product, rather than a solid business"

- "Ads Not surprising: the core revenue idea at this point is based around ads."

"The biggest revenue piece right now would be advertising... we have this thing called bubble ads on Meeb.com". It claims that for every 100 people that log into Meebo, three of them click on an ad."

- "In terms of numbers, the company claims 7.5 million uniques at Meebo.com and another 22 million across the network."

- "Besides paid premium services, there's also opportunity for sponsorship, ... "You could have sponsorships... like the Coke skin of the day. But for now, the large bulk will still be advertising."

- "We basically power consumer facing chat for entertainment media companies..." " That is the real core of the business. Meebo isn't trying to be a social net or an ad network or anything but a service that can facilitate live chat on its own site and for third parties."

- "Endgame: Ultimately, Meebo will argue that it's not just a product or a feature, but a viable ad-driven business."

- "iPhone: Unfortunately for Meebo, the iPhone SDK doesn't allow apps to run in the background"

Are you users as comfortable with Meebo ads as they are with Google ads? What types of ads are acceptable? Will library websites and operations be more ad driven in the future in order to get things 'free'.

If you're basing your operations on free stuff you need to evaluate the costs as much as you do paid stuff.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:38 PM | Comments (1)

March 18, 2008

Digital Photography in Libraries

A nice link list over on the Swiss Army Librarian or, The Hitchhiker's Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk. Brian Herzog has assembled a list of
Online Photo Tools to support a course he's offering.

Steal this idea.

What idea?

Just two:

1. Make sure you have a system wide Flickr account (or whatever) to capture all the photos of your library and events. No more losing photos in drawers, on a plethora of workstations and you can caption and index them too.

2. This is a hot topic and you've certainly got a collection of the books to support this work or hobby. It would be a fairly simple program to take people on a tour of these websites (sort of 25 digital photo sites in 50 minutes?)

3. Learn how to make cool posters and signs.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)

Scholr 2.0: a white paper by Scholars Portage

From the good folks at OCUL, a think piece on the next generation of scholarly portals.

Scholr 2.0: a white paper by Scholars Portage

Executive Summary

"This document (pdf) was created to highlight opportunities and drive discussion for the OCUL consortium in both the short term through the launch of a new Scholars Portal server in 2008, and in the long term by incorporating more 'social' means of sharing and organizing information within OCUL's Scholars Portal and the larger academic community that it serves. It was created by Scholars Portage librarians subgroup of the Scholars Portal Public Services Advisory Group.

With the implementation of Scholars Portal 2, a replacement for the existing online journal hosting service of Scholars Portal, comes a great opportunity to incorporate new features and new services to the OCUL community of students and researchers. This document was created with the intention of starting a discussion among OCUL librarians about what we would like to see be made available.

Our white paper begins with a brief a survey of the landscape and a discussion of seven areas that are challenges to our current environment:

• User expectations are not being met
• Academic work is social
• Citations are hard work
• Academic work is not connected
• Ascendancy of Web 2.0 applications
• Our advanced features are not being used
• Metrics of scholarly authority are changing

Recognizing that many of these areas overlap, we suggest three main areas, with specific recommendations for each, where our institutions can help to alleviate these pressures.

Enhance and improve the user interface
• Enrich Scholars Portal content by bringing in metadata from sources outside the journal repository
• Explore the implementation of controlled vocabulary, thesauri and authority control
• Add user tagging functionality

Connect the citation network to user workflow
• Provide table of contents (TOC) RSS feeds with links that facilitate authentication. If it is possible, allow users to generate their own RSS feeds.
• Provide users of scholarly resources with social bookmarking services
• Consider services that support the whole of the user’s research process and the development of online space for OCUL research communities.
• Seek means for Scholars Portal to be integrated into Learning Management Systems used by OCUL

Embrace standards and technologies that will allow present and future network discovery systems to make use of what we offer
• Provide both permalinks as well as COinS OpenURLs in the Scholars Portal server and to encourage OCUL libraries to adopt their own versions of LibX or promote other COinS readers
• Investigate how to take advantage of the attribute-based information that Shibboleth can provide
• Consider what semantic metadata could be provided through Scholars Portal

It is planned that a demo of the new server will be made available to OCUL librarians in October of 2007 and a beta version be developed for the spring of 2008. We heartily invite readers to comment.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary
1.0 Introduction
2.0 The Landscape
2.1 User expectations are not being met
2.2 Academic work is social
2.3 Citations are hard work
2.4 Academic workflow is not connected
2.5 Ascendancy of Web 2.0 applications
2.6 Our advanced features aren't used
2.7 The new metrics of scholarly authority
3.0 Unlocking Opportunity: Scholars Portal 2
3.1 Surfacing metadata
3.1.1 XML+XQuery=data and content happiness
3.1.2 Metadata enrichment
3.1.3 Controlled vocabulary and thesauri
3.1.4 Tagging, tag clouds and folksonomies: creating meaning and forging connections
3.2 Connecting the citation network to workflow
3.2.1 RSS Feeds
3.2.2 Social Bookmarking
3.2.3 Collaborative research spaces
3.2.4 Working within Learning Management Systems (LMS)
3.3 Embracing standards
3.3.1 Permanent URLs and COinS
3.2.2 Shibboleth
3.3.3 The Semantic Scholars Portal
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Histories and biographies
References"

Posted by stephen at 3:25 PM | Comments (0)

Other ways to check collections

Are you into classics in your collections? Are your users?

Maybe these lists would make a neat display or reading list/program.

100 best first lines from novels

100 Best Last Lines from Novels [PDF]

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:21 PM | Comments (0)

The Introvert Advantage

Most people are introverts according to the studies. I'm not but I certainly do see the price I pay for being an [extreme] extrovert. The list is too long to go into there.

Anyway, I got some insights from this blog posting at SLAW.ca:

Networking for Introverts by Allison Wolf on March 16th, 2008.

Read and learn.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:15 PM | Comments (1)

Reading Aloud

I've never played with this sort of tool before on the web but Mashable links to this one:

ReadTheWords - Free Service That Reads Your Text Aloud
By Stan Schroeder on Web 2.0

"ReadTheWords is a free online service that will read any text you enter aloud. There are many ways to do this, but this site distinguishes itself with several interesting options."

I'll bet there are plenty of uses for this sort of tool for many library users.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:12 PM | Comments (1)

Web 2.0 and Booklovers

Ellyssa Kroski points to this great posting:

80 Online Resources for Book Lovers

Zigmas Bigelis has created a giant list of 80 tools and applications in these categories:

Social Networking for Book Lovers
E-books
Online Bookstores
Find the Best Prices for Books
Audiobooks
Study Guides and Summaries
Library Resources
Bibliography and Research
Book Exchanges/Swapping
Online Documents
What to Read
Miscellaneous

The list is nicely linked and worth mining for ideas. There has been more push back on 2.0 ideas lately - some from the contingent who want to push libraries back into the book warehouse box. Honestly, what a crock! If you can't find a 2.0 type tool that meets your organization's primary mission and mandate, don't use it. But those who say don't do it at all and stick to your knitting are just dinosaurs. It's one thing to make personalized book suggestions to one user when asked and quite a bigger thing to take that suggestion and put it on a library blog or make a Squidoo page or create a bunch of delicious links. Adapting that Amazon type stuff just makes sense.

Remember, some libraries banned novels in the early years, I couldn't get Hardy Boys when I was akid, and some libraries wouldn't take phone questions. I'm not going out on a limb to say they were dead wrong.

I just received Elyssa Kroski's new book, Web 2.0 for Librarians and Information Professionals (Neal-Schuman, 2008). I'd say that might be a great place to mine for some 2.0 ideas that align with your organization's mandate.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

State of the Internet

TechCrunch has a great summary of the charts from the new comScore report on the State of the Internet.

The Web in Charts—Google vs. Microsoft-Yahoo vs. China
By Erick Schonfeld on Yahoo

"comScore that paints a picture of global competition on the Web."

Charts include:

Most Internet Users by Country
Dominant Local Players in their Home Markets.
Worldwide Online Category Growth vs. Penetration
Worldwide Growth of Top Social Networking Sites
Search Share: Top 10 Search Sites
Google Share in Selected Markets
% of Paid Ads and Clicks (by Search site)
Publisher Share of Total Display Ads
Total Worldwide Webmail Services

The position of China in this space is intriguing. The Olympics wll bring greater share this summer. And there are sleepoing giants in India and other Asian and South Asian countries. Also, take a look at that webmail number and imagine the opportunity in the 'cloud' and wemail ads. It's far bigger than search and the combination of Yahoo! and MS would be interesting. I wonder if ad blockers will be developed for webmail or will they be integrated in a different way?

I wonder where all libraries combined, worldwide, would fit in this ranking. We don't measure our value to advertisers but I'll bet our combined clicks and presence measures better than we might suspect.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:10 PM | Comments (0)

Magical Libraries

LIS News points to this wonderful blog posting of pictures of magical libraries. it may look a little Harry Potteresque, but I love them. I've even seen a few libraries that actually look like these. It makes you want to be there!

Wonderful. I tell ya, if I ever build my own home, a lyrical beautiful home library is on my must have list. And it's gotta have a wine-coloured, button back leather chair.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:05 PM | Comments (0)

Would you buy Yahoo!? Would investors invest in libraries?

Yahoo’s Three-Year Plan: Grow Revenues 73 Percent By Focusing on Display Ads, Mobile, and Better Search By Erick Schonfeld on Yahoo

"Today, (March 18) Yahoo filed a presentation detailing its three-year financial plan that management gave to its board of directors in December, before Microsoft’s unsolicited bid. Yahoo is projecting revenues after traffic acquisition costs (TAC)—i.e., what it shares with other Websites that run Yahoo ads—to grow from $5.1 billion in 2007 to $8.8 billion in 2010."

It's an interesting review of the insider thinking in the search space at a time of extreme change. I undertsand that this was done about December 2007. Of course, the stock and currency markets have changed quite a bit since then. I wonder if Yahoo! is worth less from the shareholder POV for their delaying tactics. Given that a few are suing I think a some stockholders think so.

This is an interesting example of the arguments put forward to investors and bankers in the search and content space. I think it's worth reading.

I wonder if libraries can we do a similar presentation about our value to our investors (the public for instance). What is our marker - our impact measure - not revenue but circulation, visits, websites hits, or more? What is the library's real ROI and how do we compare across types, branches, systems, consortia, etc.? What is your growth plan for through 2010?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:53 PM | Comments (1)

Managing Tomorrow's People: The Future of Work to 2020

This is something I am reading right now. It's simple and engaging report that comes from PricewaterhouseCoopers. It is free with simple registration.

Managing Tomorrow's People: The Future of Work to 2020

http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/3A8D7B25C99752A085257369004453C9

I haven't finished it yet but I nthought more of you would find it interesting - especially those in specialized libraries. If your position supports people's work, then this report starts a good discussion about the role of libraries, information and librarians.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2008

The Text Generation Gap

This trend is only emerging clearly i North America now. It's been the norm in places like the UK, Europe and ANZ when I visited there. Many kids had two phones so they could take advantage of different plans for voice and TXT.

The venerable New York Times is taking notice. As usual there's the veil of disrespect and distrust for any youthful trend or behaviour. Here's a link:

Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)

“Text messaging, in particular, has perhaps become this generation’s version of pig Latin. For dumbfounded parents, AT&T now offers a tutorial that decodes acronyms meant to keep parents at bay. “Teens may use text language to keep parents in the dark about their conversations by making their comments indecipherable,” the tutorial states. Some acronyms meant to alert children to prying eyes are POS (“parent over shoulder”), PRW (“parents are watching”) and KPC (“keeping parents clueless”).”

On a related note, read this post for a link to a test about those ringtones that mostly only teens and your dog/cat can hear! I must be near deafness.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:20 PM | Comments (0)

Getting books to move

Lots of interesting stuff this week (at least to me).

I was thrilled to see this graphic.

Image: www.flickr.com/photos/davepattern/2327458116/

(Check out Colourphon)

Have you ever done colour-blocked displays of books? Did you know this can increase circulation? I'm not talking about books dispoayed by btopic, but just based on the colour of the cover!

Here's some headers (Be imaginative with a colour printer):

Better Read than Red

Extreme Reading in Black and Blue

Orange You Glad We Have Some Great Stuff To Read

Think In The Pink

Mellow Yellow Reading

Black and White and Read All Over

Brown Books to Borrow

Reduce. Re-Use, Recycle - Borrow a Green Book for Earth Day

Books for Ransom (Make the sign out of letters cut from the newspaper)

Green Books and Ham (Displayed with ith a stuffed pig)

Also, did you see this? Borders Bookostores did some research and in-store tests. It has found a simple way to boost sales. According to the Wall Street Journal the retailer is displaying three times as many books "face out." Shelf Awareness notes that " ... The new approach has led to sales increases 'in the double digits' and has led to the removal of 5%-10% of the average store's titles -- many of which sell only one copy a year in each store." "The change will be apparent in most Borders stores within six weeks and be most noticeable in categories like children's, food, cooking, travel, art and photography but less so in fiction."

Interesting. I wonder how much of our collection is face-out and how much more we can do to increase circ. I know lots of libraries are doing a lot of interesting stuff. These tactics are cheap and cheerful.

I was inspired by a presentation yesterday by Joan Bernstein and Kathy Schalk-Greene about great techniques for libraries to increase circulation. Learn more at their website TRADING SPACES
REINVENTING THE LIBRARY ENVIRONMENT

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:00 AM | Comments (4)

AOL Bebo

So AOL buys Bebo, one of the biggest global social sites, for $850,000,000.

And I think that breathes a little life into AOL. It also makes any AOL - Yahoo deal very unlikely.

And Murdoch says he's not buying Yahoo!....

So, I'll go out on a limb. I think MicroHoo is pretty certain.

Hmmmm.

The playground is getting even more interesting.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:43 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2008

Influential YouTubes

Here's the list of YouTubes I showed or at least had on the list to show at one of the seesions in Florida last week. I find them influential or interesting. There's a bit of variety.

Are You Relevant

http://www.mediasauce.com/afa/

Library Dominoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwihz7iZlx0&search=library%20dominoes

Did You Know - Shift Happens

http://www.glumbert.com/media/shift

The Librarian and the IT Professional

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYwoHCdIDKU

A Vision of Students Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=related

Web 2.0 . . . The Machine is Us/ing Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Information R/evolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM

Finding Time at Penn State Libraries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKvR0OC4nYc

Book Help Desk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek

Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 - The Richter Scales

http://kara.allthingsd.com/20071218/here-come-another-another-bubble/

Can't Touch This Perceptive Pixel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGDNFpOMcA

From Ape Man to Computing Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL_4xF9ItZ4

Conversation with Stephen Abram

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd_7VZF5kyk

Scary Mary Poppins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic&eurl


Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

I almost cried watching this YouTube video. It was created by bjnesbitt to inspire K-12 teachers and librarians.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

It echos the scholars one by Michael Wesch.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2008

BookNet Presentation

I had the opportunity to speak in my hometown to a group of publishers of all types. The BookNet Technology Forum 2008 was a very interesting event so I stayed for the whole day and listened to everyone.

Information 3.0: The 2.0 Phenomenon on Steroids
March 6, 2008

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)

March 8, 2008

North Suburban Library System

I visited the North Suburban Library System for a workshop and it was great fun.

Next Generation Libraries: The Social Web 2.0
North Suburban Library System, March 4, 2008

I even got to do a podcast with Sarah, the director, and got into her regular column in the local paper!

Cool.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)

March 7, 2008

Reading - Up or Down are Different Facets of the Definition

A colleague (Thanks James) sent this to me last week. I mmight have blogged this earlier, but I do think it's worth reading - critically - too.

To Read or Not to Read: a Question of National Consequence - Nov 2007

"To Read or Not To Read gathers and collates the best national data available to provide a reliable and comprehensive overview of American reading today. While it incorporates some statistics from the National Endowment for the Arts' 2004 report, Reading at Risk, this new study contains vastly more data from numerous sources. Although most of this information is publicly available, it has never been assembled and analyzed as a whole. To our knowledge, To Read or Not To Read is the most complete and up-to-date report of the nation's reading trends and-perhaps most important-their considerable consequences.

"To Read or Not To Read relies on the most accurate data available, which consists of large, national studies conducted on a regular basis by U.S. federal agencies, supplemented by academic, foundation, and business surveys. Reliable national statistical research is expensive and time-consuming to conduct, especially when it requires accurate measurements of various subgroups (age or education level, for example) within the overall population. Likewise, such research demands formidable resources and a commitment from an organization to collect the data consistently over many years, which is the only valid way to measure both short and long-term trends. Few organizations outside the federal government can manage such a painstaking task. By comparison, most private-sector or media surveys involve quick and isolated polls conducted with a minimal sample size.

"When one assembles data from disparate sources, the results often present contradictions. This is not the case with To Read or Not To Read. Here the results are startling in their consistency. All of the data combine to tell the same story about American reading.

"The story the data tell is simple, consistent, and alarming. Although there has been measurable progress in recent years in reading ability at the elementary school level, all progress appears to halt as children enter their teenage years. There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans. Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates. These negative trends have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications.

"How does one summarize this disturbing story? As Americans, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (The shameful fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.) With lower
levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural
life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.

Full-text: http://www.nea.gov/research/ToRead.pdf

Link to Reading at Risk: http://www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf

I still have some personal issues with the very narrow definition of reading (excluding many valid forms of reading and pretty much ignoring that using the web alone requires reading skills and neglecting to note that adding additional reading tasks to a 24 hour day and needing to sleep would necessarily reduce the time spend in literary reading), but the report is still amunition in any library's arsenal. Either way, it serves a purpose.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:39 PM | Comments (0)

Million Book Libraries for All - Consequences

This seems to be my day for posting neat things to read. This new report from a recent seminar discusses the BIG questions about what changes will be wrought by millions of digital books and what are the intended and unintended consequences:

• What is the problem? How does access to large corpora of digital materials change that problem?
• What services do scholars need?
• How do we manage digital collections when the digital material is abundant rather than selective?
• What systems or infrastructure is necessary to provide services and materials to scholars?

Many More than a Million:
Building the digital environment for the age of abundance

Report of a One-Day Seminar on Promoting Digital Scholarship
Sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources
November 28, 2007

Final Report March 1, 2008

Table of Contents
Context
The problem
Why multi-million book libraries are different
What services are needed?
Collections
Systems
Major Questions
Recommendations
Acknowledgements
List of Participants

Lots of food for thought here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:31 PM | Comments (0)

Micro-blogging

This CommonCraft YouTube video is making the rounds.

It is called Twitter in Plain English. It's less than 2 1/2 minutes long.

So far, it gives the best explanation I've seen so far about why Twittering your tweets - microbloggin' to your peeps - is becoming so popular.

Anyway, you don't have to twitter and you may think twittering is for twits but you'll understand it better if you watch the video.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)

The Impact of Mobile

It is widely predicted that mobile access to information, music, video, games, ringtones and other entertainment will soon predominate. The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a new study on mobile access. Here's some highlights from their press release:

Mobile Access to Data and Information

WASHINGTON: Some 62% of adult Americans have taken advantage of mobile access to digital data and tools. The Pew Internet Project's new report, entitled Mobile Access to Data and Information, examines mobile access in two ways and finds that:

58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) to do at least one of ten mobile non-voice data activities, such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, looking for maps or directions, or recording video.

41% of adult Americans have logged onto the internet on the go, that is, away from home or work either with a wireless laptop connection or a handheld device.

Overall, 62% of adult Americans have either accessed the internet with a wireless connection away from home or work or used a non-voice data application using their cell phone or PDA, according to the Pew Internet Project's December 2007 survey.

"People's growing reliance on their cell phones, together with wireless internet access from laptops, suggests a shift in expectations about cyberspace," said John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of the Pew Internet Project and author of the report. "For many people, access to digital information and resources is an 'always present' utility for answering questions and documenting what is going on around them through photos or video recording."

Overall, 75% of all American adults say they own cell phones. Here's how the data breaks out when looking at non-voice data activities people access from their cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDA), with percentage represented as a share of those with cell phones or PDAs.
- Send or receive text messages: 58% have done this at some point, with 31% saying they do this on a typical day.
- Take a picture: 58% have taken a picture with their device; 15% say they do this on the typical day.
- Play a game: 27% have played a game on their handheld device, with 8% saying they do this on a typical day.
- Send of receive email: 19% have done this, with 8% saying they do this on a typical day.
- Access the internet for news or other information: 19% have used their handheld device for such information access, with 7% saying they do this on the average day.
- Record a video: 18% have done this with their handheld device, with 3% say they shoot a video on their cell phone on the typical day.
- Play music: 17% do this with their cell or PDA, 7% on the typical day.
- Send or receive instant messages: 17% have used their device for IM-ing, and 6% saying they do this on the average day.
- Get maps or directions: 14% say they have gotten maps or directions with their device; 3% do this on the typical day.
- 10% have watched a video on their handheld device, with 3% saying they do this on the average day.

Young adults (those between the ages of 18 and 29) are most likely, on a typical day, to use their cell phone or PDA to access a non-voice data application; 73% with wireless handheld devices do so. This compares to the average of 42% of those with cell phones or PDAs who use a non-voice data application on their devices on the typical day.

More striking is use among African Americans and Latinos. Some 56% of English-speaking Hispanics with a wireless handheld device use a non-voice data or information application on the average day, and 50% of African Americans with wireless handhelds do so. These groups lagged in "desktop" online access in the late 1990s and early part of the decade, but the report shows a very different pattern for wireless access on the go. African Americans and English-speaking Hispanics are more likely than white Americans to use cell phones or PDAs for non-voice data applications.

The report also suggests that email is alive and well, even though sending text-messages is very popular, especially among young adults. On the average day, 60% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 with cell phones or PDAs send or receive text messages, while about the same share (62%) of internet users in this age group send or receive email on the typical day.

"Notwithstanding predictions of email's demise, it remains an important part of people's electronic communications, even among users of text-messaging," Horrigan said. "The different tools may serve different functions, "with texting a way to stay in touch with friends, and email more oriented to officialdom, such as communicating with co-workers or institutions."

The report also documents how many Americans have connected to the internet with a laptop or other wireless-enabled device away from home or work. Some 52% of internet users have done this at some point. Usage patterns for this type of wireless access (e.g., logging on to WiFi networks) are similar to those for non-voice data access using cell phones or PDAs, with young Americans, blacks, and English-speaking Hispanics being the most likely users of wireless while away from home or work.

The data for this report was gathered through telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates between October 24, 2007 and December 5, 2007, among a sample of 2,058 adults, aged 18 and older, with 500 respondents contacted on their cell phones. The sample has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

Pew Internet and American Life Project is a non-profit, non-partisan initiative of the Pew Research Center that produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care, and civic/political life. Support for the Pew Internet Project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The full report f(12 page PDF) or free is here.

Pretty interesting,

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:17 PM | Comments (0)

The Internet’s Impact on Museums and Libraries

IMLS Announces Results of Study on the Internet’s Impact on Museums and Libraries

MIAMI, FL—Institute of Museum and Library Services Director Anne-Imelda Radice released results of InterConnections: A National Study of Users and Potential Users of Online Information March 6 at the 9th annual WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World in Miami. This new report offers insight into the ways people search for information in the online age, and how this impacts the ways they interact with public libraries and museums, both online and in person.

“Museums and libraries are alive and well in the digital world!” Radice said. “The InterConnections report shows how people currently search for information and makes the case that the libraries and museums must provide service both online and in person.”

IMLS sponsored this national study through a cooperative agreement with a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill research team led by José-Marie Griffiths and Donald W. King, recognized leaders in information research. Their findings are based on five surveys of 1,000 to 1,600 adults each that were conducted during 2006. The study found that:

Libraries and museums are the most trusted sources of online information among adults of all ages, education levels, races, and ethnicities. Libraries and museums rank higher in trustworthiness than all other information sources including government, commercial, and private Web sites. The study shows that the public trust of museums and libraries migrates to the online environment.

The explosive growth of information available in the “Information Age” actually whets Americans’ appetite for more information. People search for information in many places and since the use of one source leads to others, museums, public libraries, and the Internet complement each other in this information-rich environment.

The Internet is not replacing in-person visits to libraries and museums and may actually increase onsite use of libraries and museums. There is a positive relationship between Internet use and in-person visits to museums and public libraries.

The InterConnections report provides evidence that public libraries and museums are thriving in the Internet Age as trusted providers of information to people of all ages.

To view the report, please go to http://interconnectionsreport.org.

The 2008 WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World on March 6, 2008. The annual late winter WebWise Conference draws museum, library, information systems, and other professionals to explore new research and innovation in digital technology.

The 2008 conference, co-hosted by IMLS and The Wolfsonian–Florida International University (The Wolfsonian–FIU), with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, highlights the growing convergence between libraries and museums in collection and information management. For more information, go to http://webwise2008.fcla.edu.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

Now that's a useful study to quote and spread widely through every library website, and blog, eh?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:09 PM | Comments (0)

I want my mini-projector

Gizmodo reports that the "race to release the world's first mobile projector continues to heat up with the word that 3M has found a "leading consumer electronics company" to help get its product out the door. It appears that the product in question is the same half-inch think LED illuminated projection engine that 3M was shopping around back in January. ... Estimates put the price point of the device at around $300-$400 at launch with prices falling to $150 in five years."

Too cool. My dream of projecting PPT from my phone gets closer every day. Death by PPT reaches hallway coversations!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:02 PM | Comments (0)

Adult Internet Literacy Idea

This CIO.com article just screams library-evening-event.

How to Defend Your Online Reputation: Five Tips
by Dan Tynan, PC World, February 26, 2008

The article expands on and makes site recommendation for these top five hits:

1. Google Yourself
2. Comb the Web
3. Opt Out Early and Often
4. Do Your Own Background Check
5. Defend Your Reputation

It's like story-telling for adults. Play truth or dare. Take names from the audience.

Seriously. It's a perfect literacy event for the 21st century.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 7:53 PM | Comments (1)

Second SLA President’s Column

Here's a copy of my second column as SLA President. It is in the March 2008 issue of Information Outlook.

Putting Meat on the Bones of Innovation Ideas

In this column I announce the following groups have been formed to do great things for SLA members:

1. Cindy Romaine is leading a large team of SLA volunteers and staff to build and promote the SLA Innovation Laboratory. This will be free to members on the SLA website as a virtual space that will have dozens of licensed and free software as well as thousands of video tutorials for SLA members to engage in learning useful technology, management and leadership skills.

2. Jill Hurst-Wahl is leading a small team of SLA volunteers to create a play area in Second Life for SLA.

3. Deb Hunt is leading our SLA Learning 2.0 team of SLA volunteers. The goal is to launch an international SLA version of the successful and innovative 23 Things, 15 minutes-a-day learning strategy at our annual conference in Seattle in June.

4. Gayle Gossen and Christina de Castell are leading the SLA First Five Years Task Force to survey and offer great learning and networking opportunities for new information professionals.

We also need to spend time in 2008 reinforcing to all members the wonderful progress SLA has made in developing a modern learning suite of services available exclusively to SLA members, including the free eBrary collection of over 1000 management and leadership e-books, thousands of CLICK University courses, degrees and certificate programs and the free course of the month, the free SLA IRC Factiva alerts as well as the free SLA NewsGator information pro RSS feeds. There's a lot more but this is enough to prove that there's a ton of value in our SLA membership and what you get for your member ID and password.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)

20 Things to Watch

So, what’s on my list of things to pay extra special attention to? When we’re deluged, swamped and overwhelmed by news and blog postings and other media, what do I use as my filter to trap just the important stuff that will matter to libraries? I am not going to purport that this column lists everything I pay attention to but it is a basic list of the things that I think will have a big impact on enterprises, libraries, information and librarians in the next five years. This article lists, in no particular order, 20 of the ones I think are worth watching. In the messy world of environmental and technology scanning nothing comes neatly packaged or sorted.

Information Outlook, Mar. 2008 Issue
20 Things to Watch

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:39 PM | Comments (0)

March 5, 2008

Defining the User Experience

One of the best blogs I know on user experience is Logic+Emotion. This is the personal blog of David Armano who is VP of Experience Design with Critical Mass, a professional services firm that works on creating outstanding experiences.

His great strength is in creating fantastic visuals. He allows you to re-use his creations in your work as long as you give cerdit (see here).

Here are some of the amazing examples of the clarity he brings to a complex problem:

If you care about the ultimate user experience, there's a lot to learn from this blog.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

Cataloguing Humour

I missed this earlier . . . but in light of testimony before Congress maybe it deserves wider distribution.

“Steroid” Scandal Rocks Major League Libraries
By Daniel Cohen - Special Correspondent for Information Science and Levity
Washington, DC | December 14, 2007 (1 page PDF)

Funny. Or is it... ;-)

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)

Top 100 Search Engines

Just in case you're still waiting for a better or alternative search engine (grin), here's another posting of the list of the top 100 searach engines.

Top 100 Search Engines

Get the entire Top 100 list here as .xls The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, March 2008

and here as .pdf The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, March 2008

Of course many of these depend on the original crawls from Yahoo!, MSN or Google.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:31 AM | Comments (0)

Managing Your Online Reputation

Someone asked me after a workshop yesterday about online reputation. There are many ways to track and manage your online reputation. This is just another one of those web safetty, internet safety, privacy, etc. skills.

Duct Tape Marketing has a list of 34 Online Reputation Management Tools.

This is a good list to review and use in our overall literacy training.

Ultimately your reputation may end up having a rating, such as the buyer ratings in eBay. It will be interesting to see this concept extended to tags and other online recommendations.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:20 AM | Comments (0)

March 4, 2008

And then there are two?

Well we started 2008 with these top (by far) four:

Google
MSN
Yahoo!
Ask

No longer.

Ask quit the wide search business today. See their stuff here and commentary here and here and here. They laid off 8% of their workforce (or 40 real blood and guts people) including the beloved Gary Price, who is, as usual thoughtful, gentlemanly and philosophical here. All the best Gary. You're going to do great.

Rumours are that Yahoo! and MS are deep in 'secret' talks (and it seems likely). Yahoo! continues to release new products and announcements at such a pace that it seems that Yahoos just want them to see the light of day for a brief moment of sunshine. If I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with a neat new product, I'd induce in this environment too.

Anyway, are we heading to Spring conference season with two left standing - MicroHoo and Google?

Is LibraryLand finally ready to offer a compelling alternative to ad supported search?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)

Internet Safety

I need to post this link just so I can find it again. It is so very hard to find balanced research on the issue of internet safety for kids.

Online “Predators” and Their Victims: Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment
Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, and Kimberly J. Mitchell University of New Hampshire
Michele L. Ybarra Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc.

This blog posting points to more balanced research and reporting.

Please don't send me a bunch of other stuff. I have easy access to that already.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:56 AM | Comments (0)

Are TV and Video Habits Changing?

Picked up from ResourceShelf.

blinkx Survey of TV and Online Video Habits Reveals Surprising User Behavior »
Double Dipping, Typers vs. Talkers and Media Multitasking Stand out as Common Activities

blinkx had Harris Interactive do a survey for them about television and online video viewing habits. It's very interesting and hints at the changes coming for those libraries that invest in CD-Rom, DVD, YouTube, and other streaming media. I really like the distinction between talkers vs. typers and the concept of virtual double dippers.

Survey Highlights

"A summary of some other highlights from the survey include:

78% of adults who watch television use the web while doing so

35% report doing so often or always

62% of double-dippers surf for content related to what they're watching

40% of them look for products/services that appeared in or were advertised during the program they're watching

39% of them look for upcoming/related events

When it comes to watching video or television content online, twice as many online adults typically watch full-length television shows, movies, or sporting events, as compared to user-generated content (25% vs. 13%, respectively).

When it comes to finding Internet video content, consumer behavior is almost equally divided between search engines and users going directly to content owner Web sites"

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)

Congratulations Helene Blowers

The awesome Helene Blowers wins a well deserved award from ALA LITA.

Congratulations!

Stephen

For Immediate Release,
March 3, 2008

Blowers named 2008 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award winner

CHICAGO - Helene Blowers has been named the winner of the 2008 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology. Emerald and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association, sponsor the award.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement in communicating to educate practitioners within the library field in library and information technology. It consists of $1,000 and a certificate of merit.

Helene Blowers is the Director of Digital Strategy for the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, Ohio. Previous to her current position, she served as the Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), in Charlotte, N.C. She provided leadership for many award-winning library services including StoryPlace.org, BookHive.org and Readersclub.org. But perhaps the best known of her many accomplishments was her role as the architect and developer of “Learning 2.0: 23 Things”, an online discovery program designed to encourage library staff to explore new technologies. The application is remarkable for the innovative approach it employs but also for its profound impact on the world of technology training for library staff. To date, more than 200 libraries have created and delivered their own versions, including a number of libraries outside the United States. Learning 2.0 opens up the world of Web 2.0 to new participants, inviting personal initiative and encouraging experimentation. All the blog posts and podcasts that were created for the program have been licensed for re-use under Creative Commons, allowing libraries everywhere to create their own Learning 2.0 programs.

Blowers has extended her contributions with many presentations to groups all over the country. She co-authored “Weaving a Library Web: A Guide to Developing Children's Websites” and actively engages the library community through her blog at LibraryBytes.com. Her work has resulted in increased familiarity and innovation in Web-related technology, making technology more accessible to library staffs throughout the world.

The award will be presented at the LITA President's Program on Sunday, June 28, at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) members are information technology professionals dedicated to educating, serving and reaching out to the entire library and information community. LITA is a division of the American Library Association.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

Upcoming SirsiDynix Institute Event

Upcoming SirsiDynix Institute Event

Mastering the Business Case Document with Ulla de Stricker
Date: Mar 12, 2008
Start Time: 11 a.m. Eastern
Length: 1 hour

Learn from a master how to nail a business case document: During her decades of experience, Ulla noticed how difficult it can be for information professionals to construct compelling business cases - largely due to the fact that proposals in the information and library arena often deal with "soft" benefits and impossible-to-prove returns on investment. So she wrote a book to help with the challenge: Business Cases for Info Pros: Here's Why, Here's How, that will be published in Spring 2008 by Information Today. The seminar covers the main points in the book and explains step by step the progression of elements that must be present in business case documents in order to address decision makers' concerns and goals.
Ulla de Stricker —Consultant, de Stricker Associates

Ulla de Stricker, in consulting practice since 1992, helps clients deal with the full gamut of knowledge management challenges, bringing to bear decades of experience. Since the late 1970s, Ulla de Stricker held information industry positions with responsibility in the areas of strategy, design, and market client relations. She managed the Canadian operations for DIALOG in the 1980s and built the electronic publishing venture for a Canadian unit of Thomson in the early 1990s. She is well known for her bold vision of the future of the library profession and is a popular speaker at information conferences internationally. http://www.destricker.com

Register for free here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:33 AM | Comments (0)

Cereals Solutions

Rory pointed to this and I was laughing out loud.

Cereals Solutions

Of course, part of the humour for me is our good partnership with the folks at Serials Solutions for so many things federated.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:29 AM | Comments (1)

"The High Cost of Not Finding Information"

Check out Ulla de Stricker's blog. Her latest posting is a commentary on the new 2008 IDC / LexisNexis study called "The High Cost of Not Finding Information".

From the press release titled "National Workplace Survey Reveals American Professionals Overwhelmed, Headed for “Breaking Point”:

"• Sixty-two percent of professionals report that they spend a lot of time sifting through irrelevant information to find what they need; 68 percent wish they could spend less time organizing information and more time using the information that comes their way;

• Workers admit that not being able to lay their hands on the right information at the right time impedes their ability to work efficiently; 85% agree that not being able to access the right information at the right time is a huge time-waster;

• More than 40 percent of the survey participants indicate an inability to handle future increases in information flow;

• While an average workday for white collar workers is 8.89 hours, the survey finds that on average, 7.89 working hours are used conducting research, attending meetings, and searching for previously created documents, and;

• White collar professionals spend an average of 2.3 hours daily conducting online research, with one in ten spending four hours or more on an average day."

Also, you might remember this Outsell study as well:

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)

March 3, 2008

E-Book Benefits

In case you didn't know, it is Read an Ebook Week. This is an annual event which runs this year from March 2 to March 8, 2008.

EPublishers Weekly offers up-a list of 30 Benefits of eBooks:

It's an interestinng list and you may agree and disagree with some.

Teleread reports that Fairfield Research predicts that there will be 16 million regular e-book downloaders possible in a few years,

“With strong demand for the Kindle spurring renewed interest in the e-book market, a research group has released a report based on a consumer survey that found that 17% of book buyers said they would purchase a copy of a book in some digital format.” - Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly.

Details: “The number of consumers who will regularly download a book to an e-book reader could reach 16 million adults in the next few years,” PW paraphrases a conclusion from Fairfield Research. Are we in e-book hype territory again? Or is Fairfield actually on the mark, given the existence of the Kindle and success of the Orman book download? A few more tidbits from PW:

“The study…found that 17% of book buyers had already purchased an e-book. [Fairfield] makes a distinction between e-books that can be downloaded to a device and/or printed out and digital books that must be read on screens. In the latter case, downloading a book to an e-book reader was the clear preference for how consumers would like to view digital books, with other alternatives generating no more than a 10% purchase-intent level."

And is the market very big? Teleread also reports that American e-book sales in 2007, by “12-15 trade publishers,” jumped to $31.7 million or 23.6 percent higher than in 2006.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)

Obsolete Skills

Ther's been a meme running throujgh the blogosphere lately on things we learned in the past that are now best forgotten. Indeed, I think this is one of those times where I feel like a geezer - I've forgotten more than I know now. And, be warned, describing any of these obsolete skills around teens will result in eye-rolling.

Anyway, there is a long list here:

Obsolete Skills

Don't just read the list. Some are quite under debate (e.g. Dewey Decimal System)

Yes I have dialed phones, adjusted rabbit ears, and used white-out.

As for libraries, there are a few that I knew and I depended on in my early career (cue the eye-rolling):

Using Gestetner copiers
Making ditto copies
Using Carbon paper
Filling out ILL forms by hand
Using a Selectric and using different type balls
Networking CD-Roms
Unjamming pin feed paper
Using old catalogue cards for note paper
Wiggling telephone handsets into rubber couplers
Lifitng the cover on the sound baffle over the printer

Ah, nostalgia.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:13 PM | Comments (1)

OneSource Column part 1

Here's the latest SirsiDynix OneSource.

My column is on innovation diffusion:

Challenges to Innovation in Libraries

Part 2 in March's issue.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

March 1, 2008

SLA SARC Conference

I got to do two presentations at the SLA South Atlantic Regional Conference in Florida.

Here are the slides for number one:

Association 2.0: Riding the Edge

Number two was about educational, fun or library YouTube videos:

Specials on the Edge

There was actually a third but it was just a conversation so I took a risk and I went naked (without slides)!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:55 AM | Comments (0)

PSP PPT's in DC

I had the opportunity to do a keynote for the 2008 PSP Conference (Professional and Scholarly Publishers). Here are the slides:

The New Student & Professor: What is different and are libraries changing?
Feb. 7, 2008

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)

Second Life Virtual Conference

The preliminary conference schedule for the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums is now posted - check it out and remember to register early as space is limited!

The Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums Conference will be held in Second Life at the New Media Consortium Conference Center (NMC) on March 8, 2008. Registration is 8000 lindens (equivalent of $30 USD) payable in lindens to avatar Valencia Lane in Second Life.

The purpose of this conference is to provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds.

http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds/

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)

Going Green Graphically

This art project shows how powerful images can be in commanding attention. I recommend that you view the page and see the originals if you get a chance.

Depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.

Close up.

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

Close up:

As SLA goes green, these images show how much we need to do to reduce our waste and impact on the planet.

How does your library or company contribute?

Also, this artistic technique might make a great picture to show:

- circulation in your library this year/month
- visitors to your library this year
- School visits, story hours, summer reading accomplishments...

Imagine it as wallpaper!

Showing our amazing stats in an engaging way can be quite influential.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:23 AM | Comments (0)

Experiencing Novelty

This is a cool graphic:

The Novelty Curve

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:17 AM | Comments (0)