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Thank You! June 27, 2008

Posted by jennrenk in : Uncategorized , 2 comments

Just wanted to send a thank-you note to Dr. Okobi and Rebecca Hedreen and all of my classmates for making this class so wonderful. I really enjoyed the material and getting to hear input from, as well as see the blogs of, all of my classmates. I think the fact that everyone was highly participatory really helped to make this a successful class. My only wish is that I had taken it during a fall/spring semester so we could have covered more! I’m curious to learn about Second Life in particular. It blows my mind to think there’s a whole other virtual world out there.

I would have loved to meet everyone in the on-campus session and regret that I couldn’t make it there. I hope to meet all of you in person someday!

Thanks again,

Jenn

ILS 599 Final Project June 27, 2008

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For my final project, I focused on the creation of a blog and a linked Flickr site specifically aimed toward teenagers to increase their involvement in the library.

About the Library

The host library for this blog is a fictional one based on the public library in my town. It is the sole branch in a town of approximately 9,000 residents. The library is well used by most segments of the population—from young to old, from upper class to those in the town’s low-income housing projects—and it is relatively well-funded. Based on library statistics, the town is for the most part technologically advanced. The computer stations are usually booked by teenagers and adults surfing the Internet and the library’s web site has approximately 1,500 visits per month. The library does a good job of publicizing its community events, including a newsletter and weekly articles in the local newspaper. However, despite the abundance of Internet users in town, the library has not explored any Web 2.0 opportunities for publicity or service.

Project Goal

To create a blog, or online journal, specifically for teenagers to learn of upcoming library events and new materials of interest to the age group, and to be able to interact with each other socially in a safe and fun online environment. In addition to the blog, a Flickr account would be established to save photos from library events that can be viewed by patrons online. Flickr (www.flickr.com) is an online community where photos can be stored and viewed by others.

Purpose/Justification

Despite the library’s importance in the community, library staff has expressed concern over the small number of teenagers who actually use the facility. While many teens hang out at the library or on its grounds, they do not make use of the library’s resources or involve themselves with the available programming. The staff hopes that a blog will help make young adults aware of the library’s resources and increase their involvement in the library’s programs. The blog will feature news and library happenings of interest to teenagers, including new book, CD, and DVD acquisitions, social events such as Manga Nite, and online contests in which the teens may participate. In addition, the blog site will link to a Flickr page for the library, where photos can be viewed.

Technology/Requirements for Use

As a children’s/young adult librarian for this library, I would volunteer to create the blog as part of my staff duties. I would not spend more than an hour or so a week on this aspect of my job—any additional work would be done in my personal time. I plan to use a free service such as Blogger or WordPress to create the blog, which in addition to its zero-cost benefit also offers attractive layouts, easy to use features, and a variety of widgets to enhance the site. The library owns a digital camera for photographing events, people, and book covers, so other than the time spent on creation and maintenance of the blog, no other expenses would be incurred. In addition to the blog, a free Flickr account would be created and linked to the blog site. The Flickr account would be used to post pictures of book covers and teen events at the library. This site would require minimal maintenance, with the only major maintenance being adding new photos after events.

Step-by-Step Implementation

As part of the push to increase teenager participation, the library has recruited an advisory board of local teenagers to voice any concerns/ideas they have about current and upcoming programming and how to make the library more “teenager-friendly.” The first step in creating the blog would be to approach this group and get their suggestions for what they would like to see (or not see) on the blog. After creation of the blog and Flickr site, a second meeting would involve a trial run where the advisory panel could review the design and content of the blog and give feedback. The third step in design would be marketing the blog. An article would be written for the library newsletter and website, and I would see if posters or flyers could be created for distribution to the high school and at the library. I would also approach the high school newspaper staff about writing an article about the new blog.

Negative Consequences

The blog would be set up so that an administrator would review comments before they were posted to the site to eliminate any inappropriate language. Furthermore, teenagers would be asked to sign permission slips to be photographed at library events. Every effort will be made to only post photographs of those patrons who have given their permission for their photographs to be posted on the Flickr site or the blog.

Updates would need to be regularly posted so teenagers don’t stop visiting due to a lack of new material. Contests and other timely posts would be created to entice teenagers to log onto the site and see what’s new. Discussion questions would also be posted from time to time so there ideally would always be new comments to view for returning visitors.

Publicity would also be ongoing to continue to draw new visitors. If possible, I would like to create an email mailing list where a monthly update would be sent that would highlight new posts on the blog and upcoming activities at the library, along with fun trivia, fun/useful websites, and more.

Future Projects

If the teen blog is successful, I would like to follow up with creation of a MySpace page for the library and perhaps a link from the blog to Goodreads.com, where young adult library staff and patrons can rate books and recommend them to other library patrons. I would also try adding some podcasts to the blog or to the library’s main website, featuring readings from popular books.

Library Podcast June 19, 2008

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I was doing some browsing tonight on the different things we’ve learned in class, podcasts in particular. I found some great sites that had book readings in podcast form, and also this blog, which has a YouTube video that instructs on how to create a podcast for a library. Talk about incorporating everything we’ve learned in class at once! Check it out:

http://librarypodcast.blogspot.com/

IM/Chat June 19, 2008

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Tonight I logged onto the class Meebo site and got to “chat” with a few classmates. I have used IM often through the years–through IRC in college, AIM right out of college, and now through Vista and Gmail’s chat feature. But I often am just chatting with one person. Tonight, there were five of us online and it could often be confusing to figure out who was speaking to whom. We did some experimenting with emoticons and fonts, which we all agreed we liked. But it could be confusing to understand not only to whom a question was directed, but what it referenced. With five people typing at different speeds, a conversation might be intertwined with four to five lines of other text between question and answer. Add to this no facial expressions or verbal intonations, and there was a lot of chaos. I do think that group chats could be useful for conferencing between people at different locations. IM seems to work rather well as a reference tool, despite issues with patron expectations of what “instant” really means.

Privacy June 19, 2008

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We have had some discussions in class the past few weeks about copyright and courtesy when it comes to using the images/words of another. Having worked in publishing, I am fairly familiar with copyright law so this wasn’t anything that surprised me. However, I have noticed a second issue that keeps popping up with the different technologies we are encountering: privacy. Whether it’s photographs of children (or anyone, really), a chat transcript that can be cut and pasted, or a wiki where the text is shared and can be altered, privacy seems to be….well, overlooked….in the Web 2.0 universe. I guess that comes with the territory in an interactive environment meant to build relationships rather than just share words. But it still makes me nervous. I don’t want a potential employer logging on to YouTube and seeing me drunkenly moon a camera (that video doesn’t exist so don’t even bother looking for it!) or finding a chat transcript that I thought was a private discussion posted to the web. I guess one of the dangers of bringing your personal life into the World Wide Web is that it’s not personal anymore. And I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I think, as far as my personal life goes, I’ll stick to Flickr, Blogger, and other sites that allow me to use an “invite only” option for the time being.

As for my professional life, I think sharing library services with the public through the Internet is an important part of marketing. But it’s a precarious balance between sharing photos and conversations and potentially compromising the privacy of others. Getting permission in advance (and mentally having a backup plan in case someone changes their mind after images are posted) are just as important as posting the information.

Flickr Assignment June 9, 2008

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For this week’s assignment, we were told to create a Flickr account and upload some photos, and then discuss how these images might be used in a library setting.

Here’s the link to my Flickr photo stream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27530812@N06/

As for how I could use these images in the library, one of the aspects of our public library’s summer reading program is “Where Did You Go This Summer?” Kids are encouraged to send postcards from their trips to the library and at the end of the summer, all will be displayed on a mural. Something similar to that could be done with 2.0 technology, where kids/teens/adults could submit photos to the library website and the library could feature them on a Flickr account. Along with the photos, it could also have recommended reading for those destinations, i.e. books that have that location as the setting or authors from that city.

I also used Flickr Toys to create a Andy Warhol, pop-art effect on a picture of elephants I had taken at the Southwick (MA) Zoo. The image can be seen on my Flickr account. At my local library, one of the meeting rooms is often used as an art display. Artists and students from around town may donate their works to be displayed for a certain period of time. I would love for the library to host a “virtual art show” (especially one specifically for teens) and display it on a library Flickr site or as a slideshow using Flickr Toys. The art show could feature straight digital photos and enhanced photos using Flickr Toys or other computer editing programs. This elephant picture could be used as advertising for the art show idea.

Update June 8, 2008

Posted by jennrenk in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far

Well, I don’t really know where to begin. I’ve never taken a summer class before, and five weeks is just not a lot of time to process all of the information on the 2.0 tools we’re encountering. That said, I AM having fun learning them. And this class seems much more valuable than the class I was planning to take to meet this requirement in the fall. I’ve tried to incorporate what we’ve learned by making some additions to this blog (blogroll, RSS feeds, tags, del.icio.us account).

I’m also starting to get an idea of what I want to do for a final project, so I’ll start experimenting with that soon. Stay tuned!

The Shifted Librarian May 29, 2008

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I’ve been a fan of The Shifted Librarian (www.theshiftedlibrarian.com) for a while now. Written by Jenny Levine, the blog serves to help librarians make the transition into a world where technology is front and center and patrons want information to be immediate and available to them wherever they are. It is a professional blog, meant for other librarians, though the tone is casual as though every reader is a friend. The amount of posts varies depending on the month. The layout is easy to follow and I always find something useful or interesting on the site when I visit.

About Me May 28, 2008

Posted by jennrenk in : Uncategorized , 4 comments

Hi everyone,

This is maybe my eighth class in the MLS program at SCSU. While I’m not sure of how many I’ve taken off the top of my head, I do know that I have five classes left (including this one) until I’m finished! It’s been a long journey, so I’m looking forward to graduating. I don’t have much library experience, but I’m planning to start volunteering at the local public library this summer and hopefully at our local elementary school’s media center in the fall as well. I am looking forward to enhancing my technology skills in this course. I have a Blogger account and am comfortable with blogging, but I don’t know much about RSS feeds, wikis, or podcasts.