Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

The Children's Book Council - Confusing, Clumsy, Cumbersome & Chaotic?

These are the words of Agnes Nieuwenhuizen in a provocative article about children's literacy and the CBCA in the Weekend Australian.

Yes, you read it right: the beloved Children's Book Council of Australia, is, according to the author, an archaic institution run by "a powerful old guard that fiercely protects territory and states' rights".

The column is sure to draw some passionate responses in next week's letters pages.

In the meantime, listen a podcast interview with Nieuwenhuizen broadcast this week on Radio National's The Book Show, where she further expands her argument with reference to literacy campaigns overseas. Australia's Books Alive campaign, for example, is described as "wishy washy", and she questions the simplistic focus on quantity in the Premier's Reading Challenge.

Get cracking - the podcasts only hang around for a week or so! What are your thoughts?

Informit Down Time

Here's a note from Informit Support...

The Informit service will be unavailable on Saturday 20th Of December 2008 from 7am to 7pm (AEST) whilst we relocate servers to a new building. It is possible that Informit may be up and running earlier in the day though we cannot guarantee this. Additionally over the holiday break (25th December 2008 – 5th January 2009) there may be short periods of outage (less than one hour) which cannot be determined at this time. These outages are due to upgrades to network infrastructure within RMIT University. RMIT Publishing apologises for any inconvenience these outages may cause.

I just wanted to let everyone know in the unlikely case that we get a customer asking to use APA-FT while it's down. Unfortunately, until we get the wireless hotspot up and running again I can't update the APA-FT page on our JournalSearch site with this notice.

UNILINC Seminar - Library services in the Indigenous context: protocols, training, service

The Seminar aims to help Close the Gap when it comes to libraries and other information service delivery.
I was lucky enough to attend this friendly and informative seminar.

Grai was there and sends greetings to all. Grai and Lachlan are getting married next May. They have just signed the papers to buy a home near Macquarie Uni, and Lachlan is working as an archivist.

Many university libraries have a significant number of Indigenous students who could benefit from improved outreach programs.
From the latest census 0.6% of Sutherland Shire people are Indigenous, ie Aboriginal &/or Torres Strait Islander compared with the national average of 2.3%.
Census results for the Shire for Country of birth show numbers are similar for Chinese, Italian, Greek and South African people.

Kirinari Hostel at Sylvania, houses secondary students who attend our local high schools - check out this youtube video made by a couple of students in 2007.

Some dot points below that Sutherland Libraries might be able to use to encourage greater use of our resources.

.Be aware of and implement the ATSILIRN Protocols. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library and Information Resources Network Protocols.

.Outreach to Aboriginal people in our community.

.Create relationships. Get out of the building, into the community.

.Attend activities such as NAIDOC and other events in your local community.

.Display our Reconciliation Statement.

.Develop Mentorships

.Beware of gatekeepers - ie one active, easy to contact person being used to gather and distribute information. Make sure information is getting out to the wider community.

.Check AIATSIS Thesauri for cataloguing and similar purposes - pathways are available under Place, language, subject.

.Employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.

Dianne.

Trolley art

Artist at work
Lisa creating her parting gift to Reference on completion of her training post.
The best trolley evah!
Detail 1

While You Were Closed...

When I started adding details of the closures to our web site I wondered whether our users would turn to our web site as an alternative. I had decided to try and add some updates about what was happening while we were closed - tell them why, what we were doing, show some pictures, etc. Would the web site show an increase in visitors? Are our users interested in what was going on?

My conclusion is yes. I've been having a look over the various blog posts, images on Flickr and so on and I found it interesting to see that RFID and the library closures have prompted more interaction from our users than most other content.

In the short period that they have been there the Flickr images have been viewed quite a lot compared with many others. Posts about RFID on the blog are at the top of the list for visits for the last week or so (understandable as most new posts were about RFID but they did out perform stuff about Overdrive, which I thought may interest people who use the Library web site). Even the short video about using self check machines has been viewed over 100 times!

Maybe most importantly, RFID has provoked more comments on the blog than any other topic. Not only are people interested in what we were doing - they were interested enough to take the time to tell us what they thought about it.

Most of the comments were positive. As expected, some were negative - "...this is just a way to sack some staff and pay less wages which equals more money for the greedy council..." - but the real value of the blog is that it gives us an opportunity to directly address the concerns of our users. People will have their views about our service and will continue to express them. By giving them a place to express them we firstly get to hear them, and secondly we get an opportunity to put forward our side of the story.

This is one of the fundamental ideas of what has been labeled Library 2.0 (whether you like the term or not). It's not just about technology. It's what Michael Stephens calls being transparent. Being open about the decisions the Library makes, communicating them to the users, finding out what your users think about your Library and adapting your services to meet your users needs and expectations.

7 Ways to Improve your Blog Posts

In Part 1 of How to Write for the Library Blog I focussed on how the blog is different to other ways to communicate with our users and the importance of authenticity in the conversation between library users and staff. In this post I want to give a few more explicit things to think about when writing posts for the Library blog.

So, here are my tips for writing for the blog...

1. Specialise, be different
Each post of blog entry should be about a single thing. Don't lump 3 or 4 different events into a single post. If you do it is very hard to write a headline that encompasses all that you are about to discuss. The headline is the hook that gets readers to look at the first paragraph and the first paragraph is the hook that gets readers to keep reading and so on. It is much better to write 3 0r 4 short posts about the different things you want to mention. You can space them out over a week, giving our users reasons to keep coming back.

2. Pay attention to your post title
Further to point 1, generic headlines don't tell people about what they could find out if they read on. A good title for your post should tell people what is coming up in a way that entices them to read on. The Magnetic Headlines series from Copyblogger is a good place to get some headline writing inspiration. With any luck a good headline will get people to read your first paragraph.

3. Make your 1st sentence a good one
If you've written an enticing headline your first paragraph will give readers enough to decide whether they want to keep reading. Also, when a new post is added to the Library blog the first sentence (actually the first 20 words) are automatically displayed on the home page of the Library web site. This is where most of the traffic to the blog comes from. You have a title and 20 words to convince people to click on that link to read the whole post.

4. Be interesting
This is easier said than done! When it comes to writing for the web, conventional wisdom is that people scan rather than read text on web pages, which suggests you should keep it brief and use points, etc. The blog's role in developing a conversation with our users affords you the opportunity to use much longer prose than would otherwise be recommended. BUT you must give people a reason to read rather than scan - you must be interesting. Copyblogger has some suggestions for how to be interesting, but in most cases it comes down to you having a good knowledge of your subject and being passionate about it. Imagine you've put a lot of effort in to an activity or event and then you ask me to write about it on the blog. I'm certainly not going to have the same knowledge as you and more than likely won't have the same enthusiam. Anything I write is likely to be much less interesting than what you would write. Remember, we're after authenticity over perfection in this space - your voice will ring much truer than mine in such situations. (and you can always ask me and your colleagues for feedback on your post before you submit it)

5. Invite participation
What better way to start a conversation with our users than to ask them a question. Writing about an event in the Library? Ask people who were there to leave a comment about how they enjoyed it. David Lee King has a great series of posts on inviting participation on his blog.

6. Monitor comments on your posts
If you ask people to participate you have an obligation to listen to what they say. Having people comment on the blog gives you an easy way to find out what people think as well as an easy way to address any concerns they raise and you can build some good will by showing appreciation of our users when they say nice things. If people have a bad experience at the library they are going to bag us. At least if they do it on the blog we have an opportunity to put our side of the story along side theirs. If you are commenting on the blog, however, in the interests of authenticity always identify yourself as a library staff member.

7. A picture is worth a thousand words...
Adding a picture on a blog post can help set the tone of the article. Fortunately, Flickr's Creative Commons search is a great way of finding pictures that you can use without infringing copyright or the moral rights of the photographer.

How to Write for the Library Blog

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now but I've been unsure about how to approach it. Over the life of the Library blog I've had submissions from lots of staff for blog posts, some of which were great and some of which required a fair amount of editing. I've also seen things that we've done in the library pass by without a mention on the web site at all, when I think they would have been great fodder for the blog. And I've had feedback from staff about their hesitance to contribute because they weren't sure how to go about it. This post is my response to those concerns. Hopefully it will encourage you to feel comfortable about contributing.

Why a Blog?
First up I thought I would try and explain where the blog sits in the spectrum of the Library's web presence. It's primarily a way to let library users know about things that are going on in the library. It is only one avenue. We do this in other ways as well - flyers and posters in the libraries, ads in the Leader, etc. We also do this in other places on the web site, the Events Calendar for example. It is not, however, simply a marketing tool.

In the absense of a dedicated marketing officer and as the person responsible for the Library's web site much of the creation of content for the blog has fallen to me. Although I understand that I will continue to contribute a good deal to the blog I think that in principle my role should be more about establishing the tools and structures that make it easy for all staff to contribute, in the same way that you create your own flyers and organise your own marketing for your events.
It is important, therefore, to understand what is different about a blog (compared with other avenues for communicating with our users) and what this means for how you should approach writing for the blog.

How is a Blog Different?
A blog post is not the same as a press release. Nor is it the same as a report to Directors.

A blog post gives you a chance to tell our users about the Library's story. It's more than that though, it allows our users to comment on our story and tell us what they think. In turn it allows us to thank our users for their contribution, to address their concerns directly or to provide more information when they ask for it. The better we can understand what our users want the more we can shape our service to meet their needs. A blog is one way that we can engage in a two-way dialogue with our users. Think of it as a virtual version of the interactions we have with our users over the service desks.


In light of this point I would like you to consider this:
When writing for the blog, above all other concerns, it is vital that you remain authentic. Strive for authenticity over perfection. Marketing hype and spin does not work on this medium. In short, Keep it Real!

I want you to take some time to digest this idea. I'll come back to some more concrete things you should do when writing for the blog in another post but before I do I want to point you in the direction of some reading that explores this idea. Please take some time to read the following posts and articles from others writing about communicating with our users.

Directly addressing the idea of authenticity are two posts, both in response to a video of David Weinberger talking about the nature of fame and Web 2.0 - the first a post by John Blyberg called Imperfectly Famous and the second a post on ALA Techsource by Kate Sheehan titled Authentically Real.

Michael Stephens on Tame the Web points to a couple of articles about improving the conversation between libraries and their users and finally a post titled marketing vs doing by Kathy Gould on the PVLD Director's Blog about why marketing hype doesn't work.

When you've read these (they're not that long, honestly...) check back for some more tangible ways of improving your writing for the blog in the next post.

When Customers Ask for Computer Help

You may have been asked by a borrower if you know of anywhere that fixes computers. I know I have.

There is s local company, Computer Troubleshooters Sutherland, 59B east Parade Sutherland, ph. 1800 775 991, who solve computer problems and will even come to your house if requested.

I have no association with this company but they are local and their operation looks professional.

This is not a recommendation. Just information that some borrowers may find useful.

Max

Ever get asked for a form or blank a document?

Do you know about www.docdownload.com.au? If not - read on!

In recent weeks we have had requests like "Where can I get a Power of Attorney form? " or "I need a blank stat dec". Whilst there are government department websites which offer specific forms for download, these forms are invariably related to the work of that department. The Guardianship Tribunal, for example, has downloadable Appointment of Power of Attorney form.

Rather than searching for a specific website, your request may well be met at www.docdownload.com.au - The definitive source of commercial, academic and personal document templates. The service is free but you have to register (using your junk gmail/hotmail/yahoo email address of course : - ).

The wonders of our federated system of government mean that in many cases the same basic form has to be produced in multiple formats, often one for each state and territory and one for the Commonwealth. So make sure you are downloading the relevant one.

Max

SMS queries

With the introduction of hold fees that stay on the borrowers card even if they do not pick up the hold I expect to see more people claiming that they did not receive a SMS telling them of their hold/s.

Now I am not just being cynical here, I am sure people who do not receive an message now don't always bother to tell us. So I expect a few more complaints and I want to make sure you all know the mechanism in place to check to see if they are having issues receiving SMS messages.

Some things to check first.

1. Make sure the phone number is correct and it is THEIR phone.
   We have quite a few people who have several members of their family on the same phone number. This can be very confusing when multiple holds come in at once for several members of the family as it only tell the recipient of the message that they have multiple items waiting. Not actually who it is for. So they come in hand over their card and miss the other persons holds.
2. People with multiple mobile numbers.
   A message will only go out to the first mobile number. If someone has multiple numbers please either remove one or change one to phone type MX.
3. A SMS will only go out once.
   If the patron has their phone off for extended periods of time they may not get it, so make sure their phone is on pretty much all the time. If this is the case suggest that normal mail is probably a better option for them.

If you have worked out that it is none of the above issues then you can send the persons details to me. I have records of every SMS message that has been sent, if I find that messages have been sent from us I can contact the company that sends out our SMS messages and get them to test directly with the patron to see if it is a technical issue.

The details I want so I can send them to Directcomms is:

1. Patron name.
2. Patron Phone number.
3. Patron phone company.
4. Have they received sms messages from us before.

If you have any questions please give me a call.
Angus

Overdrive Support Email Box - Duty of Reference Desk Person

with the advent of Overdrive, we have had to implement a support email account so that any customer difficulties can be dealt with in a timely fashion.

This means that anyone who works on the Reference desk, at any time, should have the Overdrive email box open and attend to any enquiries that are there.

To do this if you have your own Lotus notes Email:

1. go to your Inbox
2. At top on left there is a dropdown box next to the word Mail
3. There is an option for "Open another persons mail"
4. Find the SSC's Address Book
5. then locate the email called "Overdrive"
6. Click OK. This will open the email box for you.

I suggest that you then drag it across to your left, so you have an icon there for the future. Since we are supposed to deal with them asap it may be worth you making your system prompt you when a new email comes in.

If you go to File > Preferences > User Preferences > Mail > General you can tick the box for Show a Popup. This will get your attention whether you are in earshot of your PC or not. Next time you access the keyboard you will know you have an email, if indeed you do have one!

If you are using a Libtemp signon:
For the moment you cannot access the Overdrive Inbox, so watch this space!!!

For all who are answering these questions:
There is an 'Actioned' folder on the left hand side. Please put any emails that a reply has been sent to, in there, so that each person who opens the box only sees what has not been answered.

But First:
Please read this below from the good people at Overdrive...

As far as patron tech support goes, I recommend we proceed as follows:

The people responsible for support on your end attempts to answer
questions as they come in with reference to the FAQ.
(http://sutherland.lib.overdrive.com/Help.htm) If desired, we welcome your tech
support person to forward any and all replies to us prior to sending to your
patron for these next 30 days. Kind of a 'training wheels' approach-in the next
few weeks, this will give us the opportunity to review and offer input where
appropriate as your tech support person learns the ropes. After this time, we
anticipate that your support person should have a strong grasp of day-to-day
issues, and of course they will continue to work with us on any real
stumpers.

Please forward support issues to support@libraryreserve.com.

This sounds like a resonable thing to do... Hopefully they are quick to reply!

Please do your best to answer the enquiry, using the very helpful pages on the Overdrive site itself, if you have no actual experience yourself. If you cannot or do not have time (customers are lined up in front of you) at least email back to say 'your enquiry has been recieved and will be answered as soon as is practicable' (there are some templates in the Standard Responses folder of the Overdrive mailbox)

I am sure there will be more, but this is all for now.

jacinta

New issue of Hot Topics - Human Rights (65)

This new edition (2008) replaces the 2001 edition and is now available at all branches in reference and lending.

Human Rights provides an overview of human rights law from its origins and sources, through to the development of modern human rights law.
It examines how human rights law operates in Australia, with reference to current issues. It includes the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Julie

**************************************************************************************

Important: This email / fax and any files transmitted with it are confidential

and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are

addressed. If you have received this email / fax in error please notify the

sender via return mail. You must not disclose the contents of this email / fax

to any third party without the consent of the sender.

**************************************************************************************

The New York Times has recently published a couple of articles on ‘The Future of Reading’ that make interesting reading themselves.

The first discusses the debate over the value of the reading young people do on the Internet versus the reading they do in print:‘The Future of Reading: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?’, by Motoko Rich, published July 27, 2008 in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html

The second article by Motoko Rich discusses the way video games can lead to greater reading experiences for some, but can also be useful as educational tools for young people who increasingly see the ‘book reading’ experience as irrelevant.‘The Future of Reading: Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers’, by Motoko Rich, published October 5, 2008 in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06games.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


And, just in case you haven't seen enough about how libraries need to adapt and progress, here is an interesting presentation given at the AISTI Ninth Annual Mini Conference. John Hubbard of the University of Wisconsin believes that libraries, in order to fulfil their mission and serve their constituents, should and can use videogames, such as consoles; interactive learning technology, such as clickers; and especially virtual reference or chat. Check it out at: https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/hubbardj/aisti/print.pdf Consoles, Clickers and Chat: Tools for the Library of Today [The Alliance for Information Science and Technology Innovation]

Testing the Overdrive Digital Downloads Service

You can now get on to the Sutherland Shire Libraries Digital Downloads web site (Overdrive) and have a play around. You probably won't be able to login and download anything yet but you can see what sort of things will be available for our customers.
Simply point your browser to sutherland.lib.overdrive.com

Law Access NSW Telephone Legal Service

LawAccess NSW has a free telephone service for people who need legal information, assistance, advice and referrals. They also have offer legal advice by telephone for priority clients. These services may be helpful for those persistent few who want you to solve all their problems for them and make you feel guilty when you say you can help them no further.

LawAccess can be contacted on 1300 888 529 or if the customer requires the assistance of an interpreter, by contacting the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450 and asking to speak to LawAccess on 1300 888 529. We operate Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) between 9am and 5pm.

The LawAccess web site is listed on our Legal Information page but here is some more information about the service:

A recent study of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW into the access to justice and legal needs of disadvantaged people in NSW found that the most common response by people to a legal problem is to do nothing about it. The study found that 'Most people who have legal problems do not go straight to a lawyer for help. If they do seek help at all, they tend to turn to non-legal sources, such as friends, government agencies, welfare agencies and other professionals such as teachers and doctors'. The study also found that even though friends, support workers and the like may refer people to an organisation for legal assistance, more often than not it turns out to be an inappropriate service for the person's particular legal problem. The person may be referred again to another service which may also be in appropriate. The study found that people will give up if they are not referred to the appropriate service the first time round and what is called 'referral fatigue' sets in.

The study recommended that LawAccess NSW raise awareness of its service to non-legal service providers to raise the level of awareness of its service recognising that non-legal service providers and support workers can play a valuable role in assisting people to find legal help.

LawAccess NSW is part of the Attorney General's Department of NSW and was established in 2001 as a joint initative of the Attorney General's Department, Legal Aid NSW, Law Society of NSW and the NSW Bar Assocation. LawAccess works very closely with its partners including Legal Aid and the Community Legal Centres of NSW.

LawAccess NSW is a free Statewide telephone service for people who need legal information, assistance, advice and referrals. When a customer calls LawAccess NSW they will speak to a Customer Service Officer (CSO). The CSOs are not lawyers but are trained to assess the customers problem and the best way to assist them with that problem. It may be enough for people to receive general legal information from the CSOs and they have a range of legal resources to provide that information. They can follow up the call by sending out plain english information in the mail. For people able to self help, they can refer people to a website and navigate the customer to the relevant page of that website.

After listening to the Customer, the CSO may assess that the person needs further assistance such as face to face legal advice or referral to a specialist community legal centre for example, for customers who have credit card or experiencing mortgage stress may be referred to the Consumer Credit Legal Centre. People may be referred to a range of services dealing with, for example, domestic violence, tenancy issues, issues for older persons, and Legal Aid.

The CSO's try to refer to people to free legal assistance services however where there are no free legal assistance services for the particular problem or a customer may not meet a means test, the CSOs can assist the person to find a private lawyer through the Law Society's solicitor referral scheme. The CSO can send the customer's details to the Law Society who will send the customer the contact details for three lawyers who are in the customer's area and who deal with the particular issue. They can also indicate if the lawyer speaks languages other than English.

The other service provided by LawAccess is to give telephone legal advice by one its lawyers. The CSO will assess whether the customers problem is suitable for telephone legal advice. This service is available to our 'priority clients' who include: people living in regional, rural and remote areas of NSW; Aboriginal people; people from a CALD background; people with a disability; people who have an urgent problem and where there is a person at risk of harm. The lawyers are able to give telephone legal advice in family law, civil law and criminal law. We cannot provide advice on immigration law. As the nature of the service is by telephone only, the lawyers are not able to represent people in court for example.

If you would like further information or have any feedback about our service please do not hesitate to contact Wendy Elder, Project Manager - regional outreach Telephone: 8833 3164 or Email: wendy_elder (at) agd (dot) nsw (dot) gov (dot) au.

Bibliocommons and social discovery in library catalogues

I've posted about an interview with Beth Jefferson, founder of Bibliocommons, that I've just listened to. Bibliocommons is social discovery software for library catalogues. It allows library patrons to tag, review and link items in the library collection and share that data with others. It's a way of making library catalogues work better as discovery tools. Bibliocommons was developed with the cooperation of Sirsi Dynix and so it works with their products (as well as a few other vendors currently).

Rather than recreate the whole post just read it on the RISG blog if you're interested and maybe check out the interview.

State Library joins Flickr Commons

The State Library has become the 10th organisation to join the Flickr Commons.

From the Flickr site:

The key goals of The Commons on Flickr are to firstly show you hidden treasures in the world's public photography archives, and secondly to show how your input and knowledge can help make these collections even richer.

More details on the RISG blog...

RA Desk - Evenings and Weekends

In the interest of quality customer service Reference staff would like to trial the following system:

• Reader Advisor’s are to keep the phone on them at all times.
• Anyone directing customers to the Reader Advisor’s desk, please check to see if anyone is there.
• IF NOT - please go to (or send someone else) to the RA Desk and press the ‘Find hs’ (find handset) button on the phone port, once.
• This will alert the Reader’s Advisor that someone is waiting for them at the desk.
• Reader Advisor’s please return to desk as soon as is practical, after hearing the handset ring, to assist the waiting customer.

This may help the general unease that staff feel about sending customers to an empty desk for service, while Reader Advisor’s are either attending other customers or locating items on the RHA list.

It would also limit the time the phone is ringing before it is answered, when staff are not at the desk.

iGoogle Page with Catalogue Gadget

Here's a screenshot of my iGoogle page showing the new catalogue search gadget.

Community college brochures term 4 2008

The St. George and Sutherland Community College Brochures for next term have arrived in the library and have been distributed to branches. Supplies are kept in the cupboard behind the RA desk.

New resources on the LIAC website

New to the LIAC website this week are

Australian legal system, Hot Topics 60 - fulltext from our Hot Topics page at http://www.liac.sl.nsw.gov.au/hot/

Ordinance 71 (produced under the 1919 Local Government Act) - historical version as at 1972 - fulltext on our legislation page

lectern

The library now has it's own lectern with light & microphone just need to purchase extra bits for the microphone to work (the wireless lapel sound good).

Videoing Events in the Library: a Checklist

Here is what I need to have when I have record author talks on video in the library.


Recording Video

Video camera
Obviousliy this is priority 1.

Tripod
A tripod avoid that jittery motion you see on home videos - go for nice smooth pans and zooms.

PA system
If someone is speaking ideally they would use a PA system/Microphone. Without a PA it's hard to get close enough to the speaker to hear them clearly in the audio recorded by the camcorder. The ambient noise from the crowd and surrounds is much louder than the speaker. The line out from a PA also gives you the opportunity to record the audio separately (see below)

Lecturn
Optional. Some speakers prefer not use one. If they do use one the microphone on the lecturn can plug into the PA system, which is less intrusive than a hand held mic. A wireless lapel mic if available would be even better.

Power Board and Extension Cables
The power points are never where you want to put the camera / PA and there is never enough of them.


Recording Separate Audio

If using a PA system you may want to record the audio separately, for a podcast for example. In addition, recording the audio from the PA and then syncing it up to the video in the editing stage will give a better audio quality to the finished video. The PA system may be able to record directly to a CD or you may be able to use a line out on the PA to record to a PC or other portable audio recorder. If recording separate audio you will need at least:

Recording Device
CD recorder, PC/Laptop or portable audio recorder.

Stereo Cable
Ususally 6mm jack to 3.3m jack stereo audio cable.

Walking maps of the Sydney Coast

Earlier today I had an enquiry about a new collection of maps detailing coastal walking tracks in Sydney. A patron had read in the newspaper (not sure if it was the Leader or not) that she could collect these maps from Sutherland Council but was asking also if the library held copies.

Council's customer service staff were able to confirm that the contact person in Council for these maps is Brendon Graham (x 5405). Brendon is going to forward a complete collection of maps in the weeks to come for us to put out for patrons to take. (Council are currently waiting for the completion of the Cronulla map). Reference will distribute the maps to branches accordingly.

Please visit Walking Coastal Sydney for more information including printable maps.

OverDrive

Libraries step into the age of iPod

A Reuters article last week discussed the fact that increasing numbers of libraries in the US are adopting new technology that allows patrons to download audio books, music and videos – yes, our very own OverDrive among others. It seems that the large RV population in the States (ie. the 'grey nomads' to us) are pretty excited about being able to access their libraries’ facilities online when they’re travelling. See the article at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0729441420080807?sp=true

If anyone is still a little unsure how OverDrive will work why don’t you check out their website at: http://www.overdrive.com/products/library.asp. Have a look at how the collections of other libraries in Australia are presented as well by checking out the ‘Partners’ on their site.

Uncle Bobby's wedding

If you’d like to read a well written and reasoned response to a patron’s objection to a library book, have a look at this letter from Jamie Larue who works in the Douglas County Libraries in Colorado, USA. One of their users objected to a child’s picture book about a gay marriage, ‘Uncle Bobby’s wedding’, and he’s posted his response to the borrower on his blog.

He makes some terrific arguments for freedom to read, but does it in such a way that you’ll want to memorise some of his points. His letter has also generated an enormous amount of feedback – most of it positive from the brief glance I gave it.

Check out:
http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html

Looking through the fence, Sutherland

Here is a photo from the Sutherland Shire Group on Flickr. I have joined the Library up to this group in an effort to provide us with a way to create a two-way conversation with our local digital community.

How do you think we could engage with this flickr community?
What can we do for them?
How can we use our resources to contribute to what they are doing?
Can they provide feedback to us to help us improve what we do?

Reading Around Our Region - NSW Readers Week 2008

Auburn Library has started up a Flickr group to promote NSW Readers Week 2008. The idea is that you use the Motivator tool over at fd's flickr toys to create a poster that expresses how you feel about reading.

Then upload the photo to the flickr group and share your wisdom. Here's my pathetic attempt - I'm sure you can all do better. If you created a Flickr account as part of Learning 2.0 then you can use that to store the image, otherwise put it in the Library's Flickr account (ID:suthlib pw:route66).

There's more instructions on the Group page at Flickr. Someone might even like to take this idea to our library readers and try to get them involved.

I hope you have a go. I think it's great that NSW public libraries are starting to think about how they can use new tools such as flickr to reach out to users. More about how Sutherland can use Flickr coming soon...

Why Web 2.0 is Important to Libraries

I recently came across a presentation by David Lee King called: Managers Pay Attention! It addresses the relevance of social networking and Web 2.0 to libraries. I've downloaded the slides if you want to run through them - it only takes about 5 minutes or so. You can find them in the xfer directory: G:\xfer\boyce\managerspayattention.pdf

The PDF won't stay there forever so if you they're not there when you go to look you can get them from David's blog.

David Lee King is widely known as a champion of technology in libraries. I follow his blog and I find he has very interesting things to say about the use of these tools in libraries. He is of course very pro social networking and web 2.0 for libraries but he always makes a good argument for his point of view and gives practical examples of how to implement new services.

Libraries Building Communities

The State Library of Victoria has produced some very interesting looking research into the value that public libraries bring to their communities. A couple of parts looked particularly interesting to me. There is some research into who uses libraries and who doesn't, which might inform us as to where we need to put our marketing efforts in order to grow the number of library users. Also, examples of best practices in Victorian public libraries could be very interesting. I haven't had a good read yet but there looks to be some very interesting stuff.

Read all about it and download the reports from their web site: Libraries Building Communities

Wraps with love

Wraps with love
ABC Local Radio 702 is promoting this campaign and advising listeners that local libraries are collection points for knitted squares and blankets.
Sutherland Shire Libraries are not participating in this project. Any enquiries can be referred to Sutherland Shire Information and Community Service, 3a Stapleton Avenue, Sutherland. The community centre has acted as a collection point for the past three years.
If wraps or squares are brought in to branches, or to Sutherland on the weekend, accept them graciously, and we can deliver them to the Community Centre when they are open during the week.

New Addition: History and Reference Library

The Library has acquired a new resource from dynamic Learning Online called History and Reference Library. It is a collection of articles on History topics ranging from ancient to modern history.


There is an entire section on Australian History along with major sections on World War I and World War II. The Library may also prove helpful for Modern History students - along with the WWI and WWII sections there are articles about The Cold War, The Cuban Missile Crisis and Australians at War.

The History and Reference Library is accessible from the Online Databases site and there are links in the A-Z Web Resources under Australian History, Modern History and Ancient History.

The collection is licensed for remote use so our members can access it via any Internet connected PC as long as they have their library card number.

Check it out when you get a chance.

Reference @ the Metcalfe: 2008

Last week I attended the Reference @ the Metcalfe Seminar at the State Library. This Seminar is a chance for staff from NSW public libraries to get together and find out about the interesting developments that are happening in reference services throughout the state. I was fortunate enough to be asked to present at the seminar - giving my thoughts about where reference services are heading.

There were some very interesting presentations made during the day. I think you will be able to chase up more information about them (slides, links, etc) on the Reference and Information Servces (RISG) blog in due course.

For those who are interested my talk was about Reference Services, technology and community - a future planning/strategic thinking sort of presentation. You can view the presentation (slides and audio) on the RISG blog or on SlideShare (try it on a TAC PC).

Seb Chan from the Powerhouse Museum gave a wonderful talk about what they are doing with their collection online, essentially their web catalogue. They are really focusing on what he called 'disintermediating' the collection metadata from the catalogue - offering the collection records in such a way that they can be used easily by the public in all sorts of different places outside the PM web site and allowing the public to contribute to the collection metadata. They are doing many of the things that I was suggesting libraries need to start doing. It just showed that while I was talking about the future - the future is closer than we think.

Cathy Johnson from Clarence Regional Library talked about the Slam the Boards movement and how libraries can promote themselves through the various answer board sites on the web.

Ellen Forsyth from the State Library presented the findings of her study tour of the USA where she examined the benefits of Roving Reference. There are a number of libraries that are downsizing reference desks and making reference staff roam the library to offer users assistance with finding information. The benefits of such roving reference services and the technology employed to make it possible were covered in an eye opening talk.

Kathryn Joss gave us an overview of the corporate library service offered by the City of Sydney Library.

Ross Balharrie from Manly introduced the group to the various sites that reference and other library staff can use as part of the RISG community - the RISG blog, the RISG New Technologies blog and the RISG Forum - encouraging reference staff to be part of the online community and not save the sharing for the once-a-year seminar.

Genie Wilson form Horsnby Library shared their experience in implementing Webfeat, a federated search solution. Webfeat allows users to search across all their journal databases at the same time. An interesting idea that I have been following but which is not without its problems.

Finally, staff from the northern beaches (Manly, Warringah and Pittwater) presented their work developing Inside Break, a collaborative web site supporting HSC students.

It was an interesting day with much food for thought. If you want more information let me know or just check out the RISG blog in the upcoming week or so for details from the speakers.

The Big Bang: Creating the new library universe

Are you wondering if you'll ever need those skills you have learnt as part of your Learning 2.0 program? The National and State Libraries certainly think you will. Check out this strategy report they released last year. Here's a bit:

> Access is our primary driver.
> Digital is mainstream.
> No job will be unchanged.
> New web technologies and community digital content are shaping user expectations and behaviour.
> Some things we have always done, we will no longer do.
> Experimentation and risk are necessary.
> People want services and spaces to be welcoming and easy to use. They want to be independent.

Food for thought.

Got Something to Say?

Have you got something to share with your colleagues? Want to keep practising your blogging skills? Why not post your thoughts to the Staff News blog?

If you've completed the blogging exercise of the Learning 2.0 program and would like to become an author of the Staff News blog then send me your email address (the one you used for your Google account in Learning 2.0). I'll send you an invite to become an author for the Library Staff News. The you can get whatever it is off your chest whenever you like.

The more, the merrier!

A Message from Lyn about Learning 2.0

In the spirit of Learning 2.0 Lyn asked me to post this message on her behalf here, rather than sending out a broadcast email:

Congratulations to all of you who put in the time, (much of which I know was your own), and the energy, to tackle the challenges of Learning 2.0. The customers of this library service are really fortunate to have so many of you prepared to work hard to keep up with current technologies. You have all left me far behind! I am yet to make a start on my personal Learning 2.0 odyssey but do plan to do it. I will make sure that we cover your efforts with this training in the next quarterly report to Council.

I want to particularly thank Martin too for all the work he has put into designing and setting up the tools for this exercise and to the Ref. Team for the support and encouragement given throughout the process.

Congratulations again - it's wonderful to have such an enthusiastic and dedicated team!! Enjoy your vouchers and the movies!

Lyn Barakat

More Learning 2.0 Good News

In recognition of the effort that staff put into the Learning 2.0 program, the Library Manager and The Branch Services Coordinator have decided to reward those participants who completed 7 or more of the learning 2.0 tasks but who did not receive one of the incentive prizes in the draw.

It was clear that many staff put in a great effort in spite of the restrictions placed on the program by Council's IT department, including working through the tasks on their own time at home. Indeed for some this program took them well out of their comfort zone. So, as a reward, these people will receive two movie tickets. The names have been forwarded to the manager and the tickets will be sent as soon as possible.

If you haven't completed all the tasks don't give up now! Keep going - there is no deadline for learning new things and the tasks will remain there waiting for you. Part of the reasoning behind the Learning 2.0 program is to get people to take control of their own learning and I think that those who took part found learning new things rewarding, even if they didn't enjoy all the tools.

If you have completed the program then don't stop there. The world of web 2.0 is constantly changing and there is always something new to learn. Maybe start at the NSW Public Libraries Learning 2.0 program (they have some tools that we didn't cover) or extend your discovery even further by taking on Learning 2.1 (start at the master list of things).

And the winner is...

OK. The deadline is up and it is time to announce the winners of the 5 incentive prizes ($100 Westfields vouchers) for the Learning 2.0 program.

Just before I announce the winners I would like to congratulate everyone who participated and put in some of their time towards learning new things. Based on the blog posts that I read most of you found at least some of the tasks rewarding and learned something new. For those who didn't get all the tasks completed before the deadline I hope you will complete the remaining tasks and continue your journey of discovery. The Learning 2.0 site will stay where it is so you can get to it when you get a chance.

We aimed to make the process of drawing the winners as random as possible to avoid any accusations of bias! Having said that, senior managers decided to include any staff who had completed 7 or more of the tasks, since it was clear that those people had put significant time and effort into the program.

How did we complete the draw?
First, a list of the participants who completed the required number of tasks was compiled and arranged in no particular order (not alphabetical, not by who finished first, etc). There were 16 in all. Each of those participants was given a number between 1 and 16. Using the Research Randomizer, a set of 5 random numbers between 1 and 16 was generated. The corresponding participants were awarded an incentive prize. The entire process was overseen by representatives from the Auditor General's office and the NSW State Ombudsman and therefore the judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

So, to the winners. In the spirit of the program I will not name names but rather list the blogs of the winners. You may be able to guess who they are by reading their blog - or maybe not! Drum roll please...


Have a read of what your colleagues think about these new technologies and maybe even leave a comment or 2 on their blogs.

What Reference Training do You Need?

Did everyone see this call for feedback about what sort of training opportunities we (library workers) need in order to provide a reference service to our users? All areas of reference work (branch librarians, local history librarians, large reference departments, etc) are encouraged to respond. I suspect that the repsonses to this call will in some way make it back to something called Ref-ex, a project to build a reference excellence wiki for NSW libraries along the lines of the Ohio Reference Excellence site.

At the last Reference & Information Services Group (RISG) Meeting at Cabramatta the question was raised as to what training and professional development opportunities we need as reference librarians.

As part of this question I would like to ask you all to consider this your wish-list opportunity:

* What training a development do you regard as essential for a reference librarian?
* What training & development do you currently do for reference work?
* What training & development do you regard as essential to your work?
(Please elaborate as to whether you are a Local History Librarian, general Reference, small branch Librarian, etc - what training/etc is important/useful for you to be able to get your work done)
* What training & development would you like to see developed?
* Are there particular areas of training & development that you do well?
* Are there areas of future training & development you would like to have the opportunity to explore?

I am keen for any and all answers to these questions - even suggestions of other questions I could have asked around this topic.

Replies will be condensed for the next RISG meeting at Parramatta in August.

Regards,
Cathy Johnston
Information
Services Librarian
reference@crl.nsw.gov.au
Clarence
Regional Library
110 Spring Street
South Grafton NSW 2460
(02) 6642 7588

So get your thinking caps on and send your views.

Wanna See the Future of Library Design?

The recently built DOK library in Holland has some really interesting design features that are a long way away from the stereotypical library, which make it a great place to hang out!

You can get the full story from Jenny over at the Shifted Librarian and see some of Jenny's photos of DOK on Flickr. DOK itself also has a bunch of photos on Flickr.

Talk about WOW Factor !

Learning 2.0 Blogs Make fascinating Reading

I just wanted to write a quick post congratulating all the Learning 2.0 participants for their blogs. I know I haven't been doing much commenting on your posts in the last few weeks and I apologise for that. Like all of you I'm getting busier as the year moves on but rest assured that while I haven't been commenting as much lately I am reading your thoughts. I am really fascinated by the range of views being expressed on the different tools you are exploring.

There are a couple of tasks that seem to be generating wide ranging views and I find this the most interesting aspect of the program, at least from an administrators point of view. RSS feeds seem to polarise people - some of you love it and some of you just don't rate it. As an RSS junkie I find this fascinating as I personally think that this saves me a hell of a lot of time and effort in keeping up with what's happening.

The social bookmarking / tagging task also seems to have been one of the more thought provoking tasks, generating some of the more interesting responses from you all, especially in terms of allowing the general public to add tags to library catalogues or web resources. MySpace and Facebook (Social Networks) are another area that people seem to have distinct views about.

At this point I would like to recommend that if you haven't already you should check out some of the blogs of the other participants in the program to get some other viewpoints. Remember, if your blog doesn't appear in this list you should head over to del.icio.us and add it to the ssclearning2 account, tagged with the word blog (don't use blogging or blogs or any other variant). The instructions/login are there on task 5.

One final note. Part of the reason that I haven't been commenting so much is that I have been asked to speak about some of this web 2.0 stuff and how it might impact on library services at the upcoming (May 21) Reference Seminar at the State Library. I've been busy putting my thoughts together getting ready for that. If you're interested you can read some of the stuff I've written on the RISG blog, which is part of the reason why I was asked to speak. You can also see some of my brainstorming mind maps that I used to structure what I wanted to speak about. I'll let everyone know how the talk goes.

Last Days for Learning 2.0

If you want to be included in the draw for the incentive prizes for the Learning 2.0 program you must complete all 9 tasks by the end of March.

THAT'S NEXT MONDAY!

There's a fair few people who have yet to record their completion of all the tasks on the tracking log. If you have finished the program please login to the tracking log and check that you have recorded the links for all the tasks.

If you haven't finished, the program will continue to be available and you can complete it at your own pace, however, you will not be eligible for the incentive prize draw. So get cracking

Get Library Staff News via Email

That's right. You can now get notified on new posts on the Library Staff News blog via email.

If you haven't embraced the beauty and convenience that is RSS you can now receive an email whenever a new article is added to the Staff News blog.

Just enter your email address in the form below and voila!
You will receive a confirmation email to your nominated address and you must click on the link in that email to confirm and activate your subscription.

There is also a link in the sidebar so you can subscribe at any time.

Here's a New Blog to add to your RSS Reader

A new blog has been established to discuss emerging technologies and their application in libraries.

During his talk on The Hyperlinked Library, Michael Stephens suggested setting up an emerging technology committee and hence the seed was sown for the Reference & Information Services New Technologies blog. It might be one to keep your eye on if your enjoying Learning 2.0.

I will be contributing to the New Technologies blog and would really like to see some of your views in the comments section of this and the main RISG blog.

Tagging in the Catalogue

I read a very interesting post about tagging from one of our Learning 2.0 participants, Mythmade. While exploring tagging for Task 5, Mythmade was looking at the use of patron tagging in the Ann Arbor District Library catalogue. At this library customers can add tags to individual titles in the catalogue and all other users can see and use them.

Our trusty correspondent made this very perceptive comment:

The other reservation with this usage is skewing of library content. Ann Arbor obviously has a few GenYer's who are very Web2.0 savy [...] Music, graphic novels, anime and fantasy themes dominate the tags in the Cloud.

This pricked my interest as I had been following this project, dubbed SOPAC (the Social OPAC), from it's acclaimed implementation (read the comments on the blog post introducing the SOPAC's introduction).

What is most interesting is that the creator of SOPAC, John Blyberg, recently expressed the same sentiment in a blog post discussing the relationship between libraries and Web 2.0. He said:

I’ll even turn the tables on myself and admit that I was wrong about local tagging in the OPAC. SOPAC was by-and-large a success, but its use of user-contributed tags is a failure. For the past nine months, the top ten tags have included “fantasy”, “manga”, “anime”, “time travel”, “shonen”, “shonen jump”, and “shape-changing”. As a one-time resident of Ann Arbor, I can assure you that these are not topics that dominated the collective hive mind.

As I see it, the problem with tagging in SOPAC is that the number of users contributing tags is too small. You need a critical mass of users for any sort of folksonomy to work. Indeed, this is the reason that Wikipedia is so successful - the number of contributors acts as a sort of check & balance mechanism. There are theories about why these types of social software work as well as they do and if you're interested you might like to chase up The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.

So, how can we implement tagging in the catalogue without skewing the results based on the few users who are adding tags? The answer might just be LibraryThing for Libraries. LibraryThing is a social network for booklovers. It allows you to catalogue your own books online along with descriptive tags. The LibraryThing database can then connect you with others who have similar reading interests based on what books you have in common. There's over 24,000,000 books and 368,000 members adding content.

LibraryThing for Libraries allows libraries to leverage this content by adding tags and book recommendations from the LibraryThing database to their catalogue. You can see it in action at
Yarra Plenty Library in Victoria and we are currently looking at this service in regards to our catalogue. These are interesting times!

The Hyperlinked Library

This morning I went to a presentation by Michael Stephens, Librarian and educator who writes and speaks widely about Library 2.0, entitled The Hyperlinked Library: Trends, Tools and Transparency. Michael has posted the slides and the links he discussed on his blog so you can follow them up if you're interested. I also have a reading list that you can borrow.

It was a wide ranging talk about preparing your library, staff and users for the kind of hyperlinked environment in which we now exist. There was one theme from the presentation, however, that particularly interested me and which this blog post is about.

Several times in the presentation Michael used the phrase, "Libraries tell stories". What he was talking about was that whether we realise it or not the physical and digital spaces our libraries occupy, along with the decisions we make about what our users can and can't do in those spaces, send messages to the people who come to use them. Take a look at this photo from his presentation - go click on it and read the comments on Flickr.


There were a bunch of similar examples and what he was really talking about was what kind of experiences are we providing for people who visit the library, whether that be the physical library or our digital presence. There was another example in the talk where a customer at a store in the US went into a change room to try on some clothes, only to find that the change room was a mess with a heap of clothes piled up in the corner. The customer took a photo of the mess with their mobile and uploaded it to Flickr. Within a day it made a major newspaper!

It's often quoted that customers who have a bad experience talk about it to 10 times the number of people than do those who have a good experience. I don't know about the numbers but I do know that the connectedness of the digital environment makes it easier than ever before to spread the word quickly. Can you imagine a situation in our Library where a user takes a photo or video on their mobile phone of a bad experience they have and shares it with all their friends via Flickr, YouTube, Facebook or their blog?

The examples of negative stories that Michael used in his presentation all come from well meaning libraries that were trying to create an environment that benefits all their users, but who had lost sight of the bigger picture. It reminded me of the idea of the Tyranny of One, an idea first drawn to my attention from another blog post in which a library director discusses her library's review of policies and practices. She states:

...in many cases we have implemented policies and practices because of the minority of people who do the wrong thing, and in the process make things more difficult for the majority who do the right thing...

When we put up a sign or make new rule are we doing it for the benefit of our customers or for the benefit of the library staff? What kind of stories are we telling our customers? Consider the following example as a comparison with the sign above.


David Lee King discusses customer experience regularly in his blog and I strongly encourage you to have a read if this area interests you.

At the start of this post I suggested that Michael Stephens was one of the foremost writers and speakers about Library 2.0. What he is saying here is the essence of Library 2.0. Library 2.0 is not just about adding Web 2.0 tools and technologies to libraries. The technology is just a means to an end and the end is that we need to be telling better stories and providing a better experience to our users.

This is why we are running the Learning 2.0 program in our library service. It isn't because we want the Library to have a YouTube account, gather friends on MySpace and look cutting edge. The program is running to allow staff to get an understanding of the hyperlinked environment in which we now exist. The skills you learn are just there to allow you to tell better stories to our customers in new ways and in new places.

First Participants Complete Learning 2.0

It's great to see so many of our staff engaging with the Learning 2.0 program. Keep it up as you must complete all the tasks by the start of April to be in the running for the prize draw. I am happy to announce, however, that several staff have already completed the program.

Don't panic, it's not a race, but I thought you all may be interested to read their blogs.

kon-tiki - an adventure with 2.0
The Bousculade
Dragonflower's blog

Congrats to those that have finished and to those of you who are just about there! I look forward to reading more of your thoughts. Just keep asking yourself: What impact might this technology have on library services? Can you think of any ways to incorporate this technology to improve our customer experience? Have your views changed as a result of exploring a particular tool? Are we barking up the wrong tree with some of these tools? Where do you see Libraries in the future?

Will Web 2.0 be part of your next Job Application?

Will you need to demonstrate your Web 2.0 savvy in your next job application? The ad for the new director at Salt Lake City Library requires applicants to provide:

directions to your digital presence, blog, or social networking Web site.

Other libraries in the USA have decided that their staff must become more technologically adept and are offering redundancy to those who don't want to embrace these changes.

Here's the original blog post from Helene Blowers.

While, this sort of stance isn't happening anywhere in Australia that I know of maybe a change is in the air?

Turn on Comment Notification

One of the features of blogs is that they allow your readers to comment on your posts. This allows you to get feedback about your thoughts and starts conversations - making blogs part of what is known more generally as social networking. This is a key idea behind most web 2.0 tools. So make sure that your blog allows people to comment and make sure you are notified when someone adds a comment to your blog. (in fact, I have been leaving a few comments on some participants blogs recently).

Here's how you do that in Blogger (check that your settings match those below). Firstly, when you log in to Blogger you are presented with the Dashboard:


Click on the Settings link for your blog, and then on Comments:


Scroll to the bottom of the screen and look for the field labeled Comment Notification Address. Add your email address here (Gmail) and whenever someone leaves a comment on your blog you will get an email.

One other thing about comments. Comment Verification prevents comment spam. It is a measure that stops automated comments from being posted by requiring the person to enter a string of letters that computers can't recognise (it's called a captcha). You should make sure that Word Verification for Comments is set to yes.

Readers' Avisory 2.0

Are you wondering what you might do with your new found knowledge of web 2.0? Have a read of 2.0 for Readers, an article published in Library Journal in November 2007. Read about how some of these 2.0 tools are being used in real life libraries to improve their customer service.

Is Blogger in Chinese?

Some people are finding that when they use the TAC network to edit their blogs that Blogger comes up in Chinese. If this is happening to you don't panic - you just need to change the language to English (or your language of choice!) and all will be right with the world again.

Here's how:

See that drop-down menu circled in red? That's the language menu. Just click on that menu and scroll down until you can find something that's remotely readable. It should look something like this:


Click on English (UK) and the page will reload in English - Voila!