Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

CheckMeOut.blog is ready to go . . .

It's been a long time coming but CheckMeOut.blog is ready to be released to the public. I've added some reviews already so it doesn't look completely deserted and I'll probably do a blog post on it early next week on the Library blog. In the meantime, I've sent contributor invitations to Menai, Caringbah and Miranda gmail addresses and Engadine, Cronulla and Sylvania ssc addresses so you can accept and start posting reviews directly to the blog. If anyone would like to be added as an individual contributor you can either send me an email with your gmail address or fill out the Sign up form on the blog. Becoming an individual contributor will mean that your name (or Google ID) will appear at the end of every post (as opposed to 'Menai Library Staff' for example). If you know anyone who might be interested in writing reviews then by all means tell them about the blog. We won't be promoting it within the Library or asking for written reviews as it is designed for the online community.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me. If you'd like to touch up your blogging skills try the 'Social Networking' training module in our Online Computer Training database; or have a look at Butterscotch blogger tutorials.

Get Reading and Indigenous Literacy Day

25/8/2010 - 30/9/2010 and especially 1/9/2010
Get Reading! is Australia’s largest annual celebration of books and reading. Previously called Books Alive, Get Reading! runs from 25 August to 30 September and encourages us all to pick up a book, put up our feet and get reading!
During the campaign look out for your FREE copy of the 50 Books You Can’t Put Down guide. Buy one of the 50 books listed in the guide and you’ll receive a FREE book. (while stocks last) Or get involved in events and giveaways all over the country.
1/9/2010 If you save your purchases and buy all your books for yourself and for Christmas presents on 1/9/2010 you can also participate in Indigenous Literacy Day.
Find out if your bookstores are participating in these events.
Dianne O.

EBSCOHost Folders for school assignments

I recently blogged about using personalised folders in EBSCOHost to store articles related to popular school assignments and share them with students and other staff. I'll shortly be setting up an account for the Library so that we can all access the folder and share resources more directly.

The idea behind this is to create a kind of virtual reference folder. All staff will be able to access it, create new folders for a subject and add new articles to an existing folder. You could add to the folder during quiet times, or while you're searching for online information.
When a student comes into the Library looking for information we could email them a link to the folder so they can have access to both our print and electronic information. There are a few issues related to this:

1. The folder will need to be updated regularly. EBSCO has subscriptions to some frequently updated information so if you come across anything that isn't in the folder feel free to add it. I'll also make time to check it periodically for new information.
2. There is no way to share non-EBSCO sources as yet. This means that anything we find in the federated search that isn't from an EBSCO database can't be shared. I emailed EBSCO about this problem but they currently can't see a solution to it either. This will effect information on subjects such as local studies where most of the resources are located in our catalogue rather than on EBSCO. In this case, you can use the folder as a reference - you just can't share it.
3. Email is currently the only way we can share folders. It would have been good to get a link to the folder resources but this currently doesn't work. This makes it difficult to match the folders up to QR codes. If anyone can think of a way around this please let me know.

For more information on sharing folders follow this link.

gPad ? coming shortly after the ipad to a library near you

Maybe you already know about this but Google, as always, is determined to either lead the way or provide viable more cost effective technologies. As I was driving to work this morning they reported on the radio that Google is about to release ‘Google Chrome Tablet’ to compete with the iPad. Apparently it will be heavily subsidised so it will be within the reach of more consumers. The UK telegraph has more info.

I am getting used to the idea that anything I buy today will automatically be superseded within six months..............

Cheers
Deborah H

USA Public Library Tour 2010

In July 2010 Anne Hall (Fairfield Library), Carol Yuen (Warringah Library) and Lyn went on the Public Libraries Victorian Network (PLVN) USA Library Tour.

You've seen the photos or if you haven't they are on flickr
Go to 'Sets' to go straight to the photos from the Tour.

Now you can read the report

Futures Forum Scenario Cards - Miranda Response

Culture: Average length of novels reduced by 50% due to declining attention spans

There is an increased demand for other types of leisure reading such as magazines, graphic novels and short stories. There would also be greater diversification in the formats we provide and the ways in which we make our collections available. This is the only way to ensure that we continue to provide what is wanted and needed. For example, the interactive 3D magazines that Max referred to in a recent blog post about the iPad. We would probably need to run information sessions or QR codes that link to a virtual orientation of these collections and how you can use them. We may also be organising guest speakers to conduct lectures for parents struggling with their child’s reduced attention span. The library caters to community needs and we should anticipate and respond to these needs. If they want items in different formats we need to be making them available.

Economy: A no credit world: cash is king

The end of civilization as we know it! In terms of libraries building their collections and paying for services there would be radical changes needed. It would be fair enough to assume that in this scenario there would be no such things as standing orders and something as simple as paying database subscription fees would create massive headaches. This whole area of acquisitions would become very labour intensive, which would have a domino effect on other areas. The majority of people are billed for their internet usage after the fact. This would no longer be possible and may well impact on the use of Overdrive and other digital collections we are considering providing. The take-up of technologies may slow down as consumers become increasingly unable to acquire the latest smart phone or iPad because nothing can be bought on credit. This would likely cause a re-think of the direction of libraries and a questioning of plans to move more firmly towards provision of digital resources. Corporate credit cards would need to become debit cards - from a branch perspective this would have no effect

Ideas: Enoughism emerges as a major political force

‘Enoughism’ coined by John Naish refers to the growing trend to turn your back on ‘both the greedy consumption and workaholic acquisition of wealth’. Save don’t spend, borrow don’t buy, stay in instead of going out. And so on. But the really interesting thing noted by John Huxley in the SMH is:
No to more information, especially digital information. "People have discovered belatedly that they have too much information, too much choice. Now, instead of enriching their lives, keeping them informed, it is stressing them out. Increasingly, they're 'unsubscribing' to internet services, magazines, newspapers," ………. They want less entertainment, more quality, thoughtful information.
(http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/and-now-for-the-good-news/2009/02/06/1233423495139.html)
We are well positioned to capitalise on such a trend: mostly we don’t charge and obviously we offer ‘borrow don’t buy’ in terms of print and downloadable information. We also have the expertise to sift the wheat from the chaff and locate the information people really want. So if society completely embraced ‘enoughism’ we are available as we always have been. But if society were to embrace it purely in terms of digital information overload we need to find a way to tell customers we can help them with this.

Joker: Parents choose genetic traits for their children

Wanting the ‘best’ for their families and their children the scenario probably results in children who are: intellectually gifted, excel at sports, healthy, musically inclined, voracious readers, self confident and well behaved. And anything else you care to imagine. The impact on libraries would be huge. These technologically savvy kids would expect and demand the best, from instantly downloadable information for their projects to access to a huge range of leisure reading resources and formats. They would not be in the least bit disruptive but their self confidence would ensure that they would stand their ground if they thought that any aspect of the library service could be improved. We would need to look at a wider range of services from storytimes for gifted children to the provision of advanced services for students. The library may need to buy more books on genetic engineering. Could lead to a greater division in society where the rich use the service while the poor can’t afford to. Children could grow up quicker and this could have effects on junior non-fiction collection management.

Nature: Oil is now $300 a barrel

This is interesting because it could have a catch 22 effect. Customers would want more remote access to collections so that they could reduce their travel to and from a library. At the same time the costs of living would sky rocket as goods and services become more costly to deliver. Resulting in consumers having less ready money for non essential items such as new technologies. Consumers would then have less reason to use these remote access collections. Possibly in this scenario libraries would need to get out and about more in a 21^st century version of a book mobile. From such a mobile library we would lend e-book readers, iPads and any other device needed to make use of our collections. And of course traditional library users would still need to borrow print titles, because with oil at $300 a barrel it’s hardly the time to start buying books. The budget probably wouldn’t go far as everything is more expensive (flow on effects). We could see a bigger divide in society with the not so rich using the library more often.

Society: Big Brother comes true. Governments monitor every individual via electronic surveillance.

This would create huge privacy issues. Confidentiality of names and addresses could not be guaranteed and the government could routinely track the loan records of customers. Customers may not feel safe accessing very personal information, print or digital, which could seriously hamper their decision making efforts and have a negative impact on their life. We could find many more users not borrowing items; rather they may be secreted away in corners surreptitiously looking for what they need. If the government was monitoring each individual it is not much of a stretch to think that they may also be exerting control over the types of information that we have access to. This would impact on collection management and purchases, both print and digital. The library’s systems may need to be re-designed to hold more information on what people have previously borrowed. Item information would need to have its history expanded to show the names of many previous borrowers.

Technology: Neo-luddites gain control

Adapted from wisegeek.com:
‘A person who believes the use of technology has serious ramifications. They aren’t necessarily opposed to it but they want serious debate of the role of technology in society. Rather than assuming technology is neutral or beneficial they consider its possible impact. For example, medical advances allow people to live much longer, but these lives are not always happy or pain free. And some cities use extensive surveillance to keep an eye on people, but many feel this is a breach of privacy.’
Libraries would change direction and return their focus to print resources. Technologies we take for granted would no longer be available. Remote access to databases, downloadable audio and e-books etc would disappear. It would be increasingly difficult to ‘sell’ libraries to customers not interested in traditional library resources. Our effectiveness would be seriously hampered as web resources and access to them dries up. Information would become harder to identify, provide and locate. If a newly elected Council was made up of neo-luddites they may prevent us from spending more money on technologies and reduce the number of PCs that we make available. This would be problematic as we need to cater to people seeking both traditional and non-traditional resources.

Politics: The voting age is reduced to 14

First of all we would have to lower the age that a teenager can join the library without their parent being involved. We can hardly say that they are legally required to help vote a government in, but that they are not old enough to join the library by themselves. If they have a political voice then they have the ability to lobby parliament to effect the direction of libraries and the types of things that we make available. So we could be looking at libraries in the future with much larger dedicated youth areas that are meeting places for online gaming, ‘facebooking’ and other social networking. Oh, and probably study. More computers available and no charge involved. If there is control exerted over school life then we could see more students leaving school at an earlier age and using library services as a place to connect to employment opportunities. It is also foreseeable that units of school work could become remotely deliverable and this could result in an increased demand on our resources and services. It’s hard to say what effect this will have as we already treat everyone equally – children and adults. It may mean that the library will need to purchase more YA resources

Rethink. Reinvent.Rejuvenate workshop

Hi Everyone,
I have recently attended a workshop called Rethink. Reinvent. Rejuvenate: Interior design, merchandising and & space management for libraries. This course was run by Kevin Hennah and was basically about how to merchandise library resources to ensure their maximum usage. KH is recommending libraries are set up to best meet customer needs, rather than for the convenience of staff, challenging traditional styles of display and presentation. His first point is to make a really good first impression as people enter the library. To do this he offers some simple suggestions we can all implement.
Ensure that the desk is clear at all times, not filled with clutter such as books, brochures or signs.
Stand at the front entrance and try and see it as a customer walking in the door. The aim is to engage the customers interest as soon as they walk in. Try to have an attractive display of items that captures their attention. On this point KH says to give the customers what they want, ie popular collections to maximise stats, and while I agree this is a good idea, I think we need to display a variety of collections including special and under utilised collections covering a diverse range of areas. Customers may be interested in these items, but unaware that they are available. Always ensure that displays have plenty of items available for borrowing on them and as many covers are front facing as possible.
The second step is to manage the merchandising strategy. This is about
“creating a dynamic environment that inspires people to explore the entire library space”
In order to do this, the first step is managing traffic flow. Each library has high traffic flow areas. These are the paths people tend to follow throughout the library as they are browsing. This is affected by the placement of shelving, display stands and furniture. Although we probably cannot change the location of the shelving, we can observe the traffic flow pattern and ensure that customers are exposed to different parts of the collection as they follow the path through the library. We can achieve this through use of eye catching displays, items displayed on end panels and front facing books along this path. Hopefully customers will not only find what they are looking for, but also some impulse items and add on loans.
Our library service does this particularly well, with the use of end panels in each of the libraries.
We also have pyramid display units that can be used to create effective displays. KH is not fond of these units, mainly because they are not always maintained with plenty of items. So try and ensure that there are always plenty of new and interesting titles on these. Displays should be current, changed regularly and relate to the interests and needs of your customers.

KH then says if you are happy with the layout of the fixtures (or just can’t move them!), its time to work out the merchandising hot spots in the library and position your collections accordingly. Consider the following points:
Do some collections turn over well no matter where they are located? If so, there are two strategies. The first one is to position them in a premium area to maximise their usage potential, or alternatively, position a less popular collection in this area to increase its usage. The second option will increase turnover of the second collection, but probably not to extent of the first, a point to consider if maximum usage is the goal.

Obviously you cannot move the entire library collection so a couple of ideas to merchandise the collection in its present position that are used at Castle Hill library are:

Use of signs near popular authors saying “who writes like” with a list of similar authors.
Placing of childrens picture books in rows with one behind the other (if the shelves are deep enough). The childrens librarian said it worked for them as when one book was borrowed there was another one behind it. Apparently it is easier for children to find titles they liked as the entire front cover is displayed and the books didn’t get so messy.
Also to state the obvious, just keeping titles neat and tidy and in shelf order makes them more attractive and easy for customers and staff alike to find them.

Weeding
KH loves the idea of weeding the collections. This is because 80% of loans are created by 20% of the collection. He says it’s better to have a smaller collection of quality books, well presented for borrowing, rather than a larger collection of items jammed onto the shelves. Creating more room through weeding may allows items to be featured in displays of front facing covers along some shelves, and it is easier to find titles as the books are not packed tightly together. This is more user friendly for our customers, but they also appreciate that we have a viable collection of items available for borrowing!

Genres
KH suggests the idea of grouping books together under genre headings in the non fiction area. This is grouping all quartos, octavos, DVD’s and CD’s together in one area under headings such as parenting, lifestyle, gardening or business. They are still in DDC order. This has been done very successfully at Palmerston Library NT and Castle Hill library, where there are areas of shelving devoted to a genre, where quartos and Octavos are interfiled, and there are separate shelves within the area displaying DVD’s related to the genre. KH asks us to consider if the items were grouped by genre, with all resources available in one area, would we consider it to be an improvement for customers, in terms of finding resources, to change this arrangement to the current DDC system.

can also be grouped together under genres such as romance, science fiction, mystery etc, but this I think has been overcome by use of genre labels on books in our library service, and the separation of some collections for easy access.

KH sums it up with the following succinct points on display:
First impressions count
Front face items as much as possible
Don’t have too many promotions running at once.
Keep promotions simple, concise and eye catching.

I thought this was an interesting and useful workshop, offering good ideas and thought for consideration in relation to our library layout and use of display.

Monique

Social Networking Literacy Competencies for Librarians - Training Task 1

Social networking sites are becoming central forums for accessing and sharing information. Librarians are responding to this popularity by using social networking sites to interact with library customers. It is becoming increasingly obvious that librarians need to become more social networking literate to continue to provide services to many of their existing customers, to attract new customers and to maintain their role as information experts.

An example of what is happening......

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/library/

During the next months I will be posting a task for you to explore and respond to via this blog.
Responses may be individual or a group effort and can be as inventive as you like.

Your first task is to discuss what social newtworking sites you think that we should be using to connect with our customers?

Share your thoughts by 24th September.

QR Codes. What you should know.

What's that strange symbol on the right?

Its a QR (Quick Response) code. Commonly known as a QR code, but also may be referred to as a matrix barcode or a two dimensional barcode. They have been in use in Japan for some time and are now appearing all over the place in Australia.
QR codes let people, (including library users), - instantly learn more about a topic, by linking to a website where more information can be found. Here's more on how it works and what you can do with it:
To use QR codes you need to scan them with the built-in camera on a smart phone, using an application that you download or via software that's already installed on your phone.
(Yes Veronica, I know that most people don't own a touch screen smart phone - yet. Most people own mobile phones, and smart phones are the future of mobiles)
To find out what application to use for which phone, do a Google search for the model of the phone along with "QR reader".
QR codes are appearing all over the place. On web pages, in magazines and newspapers, on business cards, in library catalogues.
When users see a QR code, they can use phone's application to scan it.
Who will be first to tell me where the above QR code will take you?
Remember. Time, tide and technology wait for no man - or woman!
cheers,
Max

The iPad is coming to a library near you.

Even if like me you are a member of the ABBA club, (Anything But Bloody Apple), there is no doubt that in the world of smart phones the success of the iPhone has been phenomenal.

The iPhone and other internet capable touch screen phones enable users to access a myriad of information, with many web sites offering versions specifically designed for mobile consumption.

In a previous post on the Sutherland Shire Libraries News
http://blog.sutherlandlibrary.com/2010/07/read-newspapers-and-magazines-on-your.html
Karen blogged about using a smart phone to access newspapers and magazines via Ebscomobile. Being able to access journal articles from your phone is amazing but the small screen is not ideal for reading at length.

A much better reading experience is of course available via a laptop computer.
However in the area of portability, compared to a smart phone, laptops are quite heavy and have a limited battery life.
Whilst tablet computers are not new, once again, in a triumph of marketing, Apple have come up with a device which will change how millions of us acess information, the iPad.
Only this time, unlike smart phones, the iPad and the other forthcoming tablet devices are likely to have a significant influence in libraries.
In the main, libraries do not create content - they organise it and make it available for consumption by library users.

Right now from our library you can download and borrow ten audio books and carry them around on your MP3 player.
How long before you can download the latest interactive issue of ten of your favourite magazines to read on your iPad?
And the iPad has the potential to make the static content of a magazine come alive through sound and video.

See a video demo of what the future holds for magazines on tablets like the iPhone on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk

And read more at the excellent Radical Patron: http://www.radicalpatron.com/ipad-isgamechanger-for-libraries/

cheers,

Max

Online Training Options available when you are!

Do you want to see what features a particular database has, but can never seem to make the Webinar times? Wondering what to do for the next 1/2 hour before the after school rush?

Well there are plenty of online Tutorials, developed by the database vendors, that can be accessed anytime and they are not all time consuming. Some are as short as 5 minutes, just enough to run through some basic information, others of course will be longer, most tell you how long before you start.

The links are always accessible through Compass. Go to the Library Unit Portal and then Procedures, then Reference. The Reference Desk Manual is there Presently there is a link back through to our old, Staff webpages but in the nearish future it will all be on Compass like Document Delivery.

Here are some direct links to whet your appetite!

World Book Web training
EbscoHost Tutorials
Learning Web 2.0 - State wide


Cheers Jacinta

Karen Beath invites you to share Cronulla Beach folder . . . again

Passcode: 9a842c08-7b53-4265-adca-260291822f30
Karen invites you to share my Cronulla Beach folder.
*To view this folder, login to My EBSCOhost and click Add button next to
your Shared by folder.
*Enter or copy & paste passcode provided above.
*Hit Submit button to accept the invitation.
*The folder will be filed under my MyEBSCOhost's username, karenbeath,
under your Shared by folder section.


The sender also included this note:

After sending this out we've discovered a couple of minor problems:
1. It only allows one person to use that passcode from the one email address. I've unticked the 'Restrict passcode to singe use' option in the sharing form, so it should work for everyone now. If not, please let me know. Ordinarily we'd be sharing this with student's individual email addresses so it shouldn't be a problem.
2. The contents of the folder are arranged under 'Articles' and 'other content sources'. When I share
the folder it only seems to share 'Articles'. This new code should allow you to view other content sources. I'll see if I can find out if there is a way around this and get back to you. Try it now and see if it works. Please let me know of any problems you might have with it so we can iron them out early. Any ideas of how to market this to students would be great as well.

Thanks.
Karen

This e-mail was generated by EBSCOhost Research Databases. Neither EBSCO
nor the institution from which the Shared Folder Creator generated this
e-mail is responsible for the content of this e-mail. Please do not
reply to this message. For questions regarding your shared folder invite
please visit http://support.ebscohost.com/contact/askus.php.

Karen Beath invites you to share Cronulla Beach folder

Passcode: b22bde05-765e-421d-9e37-21fe13d06396
Karen invites you to share my Cronulla Beach folder.
*To view this folder, login to My EBSCOhost and click Add button next to
your Shared by folder.
*Enter or copy & paste passcode provided above.
*Hit Submit button to accept the invitation.
*The folder will be filed under my MyEBSCOhost's username, karenbeath,
under your Shared by folder section.

The sender also included this note:

In light of the recent renewal of the year 10 Cronulla Beach
environmental issues project, I thought now might be a good time to tell you about an idea suggested at the EBSCO Marketing training I attended earlier in the year. You can create personal accounts and folders within EBSCO, store relevant items in there and email them to interested students/parents etc. I thought I'd try it with this Cronulla Beach project using our integrated search trial. I've saved some of what I've found in this folder. Check it out and tell me what you think.

NOTE: Naturally, users will only be able to access articles from databases that their Library subscribes to.

This e-mail was generated by EBSCOhost Research Databases. Neither EBSCO
nor the institution from which the Shared Folder Creator generated this
e-mail is responsible for the content of this e-mail. Please do not
reply to this message. For questions regarding your shared folder invite
please visit http://support.ebscohost.com/contact/askus.php.