Internet Librarian 2010 wrapped up on Wednesday and it was a great conference. It was wonderful meeting people in person that I have been following on Twitter or reading about their ideas via their blogs. There were many fantastic presentations (some of which I’ve already written about) so today I just wanted to write a little bit about some of the recurring themes at the conference.

Community
One of the overarching themes of Internet Librarian 2010 was the importance of community. Whether John Blyberg of Darien Public Library was discussing how the library stayed open very late to provide people a place to go when there was a snowstorm knocked out power to most of the town, or Jody Turner telling us how getting attention for our organizations requires us to be empathetic and social, community was the strong concept that tied together much of what was talked about at the conference. I was reminded again and again of Seth Godin’s book, Tribes (excellent book, by the way) while listening to the sessions; we need to not only understand the tribes, as Mike Ridley said, but we need to become part of the tribes and make librarians integral via fostering community.

Community was also evident in the interactions among the librarians, both those physically present in Monterey and those linked in via Twitter, blogs, the virtual conference, and other social media information streams. It was great to be around so many passionate, creative, and knowledgeable librarians. I had a blast, and yes, being recognized as The Waki Librarian was one of the highlights of the conference for me (it’s nice to know I’m not sending out these posts into the abyss without anyone reading them.)

Innovation
Obviously, we come to Internet Librarian to hear about innovation and all the creative, wacky, successful (or not) projects and programs that our fellow librarians have created and implemented. It was amazing and very useful to hear about not only the successes but the failures of innovation at this year’s conference so that we can help each other move forward instead of using up our limited resources by re-creating the wheel at our separate institutions.

I hope we can all take back this spirit of innovation to our organizations and create more wonderful projects to share next year.

Design
There were many wonderful talks on the importance of design in creating an awesome user experience (UX). As a bit of a geek when it comes to design, I was excited to hear all about branding, typography, and designing both for the built environment and the online environment. Beauty is not just for beauty’s sake, but because it makes the experience in our libraries better for our patrons/users/collaborators/participants/selves. If you are passionate about design, I highly suggest checking out the Before & After magazine website for tips, tricks, and advice on design.

Mobile Web
With the Mobile Monday track, sessions and information about mobile content, resources, and design dominated much of the conference (with good reason). Mobile is definitely one technology that no one can ignore without seriously bad consequences for their organizations. I learned a lot from the sessions on mobile technologies and one of the themes within this track was that we should focus on designing and creating content for the mobile web rather than standalone apps that are specific to a device. Not only does this focus in our design and efforts save us time, but, as was mentioned in one session, more librarians can probably code for the web versus for apps. So go Team Mobile Web! (And hopefully I can get my colleagues to buy into this idea as we work towards optimizing our site and services for the mobile world.)

Conclusion
Internet Librarian was filled with wonderful people, great sessions, and more information than anyone can process in a few days. Hopefully more insights and conversations will continue to be shared even though the conference is over.

Have a fantastic Friday and a lovely weekend filled with reading and relaxing. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology fun.

Presentation of two libraries, Darien and Eastern Kentucky University, that have successfully applied user experience (UX) design to improve services and design new, innovative services.

Darien Library UX
by John Blyberg, Assistant Director, Innovation & UX, Darien Library

User experience design is kind of a nebulous term–still discussion about what it means. UX encompasses customer service, but they are not equivalents–it is one of the experiences we need to think careful about designing.

It’s not about the content; it is about the people. (Yay!) Need to think about Digital Natives, changing relationships with technology, and changing perceptions of libraries. People are using libraries differently.

Library as place is a very important concept: library as a third place. Need to think about the design that will enable the library to be a third place by building community. It’s about designing spaces that are flexible and have the possibility to become what the users want.

Think about the space in new ways. The purpose is to build a space that allows people to be more connected to their community. It’s also about designing a space for reading, studying, researching.

Need to look at where we should be putting our resources. Play to strengths–don’t try to compete with Netflix–play to what you do well in the communities.

Build efficiencies around moving materials, making sure all patron interactions/transactions work well, and the technology works. Natural use of technology is part of user design as well. A lot of time was spent designing OPAC (created the open source SOPAC); users create profiles and can tag and review the materials in the catalog.

Signage is very important! “Signage is a pet peeve.” Darien doesn’t allow paper signage. Why do we put up signage? Because we don’t want to deal with the problem directly or don’t know how to deal with the problem. If people want signs, it goes to a study group that figure out another way to solve the problem that doesn’t involve quiet signage. Need to look at expectations and come at the problems from another angle. “Signage is almost always indicative of another problem.”

“It’s amazing what will come back to you if you trust your users.” Create an atmosphere of trust–but the latest hot gadgets don’t hurt either.

We need to see ourselves as an essential service.

We need to get rid of silos and all work together.

Darien Library’s staff is doing awesome work, but also has a huge advantage of being well-funded. However, a lot of these concepts can be applied to less well-funded libraries.

For great UX, hire self-motivated, creative, energetic people and trust them to do the work and don’t micro-manage them.

While signage is annoying, branding is essential. Need to have a consistent brand.

UX @ EKU
by Cindi Trainor, Library Technology, Eastern Kentucky University

UX is “about the pure joy of the simple things”; you know where you need to go, can find what you want, and can do what you want to do.

EKU has an Online UX team, created by combining two other technology committees. Have as much Public Services representation as possible because Public Services actually interacts with the public.

Redesigned SFX (OpenURL link resolver) to make easier to use and to include more services. EKU also has an Usability Team–uasbility testing on catalogs and website redesign. Also has a LibGuides group: created template for guides so there is consistency. Also a web design group that analyzes and upgrades the website. They have good IT support from university too (lucky!).

EKU has gone to a single desk staffing model (circulation and reference are at the same desk). This makes it easier for the users: only one desk to go to no matter what your question is at the library. Also rethinking library instruction to make it as good as the teaching in the other disciplines.

EKU, like Darien, has put a lot of thought into the design of the physical and online library space. It shows in their innovative use of space and design of online services.

Summary
It’s all about designing with the user in mind= user-centric design. Try to think sideways to solve problems creatively. Think about design and how it will help your users. Signage is often bad (very bad), so figure out a way to deal with problems or issues without putting up more signage. Again, figure out what your users need and want to determine how to best design, deploy, and optimize services.

Panel Discussion with:
Mike Ridley, CIO & Chief Librarian, University of Guelph
Donna Scheeder, Deputy CIO, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
Jim Peterson, Technical Coordinator, CIO, Goodnight Memorial Library in Franklin Kentucky

Mike Ridley and his Role
Talking about the integration of the role of CIO and Chief Librarian. Looking at transformation in an academic setting, also business practices that change the university. “Herding cats” Teaching, research, and learning are changing and see where we are going.

Donna Scheeder and her Role
Works in the COngressional Research Service which only serves Congress. Has separate technology operation from LoC. Has decided it is time to recognize that information management goes hand in hand with technology= Office of Information Management & Technology created. Does a lot of content management, digital life cycle= records management. (Again, we see the concept of records management coming up in these talks on content creation and preservation. This is a great opportunity to collaborate with the allied field of records management (ARMA))

Jim Peterson and his Role
Stepped in for a speaker who couldn’t make it and it’s his first conference! He is from a very small library and has a great attitude about work and people in general. (Great to hear at this conference.) At ALA Conference walking around with his Director and talking to vendors said, “I’m the Geek. She’s the Wallet.” Love it. Lots of freedom in what he can do and research he can do, so Jim loves his job.

Significant changes and challenges

Mike Ridley
Need to bridge the tension between library and enterprise IT: “The iCampus: One community. Many neighborhoods.” Challenge: Tech Populism because everyone is their own IT Department (individuals carrying around lots of computing power, mobile devices, trying new things, etc.). Tribal Identities: faculty, students, staff, professional perspectives–difficult to integrate all the tribes (again check out Seth Godin’s book, Tribes, for more information about creating and leveraging tribes).

He thinks the Information Age is over because everybody is in the information business. Need to a new metaphor: Age of Imagination. Need to figure out what we can do differently and do better. Lots of opportunities, but need to be creative and think differently. Think about Open Organizations: need faster, mobile, adaptable organizations (and have the ability to fail).

Our advantage is that we are ignorant of what the answers will be and use this abiguity as a strength in order to think outside the box.

Donna Scheeder
Challenge is how to get an enterprise approach to how to allocate resources. Challenge of how we add value: we need to understand the environment of the organization and then we can add value for our organizations. External challenges: telework is becoming popular; proliferation of types of devices (difficult for optimizing content for different types of devices). First goal is to keep the services running, then look at what customers want and be able to adapt quickly, and align the resources. Security is a major issue (need to be cognizant of the value of information and how to keep these assets secure).

Jim Peterson
“Under the hood, we are all the same.” Jim discussed an easy place to save money: kilowatt meters because IT takes a lot of power and this is an issue for IT. IT’s ability to cut costs can really help the rest of the library and organization. Think about working together, instead of working at cross-purposes.

One of the largest challenges is the budget crunch. But there are great technologies being developed and improved: open source software. etc. Change your thinking and change the way you do business (and save money in the process).

“IT is more than just the geek you call when something happens. We are the facilitor of information. It doesn’t matter if we are a one-man show or the Library of Congress, we are here to help you.”

What do you think the amazing proliferation of devices connecting to the internet will mean for libraries?.

Donna Scheeder
We need to decide where we want the library to be, if the library is the screens. Why can’t we take the library to more places where people are? We need to be in places such as airports, mobile devices, places with “dwell time.”

Mike Ridley
The internet will get so big that we won’t notice it anymore. Libraries will be everywhere, all the time, no matter what you are doing. Libraries may have a branding problem and disappear and we need to think about how we deliver value in that space.

Jim Peterson
Libraries might disappear as we know them today, agrees with Mike. But librarians are important because they know how to search and find what you need. We will be stronger and better positioned because we already know about information.

Need to also be visible via talking with their legislators.

Communication is super-importants:tips?

Jim Peterson
Show a solid business case for what you want to do. If you can show it will save money or improve services, it is an easier sell. Don’t forget about the bottom line. Example: Jim got a test server in order to test open software and new technologies, and do research. It has allowed the library to implement many technologies.

Donna Scheeder
Align goals with greater goals of the larger organization. Think like a user. Think like the decision-makers, echoing Jim’s point.

Mike Ridley
Becoming allergic to the word “user” need to think about “participants” instead. Need to think about how to move to a space of shared goals. Need to make yourself visible in your organizations. Develop a level of tolerance of other tribes’ perspectives.

Summary
A very interesting and funny discussion about challenges, changes, and opportunities facing libraries in regards to technology and innovation. Massive props to Jim Peterson for stepping in and presenting at his first Internet Librarian 2010 conference. He gave a good talk and has a great attitude and ideas for saving money in IT and libraries. Yay, for people who want to work together!

by Megan Fox

Looking at what content is available and what users are using on their mobile devices, as well as how you can search for mobile content. Data access now surpasses voice use on mobile phones. Lots of time spent on emails, news, sports, social networking, movie information, games etc. on mobile devices.

Need to think about what we are recreating on mobile sites and apps. (Check out earlier blog posts on Mobile Technology Workshops and location based apps for examples of using and creating mobile sites and applications). Many catalog vendors are creating mobile apps and sites now too. Many libraries are creating their own when they do not like the vendors’ offerings. LibraryThing has Library Anywhere available for overlaying over the OPAC (does cost money). Federated web search tools: WebSearch app and Speedy Search are two examples.

Many vendors and services now have mobile interfaces. For example, EBSCO, LibGuides, etc. Also, small mobile collections of ebooks, streaming music and films are being made available. Some libraries are checking out mobile devices with collections downloaded on the device, others make the collections available to their users to use on their own devices.

Harvard Libraries mobile site goes deeper to give help with research: lots of searching on databases and research help.

Need to be aware of content resources outside of the library in the app stores. Can find relevant apps under categories such as finance, health, etc. GetJar App World: second most number of apps after iPhone app store.

Texting
Need to not forget texting–great to have texting reference service. Not everyone has a smartphone! Texting is still a powerful and simple way of providing reference service and finding content.

Voice
Important to remember about the ability to search via voice and lots of speech-to-text applications. This is becoming very popular. Dragon Search App is a very important player.

Touchscreen
Motion and gesture are now important in how we can search and execute functions on the smartphones. Lots of applications using gesture to create functionality.

Location aware
Location aware applications are very important for searching. (For more information, check out earlier post on Foursquare and other location based social networks.) Used a lot in public transit, finding restaurants, etc.

Visual searching
Can now do visual searching via our phones because they have cameras. For example, use Google Goggles by taking a photo of a book and then get more information about the book. Another player is oMoby. Also included in this category are barcode readers (like QR Codes). RedLaser app searches WorldCat–very cool. Neustar is trying to come up with standards for barcodes so you won’t have to download a lot of barcode reader apps. Augmented reality is also another way to use visual searching.

How people find stuff on their phones:
1. Bookmarks, 2. URLs, 3. Searching (searching is still only third in the way people find information).
Now people are doing casual browsing and serendipitous searching as part of “killing time:” aka “incidental search.” Now, social augmented reality is important (Socialight is an important player) aka augmented humanity, reality mining, personalized precision search.

Identity theft and privacy concerns are growing as we use more mobile apps. No one has any easy answers to these issues, but we need to keep them in mind when creating and launching mobile services.

Summary
Mobile devices now allow us to get content on our devices without using the desktop. We need to be aware of what is available via mobile sites and native apps, but not forget about simpler technologies such as texting (because not everyone has a smartphone). We also need to be aware of the multiple avenues that users find information on their mobile devices and understand new ways of searching in order to be relevant in the mobile world.

Talking about how to present a consistent voice and identity across multiple platforms online.

Keep it Consistent!: Creating & Maintaining an Online Identity
by Jennifer Koerber, Boston Public Library
We have parts of ourselves all over the web: Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, blogs, YouTube, etc. How can we remind our patrons that they are still dealing with our library?
Need to have consistent visual presentation:

Same language

• Use the same name everywhere
• Claim your name so you have it when you want it
• Create a short list of related names
• Pick something identifiable and easy to remember
• Don’t be cute
• Create generic email adn chat usernames: functional usernames that forward to staff
• Stay true to your writing voice; create style guides if you have a team of writers
• Users will create their own tags: get used to it 🙂
• Give them your tags and they’ll use them

Visual display

• Use same color scheme
• Think about your fonts
• Create lovely banners that can brand your site
• Get a logo and use it

Managing Today’s e-Library
SuHui Ho from University of California, San Diego

Talking a lot about social media and today we are talking about specifically about managing and staffing today’s e-library.

There has been an evolution from physical to virtual services both in the library world and in other areas (ex. buying books, renting movies, etc.). Collections are also now virtual–journal databases, LibGuides, screencasting, outreach online via social media.

“The web has fundamentally changed the way the library conducts its business.”
e-library mirrors the brick and mortar library in services and content: need to think about more than the library’s website. We need to think about the online presence in social networks, mobile websites, geolocation apps, etc.

We need to think about content life cycle management. Time to talk with your archivist and records manager–we’ve been discussing these issues for years.

Staffing model for e-library: not a one size fits all solution. Need to assign staff to maintain the e-library; we cannot rely on one webmaster. Unless we write in these tasks into the job descriptions, we will not be effective at maintaining our e-libraries. Don’t just rely on staff enthusiasm.

Virtual Customer Support
by Colleen Brazil, Sno-Isle Libraries

Example using the OverDrive product to create a customer support system (database backend). Had a lot of support requests when the libraries started to use Overdrive–patrons needed help in figuring out OverDrive.

“Don’t throw your customers to the DRM wolves.” Need to give your customers support–don’t give into the chaos.

Solution: created a form for customers to use when they have an issue/problem and streamline the help service. First wanted the complaints to go directly to OverDrive–bad idea. Instead, the library deals with the issues.
Created more than a form: funneled requests to one channel, rules of engagement for staff, set up communication process, and got the Director’s support. This maintains personal contact with customers and use expertise from OverDrive. Resolve problems in about 24 hours.

Summary
Be consistent! A little bit of planning will save a lot of time and trouble later on. So think about how you want to present your library/organization/self and create an online identity (via language and design) that presents that image. (If you like design, the Before & After Design blog, magazine and books are fabulous for learning more about designing well)

Be aware and proactive about managing the e-library! We can’t just create something and ignore it.

Be fabulous at virtual customer support! Our users expect online services to work properly. When they don’t, it should be easy for them to find out how to get h>   Extremely Important N/A ( )Performance:     Ext

Presentations by: Jason Michel, Kwabena Sekyere, Dave McLaughlin

Concrete examples and demos on mobile designs. Great follow-up to Jeff’s overview of the trends in designing mobile web and native apps.

Dave McLaughlin Presentation: Hartford County Public Library
Used a JavaScript framework for designing web apps and mobile WebKit devices–nice because works on a lot of platforms. jQuery is a JavaScript framework, just released alpha release for jQuery Mobile. jQTouch= offshoot of jQuery. It has been around for about a year, has example code, no clear development timeline, etc.

HCPL mobile: has a new releases and booklists feature in their web app. Very nice looking web app. Need to have functionality to renew materials via the mobile web app–working on this in the near future.

Jason Michel and Kwabena Sekyere: Presentation on Miami University Libraries Mobile Site
Created a mobile web over native apps because more people can use and you don’t have to design for each different device. Used Drupal for the mobile site and designed for core functionalities. Nice, functional mobile website. Unfortunately server doesn’t recognize that you are coming to the site on a mobile site and will load the regular site on your phone. You have to actually type in the mobile website URL to get to the mobile site.

Summary
Another set of talks that reiterate the need to seriously focus on creating mobile web apps/mobile websites instead of native apps. Great talks, but would have been so much better if the projection system was better so even the bloggers in the back of the room could see the code on the screen. (But, of course, this isn’t the fault of the presenters–they had good demos/examples)