Three Lists of Must Reads

100 Best Blogs for Librarians of the Future
The folks at Bachelor’s Degree Online (whoever they are) have compiled of list of blogs to follow. Divided into Technology and Education, School and Academic Librarians, Library Issues and Advocacy, Research and Reference, Innovation and Information, Reading and Literature, and Professional categories, they include most of the ones I follow and some I have to look at. A good place to start if you’re looking to keep up with the ever-changing library world. (Find more at http://globeofblogs.com by searching on “library.”)

URL: http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2009/100-best-blogs-for-librarians-of-the-future/

25 Predictions for the University of the Future
On Associate Degree (which seems to be a site similar to Bachelor’s Degree Online), site administrator Emily Thomas goes out on a limb to predict “how the university of the future will operate.” The ones focusing on libraries:
“Libraries will continue to become more tech-focused”
“Learning resources will shift online”
“There will be an increase in the variety of educational resources and materials”
and many interesting predictions for other facets of higher education.

Definitely worth a read.

URL: http://associatedegree.org/2009/07/29/25-predictions-for-the-university-of-the-future/

Best Practices for Government Libraries 2009. Change: Managing it, Surviving it and Thriving on it.
LexisNexis’s Marie Kaddel has compiled over 60 articles by librarians, association leaders, and LexisNexis consultants. Included are federal standards, actual library case studies, LexisNexis presentations, press releases, and think pieces. And all this is available for free! Download it and learn. (PS. Not just for government librarians….)

URL: http://www.lexisnexis.com/tsg/gov/Best_Practices_2009.pdf

Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies Report Available Free

An ACRL report, Informing Innovation: Tracking Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies at Ohio University, by Char Booth, is available as a free download. If you're in an academic setting, this could be very enlightening. You can also purchase it in softcover for US$46 at http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2704

Download at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/digital/

BOOK REVIEW: MARKETING TODAY’S ACADEMIC LIBRARY

The subtitle of Brian Mathews’s new book is a bold new approach to communicating with students. And that is what this book is. First of all, there is Mathews’s job title—user experience librarian (at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta). How much better is this than reference librarian, or technology whatever, or even outreach librarian? Georgia Tech obviously understands that the quality of your collection or building is irrelevant if the user experience isn’t good, because no one will use what you have.

Then there’s the dedication: “to college students around the world, who deserve better library experiences.” The foreword isn’t by a librarian, but by the vice president of distribution marketing for the InterContinental Hotels Group. He makes a thought-provoking statement: “I think of someone picking up Brian’s book in fifteen years, reading this foreword, and mistaking it for a user’s guide to some kind of museum of antiquities. Will anyone even be reading then…?”

Mathews’s has discovered that some students are not interested in using the university’s computers to search for information—preferring to search using their mobile phones or PDAs. But they couldn’t reach much of the library’s resources. “…students actually visited the library regularly but had no clue how to use it or about the full range of tools and services available to them. Entering this social sphere of students expanded my point of view. I was no longer bound behind the reference desk or limited by the classroom setting.” He went to the students and faculty and found out about their needs and ways of gathering information—what he calls “becoming ubiquitous.” (Check out his blog, The Ubiquitous Librarian.) This book is the result of his ubiquitousness.

He starts with a controversial statement, “Let’s be honest: libraries don’t need to advertise. Students will always be drawn to the library….” But as a place, not necessarily as a resource. But he isn’t trying to convince you to market the library, but to establish” an emotional and interactive connection with our users” to make the library “a premier campus destination, rather than just a place that students have to go.” What he’s really talking about is repositioning the library in its users’s minds. He rightly understands that “you’ll never change perceptions through countless committee meetings…. Video games, iPods, DVDs, and other gimmicks are also not the solution. No, the process begins when we stop pretending that we know what students want and instead genuinely attempt to understand their needs and preferences—and speak to them in their language.” HE IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!

The rest of the book follows the usual path of marketing books: Defining the user, student need states, the library as product, conducting marketing research, building relationships, developing brand strategies, promotional building blocks, designing messages, measuring the impact, putting it all together. But it is all focused on what Mathews calls “a social approach to marketing.” This is where the strength of the book lies.

Other features: an epilogue: Staging academic experiences and an afterword by a Georgia Tech student. Index. There is no bibliography, but references are included at the end of each chapter.

Bottom line: This doesn’t just apply to academic libraries. ALL libraries have to listen to their users—especially as the Gen Yers/Millennials and their successors come into the workplace. If you’re already a marketing expert and your library is full and loved and used, this is an optional purchase. But if you think you could serve your customers better, especially the younger ones, BUY THIS BOOK!

Bibliographic information:
Mathews, Brian, Marketing today’s academic library: a bold new approach to communicating with students, Chicago: ALA Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8389-0984-3, US$48.00.

URLs:
To order the book: http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2596
Brian’s blog: http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/

BOOK REVIEW: Checklist of Library Building Design Considerations

Sannwald, William M., Checklist of Library Building Design Considerations, 5th ed., Chicago: ALA Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8389-0978-2, US$55.00

The former head of the San Diego Public Library (now on the faculty at San Diego State University) has compiled a great list of checklists for building projects for (primarily public and academic) libraries.

Yes, it is all checklists, but they are very comprehensive. He starts with what to do before you build, including determining space needs, choosing an architect and contractor. Next he covers site selection, sustainable design, and exterior considerations (landscaping, parking, signage, even trash cans). There is a long section on interior organization: entrance, circulation and reference desks, media, meeting rooms, restrooms, workrooms, even a library store. An equally long section follows on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Then come sections on media and technology, interior design and finishes (including furniture and lighting), materials handling and storage (shelving), building systems (heating, electrical, plumbing), safety and security, and maintenance. The last two sections deal with post-building issues such as moving, evaluation, and groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies.

There is no index, but it is not really needed since there is a very detailed table of contents. There is an extensive bibliography, but it contains only print materials and nothing by my building gurus Fred Schlipf and John Moorman.

This seems to be a very useful book to have on hand for any library building or remodeling project, for any type of library, small or large.

To order, go to http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2492.

FREE TABLES OF CONTENTS FROM JISC

“The ticTOCs Journal Tables of Contents service makes it easy for academics, researchers, students and anyone else to keep up-to-date with newly published scholarly material by enabling them to find, display, store, combine and reuse thousands of journal tables of contents from multiple publishers.” The service covers 11,140 scholarly journals from 420 publishers, with links to full-text of nearly 300,000 articles. Unfortunately, most of the articles are not free. You can even export the TOC feeds to popular feedreaders. If you register (free), your journal list is saved. I found about 25 journals that cover library issues—mostly in the UK.

URL: http://www.tictocs.ac.uk/index.php?action=home

SUCCESSFUL LIBRARY PR EFFORTS

Recently I came across two articles describing very successful outreach or public relations efforts by academic libraries. Both appeared in Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, the quarterly online-only journal from the Science and Technology Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries (a part of the American Library Association). They don’t have an RSS feed, but you can sign up for their mailing list which is used only to notify you of new issues of the journals. If you work in a sci-tech library, you should read this journal.

The first article is Science Experiments: Reaching Out to Our Users, by six science librarians from the University of Washington, Seattle (one of whom is now at Dartmouth College). A user survey discovered that many of their constituents weren’t aware of the library’s services, that most didn’t want to come into the physical library, and that the library’s web site was not in the users’ normal workflow. So, the librarians decided to “meet them in their spaces, lure them into our spaces,” and “use the middle ground that is the Internet.” They tried some really neat outreach efforts: setting up shop in the atrium of a building, geocaching, and setting up a blog, a virtual reading room, and a library presence on a departmental website.

Creating a BUZZ: Attracting SCI/TECH Students to the Library! is authored by eight librarians at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta. I was impressed that the library has an Information Services Marketing Group.” This group came up with the following “dynamic initiatives:” “an afternoon speaker series spotlighting exciting campus research” and “T-Paper, a hip, student-oriented restroom newsletter" (emphasis mine). The article has great photos of their efforts.

URLs:
Mailing list signup: http://listserver.library.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo/istl-updates
Science Experiments: http://www.istl.org/08-fall/article1.html
Creating a BUZZ: http://www.istl.org/06-winter/article2.html

YOU NEED TO READ THESE….

Not Like Those Other Librarians
M.K. Engle (Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA] was told by one of the first students she met, “You’d make a fun librarian. Not like those boring ones.” She blogs about how to walk the fine line between a “fun” librarian and a “professional” one. This is a line most of us have trouble treading. Her post is very interesting—as are the eight comments on the post.
URL: http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2008/11/20/not-like-those-other-librarians/

What do students want to see in a library newsletter?
Georgia Tech University, Atlanta puts issues of their library newsletter in the bathroom stalls. Brian Mathews has been helping to assess the success of the newsletter. This post lists what men and women want in the newsletter. Here are their top five:
Men: fun stuff, events, study tips, cool resources, new stuff on campus
Women: campus info, interesting facts, events on campus, good books, events in town.
Some good ideas here for your newsletter.
URL: http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/the_ubiquitous_librarian/2008/12/what-do-students-want-to-see-in-a-library-newsletter.html

Dublin (Ireland) City Public Libraries’ library portals—two versions
A post (I forget where) sent me to Dublin’s portal using Pageflakes. It is really nice. But it has been superseded by one using Netvibes. Both will give you some great ideas. Which do you like best?
URLs:
Pageflakes: http://www.pageflakes.com/dublincitypubliclibraries/
Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com/dublincitypubliclibraries/

FORE! NEAT FUNDRAISING IDEA FOR PUBLIC/ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

I just read about Library Mini Golf. You set up a miniature golf course in the stacks--or anywhere else you choose--as a fundraiser. It's already been used by several libraries to raise over US$10,000. Read Jenny Levine's blog post (see below) or go to the non-profit organization's website (also below) for more information. Who knows, maybe a corporate/law/hospital library could try it too!

URLs:
The Back Nine Stacks, The Shifted Librarian: http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2008/09/15/the-back-nine-stacks.html
Library Mini Golf: http://www.libraryminigolf.org

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON NEW SCHOLARLY SOCIAL NETWORK

Ologeez! is "a scholarly site" to "connect, share, and learn from colleagues through papers, networked groups, collaborative tools and more." It is open only to those with an .edu or .org email address, but looks promising. You can look at articles from scholarly journals, see what other libraries and/or universities are doing, participate in wikis for laboratories in academia, government, or industry; non-profits, or professional societies so far; and read their blog.

I've just looked at this site, not evaluated or used it yet, but you may want to check it out or tell your users about it. It is a project of Stanford University, California, USA and is only in beta right now.

URL: http://ologeez.stanford.edu

IS THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY FALLING BEHIND?

A study in the UK by Sero Consulting and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) reported that “library management systems are not fully fit for purpose because they do not allow seamless integration with teaching, learning, and research behaviour in the Web 2.0 environment.” Users expect a seamless, easy searching experience, which most LMS do not provide. Mostly, the systems were designed to serve backend users (technical services), not customers. “The report says that the business case for libraries is that they provide authoritative information, and access to it in the most efficient way. However, libraries ‘are not yet exploiting intelligence about user habits to enhance their position in the information value chain.’”

Is your OPAC (online public access catalog) as easy for your customers to use as it is for you? How can you make it easier for them?

Library+information update 7(5):15, May 2008.

FIND ACADEMIC PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH BLOGS

Research Blogging “allows readers to easily find blog posts about serious peer-reviewed research, instead of just news reports and press releases.” Fields covered are: anthropology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, clinical research, computer science, environmental, economics, engineering, mathematics, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, sociology, and research/scholarship. The blog is “a community-run non-profit organization…created by bloggers for bloggers.” Interesting.

URL: http://www.researchblogging.org/

GREAT PR IDEA--POST CARDS!

This is such a good idea I’m sure you would like to try it. But check with its creator, Rebecca Metzger [Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, USA] , first.

“For the past seven years, the Lafayette College Libraries have been creating and mailing humorous collectible postcards to students as a way of publicizing PRA (Personalized Research Assistance) sessions, which are essentially individual research consultations with reference librarians. PRA cards get the faces of reference librarians out to students in a comedic format that shakes up the stereotype of librarians as stodgy and serious, hopefully making us more approachable. The first PRA postcard came about informally. As a joke, one of the librarians mocked up a spoof of the film Conan the Barbarian and the tagline, "Make an appointment with a reference barbarian today!" It was basic humor, it was typical of the library staff at Lafayette, and it just kind of stuck.

"The postcards, which are mailed to all students a few weeks into each semester, feature the faces of reference librarians superimposed on movie or TV stills, thus appealing to the visual and pop culture interests of most youth. On the back of each card is a URL directing students to an online sign-up form and witty text advertising the service that plays on slogans from the movie or TV show. For example, the recent "Mary PRAppins" card reads: "We may not be able to get the chim-chiminey back in your chim-chim-charoo, but a Personalized Research Assistance session with a reference librarian can help you find the books, journals, and online resources you need for a well-researched project that will make your professor say: SupercaliPRAgilisticexpilalidocious!"

"After that initial postcard, student workers were brought on board to execute the Photoshop manipulation and layout of the card, as well as to coordinate the printing and mailing with campus Reprographic services. It's time-consuming work for them but more fun than shelving books, and it helps bridge the generational gap.

"For the first few years, a surge in appointments immediately after the mailing date was a clear indicator of the cards' impact. When the PRA cards hit their mailboxes, which are all located in one setting, there is a mass visual impact even if the majority of the cards end up in the recycling bin. As the branded service has become more integrated on campus, there's less of an obvious peak in appointments immediately after the mailing. Traffic to the online PRA sign-up form is steady now throughout the semester, and generated not just from the cards but from outreach during instruction sessions, reference desk interactions, articles in parent newsletters, targeted correspondence with honors students, word-of-mouth, and the library website."

Thanks to Jill Stover and her blog, Library Marketing: Thinking Outside the Book, for posting this.

URLs:

Entire post: http://librarymarketing.blogspot.com/2008/01/

what-bunch-of-cards-guest-post-from.html

Some of the PRA cards: http://www.lafayette.edu/~library/pra/gallery.html

What Academic Libraries Can Expect in 2008

Based on the recently released 2007 Environmental Scan by the Association of College and Research Libraries, here are the top ten assumptions for the future of academic libraries and librarians.

1. Increased emphasis on digitization, preservation, curation, and service.

2. Need for additional skills by librarians and an increasingly diverse library staff.

3. Demand for increased access, especially in digital resources and social computing.

4. More debate about intellectual property rights and management.

5. Additional demand for technology services and resources, requiring additional funds.

6. More accountability and quantitative services measures of the library’s contribution to the research, teaching and service sectors of the higher-education business.

7. Demand by student customers for higher-quality and relevant resources, facilities and services.

8. Expansion of online learning options requiring new or expanded resource and service delivery by the library.

9. Increased demand for free, public access to publicly funded research and data.

10. Increased importance of privacy and intellectual freedom issues.

Thanks to Stephen Abram [SirsiDynix, Toronto, Ontario, Canada] and his blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse, for calling my attention to this publication.

URLs:

Abram’s post: http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/

2008/01/acrl_environmen.html

ACRL Environmental Scan, full 29-pages:

http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers/

Environmental_Scan_2.pdf

GOOD LUCK CANDY FOR FINALS

Brian Matthews [Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, USA] has a good promotional idea for academic libraries.

“Donuts? Sugar Cookies? Snickers? Coffee? Yawn...I just put out some Good Luck Candy and Fortune Cookies and they seem to be popular, although I guess it doesn’t matter what you set out, people will take anything that is free. It’s the thought that counts, so... why not put a little thought into it? Maybe try and build a tradition of grabbing some good luck candy before heading off to take your exams. Don’t get me wrong, Reese’s Cups are great, but how often do you get to eat a little good luck? Maybe, just maybe it will give someone a little perk heading to a test.

Oh wait, some people still ban food in their libraries, how quaint.”

URL: http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/the_ubiquitous_librarian/
2007/12/try-some-good-l.html

TWO GREAT MARKETING RESOURCES

PROQUEST MARKETING TOOLKIT FOR ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

Last year ProQuest introduced a marketing toolkit for public libraries—now there’s one for academic libraries. There is “how-to” advice on marketing your library’s online resources, from Beth Dempsey, library marketing expert, speaker, and author; database descriptions that speak “patron” rather than library language; customizable promotional flier, advertisement, poster, press release and radio script; and a digital “commercial” that can be downloaded to the library’s homepage.

The Library Marketing Toolkit was recently mailed to academic libraries across the United States and is available as a free download at http://www.il.proquest.com/division/libraryadvocacy.shtml.

LIBRARY WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES AND RESOURCES

Marylaine Block presented Beyond the Basics: Making the Most of Your Library Website to the Arizona Library Association on 14 November 2007. She has graciously posted many of the examples and resources on her website. Included are: examples of good, user-centered design; use of prime display area for most important content from the users’ point of view; use of movement or animation; library terms that users understand; show off the physical library on your web site (on your main page, with virtual tours, with webcams); put your users in the picture; new site announcement services; library-created databases, digital text collections, topical guides, tutorials, voter guides and community issue guides; building projects: annual reports; strategic plans, surveys made public; blogs; RSS feeds, wikis, invitations to comment or add content; interactive quizzes, online contests and discussions; use of IM or text messaging; personalized portals and other services; toolbars; going where your customers are; websites for specific groups (kids, teens, teachers, parents, seniors; podcasts and videocasts; and other resources on library website design.

Believe me, you won’t find this many links on website design in any other place—at least not for free. Thank you so much Marylaine.

URL: http://marylaine.com/libsite.html

FACULTY WANT ONLINE, NOT PRINT

Faculty members overwhelmingly prefer using online material to printed material, according to the results of a survey released this week by Ebrary, a company that provides electronic content and technology to libraries, publishers, and other businesses. The survey shows that half of faculty members prefer electronic resources, and 18 percent prefer print. Another 32 percent said they had no preference. The results were based on responses of 906 faculty members from 300 colleges and 38 countries.

From an article by Andrea L. Foster in The Wired Campus (an online feed from The Chronicle of Higher Education), 8 November 2007. If you are in an academic library, you really should be getting The Wired Campus via RSS feed or email every day. There’s great stuff in it.

URLs:

The full article: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2531

Register to read the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?

sm=PgvLHSl_2fYAN_2fsblRBJYqqg_3d_3d

LIBRARY TIMELINE

The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) sponsored a competition in 1998 to promote the use of digital design media and the Internet in architecture. It involved “the design of a library that takes full advantage of information technology while still serving the library's inherited roles in culture and society.” One product of the competition was a Library Time Line. It starts with the Library at Thebes c. 1250 B.C. and ends in 1988 with Seattle (Washington, USA) Public Library’s US$196 million bond issue for renovation and construction.

I’m not sure how useful this may be, but it’s got some good information and is most certainly good reading.

URLs:
Time Line: http://www.acadia.org/competition-98/sites/integrus.com/
html/library/time.html
ACADIA: http://www.acadia.org/

FOR “ACADEMICALLY TALENTED YOUTH”

Cogito (I think, in Latin) is an online community for academically talented youth. There are interviews, projects, articles, Inspired and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Cogito is being developed through a collaborative effort by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth and eight partners (Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University; Talent Identification Program, Duke University; Rocky Mountain Talent Search, University of Denver; Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, University of Iowa; Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary and Secondary Students, Carnegie Mellon University; Center for Excellence in Education, McLean, Virginia; Davidson Institute for Talent Development, Reno, Nevada; and Science Service, Washington, DC. Affiliates of the program are: The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University; the Siemens Foundation, Iselin, New Jersey; the Irish Centre for Talented Youth, Dublin City University, Ireland; The Society for Excellence through Education Jerusalem, Israel; Centre for Gifted Education, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the American Regions Mathematics League.

URL: http://www.cogito.org

SOCIAL ISSUES WEBSITE

Social Issues is from the Gale Group and has articles and “debates” on various US social issues. This would be useful in academic libraries, especially for secondary or undergraduate education support.

URL: http://socialissues.wiseto.com/

MERGING THE REFERENCE AND CIRCULATION DESK

The Engineering Library at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, combined the reference and circulation desks. The main goals of the merge were: “provide a ‘one stop’ shopping environment for [their] users, extend at least basic reference services to all hours of library operation, respond to on-site service trends, provide an efficient and flexible staffing solution, [and] use the limited space more efficiently.” The paper presents a literature review and a description of the process and rationale. But I think that the most useful part of the paper is at the end—the two appendices that presents the perspective of the reference and circulation professionals’s perspectives on the process and outcome.

Powell, Jill, et al., Integrating an Engineering Library’s Public Services Desk: Multiple Perspectives, Issues in Science and Technology Leadership Winter 2007, http://www.istl.org/07-winter/article2.html