Transcript Digital Branch - North Vancouver City Library

Towards a Digital Branch
• Electronic House Needs to be in order
• Need to harness the power of the social web
in order to enhance and make electronic
service delivery more relevant
• no longer a question of ‘if’ but how to ensure
that a balance of physical and electronic
resources are offered
• Let’s take a look at what has happened with
the net
No matter who we are, internet use has steadily increased. It is a fact
of daily life.
Social Networking Sites are also an increasing
fixture in internet use, and is steadily climbing
Wireless technology is now a staple of how people connect to
the computer weather at home or on the go. We are also able to
deliver far more data, faster, through the use of ‘broadband’
We are now in a Web 2.0 World
Web 2.0 is a social web
• Unlike the first years of the internet the user
demands the ability to participate, interact,
and engage with others through the net
• Web 2.0 is all about community,
collaboration, creation
• The user produces content and shares this
Web 2.0 is about an experience
No matter who we are, there is something on the
internet that allows us to connect, create and
share with others. The avalanche of sites and
portals available for this, is a testament to
current demand for this kind of net experience
Library 2.0
Just like individuals, Library’s (Librarians) use the
Social Web to create content for users in unique
ways:
Let’s take a look at what they have been doing . . . .
Tim Spalding created ‘Librarything, a website that
allows anybody to upload titles of books they have
read, rate these, tag these, and share with others.
Data from ‘Librarything’ is pulled into local library
catalogues in the form of tags and links to ‘similar’
books, that allows users to increase the chances of
‘discovering’ other titles of interest. Along with West
Vancouver, we were the first library in Canada to
make use of this.
King County Library System makes use of
Really Simple Syndication (RSS Feeds) so
that people can ‘subscribe’ to parts of a
website and get updated every time
something new is added to that part. Want to
be alerted every time a new Western novel is
in? . . . RSS helps the user to do that.
RSS
District of Columbia libraries make audio recordings
of every author visit or event they have, then upload
and publish these as ‘podcasts’ for users to
download to their smart-phone or music player.
The Calgary Public Library uses ‘flickr’ a photo
sharing site to house submissions from their
Library-run photography club. The service allows
these photos to be ‘pulled into’ their library website.
This creates relevance for the use of social
networking by ‘repurposing content’ for use in the
Library’s own web presence.
The Toronto Public Library films and records their
author visits and uploads these to YouTube. They
are able to provide access to these via their own
website or through their ‘channel’ on You Tube.
Many people use Facebook, a social networking
site that was originally targeted to adults. Whistler
public library, as well as many more, have their own
page on Facebook and while using it to mostly
make announcements, offers the chance for the
community to interact with the library through
conversations and networks. While Facebook is
current, newer options will no doubt emerge and it
is important for a library to find how migrating to
these sites is ‘useful’ for their customers and the
role of the library.
Calgary Public Library has made tremendous use of
blogs to start dialogue and conversations with its
users around a range of topics. They have done a
particularly great job with ‘eco-sustainability’ and
have a community of users who can easily identify
and share resources on that page.
While we have a Twitter page, we have not
released it to the public. We need to identify how
‘tweeting’ serves or provides added value to our
role as a library beyond just creating another place
to make announcements.
Perhaps knowing that tweets can be automatically
fed to the front page of a Library website, and
therebye make publishing announcements easier,
means we kill two birds at one time. Using one tool
on the social web for another is called a ‘mashup’.
Its time to Take things a step
further
• We cannot adopt technology because it looks cool,
more so than because it adds value and is useful
• Harness the power of social web technologies to
enhance key library services/products such as our
catalogue, readers advisory resources, or even to
enhance economic and community development
• What’s Required: a ‘digital branch’ that is relevant,
useful, measurable, and cost-effective
• What is an digital branch?
The Digital Branch:
similar to a physical branch
Physical Branch
Digital Branch
• Provides Services, should be a
destination point for customers
• Houses and provides access to
collections
• Requires ongoing maintenance and care
• Requires Staff
• Requires Funding
Four key trends with building of a digital branch:
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Social Discovery
Mobile Access
Digital collections
A unified and focused web presence
Catalogue + Web 2.0 = ‘Social Discovery’
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Rate
Review
Comment
Share
Connect
There are a variety of ‘social discovery products that turn the catalogue
into a place where people can contribute, share, and connect with others.
Brantford Public Library uses a product called ‘Bibliocommons’ for
their public catalogue. It allows people to create lists of titles they
have read, rate, review, and tag these, while providing access to this
information for others. Notice that one user seems to write great
reviews of romance novels? Why not ‘follow’ that user to hear about
new reading suggestions.
Aqua Browser
Queens Public Library uses a product called ‘Aqua Browser’ for their
public catalogue. It allows people to search and discover items by
use of a dynamic ‘tag cloud’ (left) as well as through ‘facetted
searching’ (right) where you can narrow results by different ‘facets’
(ex. Subject, Language, Series, etc.)
SOPAC
Darien Public Library in Connecticut has built their own social
catalogue called ‘SOPAC’. As with others it allows you to rate,
review, tag and share with others. Added to this option, however, is
that anyone can create a login name and participate in these
features of the catalogue. They want the world to participate
together with their reading options.
Mobility
Any library that wishes to embrace ‘relevance’ will create mobile
options for its users who demand access to key library resources (My
Account, Catalogue, Events information) via their mobile devices
Electronic Collections
• Some print collections going down
• Reallocate those resources into electronic
collections
The use of ereaders and portable devices for display and
presentation of digital content represents the largest area of
growth in music and ‘print’ publishing. We need to expand our
digital collections to ensure we meet this demand and also
present and offer this content in a number of different device
specific formats, a reality of technological world in which we live.
Needed: A full-scale Web Presence
• We must develop a clean, visually appealing, focused web
presence
• ‘Single Sign-on’ will offer users the convenience of loggin in
once to everything, and creating unique ‘user ID’s’
• We need to provide access to multiple collections in multiple
formats
• It should provide opportunities to create and sustain a
variety of literacy-based communities amongst the
community of our users
• Portal not just to physical material, but high-quality, reliable
digital content, that supplements and adds value to inperson programs and resources. There should be integration
with the whole of the organization and its stratetig direction
We absolutely cannot afford this! Winnipeg
Public Library has been ‘locked’ into the main
shell of its municipal site since the early 90’s.
95% of libraries have been supported in their
need for ample on-screen ‘real estate’ in order
to properly present the complex services and
products they offer. That being said, the Library
should provide a greater number of links to key
City resources on its site.
This is a public library who truly consulted and
listened to their customers in the design of their
digital branch. While not a visual stunner, it reflects
what users constantly said they wanted from their
library!
Hennepin Public Library (Minneapolis) has one of
the best Readers Advisory pages out of any library.
While they are working to make the content
visually more appealing, it is technically wonderful,
so much so that they boast users from around the
world, not just their county!
Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is the
gold standard with the concept of a digital branch.
Staff are required to regularly contribute content,
monitor comments and replies to that content, and
interact, online with their community. They provide
a comprehensive set of service options digitally
and represent where we want to go !
Working to create a digital branch is a strategic imperative
if we are to truly work toward a balance of ‘traditional’ and
emerging service options for our customers. It bodes well
for our ability to sustain relevance into the future.