Welcome to iLibrarian

Amy-Mae Elliott at Mashable offers 10 Facebook Tips for Power Users. These are all excellent and useful suggestions, many of which I didn’t know myself and will be excited to try out! Here are the first five recommendations:

1. View Photos Full-Screen
2. Hide What You Read
3. Create a List Based on Your Interests
4. Populate Your Map With Pics
5. Reposition Photos on Your Timeline

Stephanie Sammons at the Social Media Examiner offers 5 Tips to Build and Grow Your LinkedIn Network. If you’re wondering how best to leverage LinkedIn’s 150 million–member worldwide network, you’ll want to check out this post. Here are her first 3 recommendations:

• #1: Update Your Status Frequently and Consistently
• #2: Build Connections Constantly
• #3: Be Strategic about When You are Active on LinkedIn

This is part of a series of posts which is based on a 3-hour hands-on workshop I offer on this topic. Be sure and check out the preceding post:

Technology Solutions Planning in Libraries: Overview

The Project Plan

The first step in any new project is to put together a plan with achievable goals. The breadth of your plan will depend on what type of new technology you’re looking to implement, so you should feel free to adjust this example plan as needed. However, this project plan should cover most new technology initiatives, and this series of posts will be going through each section of the plan individually.

1. Establish a Planning Committee
2. Gain Market Intelligence
1. Vet Solutions/Vendors
2. Research the Market
3. Read Case Studies
3. Requirements Gathering
1. Create Library Profile
2. Develop Use Cases
3. Business Requirements
4. Functional Requirements
5. Technical Requirements
4. Evaluate Solutions
1. Test Online Demos
2. Research Solution/Vendor Viability
3. Check References
4. Create “Short List”
5. Create RFP
1. Refine Requirements
2. Write & Distribute RFP to Top Vendors
6. Select Solution
1. Analyze RFP Responses
2. Conduct Interviews/Demos of Top 2 Solutions
3. Make Final Selection
7. Negotiate Contract
1. Make Contract Recommendations
8. Draft Budget
1. Include Hardware, Data Conversion, etc.

Download this project plan here: project_plan

Create a Timeline

Once you have outlined your plan, you can create a timeline with dates of individual goals and their deadlines. This will help you keep on track and motivated to move forward. Timelines such as this one can be created using software programs such as MS Project or OpenProj.

Download this project timeline here: timeline.mpp

The staff writers at Online Universities.com have predicted 10 Changes to Expect from the Library of the Future. Most of these changes have actually already been implemented by many libraries, and will continue to be adopted. Here are the first five changes.

1. More technology
2. Sensory story times
3. Better outreach to ESOL and ESL adults and children
4. Automation
5. Emphasizing community space

The folks at Online College.org have come up with 20 Compelling Reasons to Spend Less Time on Facebook and More Time on LinkedIn. For anyone who’s currently in the job market, these reasons make a lot of sense. Here are the first five:

• LinkedIn is professional at its core
• LinkedIn is a great place to gain expert status
• Your college professors might actually connect on LinkedIn
• LinkedIn represents a more targeted audience
• You’re more likely to get a recommendation on LinkedIn

I’m currently preparing for a talk I’ll be giving at the LIBER 2012 Conference in Tartu, Estonia in June on Mobile Technologies and Libraries and I thought I’d share some of my discussion about how libraries can start participating in the mobile Web if they haven’t already:

1. Take No Action
• The fact is that if you have a website on the Internet, you are already a part of the mobile Web. And between advanced devices such as the iPhone and Andriod phones, innovative browsers such as Opera, and automatic transcoding by major search engines, your site might not look all that bad with no extra effort on your part.
• Test the appearance, display, and functionality of your website on a variety of phones to determine if any action is necessary at this time.

 

2. Mobile Alerts



• Mobile alerts are text messages which are delivered to a user’s cell phone to notify them of an event, breaking news item, or other occurrence which they have requested to be informed about by previously subscribing to the service. This method, which is an excellent way to “push” information and strengthen user ties with organizations, is already being utilized by libraries in a variety of ways.
• There are many applications such as Mozes, Broadtexter (free!), and others that enable organizations to send simultaneous text messages to a list of subscribers. Although this doesn’t solve the problem of a mobile-enabled website, it is a way to connect to patrons via the mobile Web without a large investment of time or funds, and can be used quite effectively in conjunction with some of the other methods in this article.

 

3. Mobile Style Sheets
• Organizations with simple websites and some development resources can create a mobile CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) stylesheet, geared specifically for “handheld” devices.
• This is an additional stylesheet to the one which is used for a regular website and is brought into play when the user accesses the site from a mobile browser. The stylesheet simplifies the layout and optimizes the website experience for the small screen display.
• This method works well with basic websites that have content that can be easily reduced to bare bones. Although handheld stylesheets are not supported on all devices, this is a quick way to develop a mobile presence without having to develop a separate website.

 

4. Transcoded Websites
• Transcoding is a technology which takes a regular website and reformats it for display on a tiny mobile screen. When using a mobile device, many search engines including Google will show transcoded versions of webpages as results along with any mobile editions of the site.
• But developers, as well as users, can transcode websites directly through a free transcoding application such as Skweezer and Mowser which compresses the HTML content of a website to produce a single-column, Spartan version of the original that can be viewed through a mobile browser.

 

5. Mobile-Only Websites
• From RSS Feeds



• There are many free applications available to help organizations create their own mobile Web sites such as Winksite which create a mobile versions of websites from RSS feeds. So if you’re using a content management system with RSS feeds available for your website, or a blog, you can quickly and easily transform your site into a mobile one. These programs also provide tools to create QR barcodes, widgets which can be added to desktop websites offering to send the mobile URL to visitors who enter their phone numbers, embed code for adding the site to blogs or other websites, iPhone-only websites, and links to share websites with social networks and communities.
• WordPress now has a stylesheet which is automatically accessed when readers are viewing your blog via a mobile device, so no need for you to create a mobile version.

 

• From Scratch: Mobile Website Development Tools



• There are also quite a few free applications such as Zinadoo and dotMobi’s Site Builder that provide FrontPage-like development interfaces for creating mobile websites from scratch.

 

• Outsourced: Mobile Development Services



• Services such as Boopsie for Libraries offers to transform library websites, and their OPACS into robust destinations for the mobile Web.

Steven Anderson offers a quick tutorial for to How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School. Each of these seven steps walks you through the process of creating effective guidelines for your organization including great resource lists and questions for reflection along the way. Here are the first five steps in the process:

• 1. Examine Your School Culture
• 2. Organize a Team
• 3. Research Phase
• 4. Draft Your Document and Incorporate Feedback
• 5. Make Sure the School Attorney and School Board See the Draft

Ed Oswald at Extreme Tech writes an elucidating article Demystifying Semantic Search. If you’ve been wondering about this new trend in search technology but aren’t certain exactly what it is, you’ll want to check out this article which discusses Google, Bing, and Wolfram Alpha.

“Web searchers these days are a sophisticated bunch. We expect more from our search results, and sometimes a list of links just doesn’t cut it. Plus, who wants to muddle around those results trying to find precisely what you’re looking for? Shouldn’t a search engine know what you want? That’s why search engines, including heavy hitters such as Google and Bing, are beginning to look for ways to get you the information you want more quickly.

The latest attempt to make search results more relevant is by peering into the meaning of your search query itself. This is called semantic search.”

Ann Smarty at the Social Media Examiner has outlined 5 Steps to Hosting Successful Twitter Chats: Your Ultimate Guide. If you’ve ever thought about hosting a Twitter chat for your library or event, you won’t want to miss this post. Here are the first 3 steps discussed:

• #1: Understand How it Works
• #2: Form Your Plan
• #3: Announce and Promote Your Twitter Chat

Joe Brockmeier at ReadWriteCloud puts together an excellent list of The 7 Best Open Government Sites. These are each third-party websites which provide different collections of information about the U.S. government. I can’t wait to check these out, here are the first five reviewed:

• POPVOX: Bridging the Public and Congress
• OpenCongress
• Poligraft
• Follow the Money
• OpenSecrets.org

There have been quite a few library technology stories since my last roundup in late February. Here are 30 stories/articles/blog posts that you won’t want to miss!! And please list any other recent library tech stories in the comments.

Social Media

1. 3 Ways College Libraries Are Exploring Pinterest
2. 5 Educational YouTube Channels for Librarians
3. 10 Resources for Using Pinterest in Your Library
4. NYPL’s Movie Trailer-Style Library Video
5. 20 Great Ways Libraries Are Using Pinterest

Mobile

6. 10 Kindle Cases That Look Like Books
7. Libraries Loaning iPads
8. Reinvent the Book Club: How To Host Your Own Audiobook Gathering

e-Books

9. Evaluating e-Books in Law Libraries
10. Ebooks 101: DRM (Digital Rights Management)
11. Should Libraries Get Out of the eBook Business?

QR Codes

12. QR Codes Extend Library Programming
13. What are some uses for QR codes in public and academic libraries?
14. QR Code Quest Scavenger Hunt- Part Deux!

Library Marketing

15. 21 Resources for Library Marketing with Social Media
16. Stop Branding Your Library!!
17. How to Use Webinars to Create Great Relationships with Library Patrons
18. Create Your Own Library Social Media Monitoring Dashboard

Preservation

19. Archiving Cell Phone Text Messages
20. Pinterest and the New Meaning of Curation

ERM

21. Implementing an ERM System in Your Library
22. Managing Electronic Resources

Misc

23. Ten Things I Didn’t Learn in Library School
24. 20 Everyday Ways To Escape The Library Echo Chamber
25. Alternative Uses for the Pesky eBook Budget
26. Poll Results: What Technologies will impact libraries in 2-5 years?
27. Card Sorting from A–Z iLibrarian Series
28. 7 Stellar Library Conference Presentations
29. 7 Things You Should Know About™ the Evolution of the Textbook
30. Vintage Photos of Librarians

Darren Steele, Strategic Director of Mindspace, and co-author of the gamification book, “I’ll Eat this Cricket for a Cricket Badge.” blogs at Mashable and offers 4 Tips For Gamifying Your Marketing Plan. This useful post discusses each of these recommendations:

• 1. Decide on the Right Opacity
• 2. Break Up Information Into Smaller Pieces
• 3. Do Something With Likes and Followers
• 4. Match Incentives With Engagement

Debbie Hemley at the Social Media Examiner offers 26 Tips for Success With Location-Based Marketing. These excellent recommendations for leveraging social, local, and mobile into your marketing strategy form an A-Z guide for location-based marketing. Here are the first five tips discussed:

• #1: Analytics
• #2: Blog
• #3: Coupons and Location-Based Mobile Apps
• #4: Directories
• #5: Engagement

This is another topic that I give a 3-hour workshop on, and since I’ve had positive feedback on the other two series of posts on Card Sorting and Personal Digital Archiving, I figured this might be worth sharing as well. To start off, here’s the workshop description:

Whether you’re considering purchasing an ILS or a shared calendar program, choosing a technology solution which suits the needs of your library presents many challenges. This session will explain the process of creating and executing a project plan which will lead to an informed selection. Avoid the familiar traps of choosing a technology because it is; the highest-rated, most expensive, cheapest, comes recommended by a colleague, or they have snazzy marketing copy. Learn how to find the perfect fit for the unique needs of your library. Discover how to gain market intelligence, gather business, functional, and technical requirements, evaluate competing vendors, get buy-in from staff and colleagues, create an RFP and make your final selection. Common pitfalls of choosing free software solutions will also be discussed. Learn how to avoid the instant-gratification snare with these programs that could cost you in the long run.

Five Pitfalls of Choosing a Technology Solution

Making a technology decision on behalf of your library is a complex decision which should take into account your unique infrastructure, current technology needs, and available resources including staff time and experience as well as finances. What’s right for one library or organization may not necessarily be a good fit for you. Here are some common reasons people choose a new technology, but taken individually, they should not be the basis of an educated technology decision:

• The boss heard about it at a conference
• A friend told them it was awesome !!!!
• It’s the most expensive, it’s the cheapest, or it’s free
• The IT department has been working with that technology for the past 10 years and are reluctant to try anything new
• The company has great marketing copy

Costs of Making the Wrong Choice

Choosing the wrong technology solution can set back an organization significantly in long-term resource costs in time and energy to:

• Retrain staff on another product
• Recreate data
• Overcome bad feelings developed about the technology

When to Use this Process

• When your library has a need or “requirement” for a technology solution

– If you can’t write the requirements, you don’t have a need yet!

When Not to Use this Process

• Just dipping your toe in the water
• You want to try a technology because everyone else is using it.

Next: Develop the Project Plan

Gwyneth Anne Bronwynne Jones at The Daring Librarian has updated and improved her QR Code Quest Scavenger Hunt lesson from last year and has given us all the fantastic details – including worksheets and lesson plans – in QR Code Quest Scavenger Hunt- Part Deux! What’s new in this iteration? QR codes that talk!!