FAU Libraries proposal
Submitted by jerdman2 on Mon, 2007-03-12 21:23.
Plan to incorporate social library tools into the FAU Libraries Website
Proposed by Jacquelyn Erdman
Assistant University Librarian/
Coordinator of Assessment and Planning
After participating in the online course entitled “Five Weeks to a Social Library” I have learned many new “Library 2.0” tools that may bring more interactivity and usability to our current Libraries website. Upon completing this course I recommend the implementation of three of the social tools, wikis, blogs and flickr.
1.) Wikis:
The first implementation of social tools into the FAU Libraires is to migrate the current subject guides, scripted in HTML with all updates uploaded by the head of reference, into a wiki format where all staff can access and update any existing subject guide.
Pros
The subject guides can be updated more readily as links and resources change. This also takes burden off of the head of reference to upload all new and updated subject guides. Wikis are also searchable, which should eliminate the confusion some students might have when trying to navigate ambiguous guide titles. Whenever a change is made, the wiki will add the previous page into a “history” so that nothing is ever lost. If there is a problem with a link, there is the ability to “roll back” to a previous version of the page.
Cons
Staff will need to learn the protocol for creating a wiki.
Procedure
I propose that the library use the software MediaWiki as the tool for the Libraries wiki. MediaWiki is open sourced software that is hosted on the local server and is the same software used in Wikipedia. MediaWiki reads both “wiki” editing script that is easy to learn as well as html coding. I will migrate all current subject guides into the new wiki then teach all interested librarians in creating and updating wiki pages. Each librarian will have a login for security of content.
Possible future implementations
I also suggest the Libraries look into creating an FAQ page and a staff guide page as a wiki.
2.) Blogs
The second tool to utilize will be Blogs.
Pros
Blogs are a good way to get both important information (such as up-to-date hurricane information) and information of interest (new books) to users in a friendly manner. There is also a function where users can leave feedback or comments.
RSS feeds are a way for community members to keep up to date of information. RSS feeds condense all web pages a community member “subscribes” too into one website through a feed reader (such as bloglines or google reader) and Salwa Ismail Patel is already working on creating the script for RSS feeds.
Cons
Anyone can leave comments, even spammers, so there will need to be a blog policy created and some monitoring of the comments section. A way to remedy this is to only allow users with IP authentication (either on campus or by logging in) to add comments. Also the blog needs to be updated at least monthly, if not weekly or daily. Therefore it is important to involve librarians who are interested in up keeping the blog.
Procedure
The Jupiter campus has already utilized blogs. Therefore, I recommend using the same social software tool that they use, Blogger, which is can be hosted from the Libraries website. I suggest creating calendar blogs for instructional services, outreach and exhibitions committee, communications, and systems. Each blog would be updated by each respective group and through special scripting would automatically be brought together in a common calendar blog listed on the main Libraries web site. That way all of the FAU community can access the important events going on in the library for the week. A blog policy will also need to be drafted and I have some examples of other policies that can be reviewed.
Possible future implementations
Each department can be trained to create and maintain their own personal blog of new items or new information that would be useful to the community.
3.) Flickr
This social tool allows for photographs to be hosted on an external website and accessed both through the Flickr social network and though the Libraries website.
Pros
Flickr allows those who upload the photographs to tag the items with useful words for better searching. It is also a way to get the Libraries name out to at least Flickr users, both who are interesting in the University (i.e. tagging all photographs with FAU) and those who might be interested in our collection (i.e. tagging all photograph with topics such as Judaic Music).
Cons
Each account is free with the ability to create many different folders, but the free account has memory/size limitations. The library would more than likely need to pay for the service (eventually) for $25.00 a year.
Procedure
I recommend this service be used for the Outreach and Exhibitions committee as well as Communications and the pictures linked to the Libraries web site. One username and password will need to be established.
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Not just one but three great
Not just one but three great ideas. I'm particularly interested in your flickr proposal as I have also thought about how we could use flickr for outreach, exhibitions and communications purposes. I wonder if you could create a group instead and perhaps that would solve the problem of size limitations. A group would also allow patrons to contribute photos as well as staff... but then you would have to monitor the group to ensure folks aren't submitting inappropriate pics.
The trick is that our
The trick is that our library would probably not be comfortable with the community adding pictures. How to give flexibility while still making the university feel like they have some control is the problem. Perhaps if other students and community members tag their items with 'fau libraries' we can link to them at least...
Jacquelyn, Flickr recently
Jacquelyn, Flickr recently added tools so that group administrators can approve photos before they appear in the group. Here is the blurb:
That is from the post Flickr Group Improvements on the Flickr blog. I haven't used the function yet, but it sounds like it would solve your need for control over possibly inappropriate photos being added to the group.
Great job, Jacquelyn! This
Great job, Jacquelyn! This looks like a really terrific proposal and I think it is totally do-able. There are just two things I wanted to clarify:
1) "Staff will need to learn the protocol for creating a wiki."
That sounds a little intimidating. I doubt most of your staff would be installing the wiki software and configuring it, right? Probably more accurate to say that staff will need to learn the protocol for adding content to a wiki.
2) "Anyone can leave comments, even spammers, so there will need to be a blog policy created and some monitoring of the comments section. A way to remedy this is to only allow users with IP authentication (either on campus or by logging in) to add comments."
You can block spam pretty well by using something like Spam Karma, Akismet, or Bad Behavior. You could also use capchas, which require someone to enter a series of letters and numbers that are printed as an image and thus are not readable by spambots (as a backup for those who are visually impaired, you can have an audio capcha, which can easily set up). In addition, you may want to moderate comments, where they can't be seen until you approve them. That will prevent any comments that you wouldn't want your patrons to see from being displayed on the blog. I think some of these measures would be much less of a barrier to students than requiring a login and much less restrictive than using IP authentication.
I think these days there are enough ways to deal with spam that really the major problem you will need to deal with is malicious commenting. And I think it's a great idea to have a policy governing how you deal with that, since otherwise the choices made may appear capricious to those on the outside.
I think this is really excellent and I hope you have much success with the proposal. And I'll see you Thursday!!!