What Does This Mean to Me, Laura?

I am assuming that, by now, you have a RSS reader/aggretator of your own and you now understand why RSS has begun to control information flow on the Web.  Because of RSS, many people don’t even have to go to actual web sites any more.  And many don’t.  When you can get all your favorite stuff served up to you on a metaphorical bed tray with a rose in a crystal vase, why bother going to the grocery store and cooking?

You might think that RSS is still only in the realm of early adopters and geeks.  Sorry, folks, it hit the mainstream long ago.  How do we know that?  At least a couple of worldly clues: firstly, NPR used to hide their RSS feeds at the bottom of the page.  They now are in prime viewing territory in the “Services” sidebar (and there are a lot more shows/topics that have feeds than before).  Secondly (and maybe this was the biggest wake-up call for me), Ebay created feeds for buyers, sellers and searches.  Want to know if that vintage lunchbox comes up for auction?  Don’t keep checking Ebay; get the RSS feed of the search delivered to you daily.

Maybe not everyone uses a feed reader or even knows what RSS is yet.  But that doesn’t mean people aren’t using it!  If you use services like iGoogle or MyYahoo, chances are very high that you are getting newsbytes, horoscopes or other information using RSS.  It might not be labeled as RSS or have any cute orange icons…but I can practically guarantee that RSS is the technology behind those services.  Information distributed by RSS can be shaped by third-party applications into many shapes and forms. Portal sites like these excel at it.

Back to what I mentioned earlier–RSS enables people to not have to visit a web site. Granted, I’m a geek.  But I started to think about this a bit as I was writing.  I currently subscribe to over 100 different feeds.  And I tried hard to remember the last time I visited any web site on a regular basis (not including those that I work on for OPLIN, and Facebook…yes, I do Facebook.  No, I don’t want to be poked.)  I couldn’t.  I realized that, if a web site doesn’t have an RSS feed, it’s probably not on my radar.  I doubt I’m alone in this.  I’m busy, and trying to keep up with the flow of information coming out of both the library and technology-related industries every day.  If a site can’t make it convenient for me to keep up, I can’t afford the time.  And time is the true currency of the Web.

So, you’re a geek who subscribes to a ridiculous number of feeds.  What does this mean to me, Laura?

1. Get a feed for your site, and for all of the areas of your site that update frequently.  Don’t give people like me (or who use portal services like MyYahoo) another excuse NOT to get your content.
2. If you have a dynamically-generated web site (run from a database on the back end), then your system may already have the ability to generate a feed built in.  [OPLIN PLUG:  Looking to upgrade to a new, dynamically-generated, 21st century web site for free?  Contact me at meanlaura@oplin.org.]  If you don’t, or are running an older generation static site (see plug, above), you still have some options.  Check out services like Page2RSS.  They can automatically generate a feed for a given page.  It’s not perfect, but better than nothing by a long ways.
3. Check out this article:  Reasons Why Your Site Needs to Publish a News Feed (note the copyright is 4 years old…hint hint.)
4. Don’t do anything that updates regularly on your site?  Are you sure?  Do you generate lists of new books or magazines, or new DVDs?  Events?  Storytimes?  All great and useful RSS fodder.

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“Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.” (Official definition.)

I think most people have some idea of what Facebook is; I, myself, have often described it as the classier cousin of MySpace. Love it or hate it, Facebook is incredibly popular, and not just with the college set (anyone can join now, if you haven’t heard).  TIME magazine pointed out last year that Facebook is more popular than porn.   A quote from the TIME article:

“When you can reach all of your friends through Facebook or MySpace, there’s little reason to spend time in your old-school inbox.”

Chances are, you already knew that email is for old people.   Instant messaging (IM) is but one of the replacements with the more recent generations of netizens. Now, we have to contend with all kinds of social networking (AKA “Web 2.0″) sites, and Facebook is one of the kingpins.  So, should libraries be paying attention?

Yes and no

Will it hurt to create a Facebook profile for your library?  Very unlikely.  But libraries need to understand that they will be, to some extent, unwanted.  Ryan Deschamps of The Other Librarian says:

“So let me start with the Facebook library search application. It is fine, but my opinion is that few people besides librarians are going to add the applications to their profiles. The technology is Web 2.0, but the strategy is still Library 1.0. Why? Because the model is still, “I am librarian. I can help. Come to me (ie. my Facebook page) and I will serve.” The applications, though offering marginally better service for little cost, are not taking advantage of what Facebook offers its clients.” (Source)

And Casey Bisson writes:

“I’m going to avoid the question of whether libraries should be trying to offer services inside Facebook, and instead ask the question of how well our existing services work for those using Facebook. If students are collaborating, they’re likely sharing URLs, but our OPACs and databases often aren’t bookmarkable, making it difficult to exchange links to those resources (and instructions like these don’t help either). And if somebody blogs about one of our items, our catalogs don’t support comments or trackbacks, making it a one-sided conversation. Facebook and other online services are important to our patrons, and we would do well to think about how information is exchanged using those technologies. We would do well to build services that interoperate with the internet that people are using.” (Source)

So, not many libraries are providing anything in Facebook that users want.  Our resources are inaccessible to the Facebook multitudes.  Apparently libraries don’t “get” how to really fit into Facebook culture.  So why bother?

I can answer that in one word:  findability. Sometimes, half of life is just showing up to the party.  Maybe you don’t get to dance much, but at least people can see you made the effort to get dressed and show up.  A few years ago (and it still holds true now), many small businesses were madly scrambling to get a basic web site up on the web.  Most didn’t have shopping carts or even professional layouts.  But these businesses quickly realized that, if they didn’t have any web site, they were essentially invisible to modern customers.  I believe Facebook represents a similar scenario.    Libraries might not have cool widgets or apps, but we need to show up and put in a little face time (pardon the pun) with the net communities.

So, what does this mean to me, Laura?

1. Your library should probably have a Facebook profile.
2. Put a little time into it.  Check out reading-related applications like Visual Bookshelf that show what you’re reading.  Contribute reviews.  Maybe challenge your patrons to a little Scramble match to up their vocabulary skills.
3. OPLIN has a Facebook profile (and yes, we dig Visual Bookshelf).  You can find it here. And we’re even giving away OPLIN pieces of flair. (If you don’t get the reference, you’ve got to watch Office Space.  Really, you’ll love it.)  Want to be our friend?
4. Facebook is known for it’s mindboggling assortment of apps.  It’s like being a kid in a candy store.  You can add games, widgets for charities, you name it…somebody has likely already built it.  Yes, free.
5. There has been some controversy over privacy in Facebook profiles (although they have made strides). This really shouldn’t affect a public library very much, if at all, since everything we do is open to the Sunshine Laws anyway.  But be aware that the controversy exists.

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There has been an awful lot written about Flickr, one of the top online photo-sharing sites. I’m not out to re-create the wheel, so here is an excellent slideshow presentation on what Flickr is, from Michael Sauers, the Travelin’ Librarian.

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So, why should a public library consider using Flickr? Here goes:

1. It’s another way to not “silo” your library’s unique visual information. In this era when competition to library web sites is one click away, it’s essential that we put our content out into the community, where the people are more likely to be. No, not everyone even knows Flickr exists. But a whole lot more know about Flickr than about your library’s website, guaranteed.
2. When it comes to promotion, a picture says a 1000 words…or more. Grab the digital camera, a stack of photo waivers and the name of your Flickr account, and head to your library’s next event. Tell people their pics will be online for them to see in the next day or two. Watch them get excited.
3. Flickr is incredibly cheap. Even the smallest library can afford the approximately $25.00 a year for an incredibly large amount of photo storage.
4. It requires no special knowledge to upload, tag and caption photos for viewing. No waiting for a web person to get around to marking up photos and getting them online.
5. Flickr is about sharing, and Flickr has chosen to share its API (Application Programming Interface, if you want to know). That means they allow anyone to create useful and fun third-party applications using the underlying Flickr engine. Need an automatic slideshow? A randomly-rotating photo area for your library’s blog? Even a game based on your photos? Somebody has already created the code for these kinds of things, and many more, and you can plug them right into your website or blog for instant gratification and content.

But what about…

• Bad apples? Like most modern (Web 2.0) web sites, Flickr provides functionality to allow users to comment on pictures. Yes, you might get some bad comments. Don’t let them spoil the entire barrel for you. The Internet is really all about people. Some behave themselves, some don’t. Most people understand that. Move on.
• Branding? More traditional librarians may have a hard time moving past the “It’s not our stuff” issue. The thinking is along the lines of “If the site is not totally branded as being that of the library, it’s not worthwhile.” However, this is symptomatic of siloing. If you hear this argument, point them at the photostream of the Library of Congress. Even the LOC has figured out that siloing is poor practice, and that the real goal is to share the content, not brand it.
• High quality images? Flickr cannot replace high-quality systems like ContentDM, that also provide all of the metadata libraries need. Flickr is best used for more casual or immediate content (like event photos), or as a supplemental way (such as in the case of the Library of Congress) to get to photos.

Does your (Ohio) library have a Flickr stream or cool Flickr-related application? Send me the URL and I’ll post ‘em here!

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