RSS...FEED[s]...ME

Why should libraries care about RSS?

Rich Site Summary or Real[ly] Simple Syndication is the functional description of RSS according to author Meredith G. Farkas.  Based on XML, RSS is the format for syndicating content on the Web and breaks Web sites into discrete chunks of infomation.  Essentially, users can subscribe to the site's RSS feed for blogs, news sites, and other Web content and receive the updated content in a single place.  This information is accessed through an aggregator or a "news/feed reader" found in a desktop brower, e-mail client, mobile device, or Web portal.  In a nutshell, RSS is the key to staying informed and preventing information overload (Farkas, 2007).

Chapter 4 gives a number of substantial reasons why libraries should care about RSS.  As Publishers, RSS allows librarians an excellent way to push contents to our patrons, make content more easily accessible, and combine content from various sites onto a single page.  Library patrons can be easily updated with new and upcoming news, events and programs from the library's Web site or opt for specific feeds such as general news, adult or youth book clubs, adult or special programs, reading lists for all genres and even lists of new books and materials now available.  RSS also enables libraries to integrate their blog content into their main site for easy to find access (Farkas, 2007).

In academic libraries, faculty and grad students can subscribe to the RSS feeds for their areas of interest to receive the newest, current books on their subject matter and on a regular basis.  As Middlemen, Farkas emphasizes that librarians can syndicate and remix existing feeds from a variety of sources to provide useful information for their patrons.  Journal and database vendors such as ProQuest provide curriculum-specific RSS feeds by doing the searching and finding the relevant articles for students and faculty to subscribe to. Registered users can also subscribe to RSS feeds of subject-specific content searches in EBSCO databases (Farkas, 2007).

As Consumers, librarians can keep current with favorite blogs, journals and news sites using RSS to consolidate all their online reading in a single place.  RSS is the ultimate tool for keeping up-do-date with relevant content, keeping up with the constant flow of online information and for preventing information overload (Farkas, 2007). 

Farkas, M. G. (2007). Social software in libraries: Building collaboration, communication, and community online. Medford, NJ: Information Today.       

Exercise 2 - A Blogosphere of blogging librarians...

 The murder victim? Your library assumptions. Suspects? It could have been any of us.

In the Library with the Lead Pipe immediately piqued my interest with such a clever blog title referencing a Clue murder-mystery deduction!  It's uniquely co-authored by a team of seven diverse librarians, along with invited guest authors, working in academic, public, and school libraries across the United States.  This group blog was originally founded by 6 energetic new librarians in 2008 and publish weekly Wednesday, peer-reviewed posts.  Their goal is to share perspectives from across the library community and encourage posts with creative thinking, envelope-pushing, and constructive criticism from libraries’ diverse professional landscape.  

Librarian by Day

Bobbi L. Newman  

Bobbi Newman started her blog, Librarian by Day in August of 2007 after becoming her library's new  Digital Services and Resources Librarian.  She is dedicated to helping libraries find their place in the digital age and is especially passionate about 21st century literacies and the role of all libraries in equal access and opportunity for all. Her professional interests include digital and technology based services, the digital divide, and improving existing services through expanding traditional methods, while creating innovative new practices.

        

social web   emerging trends   libraries

Author, musician, librarian, IT specialist David Lee King of davidleeking.com creates, writes, thinks, and speaks about library websites and emerging digital technology which his website reflects focusing on library website 'stuff' such as managing, marketing, experimenting, usability, planning, videoblogging and web 2.0/library 2.0 topics.  David works at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library as the Digital Branch & Services Manager and has worked in libraries since the mid-1990's.  David does disclose that there are ads on his site:  Google Adsense ads, Amazon Affiliate ads and links, which allow him to effectively promote his many books!

The Distant Librarian

Paul R. Pival is The Distant Librarian, a Public Services Systems Librarian (aka webmaster) at the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada and prior to that he was the Distance Education Librarian there from 2001-2007.  Paul realized that he should be blogging about the fine art of Distance Librarianship after attending an OCLS Conference in May of 2004.  His blog site even has a convenient 'mobile version' option and averages weekly updates. 

Some of the content he covers includes the following categories:  Book reviews; Document delivery; Electronic reference; m-Libraries; Random tech tips; Social networks; Web/Tech and Web blogs.  With the exception of his book reviews, his filter blogs are essentially a link blurb or brief remark style of a short paragraph introducing the topics which are linked to the originating author and/or blog.  He also adds 3 additional links via LinkWithin to his own previous posts as "You might also like:" options.  The graphics and videos add a welcoming interest and some interaction to his otherwise plain blog site.

The Librarian's Commute

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive    

 

Olivia Nellums is a  Reference and Instruction Librarian at a community college in southern South Jersey.  She  started The Librarian's Commute in November 2007, posting weekly on Sundays, during her 'adjunct' phase when she was shuttling among different jobs and job functions.  Her blog attempts to be a part of, and contribute to, the library community, as she figures out what a librarian is as the information world changes, and libraries, technology, and higher education are her topics of choice. 

Her weblog is simple in appearance as she uses google's free blogging software, but her photos add a nice personal touch to her journal style posts ranging from short to long articles.  I found her single perspective to be very readable and pleasant.  Her experiences are very relevant and relatable to connect with and I especially appreciate her down-to-earth writing style which allows her simplistic, earnest voice to flow.  It was a nice surprise to see that both the Distant Librarian and In the Library with the Leadpipe's latest blogs are also suggested as Recommended Reading (Blogs) on her site!  

 

What's in a library staff social media policy?

I didn't realize until reading Daniel Hooker's blog entry in socialibrarian, that "few institutions have drafted acceptable use policies for their employees or students."  He reiterates that best practices and appropriate use need to be at the forefront of any library's online initiatives to make the library's social media presence clear and unified.  Libraries are developing policies outlining acceptable-use guidelines for blogs and the use of other social media for both staff and users alike.    

Ellyssa Kroski's 2009 article "Should Your Library Have a Social Media Policy?" in the October issue of School Library Journal cites only seven libraries with existing library policies at the time.  As I perused the policies of these seven libraries (where 2 out of the 7 are California-based in Kern County and Monterey), I noticed that several of the library social media/networking policies are adapted from other libraries' established policies, not mentioned.  For example, Kern County Library's Social Network Guidelines is adapted from the Washoe County Library System Social Software Policy, which in turn is adapted by the Newton Free Library's Services Blog Policy, which is finally adapted with permission by Computerworld’s Blog Comments Policy.  Similarly, Whitman Public Library's Social Networking Policy is adapted from the Newton Free (MA), Berkeley Public (CA) and Niagara Falls Public (NY) Libraries.

Per Kroski, a social media policy is a useful way to set some ground rules for employees with regard to their online activities and a reminder that the content they post isn't private and may reflect on the organization.  For staff members who are posting on behalf of the organization along with employees with personal social media accounts, a social media policy such as staff blogging policies can help establish clear guidelines and standards.   

What sorts of rules should be included in a library staff social media policy?  

• Use a disclaimer by stating your opinions are yours alone and not your employers
• Don't share secrets by disclosing private, sensitive or proprietary information
• Be yourself by being candid about who you are and your professional role
• Respect copyright by citing sources and/or linking them within blog posts
• Respect your colleagues by considering the privacy of your coworkers
• Avoid online fights by voicing your opinion in a professional manner
• Post accurate information by researching facts and providing supporting sources
• Consult the employee manual for behavior guidelines and existing policies
• Use good judgement by thinking about the type of image you want to convey
• Provide value to your community by offering recommendations and services
• Accept responsibility by admitting any wrongdoing, be honest and apologize

Kroski further suggests that libraries consider sponsoring an employee training or orientation sessions in the use of the social Web to educate staff about privacy issues and what they should and shouldn't be posting online.  Composing the policy document in the form of a wiki also allows libraries to update their social media policy as new technologies develop.  Establishing a library staff social media policy with these guidelines will unify all employees to use social media in an informed manner.   

Hooker, D. (2009). "The Dearth of Social Media Policy Development." socialibrarian
     Retrieved from http://blog.danielhooker.com/2009/10/18/the-dearth-of-social-media-policy-development/
Kroski, E. (2009). "Should Your Library Have a Social Media Policy?"  School Library Journal
     Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699104.html

Exercise 1 - Moosejaw...Bring on the Madness

Moosejaw Mountaineering is a distinctive retailer that has a thriving internet business and shops throughout Michigan (Ann Arbor, Birmingham, East Lansing, Grosse Pointe, Partridge Creek, and Rochester Hills) and in Chicago, Illinois.  Moosejaw carries its own brand of clothing as well as other featured brands of outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment such as North Face, Patagonia, Marmot, Black Diamond and Arc'Teryx.  Their company motto is ‘At Moosejaw We Sell the Best Outdoor Gear and Apparel in the World and Have As Much Fun As Possible While We Do It.' 

I recently discovered this online organization when my daughter requested a black North Face Denali jacket to endure the european winter in Paris during her Fall semester abroad.
Receiving my stickeredpackage was a delightful "brand event" in itself, as Moosejaw wants to make sure that every customer who receives a package remembers it...and I was no exception!  The SWAK (Sealed With A Kiss) sticker adds a personal touch as it is actually signed by the shipper who boxed the order.  Inside my package, I also received a "Nice Note," once again personalized by the shipper, thanking me for my order and providing contact information along with a Moosejaw bumper sticker and a current Moosejaw catalog.  The packaging alone made quite an impression on me and I wondered back then who was this Moosejaw Company?  I am so glad to have this oportunity via lesson 1 to explore it along with their use of social networking with social media tools.   

The Moosejaw website actively engages their loyal fun, young, edgy, customers and reflects an informal, yet enthusiastic attitude combined with a wicked sense of humor.  Their mission is "to make shopping as much fun as backpacking the Chilkoot trail, climbing in Yosemite, mountaineering in the Himalayas or playing red rover with the neighbors who you don’t like that much but they’re always ready to play any game in the cul-de-sac so you make do."  If you're offended by ridiculous commentary don't click on the Moosejaw Madness section.  The Moosejaw promise includes:

MOOSEJAW GUARANTEE - A LIVING WILL

The Moosejaw Living Will is our Product Guarantee. It means if you aren't thrilled with your purchase, return it AT ANY TIME as long as IT'S IN SELLABLE CONDITION and as long as you aren't dead..thus the Living Will.

Immediately on the home page, one comes across the icons for twitter, facebook, and flickr in the upper right hand corner and right below that is LIVE CHAT ,"home of the fastest typists and best dancers in the world. Maybe second best dancers." There are 11,478 followers on Twitter, 33,820 fans on Facebook, and 700 members of Moosejaw Madness on Flickr where you also have the RSS option to subscribe "to a feed of stuff on this page" and/or bookmark in Delicious.  The Twitter site includes an RSS feed of MoosejawMadness tweets that contains frequently updated content of their devoted Twitter fans or even get updates via SMS by texting follow MoosejawMadness to 40404 in the United States.  Fans even submit photos wearing the clothing with stickers and flags every week via Flickr and many get featured authentically in the catalogs.  Its Facebook site features an entertaining full-screen display of Moosejaw Morass Winter 2011 (80-page) Catalog. 

By Item Number

*We didn't actually count so that number may be wrong

Perhaps the most unique feature on Moosejaw's website is the link to Moosejaw Mobile  which also provides an interface specifically for mobile phones vs. its standard site and where customers can read hundreds of reviews from other trusted Moosejaw customers on their iPhone.  Bringing product reviews to mobile is an innovative way to reach their tech savvy customers. 

The Moosejaw Blog is monitored by Creative Director, Gary Wohlfeill whose motto is Love the Madness and who boldly announces on the Blog's heading that "The Moosejaw Blog was just named Fourteenth Best Blog Ever by Vegetable DIgest" (Don't look for the issue of Vegetable Digest because I completely made this up).  The latest new year's blog describes The Moosejaw Frenching Service designed to help their customers who can’t muster the courage themselves to ask the person they would like to french at the stroke of midnight!  Just an example of Moosejaw's uniquely effective activities to literally build relationships, interact and engage with their customers through their online blog...  

SocialMention brought up 483 mentions with 2% strength, the likelihood that Moosejaw is being mentioned in social media; 16:1 sentiment ratio of positive to negative mentions (64+, 4- and 415 neutral); 31% passion, of being talked about repeatedly; and 27% reach is the range of influence.  Moosejaw is mentioned an average of once an hour, mostly in such sources as photobucket, stumbleupon, digg and youtube.  

HowSociable? gives Moosejaw a visibility score of 315 which is comparably lower than Backcountry's score of 893.  Similarly, comparing the two on the backtype graph confirms the 426:26 tweets and 8:1 friendfeeds in Backcountry's favor.  Technorati was not an effective social monitoring tool in this case, as it did not bring up any related posts for Moosejaw, and only a measely 3 related posts for Backcountry.  

Moosejaw customers are essentially treated as familiar friends and are also given incentives through reward points on both Twitter and Facebook.  They successfully interact with their customers through multiple channels: email, texting, web browsing, mobile, Facebook, Twitter to maintain a transparent presence.  Although most dialogue about Moosejaw appear to be positive, I noticed on their facebook page under Review, that a handful of 1-star reviews in the last month have not been addressed...at least not publicly, which may lend itself that they are also human and not always perfect!         

Social Software Tools in the life of a SLIS Student...

I was first introduced to Social Software Tools in my third semester here at SJSU in the demanding hardcore course, LIBR 202.  Although it was the most difficult core class of the mandatory trio, I was so fortunate enough to have the esteemed Professor Enid Irwin as my instructor.  She made the intimidating subject matter of databases and information retrieval an exhausting but exhilarating journey and upon completing it, I had a greater sense of joy, relief and accomplishment than any other class!  I worked in a dynamic group of five women (Team 52) to complete our group projects and today, we all still remain very close friends after survivng and thriving in Enid's class, which pushed us all beyond our comfort levels.  Social software tools allowed my group to communicate and collaborate with twice weekly, 2-3-hour Live Elluminate sessions with a whiteboard and sharing documents via our desktops with each other to create two separate Database projects.  One of my group members introduced us to Google Docs and we were able to plan, edit, coordinate, and schedule facilitated by Google's web-based site.  I had the opportunity to contribute to my first group Wiki as we also created an informative resource guide of diverse Search Engines for our Midterm.

LIBR 210 Reference Information Service with Michelle Holschuh-Simmons  further exposed me to using these social software tools in the reference world.  In my Reference Observation Analysis paper, I participated in an Ask a Librarian Live! session to experience how effective and informative a live chat reference session actually was.  Although I discovered in our 30-minute transcript, that I had not been engaged in any sort of reference interview or neutral questioning, I did find this virtual reference technology to be very user-friendly.  Two class wikis were also created of both online and print versions of reference resources along with dictionaries and encyclopedias, which included brief annotations and question/answer samples for each source.

 

For my final Pathfinder assignment, I created an informative website

"Green Teens Go Global"

- global warming...a pathfinder for a general research guide. 

 Please click on the above link and check out my finished project built with Weebly to easily create an impressive professional website for free! 

SJSU has even gotten me to jump on the Facebook bandwagon when I joined it from the MySJSU page for the simple idea of networking with other SLIS students.  I didn't do anything with it for the first 4 months until my daughter and I returned from her graduation trip to France and she proceeded to download photos from our trip to her Profile page.  I learned how easy, yet time-consuming this process was and decided to do the same.  When I began to connect and reunite with long lost friends, classmates and distant family members, I admittedly became addicted.  Facebook even provided me with a virtual social life,  as I was so consumed with my coursework while working full-time, that it was all I ever had time for!  When my daughter started college that Fall, I discovered that the majority of our communication was actually chatting live on fb, usually late at night when we were both up studying!  My teenagers even influenced me to create a blog on tumblr after I started following their expressive, yet well-written blogs.  My daughter spent last semester studying abroad in Paris and I kept up with her travels through her very enlightening and entertaining blog, Where is Pierre?  Since she returned, she has also revamped her new food blog, Chantilly et Foie.