Boston University Theology Library
Blogs and podcasts are web 2.0 tools employed by the Boston University Theology Library. Navigation is between the library home page and blog pages as well as other library sites is made very easy with clear links displayed on every page. The blog is prominent on the library’s homepage, and information regarding the University and its libraries are found by scrolling down. In the case of the Director’s blog, each posting can be printed, printed in a PDF format or emailed. The blogs appeared to have been introduced fairly recently going by the date of of the postings. The reference librarian’s blog are made up of postings largely about library services while the Director’s blog is more diversified in its postings. As with the other blogs, news feeds are available.
Podcasts seemed to be the favoured tool judging from the number of podcasts available on a the usual topics of citation tutorials, searching tips and, best of all, library humour. The podcasts, in my opinion, is more successfully employed as they are more engaging.
Juravinski Cancer Centre
A Clinician Librarian maintains a blog for locating current evidence-based literature in oncology. Although primarily geared to health professionals, this blog is also a good resource for those diagnosed with cancer and in need for information on their particular cancer type. Due to the nature and purpose of this blog, it has a minimalist feel to the overall design but is well-organized with a logical listing of links to journals, Canadian and American Cancer agencies, and sites concerning disease awareness. New information is regularly posted.
Although the blog provides a link to McMaster Library, the link to the Hamilton Health Sciences Clinical Reference Library is not functional which is odd considering the Juravinski Cancer Program is affiliated with the Hamilton Health Services. Further searching on the Hamilton Health Sciences website did not turn up a reference library but a Patient Education Library that did have a link back to the Juravinski Cancer Centre. The broken links should be fixed because a person recently diagnosed with cancer does not need the added aggravation of trying to get information only to be greeted with the Server not found message. It would also be aggravating to the researcher not being able to access the blog. Good thing there are RSS feeds services available. I can only assume the blog is accessible to researcher through the Juravinski Cancer Centre intranet.
Caird Library
The Caird Library blog created by the Library and Manuscripts team at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, UK, is written in a breezy, folksy style that I quite enjoyed. The blog features a del.icio.us cloud tag, RSS feeds from a range of journals such as the New Scientist, Sky and Telescope to Model Boats and email updates via Feedblitz or updates via RSS subscription. Every month they feature an item from their collection, researched by one of the team members and photographed by the museum’s photography studio which is a great way to pique the interest of patrons and non-patrons. April’s item is about the Relics of the HMS Royal George.
The design of the blog is well-thought out with good use of images with only a moderate amount of scrolling. Links to and from the Caird Library are well marked with search boxes logically placed at the top. First time users should have no problems navigating their way around the blog as postings are listed either by category or archived by month. However, they may find themselves spending a good amount time just browsing through all the resources. I wish I had access to this blog for my Grade 5 project on John Cabot. For trivia lovers the Not so FAQ archives is a great resource for finding out things like, what is Dazzle painting?
University of Baltimore Law Library
The U of Baltimore Law Library blog is pretty utilitarian in design but well organized and rich in Web 2.0 tools: Flickr, del.ici.ous, news feeds, MySpace and use of SnapShots plugins. Links to the library as well as other relevant law resources and websites are fairly well displayed in a side bar and links between the blog and library site are well marked and easy to navigate. Postings are organized by category or archived by month.
While I am not dazzled by the look of the blog or library website, I certainly learned from the posts. This is where I learned about FriendFeed, and eufeeds. Posts are regularly published and as someone who had been avoiding law library blogs because I thought they may not be interesting, I found the content relevant and intriguing. Here’s a good example that may be of interest to libraries with a Second Life presence from Wired, “How Madison Avenue is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life”.
Their MySpace makes good use of video for instruction although assigning gender to the library is an interesting decision. Why does it have to be female? Doesn’t that just play into the stereotype? Does she wear glasses as well?
Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections
Finally, a science library embracing web 2.0. The Branner Library and Map Collections blog at Stanford University isn’t cluttered with social software but make good use of its choices of tools: a blog, bookmarking, calendar widget, RSS feed and CiteULike.
The most recent post concerns scientist-bloggers. Two scientists weigh in with their respective opinions, pro and con, available from Nature Geoscience. Before reading these commentaries, I was on the con side believing like Myles Allen that criticism of peer-reviewed studies belongs in peer-reviewed literature, not in blogs where information could be misrepresented. But now after reading both commentaries, I shifted my views slightly where I am now on the fence. Scientific papers can be inaccessible to the general public because of the highly technical jargon involved and because many of them can only be viewed electronically for a fee. Gavin Schmidt makes a good point that blogs can be used to enlighten the non-scientific community by using plain language and providing context very often missing in mainstream journalism.
But I digress. Both the Branner library website and blog are well designed with clear links to and from each site. Blog posts are nicely organized by categories and there are many interesting posts with regular updates. It’s great when I can learn something new from a blog, like the Google Experimental Search highlighted here. The purpose of the blog is clear given the subject matter of the posts: relevant resources, topics, and reference questions regarding earth sciences. The links to the School of Earth Sciences and Stanford’s Homepage are clearly labeled and displayed.
Note: links to the Nature Geoscience articles are accessible to registered subscribers.
Orange County Library
Sarah Houghton-Jan, author of LibrarianInBlack.net, has a host of suggestions for libraries to connect with their users. Among them: using Microsoft Live Search or Google maps so users can find the library and write reviews, making sure the library has a presence on local websites, listing their library on Wikipedia, get the library listed in blog search engines and WiFi directories, use Facebook, Flickr, email and RSS subscriptions, IM, Second Life, Text messaging, Twitter, and have an interactive website. One tool in particular piqued my interest: Odiogo, media-shifting technology transforming text into audio formats. So blogs become podcasts. Pretty nifty.
It’s easy to see why the Orange County Library System is the recipient of many awards for being at the forefront of technology use in the library and for passing on their expertise to their community. Want to know what a Digital Access Architect is? I just found out myself, and now I want to be one when I grow up. I spent a good hour navigating through all the Web 2.0 tools being used by this library. They were the first public library to offer RSS feeds and they go one step further by offering an online tutorial. What else? Podcasts of kids stories, teen activities and public events. Again, if you don’t know how podcasts work, you can learn online. Ask the librarian avatar a question and you can view the answers in French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and English. Sign up for text messages alerts for due library materials and class reminders. Of course, they have a presence on MySpace and Youtube and blogs.
A link to the library blogs is not at all prominent on the library’s homepage. You need to go the Virtual Library page where you can connect to the blog page. Library Leader, The Southwest Library @ Dr. Phillips, and the Techno Teen Live. There are regular updates to the blogs dealing with library events and resources. Linking back to the library may not be obvious to first time users as the link is a logo rather than a text link. The podcasts and RSS feeds have a greater presence on the library website’s homepage, perhaps because these tools are seen as providing a better service for the patron by giving quicker access to library news? I do like the way the library creates opportunities for its patrons to learn how to use Web 2.0 tools by providing links to instruction resources. One thing I am not enthusiastic about is the use of the talking avatars which I found to be a bit irritating.
Not a blog (Comment)
An animation link found on the Citegeist blog. It pretty much summed up how how I was feeling at the end of term 1 of library school. Thank you Alan Becker, brilliant animator.
Robert Goldwater Library Blog
Today I came across an art library and an Art Library Society using Web 2.0 tools quite effectively. The ArLiSNAP website belonging to the Art Library Students & New ARLIS* Professionals is very well done. These library students have clearly embraced Web 2.0 tools with a blog and a blog feed, using del.icio.us to organize their links and Flickr for sharing photos of the libraries. The main website is well organized with good navigation explanations and, not knowing what ARLIS stood for, there was a helpful link to the official Art Library Society of North America official conference website. I thought the use of the Snap Shots™ plugin was effective. Like the website, the blog is well-designed with postings organized by month and category. Having a Suggestions link was a good idea especially if a visitor has no previous experience posting a comment to a blog.
The Robert Goldwater Library Online Resource is another attractive, well-organized blog. Another tool used here is the wiki, created by the library staff to provide researchers with access to resources to traditional art and material culture of sub-Saharan Africa, Native and Pre-columbian America and Pacific Islands. And it is not restricted to just the Metropolitan Museum of Art community but is accessible to the greater museum community. This blog is particularly rich in resources; Flickr and del.icou.us are used for posting photos of museum exhibits and bookmarking, and News feeds updates newly published articles from e-journals and as well as the latest posting. As a first time visitor to this blog, I spent a quite a bit of time exploring the links to other museum departments as well as the lengthy blogroll of other libraries and museums. My only complaint with this blog was I could not actually find a direct link to the Robert Goldwater Library itself. I found it by going through the MMA Libraries: E-resources and then linking to the Library through the MET libraries portal. .
A couple of library blogs by and for librarians
The staff aka “Global Librarians” at the Box Hill Institute publishes a library blog “comprising the thoughts of the staff”. Box Hill Institute is a TAFE institution (Technical and Further Education) located in Melbourne, Australia offering vocational training in a wide range of fields such as computer systems, multimedia studies, biotechnology, industry baking, floristry and animal science; comparable to BCIT.
The blog itself is quite interesting given the topics discussed: Amazon’s wireless reading device Kindles, the new search engine, Carrot clustering Engine that gives results in thematic categories, the minutes from the last Information Services meeting, and an article about the plagiarism charge against Ian McEwan. In evaluating these blogs, I looked at the readability of site, the sort of topics covered; and how often it was updated. There are 5 different library locations and the library staff is using this blog tool as a way of communicating with each other. There is a link to Box Hill Institution itself but not one for the library (another bit of evidence that is blog isn’t being used as a tool to create awareness of the library to its patrons). There’s a long list of contributors but the blog isn’t updated very often; for instance, there were 4 postings in 2007.
Back at the main website of the institute, there are no obvious pointers to the library, at least not on the home page. You have to go to the Services link and you’ll find the link to the library under to Students, and to the Public. When you get to the library website, there is no link to the blog itself. So is the library missing an opportunity here?
The CFLC Currents (Central Florida Library Cooperative) blog in contrast is very clear about its objectives and target audience. The CFLC is one of six Florida Multi-type Library Cooperatives (MLCs) which are non-profit organizations serving libraries and library staff. Subjects that would be of interest to librarians include current technology, ALA and local chapter items of interest, and reference and web tips and tricks. The blog itself is well-organized with clear links to Subjects covered, previous posts and links back to the CFLC. Subscription feeds are available as well. And to keep things light, there are regular postings to give librarians a laugh such as the Library Song. Unlike the Box Hill Library blog, there is a link from the CFLC main website to the CLFC currents blog.
Although both blogs were enjoyable to read, the CFLC blog does a better job defining its objectives and providing many good links with relevant information. The Box Hill blog, though interesting, is not as well maintained with broken links and sporadic updates.
Hello world! (1 Comments)
Although this blog is primarily about the use of weblogs in libraries, other Web 2.0 tools used by libraries are also discussed as they relate to the blogs.
