Tracking Your Library

There are so many ways to stay on top of things! I had never heard of either Google Alert or Social Mention, but have signed up for both. What an amazing tool! I can see uses for this in several aspects of my life in addition to the library. We send press releases to several news outlets and having an alert show up in my inbox is so much more efficient than having to search for the stories to see if they have been posted. And knowing what the public is saying about us is certainly useful. I can see tracking ideas people talk about in order to plan new programming or offer new services.

Google Reader

There are not enough hours in the day to read all the blogs I occasionally peruse, so Goodle Reader seems to be a useful tool to help keep up to date with those I am most interested in reading regularly. So far I have not been inundated. I subscribed to the course blogs that are in my group and I will add a few more, maybe some of the library/book related blogs I enjoy, and the cooking blog to which my niece contributes. In some of our course posts I've seen references to some blogs I'd like to explore. Hmm, this could be dangerous. It may be as habit forming as bookmarking web sites!

369 and counting

That's the number of web sites I have bookmarked on my work computer. I learned this after setting up my Delicious account and importing my bookmarks. Upon visiting a new web site I do tend to bookmark it if I find it interesting or useful so that I don't have to try to remember it, and I knew I had a lot of sites bookmarked, but wouldn't have guessed more than a hundred. This makes me wonder how many of these sites I actually use or have even visited lately. Some, of course, I do visit often. DLTK is a site I often go to for craft ideas and coloring sheets. There are several sites I go to for fingerplays, Jean Warren's Preschool Express being one of them. Other sites, such as the local schools or Mapquest, I use from time to time and are worth saving. Then there are some that I have to wonder why I saved them to begin with but won't delete them for fear that I'll want to find them some day.

I haven't yet taken the time to explore much of Delicious but certainly I see the advantage of having bookmarked sites not just on one computer. I have a somewhat different list on my home computer than I have at work and there are times when I would like to find something that I have on the other computer. Several years ago my home computer crashed and I lost all my bookmarks. I could easily see recommending this service to patrons for saving their own list of bookmarks. But in making use of Delicious to provide a list of bookmarks for our patrons I have to wonder how this differs from simply having a list of links on our web site.

Patron Blogs

This course is not my first foray into the world of blogging. I had set up a blog for our teen patrons and hoped that it would become a discussion board of sorts in which the kids could discuss books, movies, etc., and offer ideas for programs. This was not the case. Very little feedback was received and I have no way of even knowing if anyone was reading the blog. I knew I would probably not be able to update the blog more than about once a week but as time went on, frustrated because I felt no one was reading the blog, I posted less and less. I saw no point in posting only about upcoming events as that would be merely a duplication of our online events calendar. I had also created a blog for younger kids and their parents, with the same results. Not long ago we removed the links to the blogs from our web site, although the blogs themselves still exist.

Our library web site does not have either a children's page or a teen page, although I believe at some time in the future these will exist on a revamped web site. The problem is that the site is being redone by one of our reference librarians who has other projects to work on as well, so the new web site is not a top priority. I have seen library web sites that use blogs as their children's and teen pages and wonder if this is something I should do while waiting for our new site. Has anyone had experience doing this? Do you think this is an effective use of a blog? The old link on our web site just said, "Blogs," which may have contributed to the issue of non-use.

Summer Reading Online

Summer reading is a big part of my job as a children's librarian. Even as much work as it is, it is still something I look forward to (please don't let that get out to some of the library staff - I could get flogged!). This year we are doing something new. Our state library has contracted with Evanced Solutions to provide their Summer Reader software free of charge to libraries in New Jersey.

Summer Reader has all the components of our traditional summer reading program in which program participants kept track of their reading using a paper log. Patrons register for the program online and create a username and password in order to log in. Their reading logs are online and the program can be configured to track time read or number of books or pages read. The program even notifies the patron once they have qualified for a prize. Patrons can write book reviews and create a list of books they want to read based on others' reviews. The program home page has space for messages, such as promotion for upcoming events, etc. and a section for links, for example to our online calendar.

The program was somewhat easy to configure for our program specifics, although there were a few bugs I didn't get worked out until two days before the start of the summer reading program. There is a public interface and a staff interface. On the public side it is quite easy to use, but more complicated on the staff end. One issue in particular that I have noticed is that recording the awarding of prizes can be confusing.

My biggest concern is that the program does not seem to be catching on. Since this is the first year we have used it we decided to use it only for the teens and to also offer them the traditional program. Where last year we had a total of 175 teens in the summer reading program (traditional program) throughout the system, this year three weeks into the program there are only ten teens signed up for the online program and most of them have not entered new information in their logs since the first week.

I really do drag my feet . . .

. . . when it comes to new technology and most of the time, at least when I'm in public, I don't scream. I decided to take this course because I realize how important a role technology has in today's libraries but I tend to be slow at embracing technology. I didn't buy a CD player until I could no longer buy cassettes, which I could still use in the car I drove at the time. I have a very basic cell phone, the kind where I buy cards to add minutes as I go. It doesn't take pictures or have any apps. It will text but I don't know how and my family knows better than to leave messages because I haven't bothered to find out how to access them. Since I see my cell phone as being for my convenience, most of the time it isn't even turned on. I do have a Facebook account, which I confess my daughter helped me set up, but only because a while ago I was talking to my 77-year-old aunt who had called to ask about email addresses for my nieces whom she wanted to invite to a party. My aunt said she didn't need addresses for my children because she had already contacted them through Facebook. Now, if she can make use of social networking, I guess I could, too!

Upon looking at the list of 21 things we will be expected to do in this course, I noticed several that I already have experience with. I have been reading blogs for a couple of years and have created one for teen patrons at my library - more on that in another post. In addition to Facebook, I do have a Twitter account, but true to form I have not used it. Confession: I signed up only because several months ago a co-worker was assigned to create and maintain a Twitter account for the library and followers were slow in coming. A few of us signed up for Twitter so we could follow her. I have attended several webinars and find them to be a very convenient way of presenting workshops that don't require a hands-on element. YouTube is impossible for me at home because I still have dial-up (if you've read this far you're probably not surprised to learn this) but I can explore this on my office computer.

A drawback: Last week when the introductory message appeared in my inbox I remembered that I had signed up for a course and my immediate reaction was "what was I thinking!?" Not that I think I won't be able to do the work, but because my life, both professionally and personally, goes into overdrive at this time of year so I am concerned about time. I make no promises but will try to do my best.