Final Paper

Nancy Van Wert

Erin Kirkbride

MLIS 7505

June 13, 2010

LIBRARY 2.0: A COMPARISON OF ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY AND GWINNETT COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM

Library 2.0 was first defined by Michael Casey in his blog Library Crunch in 2005 (Casey, 2010). Based on the concept of Web 2.0 and using its tools, Casey asserts it is "a model for service that encourages constant and purposeful change, inviting user participation in the creation of both the physical and virtual services they want, supported by consistently evaluating services. It also attempts to reach new users and better serve current ones through improved customer-driven offerings." (Casey, 2010)

            For the purpose of this report, the authors will compare the successes of two exemplary libraries that use Library 2.0, the Ann Arbor District Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the Gwinnett County Libraries in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Library 2.0 focuses on how to build a virtual community that supports the library as a physical place and upholds the mission and vision of the library.

            In 2007, Ryan Deschamps posted on his blog, The Other Librarian, ten things a library can do to satisfy the qualifications for being called Library 2.0. Through simple steps, a library can build a community of user involvement, reaching out into the online community there by fostering the library as a source of quality information to navigate the problems of life, encourage learning, citizen engagement and seeking opportunities to serve the public in new and innovative ways. Deschamps’ steps are:

1.      Use Mozilla Firefox on all your public computers—Firefox is an open-source browser.

2.      Add Deli.cio.us to your browser—Deli.cio.us allows patrons to save and access social bookmarking from anywhere.

3.      Use RSS feeds for library news—RSS feeds deliver news directly to the user.

4.      Develop blogging guidelines—Blogging encourages staff to get involved and become “evangelists for the library cause”; it also shows community awareness.

5.      Provide a content management system (e.g. a wiki) for staff to share information; this can be internal and also used externally.

6.      Have a public blog to encourage user engagement; this can be used to answers questions, and user input elevates the perception that the community is involved in the running of the library.

7.      Use collaborative platforms as Google Docs or Zoho.

8.      Keep a Flickr page with photos of the library; visual images are worth a thousand words.

9.      Access to Instant Messaging, Gaming, and YouTube are not required but strongly recommended as they are hot buttons for many. 

10.  Engage teens in technology. (Deschamps, 2010)

           

Ann Arbor District Library

             An overview of the Ann Arbor District Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan shows that as of 2008 the library system serves a population of approximately 115,000. The operating budget for 2010 is $12.3 million. The library system holds over 500,000 materials.

             The AADL is committed to sustaining the value of public library services for the greater Ann Arbor community through the use of traditional and innovative technologies. AADL values include: excellence in customer service; providing, supporting, and advocating access for all; acting with initiative, creativity, and flexibility; working together, with enthusiasm and optimism, to reach goals; and responsible stewardship of resources.   

Gwinnett County Public Library

            Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) serves a total population of over 769,000 residents, and had 340,055 registered borrowers as of 2009. The system consists of 15 branches, houses over 1,000,000 print and media items, and maintains subscriptions to over 150 databases. In 2009 the GCPL counted over 4.1 million visitors to branches, and over 4.2 million website visits; over 7.5 million items were circulated, and over 139,000 community members attended library sponsored programs. The mission of GCPL is as follows: Supporting your informational, educational, and recreational interests with convenient, creative, customer-friendly access to materials and services.

Interview Responses

            Two email interviews were conducted on Tuesday, June 8^th, 2010; one was with Eli Neiburger, Associate Director for IT and Production, Ann Arbor District Library, and the other was with Michael Casey, Information Technology Director for Gwinnett County Public Library (responses in italics).

1. What were your technology adaption processes, including motivations, decision-making criteria and staff's responses?

Neiburger: AADL apparently is not big on process or criteria. Engaging Library 2.0 did not happen overnight, but now the IT and Productions Department is responsible for the technology. They work closely with the rest of the staff and even have some IT staff who do desk shifts so that they know what's going on and what's needed. Most of our new technologies are either initiated by the Development or Productions teams, or are a request from another department. If it makes sense, has a payoff, and is a sustainable use of resources, they find a way to make it happen.

Casey: Well, I’d say there are three main sources of new technology ideas: staff, teams, and vendors. Staff bring us some ideas, especially when they read professional journals or attend conferences. Teams, like the Emerging Tech team, will often find and/or investigate new technologies for adoption by the library. And finally, vendors often bring new tech to our attention – a good example of this being the coin and bill accepting self-check at the Hamilton Mill Branch.

Technology then gets adopted in one of two ways: either someone in admin champions the new technology and sees that it gets implemented or the new technology is written into the strategic and/or technology plan so that it gets implemented on a schedule.

What decisions are involved? I’d like to say that the sole decision is always customer service impact (both internal and external customers, in this case). But of course there is a return on investment (ROI) to consider (although many organizations, ours included, sometimes fail to really take a good look at the expected and then actual ROI). Sometimes new technology gets adopted because someone in admin really likes it – that’s just reality.

Measuring staff response and technology ROI is very difficult. I’d say that we typically use a combination of statistics (throughput, such as check-in or check-out, books processed, customers served, etc.) and feedback through formal (surveys) and informal (word-of-mouth) channels.

2. What functional and service areas are these technologies used in?

Neiburger: Libraries are technology businesses. They always have been. Books were such a powerful transformative technology they kept the world changing for almost 500 hundred years. Now that we're in the early stages of the information revolution, there is no part of any organization that is not touched by internet technology. So, the answer to the question is: they are used in all functional and service areas.

Casey: I believe we use these new techs in all areas.

3. What kind of Web 2.0/Library 2.0 technologies are used? (For example: cloud computing, RFIDs, automated check-out, personalized catalog views, blogging, social networking, etc.)

Neiburger: The cloud is a bit dangerous for libraries. It is a critical part of a library's value to their communities in this century to be in complete control of the data they keep on their patrons, and that cannot be done in the cloud. RFIDs and self check-out are not what I would consider 2.0 technology. Some libraries in the 80s were using self checkout. Web 2.0 is merely recognizing that the library exists for the patrons, and not the staff. While that seems obvious, many, many libraries still make decisions based on what the staff wants, and that simply isn't sustainable. Our entire web presence is powered by Drupal, which allows for extensive commenting, tagging, user-customized views, sharing, etc.  AADL does not develop new products without considering how our users will add to them. This is the essence of the 2.0 mindset.

Casey: Over the past three years we (the IT department and the library) have made a concerted effort to integrate second-generation technologies into our system. Several examples are:  LibraryThing  for Libraries (cloud based ILS enhancement which allows reviews), Rackspace Cloud (cloud based server hosting for next gen website due this fall), BigWebApps (cloud based help desk ticketing), enhanced RFID self-check hardware (new equipment reads cards without need for moving parts, changed in 2007/8), enhanced self-check software (now server based and far more customizable), creation of social networking presence on Flickr, FaceBook, and Twitter, several internal blogs, including the ILS blog, Survey Monkey (used several times on very large scale for system changes such as facilities, hours, customer feedback, etc. – many responses exceeded 2000+), formalized Technology Team reviews of the tech plan (building in regular review processes which includes staff and customer feedback, etc.

This July we hope to launch LibraryAnywhere, a mobile phone compatible library catalog.

Going forward, we will be utilizing open source software for our website which will launch this fall, which will result in a significant money savings. In addition, we will be transitioning our IM reference service to SMS/text and website widget chat – this should be done in spring 2011. Also in spring 2011 we hope to launch a website knowledge base based upon a product called LibraryAnswers (a cloud based service).

4. Do you follow a best practices model?

Neiburger: AADL does not follow a best practices model. Best practices are just shorthand for a lack of vision. Every community is different; best practices in one community can easily be the worst idea in another community. That said, we're always listening for cool ideas that other libraries are trying.

Casey: Yes. Individual projects, such as the website, are constantly measured against various best practices models. In addition, the technology plan is being measured against some very new best practices which require regular review and re-evaluation.

5. How does the library follow trends in library technologies?

Neiburger: Twitter.

Casey: I’m not sure we’re following other libraries so much as we’re trying to stay abreast of the technologies that our customers and other industries are using. Internally, this means we’re always looking for more efficient systems so that we can do more with reduced budgets. Other libraries are looking at these things, too, as are other service organizations. Externally, this means we are trying to adopt more 2.0 tools and services, including customer feedback and communications. The library has a presence on the major social networking sites, and the next generation website is being built on an open platform that will easily permit two-way communications (Drupal).

6. How are the usage statistics for your blogs?

Neiburger: Well, our entire site is blog-style, so it's difficult to attribute traffic to blogs. We did serve over 10 million page views just in March of 2010, and an average of 34 page views per visit, which is very high for the web. This indicates that people who come to aadl.org are staying a long time, reading many different posts and searches, and coming back frequently.

Casey: We measure use in several ways. The website uses Google Analytics (a powerful and free website stats manager). FaceBook and Flickr have their own rather good built-in stats. Our internal blogs are measured primarily through use, and the ILS blog is definitely the most heavily used internal blog.

7. How do you justify allocation of resources for virtual presence (Second Life, FaceBook, virtual reference services, etc.) if you have any?

Neiburger: Second Life is a joke and any resources a library invested there would be a very poor use of public funds. FaceBook is just a part of one of our marketing clerks' job and takes just minutes per week. We once used a subscription virtual reference service, but we discontinued it due to lack of demand. We just do reference by email when it comes up. Part of the advantage of modern web technologies is that the good ones are freely available. For AADL, we made an early investment in technology expertise (there are 10 full-time employees in our IT Department and it pays off every day by our being able to do new things with no new costs).

Casey: Our only virtual presence is on FaceBook, Twitter and Flickr. We do have IM reference but that is going to transition to SMS/IM/Chat in the next year or so.

8. Has the library been able to evaluate the response of patrons to Web 2.0/Library 2.0? If so how?

Neiburger: The proof is in the pudding: AADL has over 80,000 registered users and almost 80,000 tags; 2,000 reviews and 8,000 ratings. There have been 17,000 comments on blogs, all since 2005. For a small town, AADL is very pleased with the response. In addition, we hear from the public constantly about how much they love and use aadl.org. It's not very common for libraries to get praise about their websites from their patrons. The fact that they take the time to tell us that they love it and how it could be better is all the response we could wish for.

Casey: So far as feedback and evaluation go, at this point we are simply looking very closely at usage stats on the website and through the various services. We have not yet done any real public surveying regarding any two-dot-zero services.

9.  Is there any other information or insight that you can share regarding your experiences with Library 2.0 and/or Web 2.0 technologies?

Casey: I will simply say that getting local political support (admin and board) is crucial. Any success in these areas is contingent upon support and a belief in the services. Everyone must buy-in, or at least be willing to try.

Analysis

            Looking back at Ryan Deschamps’ ten steps to Library 2.0, Ann Arbor District Library meets all but two of the requirements, the use of Delicious and /Flick. Along with Drupal, the staff uses a wiki and Google applications to communicate amongst themselves. Firefox is used as the computer browser.  The success of this library is driven by their blogging website, the users shape AADL by their comments and the library listens.  The community of Ann Arbor is the  driving force in directing the vision of the library, "open and equal access" to all.      

            Gwinnett County Public Library has implemented several of Deschamps’ ten suggestions for becoming Library 2.0. GCPL uses Mozilla Firefox, has blogging guidelines and maintains blogs, provides an internal content management system and uses collaborative platforms, keeps a Flickr page and a FaceBook page, and engages teens in technology. They are also taking definitive steps toward becoming more Library 2.0 in the near futures.

            The two library systems share viewpoints on some topics, but have very differing points of view in regards to others (particularly in regards to best practices and cloud computing). It seems clear that Library 2.0 means different things to different people, and that the culture and administration of an organization can have a drastic effect on the direction that a library takes in terms of technology and progress.

WORKS CITED

Casey, Micheal (2010). Library Crunch. Retrieved from http://www.librarycrunch.com

Deschamps, Ryan (2010). The Other Librarian. Retrieved from http://www.otherlibrarian.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/my-top-ten-library-20-no-brainers-for-public-libraries

Ann Arbor District Library (2010). Retrieved from http://www.aadl.org

Gwinnett County Public Library (2010). Retrieved from http://www.gwinnettpl.org

  

U.S. Census Bureau (2010). Ann Arbor city, Michigan. Retrieved from http://www.factfinder.census.gov

U.S. Census Bureau (2010). Gwinnett County, Georgia. Retrieved from http://www.factfinder.census.gov

Final Presentation

Final presentation

View more webinars from emkirkbride.

Assignment 4

For this assignment I reviewed:

Calisphere
The World Digital Library
HathiTrust Digital Library
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Vtext
SMARTech
arXiv.org
EconPapers

On the whole, I found that all of the Digital Libraries and Institutional Repositories had essentially the same goals, and were structured in much the same format. Some were more attractive than others, and some were more user-friendly. The digital libraries were clearly created to appeal to the public, while the institutional repositories focused on a more perfunctory role. All in all, I feel that all of these institutions are fulfilling their goals admirably.

Assignment 3--Interview Transcript

For Assignment 3, I chose to interview Owen Leonard from the Athens County Public Library. The Athens County Public Library consists of seven library buildings serving the community of Nelsonville, Ohio. The library website offers services such as catalog searching, individual user accounts and renewals, and links to 24/7 chat reference services. Their website can be found at http://www.myacpl.org/.

The interview transcript is as follows:

How and where did you hear about content management systems?

I've been doing web development for 15 years, so I don't know when I first heard of CMSes. I remember experimenting with PostNuke and PHPnuke years ago.

What were your motivations to adopt a content management system for its  current use (your library website, and any other purpose)?

The primary reason was to open up the opportunity for other users to contribute to the site. We had a good working site before, and I felt that it was well-maintained. But when it came time to do a full redesign it seemed short-sighted not to adopt a CMS at the same time.

What were your decision making criteria in choosing a CMS? What is the name of CMS you are using now?

We are using Drupal. I chose Drupal after evaluating it, Joomla, and Plone. I chose Drupal because it seemed to be the most flexible in terms of design customization, offered a wide array of add-on modules,
was under active development, and seemed to have a strong support community. Being written in PHP was another advantage of Drupal, since I know PHP and could expect to be working at some level with Drupal code.

What are the important benefits or advantages of the CMS that you are using now over the old system or another CMS system you may have used in the past? How was the learning curve?

I find Drupal's templating system to be powerful and flexible, allowing me to take an existing template and adapt it to make a site that is unique to my library. There are a wide variety of standards-compliant, CSS-based templates available for free, and the markup Drupal generates is reasonably sane.

I found Joomla to be very similar to Drupal in terms of basic functionality, but my impression was that customizing the design would not be as easy. Plone has excellent site structure management, but
offers no easy means of customization and appears to have no active user community on the web.

Drupal seemed to be a better choice than Wordpress because it was less a blog-oriented system than a site-building system, although Drupal comes up short when you want to incorporate simple blogging tools.

Drupal does have a learning curve, and users who are not familiar with at least some PHP might find it difficult to get started. It took me a while to get a good understanding of how Drupal's system of pages and menus worked. A user looking for better out-of-the-box functionality would probably be better served by something simpler like Wordpress.

You stated that you chose to use a CMS in order to open the site up to other contributors. Do you feel that it has served this purpose? Are others contributing to the site? If so, what types of staff members contribute?

This is a difficult question to answer, because for Drupal to have been a success in this regard would have also required us to be successful in delegating the work of updating the site. This we have
not done. The framework for collaboration is in place, but the personnel-side of things is not.

What kind of training, if any, did you offer to staff?

Because of the previous answer, the answer here is: none yet.

Have you had any major problems using Drupal? If so, were you able to resolve these problems?

I find Drupal upgrades to be tedious. I don't know that *any* CMS offers seamless upgrades. Wordpress probably comes the closest, with its automatic upgrade option. I have run into problems when performing
upgrades, so I have to test upgrades thoroughly. This has the unfortunate consequence of discouraging me from upgrading often.

The other difficulty I have is less with Drupal than with my understanding of how to extend Drupal to match my needs. I find myself still using much of the framework of our previous, home-grown site and
displaying information within our Drupal site by using custom PHP. I would be smarter to develop a method of using Drupal's built-in content types to display the data.

Assignment 3

For assignment three, I am communicating with Owen Leonard from Athens County Public Library. The ACPL uses Drupal as their content management system; their website can be found at: http://www.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/.

Reflections on WordPress

This site was my introduction to content management systems, and on the whole, my experience with WordPress was a positive one. Dr. Oguz set up each team's initial website/blog, and each team member was then required to create a user account and log into their team's site. I was intimidated at first, but once I logged in, I had no problems navigating the site.

As stated, the first thing I did was create my user account. This was exceedingly simple, as it did not require any personal information beyond my email address. Once I received my password, I logged into my account (and changed my password). Upon visiting my team's site, I found that my two teammates had already been experimenting with themes, pages, posts, widgets, and plug-ins. I read through what they had posted, and then created a test-post of my own. I had no problems doing this.

I then created a profile page for myself. I initially created a very brief 2-3 line paragraph for myself, but I edited this later to include a picture and more extensive information about myself. I also removed my last name from the site, for privacy reasons.

After creating my profile page, I began to experiment with other administration options. I added a calendar to the sidebar, as well as a drop-down menu that allows readers to sort blog postings by category. However, I realized once I had added this that we only had one category of postings so far, so I created categories for each team-member's name, and added my name to my postings. I posted a notification of this to my team-members, and later saw in the most recent posts that they had added their names to their posts. I changed the time stamp on our blog posts, and experimented with themes/appearance settings, as well as adding things to the sidebar (and removing them). I also deactivated registration of new users for our site, as all group members had registered by this time.

As stated, all in all, I feel that the experience was a positive one. I am now far less intimidated by navigating the administrative functions of content management systems. WordPress is very intuitive in that regard. However, I do feel that I am lacking in creating the foundation of a WordPress site. I read through the "Getting Started with WordPress" page, and from what I understood, a user must either create a web server to host their WordPress site (which is way beyond my level of expertise), or register with an external web server (one that supports PHP and MySQL) and use it to support your WordPress site. After doing a little research, I found that there are several free web servers that can be used for this purpose, as well as servers that offer free domain names but charge a nominal monthly fee for web hosting, so this is an option.

As stated in my previous post, I am curious if WordPress is the CMS used by previous MLIS students to host their digital portfolios. It seems to me that this would be a good site for that purpose. I wonder if this is something that we will learn in this course, or in a different course (perhaps Information Architecture?).

In conclusion, this assignment has inspired me to learn more about creating and managing websites (more complicated than Blogger sites). I feel capable of at least the basic administrative functions, and I have a better understanding of where to look for more information.

WordPress

At first I was intimidated by WordPress, especially since I was mentally lumping it with Drupal, and I am still very intimidated by that one. But after playing around with it for a few hours, I really like the program! I feel like I have a lot more autonomy than I do with Blogger, but it's not over my head. However, I can't help but feel like I do not yet have a full understanding of the program, as I do not know how to actually start the blog/webpage (Dr. O. took care of this step for us). Once the maymester is over and I have more time, I would like to actually download the program and play around with it more. I wonder if this is the program that other MLIS students have been using to digitize their portfolios? I think that it would be well-suited for this purpose.