http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php This is a discussion forum powered by vBulletin. To find out about vBulletin, go to http://www.vbulletin.com/ . en Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:34:08 GMT vBulletin 60 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/innocence/misc/rss.jpg http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1323 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:59:41 GMT For this weeks assignment I was quite fortunate to have randomly chosen such a wide array of varied resources. The greatest challenge of which was... For this weeks assignment I was quite fortunate to have randomly chosen such a wide array of varied resources. The greatest challenge of which was to identify the usable resources versus those which disguise themselves as useful.

One site in particular looked great and even provided a reasonable amount of information, however it was tied to a commercial site that blanketed nearly every page and article. No matter the resource, I think the most valuable lesson learned is that even the best looking sites may not be authoritative. ]]> djosborn http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1323 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1322 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:09:47 GMT I have to admit that seeing the vast variety of questions coming in to the IPL has been a great experience! Since my own library is so specialized,... I have to admit that seeing the vast variety of questions coming in to the IPL has been a great experience! Since my own library is so specialized, most of the questions I get asked there fall into a small set of subjects. What I'm dealing with in the IPL is closer to what a reference person in either a public library or one of the larger undergraduate academic library would deal with. VERY :cool:

A few of my favorites:
- the person who wanted to be able to get to a full text version of his class textbook on the web for free.
- the request that appeared to be submitted in Malaysian (?) Or maybe Finnish. Not sure.
- the essay question from a religion student about her personal opinion of the parousia.
- the person who wanted a job writing for the IPL.
and
- the person who wanted to know how a ledger from a 19th century logging company wound up in her attic...(and I would know this....how?)

That leaves out all the questions that are not questions at all - "the science fair". "about ecology". "tell me about these books I found (no details provided)". I guess I should be glad that they have such faith in the powers of the reference librarian!

Oh, and my favorite from last shift: "When did you receive this message?". :) Such questions keep me aware that there are real human beings at the other end of this computerized communication..... ]]> Gwennan http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1322 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1321 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:24:47 GMT Just out today, NFI Research, a U.S.-based research firm that identifies and analyzes trends and attitudes in business, organizational management,... Just out today, NFI Research, a U.S.-based research firm that identifies and analyzes trends and attitudes in business, organizational management, information technology and organizational behavior, posted their Top Public Libraries on Twitter List as of November 4, 2009. Although theIPL was not added (yet), this list provides libraries to follow if you or your organization are considering becoming active on Twitter. http://bit.ly/18qCGG

The list was compiled according to the following criteria:
"the top public libraries on Twitter who 1) regularly update their page and communicate with their followers 2) use Twitter to advance/promote communication with their community 3) have a proportionate number of followers to following and 4) are active on Twitter as of November 4, 2009.

The library system I work for was in the top 15; that's Palm Beach County Library System. Kudos to the PBCLS webdesigner David Allen Kelly. I am interviewing him as part of my final project as the IPL twitter admin. :yes

If you are not following/communicating with theIPL on Twitter, start today! ]]> LibraryMar http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1321 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1320 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:33:58 GMT I answered another two questions for Ask Dr. Math this week. I have now answered nine questions for Ask Dr. Math and twelve questions total.

I'm really glad I decided to do question answering for both the IPL and Ask Dr. Math, because there have been so few IPL questions available lately that it's almost impossible to find any I can answer. There have been at most three available questions each time that I have logged in lin the past two weeks. Ask Dr. Math, on the other hand, always has hundreds of available questions on every topic I might want to work with that day.

The class exercise with Mosio this week was really interesting. It seems like a great service to offer patrons of any type of library, though obviously limited in the scope of questions appropriate for the format. I asked and answered a couple of my own questions to get more practice with it. Does anyone know if there is a way to pull up a printer-friendly transcript of just the questions we have answered? ]]> dfaul78 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1320 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1319 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:43:14 GMT From the tech section of CNN. Twitter lists. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/04/twitter.lists/index.html) The Secret Online Cloud.... From the tech section of CNN. Twitter lists.


The Secret Online Cloud.

A wooden library. Books literally made out of wood.

Web addresses in languages other than English.

And one just to make you cry. ]]> skoorey http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1319 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1318 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:07:39 GMT As I've been providing feedback to my fellow students regarding their answers to IPL questions, I've found myself struggling with if, when, and how to address issues related to grammar, usage, and--perhaps most problematic--writing style. On one hand, most of the grammar errors I've seen have been minor, and most answers do not contain them in abundance; additionally, most of those I have encountered have not greatly detracted from the answer's content. But on the other hand, at times such issues have made answers more difficult to read or understand than necessary, and I've always believed that good writing helps establish intellectual authority and professional credibility, both of which are diminished by errors.

So far I've not mentioned these issues in my feedback unless an answer contains multiple errors or I feel that the errors can create difficulties for patrons; still, I feel uncomfortable pointing out such problems in my peers' writing since I fear seeming overly critical or negative. Perhaps clearer guidelines should be established for feedbackers regarding when and how such problems should be addressed.

In any case, this experience has reminded me to be a more careful proofreader of my own work and that rather than guessing when facing questions regarding grammar or usage in my writing, I should seek out reputable sources for such information and strive to get the answers to those questions right. ]]> tonbarmcc http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1318 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1317 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:19:01 GMT After my recent rant/blog about Facebook and the library, I went to do my volunteer shelving and actually met with both the head of the library and... After my recent rant/blog about Facebook and the library, I went to do my volunteer shelving and actually met with both the head of the library and also the person who might take over the administration of the new Facebook page. I'm happy to report that many issues were resolved as a result of our face to face meeting.
Sometimes the virtual world of communication can prove frustrating and isn't as efficient as the seredipitous bumping into someone that you need to reach! ]]> robinetter http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1317 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1316 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:15:39 GMT Email, chat, and text reference have a lot in common, but I think each is suited best to a different type of reference question. Email reference is... Email, chat, and text reference have a lot in common, but I think each is suited best to a different type of reference question. Email reference is better for a research-oriented question. If a patron is looking for general resources about a topic, an email can give the librarian a chance to find and cull resources and give the patron the benefit of more time and therefore it seems to me, a more thoughtful and comprehensive answer to their query.

In the situation of chat reference, the librarian is able to conduct a more thorough reference interview, and has the chance to get immediate feedback. They can clarify exactly what the patron wants and can hopefully gauge if what resources they are providing are being helpful (simply by asking, is this what you are looking for? Did I help you? might be all they need to do). This immediacy helps the patron, too. Although there may be lag times, where the patron is unsure what the librarian is doing, there are good librarians who will understand this and combat it by telling the patron what they are doing and continually acknowledging them. (As seen in some of our transcripts of chat sessions, notably transcript 4).

Text message reference is very good for simple questions. Ready reference questions that have definite answers or little need of explanation work best here. I thought of some of the questions on the Text-A-Librarian microboard almost as trivia questions, or clues you would find on a crossword puzzle. They mostly had very quick, simpler answers that did not require much space or even really much time to answer.

I can really see using the Text-A-Librarian service when I am out and about, whether it's for general knowledge, or for something very useful. What I am not sure about is if people will know about the service, if they will use it, (it's hard to remember a number if it's not in your contacts), and there is also a lot of direct competition with any phone that has internet capacity. A quick answer for a ready reference question can be found easily with google on your iphone. Again, this gets into issues of reliability of information and I'd personally trust a librarian and the resources she uses rather than simply typing it into a google search box. Text-A-Librarian is very easy to use, however, and that is a definite plus when it comes to getting users interested.

Ease of use, plus familiarity with the idea and practice of sending and receiving text messages is a good indicator of the audience that might use text message reference. I think for the younger crowd, those high schoolers and teens that are chained to their phones at all times, this is a very viable form of reference. But for anyone else, I think it may be difficult to really catch on.

IM or chat reference is ideal in a situation where the patron is already on the computer and needs a little step in the right direction. Email reference would work the same way, but generally has a longer lag time. ]]> Maureen26 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1316 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1315 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:23:51 GMT It seems like every time I go to answer a rescue question there are fewer and fewer and none that are not claimed! I know it was mentioned in... It seems like every time I go to answer a rescue question there are fewer and fewer and none that are not claimed! I know it was mentioned in blackboard that we can't control the amount of questions. I seem to recall doing the IPL project for info 511 and that towards the latter half of the quarter there seemed to be less questions available. I'm not sure if it's just a busy time of year (I think I took info 511 fall quarter as well) or if maybe more students are realizing that they need to answer more questions then! Either way, I think i'll ask all of my family and friends to submit new questions to the IPL so we'll all have more to answer!!

This also brings up an interesting thing about reference in general. We are solely depenedent on our users and patrons. If they don't ask questions, we can't answer them. In order to have a really great reference team it's important that patrons know they can ask questions and that they feel comfortable asking them. Things like the IPL newsletter can help raise awareness among patrons that there are places to go to get questions answered, free of charge, and reliably. ]]> Maureen26 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1315 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1314 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:40:01 GMT I'm finding that in trying to communicate to the public, via Facebook, all of the many events and activities at my local public library, I'm not able to get up-to-date information myself from the library. Because I don't work there on a daily basis, I'm not kept informed of new events, cancellations, changes...I usually find out about them by physically walking into the library and seeing a flyer advertising a new event (that should have been emailed to me). It also happens in other areas. For instance, the administrator for the library's website is not on-site but is a city worker. This could account for the fact that the website isn't always up to date. I update the Facebook page on a daily basis according to the fall schedule of events I was emailed at the start of this project. This often takes up to an hour a day and I'm not sure the library will be willing to add this task on to a staff member when my project is over. I've offered to carry on as the administrator for an undetermined amount of time,(what was I thinking?) but the frustration of not being kept informed makes me regret my offer. It would be optimal if one person were in charge of all the library's public relations needs (flyers, press releases, Facebook, website). Because of budget, that person is non-existent. The result is that the left hand (me, the free-lancer) doesn't know what the right hand (the library) is doing. ]]> robinetter http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1314 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1313 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:40:43 GMT This week, I answered two questions for Ask Dr. Math. This brings my totals to seven questions for Ask Dr. Math and ten questions total.

I've had the chance to answer questions from a wide range of Mathematical areas, which is really interesting. I've answered questions from statistics, discrete mathematics, probability, algebra, calculus, and prealgebra. One nice feature of the site is the extensive archive of answered questions. Instead of composing another answer for the types of questions that are asked frequently, like how to solve a linear equation, I can just provide a link to an archived answer in this area. Unfortunately, the archive is not as easy to search as I would expect. The keywords that I choose often don't return relevant results in the first couple of pages, so I'm thinking the metadata on these items could be improved. ]]> dfaul78 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1313 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1312 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:15:03 GMT All three of these technologies have the ability to answer a patrons question, though each one has its advantages and disadvantages. What I'd like to do is go through each one and discuss the pros and cons:
EMAIL:
Advantages-This method allows for the librarian to seek out the most credible sources available. For the librarian, it is also the most work because we want to be thorough, but is most satisfying after we gather the information and disseminate it to the patron. It is also the only one of the three that allow the patron to ask In-Depth Research questions.
Disadvantages-There is no instant feedback. Answers are not available to the patron right away, unless a librarian happens to pick up the question and answer it right away.
CHAT:
Advantages-Chatting allows the patron almost instant access to the answer to their question. Not only that, but if the librarian executes a thorough interview with the patron, then the patron can modify or add to their question in order to get the most specific answer. To me, this is the most efficient of these 3 technologies.
Disadvantages-Because this is "live", the librarian may feel forced to provide the patron with an answer even if they are not 100% confident in the resources they are providing.
TEXT:
Advantages-How cool is this!:applause The biggest advantage is that it utilizes the most popular form of communication amongst teens and young adults. This allows students to simply text their question to a "live" service(during business hours) and get a quick response back within a short period. When I last logged on the average response time was less than 4 minutes.
Disadvantages-This service, to me, is sort of like a trivia chaser. It's difficult to ask/answer any question with more than a simple short answer and maybe a link or two... Also, this is a very underutilized service, per the weekly readings...I explain more below...

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TEXT SERVICE: I think this is a great service, though it may be a little past it's time(if you can believe that?). I thought that it was very easy to ask questions, and the answers that I received back were easy to read and understand. The librarian interface was also very user-friendly, with the questions very prominent in the center of the page and the ticker that pops up when a new question arrives.
However, I can't help but think of the nightly trivia debates that I get into with friends and family, where one of us would grab our laptops(which are sitting right next to us on the couch), and answer our silly trivia questions about how many seasons "JOANIE LOVES CHACHI" ran on ABC. It seems more of a trivia feature. I'm not getting down on the service, I just wonder how it would best be promoted and utilized.

I can see a student that has a table full of papers and research books wanting to get an answer to a question, but that students usually has a laptop in front of them too...so why not chat?

I suppose one good way we could use this service would be as a resource to LOCATE materials in the library...now that might work! What do you think?

Finally, when this service first came to be I don't think that the libraries anticipated that many people, and most soon enough, have the Internet on their cell phone. The patron can get these quick answers by doing a simple Google search if they want to get a quick answer.

I know I sound down on text-a-librarian, but I'm really not. I think it's awesome..I just want to market it so that it can be as widely utilized as texting is! ]]> Jzielinski http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1312 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1311 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:46:10 GMT Now that I've experienced three forms of reference services online -- web/email-based, real-time IM/Chat and texting -- I've definitely formed some opinions.

Response Depth/Length

In-depth, complex questions are best suited to web/email-based reference services, since the text length is unlimited and more time can be taken by the librarian to research and compose a response. The recipient is also in better position to preserve the response and explore the various resources.

Chat/IM reference services don't work as well with long answers or too many resources (as evidenced by one of our chat transcripts that was a wall of links), but can handle more depth than text messaging, which is limited to hundreds of characters, preferably less than 200.

Type of Questions

Text messaging is very good for ready reference and questions with short, precise answers or a single authoritative source. The question I sent in from my phone was about DC's metro schedule for Halloween. I texted in from a metro train while we were on our way downtown, so a fast answer linking to the schedule would've been ideal.

Chat/IM is excellent for questions that require some back-and-forth interviewing in order to drill down on the results required. Beyond that, it is also better suited to ready reference and shorter topics.

Web/email-based is the very best for complicated questions or in-depth searches, like academic research. It seems best when a well-formed response is going to correctly include multiple sources and search strategies for the patron.

As for Text a Librarian, I thought it was pretty cool. I could've answered a lot more questions but I mistakenly thought there might be a question deficit for my classmates. Based on the email alerts I got for the next few days of new questions, that turned out not to be the case! I did have trouble fitting things into a single text message. I spent some time editing my response of all extraneous words and even letters to make it all fit!

-Sarah ]]> saraht http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1311 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1310 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:39:18 GMT While I enjoyed answering the text questions, I was somewhat disappointed with the response time on the question I posted.

However, I'll begin by talking about texting answers. There was something freeing in having to supply an answer in just 400 characters (if you count both possible texts). I knew that limitation really would force me to get to the heart of the matter quickly and matter-of-factly. There would be no discussion of how I found the material, where the patron could find more information, or how to properly recognize authoritative sources. No, in the texting world I was simply required to provide an answer.

As to the response time on the text I sent in. I asked where I could get an H1N1 vaccine in Los Angeles. I already knew the answer to this question and I figured it would be pretty easy to supply via text message. The person did a great job of providing the information and a website where I could look up more info. Unfortunately, it took over 24 hours to get that information. I feel that the beauty of text reference is supposed to be its rapid response. My experience did not support that rapid response ideology, nor did it do anything to deter me from using pay services such as ChaCha, which was advertised on Ellen through Ellen DeGeneres' own use.

If I was an actual patron looking to text a reference question I would probably go with ChaCha next time rather than waiting 24 hours for an answer. ]]> mrserinanderson http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1310 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1309 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:28:54 GMT This week, we practiced text reference. It was a fun experience overall... the only challenge was keeping our messages brief enough for 2 text... This week, we practiced text reference. It was a fun experience overall... the only challenge was keeping our messages brief enough for 2 text messages worth of information.

This is clearly not the "teaching people how to fish" method of reference service-- just give em that "fish" and keep on truckin!

In our readings, I came across a fascinating, disturbing factoid that glinted at me like a diamond.

From Nielsen Mobile, here are monthly average numbers of texts sent and received for different age groups:

13-17: 1,742
18-24: 790
25-34: 331

LOOK at how this younger generation is grouped together for so many things, yet how divisive the stats vary!:reading

I find myself looking back on my days of being a young wife. I needed a lot of general house-keeping counsel. How did I unstop a drain? What WERE the best ways to use vinegar as a cleaning agent? In which proportions do you substitute real onions for onion powder? I had two options: Google it or call mom. I would have my answer faster with Google, but it was never as sure of a thing as getting mom's word (45 minutes after a proper conversation, of course!).

I think about the new wives of today... would they text a librarian for the best way to make deviled eggs? Fast, authoritative. So why not? ]]> arg34 http://ipl.ci.fsu.edu/community/blog.php?b=1309