Michigan’s Kent District has a whopping eighteen(!) branch library locations. My, that’s a lot of patrons. Web logs are one way in which the libraries are appealing to varied information needs of Kent residents.

Finding the KDL web logs from the libraries homepage is quite easy. A few clicks of the mouse on the subject headings listed at the top of the page show that there are four blogs at KDL: Books & More, Events, Parents & Kids, and Teens. The only ‘hitch’ is that the links are listed at the bottom of the page and require the user to scroll down in order to select them. Depending on one’s screen-size or settings, it would be easy to miss the links to the KDL blog sites; moving these to the index listed to the left (KDL tech support, that’s your cue!) could easily rectify this, though. 

Generally, the KDL blogs would be easy for someone unfamiliar with weblogs, but with basic knowledge of computers, to use. Like the Ann Arbor District Libraries, KDL provides helpful explanations for some of the tools available through its site. For example, a ‘What’s this?’ link is given next to the RSS icon on the ‘Books & More,’ ‘Events,’ ‘Parents & Kids,’ ‘Teens’ pages. The definition is clear, and easy to understand: “So, what does RSS mean to you? RSS allows users the ability to track all of the news items that interest them.”

The KDL web logs are a good fit with other services offered by the tech-savvy library. In addition to RSS, the library uses other social networking tools like Facebook and offers eAudiobooks for Microsoft Zune through the OverDrive Virtual Library. 

The librarian/contributors to the KDL blogs seem to view social software as a means for promoting in-house services. For example, on November 12 2008 DDonnell wrote:

“Teen Librarians are asking, “Where’s the love?” KDL’s Teen Surveys reveal that very few of you come to the library to seek the help of a librarian.  But we love you guys…really.  And we want to help you find stuff for homework and fun reading.”

At KDL, technology is a bridge between, rather than a substitute for, virtual and traditional library services.

Kent District Library, Teen Blog Screenshot

Were I a KDL patron, I would definitely frequent the libraries’ blogs. The KDL web logs are different from many of the others  explored by Librarian-In-Waiting for the simple fact that they are updated regularly. (At the time of writing, there were already multiple same-day posts on such topics as ‘Wordless Books Make Great Stories’  and “Paint a Bowl for Soup’s On For All” (See Parents & Kids)). Its currency, combined with usability, findability, and quality content–what more could a user ask for, I wonder?

The JMRL Young Adult Services (YAS) web log is very findable from the libraries’ homepage (programs > teens > blog). The number of comments posted suggest that the blog is easy enough for even young patrons to use (the youngest reviewers are in sixth grade). These comments operate like a dialogue between users; below are responses to a review of Meg Calbot’s All American Girl by user Megan A.:

Runa: I love that book, have you read any of Meg’s other books?

Anonymous[1]: You gave the climax away!!! Now I’ll never read it! Don’t do it again please!

Anonymous[2]: Maybe that wasn’t the climax?! you don’t know! Try it! It sounds good to me. I’ll check my school library for it. 

JMRL Young Adult Services blog, Screenshot

The JMRL YA blog is more usable than the Greater Victoria Regional Libraries’ Book Picks for Teens Blog, in that it lists reviews, not only by date, but also by author name. This allows tweens and teens to scan reviews for books by their favourite writers, instead of sifting through the Archives. Links from book titles to the libraries’ catalogue is other convenient feature. 

The YAS weblog gives reviewers the option of attaching tags to their posts. At their best, these user-generated tags retrieve all posts with the same subject distinctions (suspense, fantasy, biographies, etc.). It seems that JMRL library staff have added these after submission though, using obvious tags like ‘crozet’ (the branch name) and ‘book review,’ which in the end are of little use to patrons.

As with all folksonomies, there is also the issue of inconsistencies in vocabulary; here, some entries use the tag ‘reviews,’ and others ‘book reviews’ (the former does not collocate the latter, and vice versa). The labeling feature is more extensively used by library staff in their own posts, but these figure only marginally into this primarily user-run forum. This is unfortunate, since tagging works best in the context of group participation. 

In addition to making better use of the tagging option, another suggestion for improvement would be maintenance (and promotion) of the blog by library staff. At the time of writing, the blog had sadly not had a post in over five months (oh, the neglect!). While entries from previous years suggest that the blog might be used in summer reading clubs for teens, adding fresh content regularly would keep young users interested throughout the year. 

In many ways, the YAS blog operates like an online amalgamation of some of the libraries’ in-house offerings, in particular ‘Musings: a Teen Writer’s Workshop’ and ‘YABL’ (the Young Adult Book Lovers discussion group). The blog also seems closely tied to larger aims listed in the institutions’ 5 Year Plan, most obviously its plans to improve services to young adults (8).

If I were a JMRL YA patron (or parent), I would surely look to the site for book reviews by my peers and updates about community and library events for youth (gaming nights, author talks, etc.). Because many of the posts are by users themselves (versus librarians), it presents an excellent opportunity for youth to contribute to a positive online community.

Big Andromeda Galaxy

 image courtesy of Xamad. Flickr [Creative Commons] <http://tinyurl.com/6cq3f9>

The Institute for Astronomy (IfA) was founded 1967 at the University of Hawaii, with the purpose of managing observatories at Haleakala and Mauna Kea and conducting original research (see ‘About‘). The library at IfA meet the information needs of the 45 faculty and 150 staff members working for the organization. Librarians Kathleen, Marilyn, and Amy have created a weblog to “updat[e] and infor[m] IfA personnel.”

The site can be easily accessed from the library’s homepage, by clicking on the ‘IfA Library Weblog’ link. The link’s prominent font (it is one of the three largest on the page) suggests that the blog plays a central role in the services provided by the library. One can also find the blog by clicking on less obvious links like ‘Finding Online Journal Articles’ and ‘Finding Books’ under FAQs and Quik Guides. 

In my opinion, IfA’s blog would be ‘usable’ for those with only the most basic of knowledge of this type of social software tool. The interface is simple (thanks to the Blogspot template) and easy to read. Posts are organized by their currentness (under ‘Previous Posts’) and by year of publication (‘Archives’; 2003~ ).

The weblog appears to tie in well with other library services. The library, for example, offers a list of recently received journal issues, newsletters, and reports on its homepage; the IfA blog operates in a similar way, but for online resources. Moreover, one knows from the homepage that the IfA library’s collection is spread out amongst three locations (in Manoa, Hilo, and Maui). A compilation of links to online resources would be an excellent way of circumventing geographical barriers. 

Like other blogs reviewed in this blog, the IfA administrators might consider adding a tag cloud. This would help faculty and staff to retrieve recent publications in their area(s) of interest (such as hydrogen-deficient stars or extrasolar planets*) quickly and easily. Last year, Andre Brown, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania in astronomy and physics, spoke to librarians at an American Library Association (ALA) conference about the importance of blogging within the scientific community (see the Wired Campus article “Blogs are Increasingly Venues for Scholarship, Librarians are Told” for further discussion).

If I were Institute of Astronomy faculty or staff, I would frequent the IfA weblog, not just for the valuable content, but for welcome respite from the library’s poorly designed website (yikes! talk about bad web design.) 

* The author of this post ‘borrowed’ these smart-sounding Astronomy terms from journal titles recently posted to the blog. She apologizes is she has falsely conveyed the idea to her readers that she has any knowledge of hydrogen-deficient stars, or extrasolar planets for that matter.

Greater Victoria Public Library

 Photo: Smallestbones. “I’ve never been so happy to see a neon sign.” Flickr [Creative Commons]  <http://tinyurl.com/5mddwz> 

The blog is easy to locate from the GVPL website (home > Kids & Teens > Book Pick Blog). Contrary to some of the other sites previously reviewed by Librarian-in-Waiting, it is evident to the user that they are being rerouted to a web log. Once inside the blog, navigation is simple: active links to the library home page and other GVPL resources (its Site for Teens) are listed to the right of the page.  

Even inexperienced users would find the BPT web log easy to use. This is due in part to the simple interface and the limited number of value-added tools offered on the site. Depending on the user, however, this simplistic aesthetic approach could be an advantage or a disadvantage. Young users attracted to kitschy ‘bells n’ whistles’ and might find the BPT Blog uninspiring.

As the site currently exists, patrons are limited to searching by the most-recent posts (found in the body) or by month of publication (listed to the right). As someone less than a decade out of her teens, it’s my guess that young users may not be keen on sorting through three-years of archived entries in search of something of interest. The site might do well then to include a tag cloud or similar feature on the Book Pick Blog. This would allow teens to browse by their various areas of interest (romance, sci-fi, sports, fantasy, etc.). 

This is perhaps too obvious a critique but the GVPL Book Picks for Teens Blog would benefit from posting updates more frequently. (The last post, dated May 10 2008, is nearly six- months-old and only growing staler(!) as I write this). In recent years, Young Adult (YA) literature has emerged as a distinct (and immensely popular) genre. With eleven energetic librarian-contributors to the blog, one hopes that keeping-up with new arrivals would be a manageable feat. (See Steven’s article in Library Journal for more on the importance of currency in library blogs).

My third and last suggestion for improvement may be more difficult to rectify. All of the librarian-contributors on the BPT web blog are female. The GVPL librarians have evidently chosen the books they have reviewed carefully: most would be appealing to young male and female readers alike. An online community is still a community though, and the presence of male contributor/mentors might enrich the BPT environment further. The Site for Teens has posted the winning book reviews by YA patrons from a contest held in Summer 2008; in my opinion, user-reviews would be an excellent permanent addition to the BPT Blog, and another means of appealing to all members of the BPT online community. 

As a bibliophile and individual interested in Young Adult literature, I long to say that I would visit the BPT Blog…but alas I cannot. Before I go further, I should note that the web log does exactly what it says it will: that is, provide “book recommendations for teens from staff at the Greater Victoria Public Library.” However, if I were a young user, I would be interested in finding reviews on fresh materials. Unfortunately, the BPT Blog falls short in this respect and has few other features, beyond the well-written reviews, to attract the young user.

The Environmental News Bits (ENB) Blog is easy to find from the library’s homepage (Home > Research > Library > Environmental News Bits). Moving in the reverse (that is, from the blog to the the library website) is more challenging though. The organization has updated its name to ISTC but not its contact information, and the ‘Library’ link on the ‘About’ page connects to the now inactive WMRC library homepage.

The ENB Blog itself is quite usable.  The most recent news items are listed in the body, and are immediately visible when one enters the site. Articles are also indexed categorically: a long list of subject headings can be found on the left-side of the page, which makes browsing for information on a specific topic easier. Mash-ups with Google Search and Yahoo! Answers are other convenient, value-added features.

Environmental News Bits Blog, Screenshot

The ENB Blog ties well to other library services, or, in this case, lack thereof. As a special library, ISTC’s collection is composed largely of government documents and scholarly journals (150 to be exact). As is the case with many libraries, these items are non-circulating and the ISTC permits only limited lending to other institutions. Providing patrons with links to resources in electronic form is an excellent way of circumventing this issue.  

The material on the site is subject-specific, as is expected from a special library. Unlike the Duke Library Hacks Blog, it does not appear to deviate from its professional aims. Most of the links are to government sites or academic sources like online scholarly journals or communities, though it does include some lighter content, such as articles from Ecogeek. 

If I were a patron of the library (read: an ICTS researcher), I would use this site to keep-up with news pertaining to sustainable technologies. While my knowledge of the field is rudimentary at best, my sense is that it is fast changing. As a researcher, having knowledge of recent developments is no doubt of the utmost importance. Receiving daily updates from the blog via RSS feed (and indeed it is updated regularly) would facilitate this process greatly. As the header says, the ENB web log “brows[es] environmental sources so you don’t have to.”

Teen Zone Program Bulletin Board

 Zone Program Bulletin Board. Flickr [Creative Commons] <http://tinyurl.com/5c9te2>

Findability is particularly important when catering to young users. Being born in the Digital Age does not necessarily mean that one is a Digital Native; thus it is unfortunate that the blog is not easily accessible from the Camden Library’s homepage.

The homepage’s index makes no mention of a blog, and it was only by clicking on the ‘Teens’ link that I discovered the Teen Zone Blog. Even then, only the first very first page of Teen Zone says that it is a blog; the ‘Library News,’ ‘Music,’ and ‘Books’ pages are also web logs, but make no mention of this.  

The blog itself is worth the search, though. The interface is bright and welcoming (surely appealing to the younger generation of library users). Tween/teen librarian and blog administrator Christen Orbanus writes using slang and colloquial language relevant to a younger audience: “I’m pretty talkative, so [...] feel free to come over and chat me up,” she says in her inaugural post. The blog even contains a link to a sign-up form for classes and events (particularly useful for those without drivers licenses.)

The tag cloud is another value-added feature of the Teen Zone Blog. It allows visitors to view the content of the blog at a glance. The ‘Books’ and ‘Programs’ tags are in larger lettering alluding to the library’s primary areas of focus. Most postings also contain links to Technorati, a search engine which collates blog content through user-generated tags. All this attests to the fact that its oftentimes difficult to talk about social software tools in mutually exclusive terms. Blogs, RSS feeds, tag clouds, etc. are often best used in combination.

If I were a young patron of the Camden County Library, I would definitely frequent the Teen Zone Blog. It would be an excellent way to keep-up on the many extracurricular events happening at the library, such as author talks, gaming nights, dances…the list goes on. The ‘Beyond High School’ and ‘Real World’ (working / driving / drugs & alcohol / money) pages show that the Library is privy to the information needs of its young patrons.

Carving a more prominent niche for the Teen Zone Blog (*nod to tech support*) will ensure that this fabulous resource doesn’t go unnoticed by those who need it the most.

The Library Hacks Blog is easy to find from the Libraries’ homepage. However, a new user might not be aware of the fact that they are being rerouted to a blog, since the link is couched under the ambiguous heading ‘Check This Out.’

Moreover, the only way I could find to retrieve a full listing of blogs associated with the university libraries was to enter ‘blog’ in the ‘Search this Site’ field found at the top of the homepage. Because the Library Hacks Blog alone was listed in the Blogging Libraries Wiki, it was surprising to find that there are actually 12(!) others associated with the university’s libraries. 

Another hinderance to the overall usability of the blog is the long list of recent posting titles to the right of the homepage; this feature is intended as a convenience, but may be potentially daunting to the novice user. As with the Bloomfield College Library Blog, the more complicated interface speaks to the perceived audience of the blog: tech-savvy twenty-somethings. 

While the blog claims to make researching “more efficient,” it has the potential–in my humble opinion–to do the opposite. Important information on subjects such as ‘Search Beyond Google‘ and ‘UN Data–a World of Difference,’ is interspersed with distracting bits of miscellany (that is, if the user’s intention is in fact to further their research). I offer my own experience as a case in point: I visited the site intending to rigorously analyze its usability, but soon found myself clicking on the ‘Library Answer Person’ link and reading a risque thread entitled ‘Sex in the Stacks’ (I write this *blushing*)

Of course, detracting ‘serendipitous discoveries’ like the one detailed above are not unique to the Library Hacks Blog but characteristic of web-based searches more generally. In some instances, they are a blessing, in others a curse.

If I were a Duke student, I would indeed visit the Library Hacks Blog, if not for practical information on useful research tools then for entertainment value. Indeed, where else can you find a list of reference questions from Duke students circa 1958? (My favourite: “Can you recommend a book on mind reading?”) The number of replies to such posts suggests that the Duke librarians as the primary contributors (see ‘About’), have found a niche with users, somewhere in between the academic and the amusing.

The founding-fathers of the institution would no doubt be surprised to see the important part that technology has come to play at Bloomfield College. The Wired Campus page, for example, calls technology a “basic tool” and explains that every student at the college has access to a “virtual workspace” on the school’s network and servers. The library–referred to as an “indespensible [...] tech-driven learning resource centre”–also adheres to this progressive ethos. In light of such assertions, it is unsurprising that the College and its library make use of social software tools, like blogs.

I first came to Bloomfield College’s BCL Blog via the Blogging Libraries Wiki. To get a better understanding of the ‘findability’ of the blog from a patron’s perspective, I began a second search for it from the library’s home page. I immediately found a link for ‘Library Blogs’ (note the plural) listed in the index to the left. Clicking on this lead to listings for six blogs on topics ranging from the very general (‘BCL Blog’) to the more specific (‘BCL New Arrivals: Books and Media’). For the purposes of this blog entry, I will focus on the former. 

The BCL Blog offers a personalized word of welcome to its visitors from reference and on-line resources librarian Mark Jackson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM5sv2Wem7w

While the BCL Blog does not require a great deal of past experience with this tool from its users, it does expect a degree of familiarity. Unlike the Ann Arbor District Library, BCL does not provide an explanation of what a blog is, nor what it does. Of course, this is in part a reflection of the community this library serves: college students, many of whom were ‘born digital’ (see John Palfrey and Urs Gasser’s Digital Natives Blog for further discussion on this topic). The lack of discussion on the BCL Blog, however, may be an indicator of a need for further instruction on the topic.   

In my opinion, the Bloomfield Library blog could improve in a number of respects. Specifically, the blog might benefit from being updated more frequently. The archives show that there were 48 posts in 2006, but only 14 in 2008. While this is no doubt attributable to the heavy workload of the two(!) contributors (neither of which are Jackson, the on-line resources librarian featured in the video), it is difficult to skirt the fact that blogs require diligence: a blog will only be of interest to users if the information it contains is current. 

Moreover, the blog posts tend to be specific to particular courses. (The Tuesday October 14 2008 posting, for example, is for students of ENG362 Shakespeare’s Men). Users are less likely to visit a blogspot or subscribe to its RSS feed (available through BCL), knowing that information posted will only be relevant to them a few times (or less) per year. The library might do better to create email listservs for specific classes, a less public way of disseminating important news. 

If I were a Bloomfield Library patron, I would use the BCL blog…but only if I were enrolled in the Shakespeare’s Men class. Why, you ask? Put simply, the BCL blog fails to provide the very things it claims to offer (that is, “updates, new books, and recommendations from the library staff”). The criticisms above, in combination with the difficult-to-read interface, would be enough to send me searching elsewhere.

There are blogs by the Director and the (Web) Developer; blogs for Teens and Tweens; blogs about Exhibits and Events, Library News and Local History; Video and Audio and Media–oh my!

The AADL Community and Service blogs are particularly easy to locate from the website homepage. After clicking on Services in the index, one sees the links to the two blogs prominently displayed in both the sidebar and the header. The other fourteen blogs however, require an extra step [home> services> using the website> AADL blogs], but are still quite ‘findable.’ Even language does not present a barrier to navigation; a click of the mouse, and the page is  automatically translated into Punjabi, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, or Russian.

The Ann Arbor library’s blogs would be easy for someone with little past experience with this tool to use. The fact that the AADL blog listings are accessible via the ‘Using the Website’ page suggests that the site is designed with the novice user in mind. It provides a concise, easy-to-understand explanation of what blogs are (“short articles on our website”) and what they do (announce “library news, materials [and] events…”). The combination of simple text and simple interface makes for a decidedly un-intimidating online experience. 

If I were a AADL patron, I would surely participate in the library’s blogging community.  Each blog feed features the recognizable icon for RSS (which is also defined on the ‘Using the Website’ page). When combined with the RSS feed option, the AADL blogs would be an excellent way to stay informed about happenings at the library, and in-and-around the city of Ann Arbor. 

Indeed, the AADL blogs appear to be in-tune with the interests of area residents. Events advertised on the Community blog, for example, such as ‘Foreclosure’  ’Help for Tough Times’ and ‘Hot Holiday Meals for the Hungry’ (where “anyone is welcome”) may at first glance seem a tad grim, but reflect popular concerns about the recent economic downturn and its repercussions. In light of these sorts of value-added services, it it unsurprising that the Ann Arbor District Library was recipient of the 2008 Voice of the People Award, presented by the International City/Country Council Management Association (see Director’s Blog).

The extensive use of blogging at AADL seem closely tied to other programs, and the overall progressive ethos of the library. The AADL Developer Blog, for example, explicitly states that “software development is a big part of what we do here at [Ann Arbor District Library].” It encourages patrons to visit “this section of aadl.org” to “keep up with our new features, see what our developers are working on, and find out what kind of tools we’re playing with.” 

These assertions, while admirable, lead me to my one qualm with the AADL blogs: their lack of grassroots instruction. While these services are easily accessible to those with some rudimentary knowledge of computers and social software tools, they still assume a degree of prior experience. 

In the concluding class of LIBR 501 with Dr. Heather O’Brien last week, we had the lucky opportunity to listen to a panel of professional librarians present their views on Information Literacy. Shelagh Flaherty, a Director with Vancouver Public Library (Central Branch), referred to classes held at VPL on how to use a mouse. The small number of postings on many of the AADL blogs suggests that they are being under-utilized. I can’ t help but think that AADL would benefit from classes like those alluded to by Shelagh. A ‘skill-building’ series, culminating in a ‘Build your own Blog’ workshop, would also be an interesting experiment, and encourage users to participate in the existing AADL blogging community.

Of course, the sentiments expressed above are a minor gripe in the grand scheme of thing. Overall, AADL is a shining example of how libraries can effectively employ social software, such as blogs.