case studies from week 7

The case studies for the libraries for week 7 seem to be using tags to keep their communities connected to information in the same way that we are using the lis757 tag. The use of a common tag by libraries presupposes that everyone in the community is interested in similar information which I don't believe is always the case. I think that tags need to be more specific to be of use to those who are seeking information on a topic. Even within our lis757 tag each of have varied interests and information needs which influence what we tag. I'm sure that most of the documents that I tag are completely irrelevant to anyone but me. Unless you're checking your RSS aggregator very regularly (which I'll be honest I only do a couple time a week) you miss many of the documents being tagged because there is just too much information to review it all just in case its relevant. I did go into the lis757 tag to search for articles on a research project for work that I was working on. Using del.icio.us to research for articles on the internet may turn up more results than google/yahoo/msn but searching through the quantity of information on a concept popularly tagged would be inefficient and possible endless.

readings - week 7

Many of this weeks' readings discuss the two competing purposes of tagging and bookmarking using software like del.icio.us. The first purpose is to manage one's personal information sources and the second is to share those sources with others. In The de.licio.us lesson, Joshua Porter argues that users tag and bookmark primarily for personal management and that the social aspect of tagging and bookmarking is secondary or even incidental. Porter suggests that bookmarking and tagging features in software should first and formost be of value to users individual needs. Using tags and bookmarks to personally manage information means that the tags used are more unique and individual than tags which are created to share information would be. As pointed out in the article Folksonomies - Cooperative Classification and Communication through Shared Metadata, the use of free-form tagging as opposed to a controlled vocabulary makes it more difficult to classify information into similar subject areas to facilitate the sharing of information. While del.icio.us suggests tags that other users have assigned, that list could be infinite. The aggregate list of information assigned to a specific tag could also be full of irrelevant information to an individual user looking for information on a topic. One way to get around this is for groups of users to agree on a controlled vocabulary as we have for this course by using lis757 to tag entries we think are related to the course content.

possible applications of wiki in library

Wikis, to me, seem to be the ideal application for collaberation and team work. They also are a good way to involve users in insuring that content that matters to them is correct and fullsome. Many public libraries provide information on community services as well as other types of information. A community services wiki maintained by the organizations who offer programs and services in the community would greatly assist the public library in keeping information up to date and informative.

case studies week 6

Bull Run Library uses a wiki to allow library users to recommend books and internet links. I think that this is great. When it comes to links users can correct or delete links which don’t work instead of e-mailing the webmaster. As library users recommendations on books and links are immediately published on the site, they know that the library values their opinions and comments. The Wyoming Authors wiki is a great way to get people who are really interested in a subject like Wyoming authors to do the research that one or even several librarians could not do as efficiently. They are also doing it for free. It also makes the library user feel more engaged and part of the library community.


Butler WikiRef also allows the library users to recommend sources, but in this case the users are University staff, faculty, students and librarians. In a University setting, where there can be deep specialization in a discipline or subdiscipline, the wiki allows specialists to share what the best sources of information are within their specialization and to keep these sources as up to date as possible.

The Ohio University Library’s biz wiki is an example of a wiki maintained by the business department at Ohio University. The booklovers wiki is interesting because it can contain different viewpoints and is less of a collaborative work. Ii think that a blog would have been better because there is no danger of anyone erasing anyone else’s comments with which they disagree and there can be an interactive dialogue as opposed to a series of reviews.

The subject guides wiki can only be edited by librarians, but users can see that it is a wiki. Allowing all librarians editing privileges in a wiki language is much more efficient that having only one web editor. I assume that the USC Aiken Gregg-Graniteville Library site is a wiki where editing privileges are restricted to librarians. There is no obvious place to click to edit the site. Again allowing all the librarians in the different subject specialties to edit the site is more efficient than having this task delegated to one librarian.

editing presentation wiki

I was not very adventurous in editing the wiki. I added just a couple of words. The wiki language used on pbwiki is easier than html, but a lot of people don't have to understand html to make a website because Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver will convert your formatting instructons into html code for you. One could get used to writing in the wiki language, but it would take some time. I wonder if there could be a simple wiki writer developed to make it even easier.

readings - week 6

I noticed that most of the readings - Wiki entry in Wikipedia, Wide Open Spaces: Wikis Ready or Not , Wikis in the Workplace: How Wikis can Help Manage Knowledge in Library Reference Services, TechEssence.Info White Paper on Wikis - stated that one of the uses for wikis was team collaberation on a document which all members of the team can access and edit. I think that for this to work the team members have to value each others contributions and truly collaborate. Due to the editorial freedom of the wiki, there is a danger that one team member could delete another team member's work that he or she considers irrelevant or inaccurate. I know that in Wide Open Spaces: Wikis Ready or Not the author refers to this as the "standard objection" and refutes the objection with the idea that the community polices itself. He uses Wikipedia as an example of a wiki which does this. I dont disagree that in a large community of editors and contributors this policing might occur, but in a small team the "vandal" is a coworker and there is likely to be open conflict. The article Wide Open Spaces: Wikis ready or not does point out that wikis are very flexible and can be used as brainstorming boards. If team members were told to insert a comment next to parts of a document that they questioned and told not to delete something that they did not agree should be included, I think that the wiki could be used for team collaboration on a project. The article On Uses for Wikis and Gardening indicates that some Wikis provide a discussion space so that changes can be discussed before implemented. Also as stated in Wikis in the Workplace: How Wikis can Help Manage Knowledge in Library Reference Services, wikis work best in environments where there is a high degree of trust.

case studies week 5

The Seattle Public Library feed doesn't indicate if these are new titles added, and if so when were they added. One of the books I clicked on was published in 2002. If this is based on a saved search, then a more recent date restriction should probably be included in the search.

The vendor information on RSS from Ebsco was pretty minimal. The information on Engineering Village and Proquest was much better becuase of the explanation of RSS provided. I particularly liked Proquest.

I am surprised that the vendors of information don't promote RSS better, but as I indicated in an earlier post, this is likely because they don't own the copyright and have to restrict access. Since the vendors have likely developed the email alert system already, they may not be that keen on promoting RSS which may be more difficult to secure.

Libraries and OPML

OPML seems like an important tool for team work. Similar to the way we used the OPML file in this class, if a team were each creatng a blog to chart their progress on a project and the gliches that have come up, how they solved them, and if they couldn't solve them, then other team members and especially managers could assist before the team gets frustrated or does unnecessary work. This would work far better that an e-mail chain because people ignore email and because the blog medium allows for more analysis and thought. Comments can also be made privately by email if appropriate.

incorporating RSS feeds into blog

I used feed2js to incorporate the latest BBC world news into my blog and it looks like it has worked. I initially tried rss2html but there was a complete lack of meaningful instructions so I gave up. Having taken the MLIS course on web design I at least have some knowledge of html and where to insert code into the blogger template, but I'm not totally comfortable with my abilities (I did use microsoft frontpage to design my website). It would have helped greatly if there had been instructions about where to paste the code provided by feed2js. They just said "cut and paste." I didn't bother messing with the CSS code because I'm pretty sure I'd mess it up. This is not something that average bloggers could do (unless I'm below average in technical skills for a blogger which is entirely possible). I guess most librarians would figure out how to do this and it would be a good way to incorporate community news into the library website or blog.

readings for week 5

In Weblogs and RSS in information work the authors list 4 different uses for Blogs and RSS by libraries - directing users to resources, commenting on national activities and events related to library and information, providing news, and engaging with users through requested feedback. I have noticed that most of the library blogs that I've looked at in case studies and for the blog review don't use their blogs and RSS features to really engage users. This might be due to the fact that the creators of library blogs are more interested in information pushing rather that the exchange of information, but many blogs explain in great detail what a blog is and what RSS is and yet there are almost no comments left by users. It make me wonder why that is.

In Success Story: RSS Moves into the Mainstream at the University of Alberta Libraries the author states that he is surprized none of the students in the undergraduate course that he is teaching at the University of Alberta know what RSS or even weblogs are. The article is dated June 2005. This is supposed to be the techno-savy/information generation.

When it comes to technological innovation, I think you really need the power of microsoft or some other corporate entity to market software and web applications. Until you have mass use of RSS most users won't understand the concept. The average library users are even less techno-savy than the average university undergrad. Even if there was a social software for dummies (If there is one already please excuse my ignorance), it would help to get more people engaged in blogging and RSS and other social software.

There are also a lot of applications which seem to do what RSS does through email. I bought one book from Amazon in the spring (the text for 506) and I have been getting e-mails from them ever since on products I might be interested in. I know this is different in that I didn't choose to receive the emails (or I forgot to check the litle box indicating I didn't want to receive the emails), but the vast majority of library users might think that RSS is the same sort of thing and that they will be inundated with unwanted email.

They also have to sign up on an aggregator and follow instructions on adding a feed. While we have all done it for this class, for a lot of people it's too much effort and too complicated and they'd rather just bookmark their favourite sites and visit them from time to time.

I don't see that library blogs in the immediate future will have much luck turning their websites into interactive community spaces through blogs and RSS.

Case studies week 4

The Kansas City Public Library provides an RSS feed for all of its subject guides while the Hennepin County Library allows users to choose to subscribe to feeds for any of a number of different subject guides or all of them. I prefer the latter approach because I want to mimimize the amount of information that I receive through RSS feeds.

The NHMCCD - RSS feeds provides a very detailed explanation of RSS including a tutorial which would really assist those who are new to RSS. I thought it was a great idea to include a sample of what is being subscribed to so that people now exactly what they are signing up for.

The Tacoma Public Library and the University of Oklahoma Libraries use RSS to advise library users of new content in their collection by subject area. This makes a lot of sense to me because this type of information doesn't easily get conveyed to library users and could really assist in promoting circulation of new acquisitions including electronic resources.

The Western Kentucky University Libraries provide RSS feeds for the different parts of their website, but you have to know what these pages contain by visiting them before subscribing to the feeds. The category "stuff" is not very informative. They've also provided a feed for "past events" which isn't likely to be updated except when material is archived and probably isn't the kind of information that anyone is interested in when it isn't current.

Comments on Rojo and Netvibe

Rojo is a simply laid out aggregator, but the home page sort of summed up the kind of content that I'd rather avoid on the internet. Although I will admit that Duck fader was pretty funny and I did check out the site, I would get annoyed by what is probably advertising on the home page

I actually liked Netvibes which pulled together a lot of things I bookmark like the weather and google and yahoo search engines. I also like the fact that you could set up e-mail, del.icio.us, calendar and to do list and aggregate rss feeds all in one place. Unlike rojo you could choose what to read and click on.

Additional thoughts on RSS

I am new to the RSS game. In terms of using RSS as a source of information such as recent news, I prefer to look for my own information which I know is relevant. While RSS feeds deliver information up to the minute, I don't really have any reason to know any particular information before it hits the newspapers and TV braodcasts.

I understand that some people might have really unique interests and information needs and as the number of blogs and websites has become exponential, having the information from specific sites and blogs that one wants to track accessible in one place makes sense. Still, relying on specific sources can limit research. Who knows what new sites or blogs on a topic might be published.


I do appreciate the use of RSS as we are using it in this course for keeping track of the postings of a community be it students taking a course or a team of librarians or researchers. If these blogs contain links to sources of information that collegues have found reliable and informative then it could be a great resource.