Community Building Through Your Web Site: Library Blogs & RSS Feeds

(blogging during session . . . will "clean up later)

Community Building Through Your Web Site: Library Blogs and RSS Feeds

Michael
2004 Mirriam Webster word-of-the-year was Blog

Defining Weblog
Slides will be on Web, won’t copy statistics, etc.
Content management system that does all the “dirty work”

Used Exeter Public Library Blog, Went over features

Web sites - asked DreamWeaver, etc.
Sympathy to hard code users (oops)

Suggests:
Marketing blogs (St Joseph Public Libraries)
Icarus . . . the Santa Fe Public Library Blog

take a look at other people's Blogs

Waterloo - Ontario Canada, book club Blog
Ancestor Research Log, focuses on local history

Photo-blogging
shows vibrancy of library
puts human face on library

Rutland Free Library (not a blog, but clicking on photo goes into Flickr)

Jenny

Put up URLs
Ann Arbor Library

Integrated
****Drupal - free open source software
made entire website blog-based

Had director's blog during migration
Upset patrons, complaining. Helping de-bug catalog.

Unhappy patrons, answered immediately, diffused situation.

Are you scared by patrons "talking to you" in a public way? Yes

Patrons debated whether a new circ was the same as a renewal (fascinating conversation)
Put in a "added for publication". Replace bad word with asterisks.

Teen Blog, 94 comments on gaming
another 315, or 451
Has anyone had that many teen comments in their library?
Most of them, kids trash-talking each other about gaming

Flossmoor Public Library
Western Springs History
put local history into Blog -- get comments. People add to it. "My grandparents owned this . . . "

What if we let our users comment on catalog?
Wordpress - free
Every item in catalog is a blog-post
Patron could come here, comment on item
By using "Trackback" -- can post on their own website, which will automatically post.

NOW - shows program objectives for this session
2 years ago set objectives. In 2004 needed server, etc. NOw free

****Book "Small Pieces, Loosely Joined"
Idea - social aspect. We can take advantage of that.

Riverdale IL.
Very poor.
Set up blog through blogger. Gave residents of community a login.

RSS
Defines RSS - gets you found in places you normally wouldn't be found

Hennepin County (demo)
Showed Bloglines

Force users to come to your site to read website.

Kenton County Public Library - RSS feed for new items added to catalog
Hennepin does key word out of the catalog on RSS

*****ProQuest -- RSS
Combine information from variety of community sources through RSS feed.

Suprglu
Creates website for you, combines RSS feeds from a variety of sources

topix.net
localizes news by zip code

add school, chamber, etc. if they have an RSS Feed

Not just a library uses information. Other people will aggregate your information.

LiveJournal -- "don't put your blog there. it's for teenagers" (Jennie)

Sirsi has RSS, also III, and ????

Michael - step back -- Why?

the cluetron manifesto -- one of best business books of 2000. talkes about network conversations. creating new form of social organization.
Urgest companies to talk with human voice. about being transparent.
Companies can now communicate with their markets directly. If they blow it, it could be their last chance. (also LIBRARIES).

6 things you can do now:
1. Read Weblogs
2. Start your own "what's New Blog" at your library
3. Appoint a "trend reporter" on your staff who watches and learns (and shares, emerging technology committee
4. Train your staff to use an aggregator to read RSS feeds - it's powerful (bloglines, blogbridge)
(makes you sound really smart in meetings)
5. Advocate for RSS to be built in to products we pay for
6. Learn about Library 2.0 (aha! first time it was mentioned)

www.tametheweb.com/pla

QUESTION PORTION

feed2js (service to get RSS)

blog software breakdown (reviews)

oss4lib (mailing list -- open source software for libraries)

transfer blogger into wordpress (most have export functions)