Internet Librarian 2009: Wrap-Up

This conference was a positive experience on a variety of levels. The first, of course was to go and gather a great deal of information about librarians involved with the technical/computer side of our profession. I have a lot of ideas and new ways of contributing to the strength of the library system, specifically from the standpoint of web development, learning opportunities, and, to some extent, the general method by which libraries can remain interesting and desirable places to visit in the coming years.

The second thing that IL2009 allowed me to do was to meet and find middle ground with librarians from, literally, all over the world. There were, of course, lots of librarians from them Mountain West and the Pacific Coast, but they also came from places like Harvard University, and even as far away as other countries. Through interacting with these new people, I was able to see both the differing changes that libraries of various types face, and the similarities of concerns that unite us.

I also found it useful to see some of the "big stars" in the library and IT world, such as Vint Cerf from Google and Paul Holdengraber from the New York Library. Both of these guys are seriously smart, and have many inspiring things to say.

Getting to know Josh Hanagarne, one of my co-workers, was also a big bonus. I think that, so often, we only know each other in a limited and somewhat one-dimensional way. It's important, I think, to go beyond that surface level of acquaintance. It builds a stronger library system. Each person who works here has many skills and interests, and few of them come out in the general pursuit of our daily tasks. Giving us the opportunity to find out more about each other, and be enriched by discussing topics we may never have done at work, is a valid and important goal.

Finally, I had never been to that part of California. Attending IL2009 let me see things like Fisherman's Wharf and the Monterey Aquarium on my lunch hours and after the conference finished. Anything work-related that allows you to watch sea lions chase gulls in the Pacific, during dinner no less, can't be considered a bad thing.

Good trip.
Pretty town.
Informative conference.
Good company.
Thanks for sending me, SLCPL!

Web Managers Acadamy: Redesign 2.0

Here are my notes for Sunday's seminar at Internet Librarian 2009. Hope they give you a feel for the things that we talked about!

Why redesign for 2.0? Design thinking and evidence-based practice.

The User Experience

--Studies show that sometimes, it's more about the things users like, rather than what is absolutely useful. In polls, the well designed, pretty websites were rated higher, even if their work flow was modified to make them less easy to use. Design matters, big time.

Simplicity is a myth

--The idea that a simple site will satisfy the patrons is a badly flawed concept. The site should appear simple, but anyone will tell you that the art of getting things to look easy is the hardest thing to accomplish.

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New Rules of Web Design
-Design is key
-Users judge your site in the blink of an eye
-Visual appeal is ranked higher than actual usability

Strategy:
-Find your few highest priorities, then emphasize those
-Emphasized priorities and tasks will provide a starting point for your overall architecture. Those always come first, everything else being secondary.
-Provide many ways to connect with your resources
-Provide many ways not to fail at common tasks

User's Expectations: NOT formed by looking at other library websites
-Instead, they compare you to popular sites and services they use every day, like Amazon and Google.

Considerations:
-Different audiences have different expectations and perceptions--they actually see pages differently.
-Different age groups interact with sites in different ways and have different needs.
-There are things no one likes, though, like small fonts, bad contrast choices, and unpredictable site behavior.

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Web Services:

A discussion of web services followed, along with the suggestion that they be used for as many low-effort tools as is reasonable and useful for the site. Allowing off-site services to provide you with useful widgets via web services allows you to maximize your cost/benefit and time spent. Web services work by communication between disparate entities on the web, in some cases by reaching out into the "cloud" and grabbing fun tools.

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CMS: Content Management Systems

News:
Drupal now used for Whitehouse.org website. Score one for open source!

Content management systems, like Drupal, Plone, and Joomla! are all simple ways for non technical staff to input data. They are often modular, and many of the good ones are also open source. Some, like MS Sharepoint, are expensive, though. Many libraries make very good sites out of CMS programs, and they are often able to sustain and enhance service as times go on.

Other software types:

Some other types of software can be used for websites. These include blogging engines and wikis. There are libraries who build their whole website out of such software types. Most popular are blog engines such as Wordpress, and wikis, like Mediawiki. We use Mediawiki for both the Computer Services wiki and the staff intranet page.

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Measures:

Analytics help you understand the impact of changes you make. Without them, "better" is totally subjective.

Google Analytics:

Asks the following questions--
-How do they get to the website?
-What are they searching for?
-Who is coming?
-From where?
-Which pages are most important/most often searched?
-Are they getting lost and back-clicking?

Google Analytics process:
-Set Goals
-Find inital benchmarks
-Make changes
-Measure changes
-Evaluate the differences
-Hone changes
-Measure again...

Other things Google Analytics can measure:
-Where, geographically, are your users located?
-What browsers are they using?
-What operating systems are they running?

This all leads to:
-Getting familiar with the way the website is used
-Testing changes with provable results
-The ability to A/B test a change
-In the end, a better website, with great navigation schemes and tools where they will do the most good.

--This was a long, but worthwhile class. I have a lot of things that will be useful going forward with our web redesign. An especially timely workshop for our current issues.

What Now?

Here's where I'm supposed to suggest that one thing that the program didn't cover. Well, sure, I could do that, but here's my feeling about where we should go from here, instead.

I think the important thing to look at here is that this is just a taste. The web is so much bigger than what we've seen here, and the avenues of inquiry are too vast to easily quantify. What I'd stress to anyone who finishes this program is that they have to take the next step. They have to take what they've been exposed to here and move outward with it. Also, they'll have to move inward, considering what they've seen and figuring out how each of the tools in the program fits into their scheme of doing library work. There's a lot to consider. How can we put these things into practice to make our library better? How can we rennovate our own understanding of libraries, so that we'll be able to move into the future and still be important and vital.

So, my advice would be to KEEP GOING. If you stop here, you'll gradually forget what you learned, and slip back into your daily routine. That's the reality of life. You remember and utilize skills that are at the forefront of your mind. Knowledge unused and untested is soon lost. Stay out there on the web, using these tools, finding new, great sites and services, keeping abreast of what's going on. That's what I'll be doing.

Peace out.