1. Future of Libraries: Social Software
Sarah Houghton-Jan
Information and Web Services Manager, San Mateo County Library
Librarian in Black:

2. What is social software?
Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities.
--from Wikipedia entry, revised
Social software is the driving force behind Library 2.0.

3. Examples of social software
Instant messaging
Internet forums
Blogs / RSS / podcasting
Wikis
Social network services
Social guides
Social bookmarking
Social citations
Social libraries
Virtual worlds and multiplayer online games

4. Why should libraries care about SS?
There is a great potential for new and enhanced services
There are free marketing opportunities just waiting for us
Our patrons are there—where are we?

5. What is instant messaging?
Instantaneous, simultaneous text chat
Add-ons like video, audio, file sharing
Transcript
Type here

6. IM client software: the holy trinity
They’re all free—to you and users
Other Software
ICQ
IRC
Jabber
Google Talk
MySpace

7. IM aggregator software
Trillian:
Gaim:
Both let you monitor multiple IM accounts (AOL, MSN, Yahoo!) through one interface.
Oh yeah…they’re both free!

8. Web-based IM with Meebo
Completely web-based—no installations
Sign in with multiple accounts at once
Even if IM is blocked, this still works
MeeboMe—web-based anonymous IMing

9. Why use IM for reference?
Traditional web-based chat has technical and service problems
Your users are here already
It’s free
Easy to use for both the librarian and the user
You’re right there on the user’s buddy list
Did I mention that everything is free?
For many users, not having IM is like not having a phone.

10. Example of Library IM webpage

11. Internet forums Website bulletin boards for discussion
Feedback and recommendation engines
Examples:
Google Groups:
Reviews and ratings on Amazon:
Gnooks.com:
Storycode:

12. Sample Internet Forum: Storycode

13. Blogs Websites frequently updated with new content Examples:
Lansing Library Teen News Blog:
St. Joseph County Public Library Game Blog:
Framingham Public Library Teen Blogomatic:
Marin County Free Library - What’s New:
Waterboro Public Library H20boro:

14. Sample blog: H20boro

15. RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
RSS is more than just blogs
New books and other items
News at the library
New content in subscription databases
Examples:
EBSCO feeds for new articles (favorite searches)
Hennepin County Library feeds for all types of things
Edmonton Public Library feed for new teen books
Seattle Public Library feeds for favorite authors and subjects
FirstGov feeds for government information

16. Sample RSS feeds: Hennepin CL

17. Podcasting & Vidcasting
Creating audio and video content and pushing it to users through an RSS feed
Has nothing to do with iPods
Examples:
Thomas Ford Memorial Library audio teen book reviews:
Manchester Public Library video book reviews:
Cheshire Public Library - audio of local teen magazine:
University of Sheffield Library audio library tours:

18. Sample podcasts: Thomas Ford ML

19. Wikis Collaborative resource creation
Multiple authors, ongoing creation and revision
Examples:
Wikipedia:
Wiktionary:
St .Joseph County Library’s Subject Guides:
University of Minnesota Libraries Staff Website:

20. Sample wiki: St .Joseph CL’s Subject Guides

21. Social network services
Places to meet people and communicate
Examples:
Friendster, Dogster, MySpace, Facebook
Libraries with MySpace accounts
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Teens)
Denver Public Library
Hennepin County Library
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
dozens of others

22. Library MySpace Page: Denver PL

23. Social bookmarking
Putting your favorite websites in a web directory to share with others
Examples:
del.icio.us:
furl:
La Grange Public Library’s del.icio.us ref links
Thomas Ford Memorial Library’s del.icio.us ref links
San Mateo City Library’s del.icio.us ref links

24. Library del.icio.us: La Grange Park

25. Social libraries Keep track of collections
Often include recommendation engines
Uses tagging, user-created metadata: Folksonomies
Examples
Flickr.com for photographs
discogs.com for music
LibraryThing.com for books
Stuffopolis.com for everything else

26. Social library: Reading PL on Flickr

27. I have all of these cool ideas now.
But how do I convince our IT Staff that doing this is okay?

28. Working with IT Staff
Ask Questions. Are IM, MySpace, or other sites/services banned or blocked? Why?
The boogeyman of network security? “It’s a time-waster”?
Ban behaviors, not technologies.
Be enthusiastic.
Do your research ahead of time.

29. Again…why should we care?
Get our knowledge, helpfulness, and information expertise out there where the users are
Get people to think of us as the “go to” resource for their online information needs
Make us findable in an online environment

30. For more information about social software in libraries:
Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software by Michael Stephens
The Library Success Wiki:

31. Questions? Contact Sarah any time. E-mail: houghton-jan@smcl.org
IM: LibrarianInBlack (AOL, Yahoo!, MSN)