1. Contemplating VALA: Innovations in Social Networking, Web Interfaces and eBooks. Debbie Wallis Liaison Librarian (Science & Engineering) Flinders University

2. Introduction General impressions of VALA Social networking Web interfaces eBooks

3. VALA general impressions First timers welcomed The single search box solution Digital natives want information now! Open access vs pay for use Participation in conference encouraged Librarians communicating via new technologies

4. Social Networking – librarian current awareness Sue Cook and Constance Wiebrands. Keeping up: strategic use of online social networks for librarian current awareness. ◦ 2009 survey of librarians, asked about use of SNS, recruited via Twitter ◦ Results: Most popular sites were Twitter (most popular), Facebook, Friendfeed and Ning. ◦ Included strategies for getting most out of SNS

5. Social Networking – wiki at work Majella Pugh. Wiki-connections: creating synergies within an academic library’s virtual health hub. ◦ UQ’s virtual hub of health library branches ◦ “Confluence” software ◦ Wiki accessible only to library staff ◦ Uses include procedures, report writing, collaboration ◦ Staff survey: Weekly alerts popular, most logged into space daily or weekly, usage of wiki different depending on position

6. Web interfaces - CMS Michelle McLean & Linda Burridge. From mess to CMS: the transformation of a library website. ◦ Requirements for website: flexible, customisable, anyone can edit ◦ Drupal: Open source CMS. First library in Aust to use for website. ◦ User survey ◦ Learn as you go approach with Drupal ◦ Incorporated web 2.0 features

7. Web interfaces – usability testing Kat Clancy & Michelle Watson. Usability testing: a client-centred approach to innovation. ◦ “Don’t make me think” by Dean Krug (2006) ◦ Large scale usability testing program at Deakin ◦ Study 1: Compared 3 different layouts/designs ◦ Study 2: After redevelopment of library webpages, focused on number of set tasks ◦ Findings: found areas needed to promote more, e.g. QuickSearch. Users often didn’t understand connection between articles, journals and databases. Spell check functionality needed.

8. eBooks – usage David Wells & Petra Dumbell. Ebook usage at Curtin University Library: patterns, projections and strategy. ◦ Usage of eBooks since 2002 ◦ Differences across different platforms ◦ Compared usage of eBooks that had been purchased different ways. ◦ Findings: eBooks purchased individually meet short term demand. Larger packages meet long term demand.

9. eBook readers Friday Plenary – Fireside chat with Roy Tennant and Friends ◦ Single purpose vs multipurpose ◦ Demographics – mature aged readers use kindles ◦ Technology continually changing – not a long term investment but continuous investment

10. Conclusion Different points of view about social networking, web interfaces and eBooks. Some technologies well established, others just beginning. Important to keep reviewing decisions about technology. Looking forward to libraries of the future!