Best day/worst day: truth with a pinch of melodrama

Ok, hi. This post's title is a partial reference to John Green's book, Looking For Alaska. In it, a very troubled/bright/vibrant/funny/self-destructive girl (Alaska) convinces her high school boarding school friends to play a drinking game called "Best day/Worst day". Alaska gets to judge. No more spoilers. Read the book.

So today was a mini best day/worst day for me:

Best Day

1. Got praised at work; got free (good) lunch at work; new friend at work.
2. Got an ideal library volunteering gig set up for myself--I'm excited.
3. Got asked to run for office in SIS--Suncoast Information Specialists--excited for that, too.

Worst Day

My favorite cat Pied (as in the Pied Piper) died. She was 18, and healthy/playful/sweet until the very end. As in, she was sweet today. I miss her already, but it's a small comfort to know she was old, mostly healthy & happy.

Prezi (Thing 7)

Good afternoon, friends! I'm glad you stopped by.

My "thing"for today is Prezi--"the zooming presentation maker".  Until early June, during my tour of UF's Map and Imagery Library, I had no idea that Prezi even existed--let alone how it could be used to improve a library's services.

I've mentioned here before that during my tour of the Map and Imagery Library, I interviewed Carol McAuliffe. During our interview, she mentioned her commitment to raising awareness within the greater Gainesville community of the presence and usefulness of the map library at the University of Florida.  In an attempt to raise locals' awareness of the resources available to them at her library, Carol sometimes visits local elementary or secondary schools or gives presentations at conferences.  One tool she uses to promote the map library (especially during conferences) is Prezi.  She shared a Prezi she had made during my library tour.  I was impressed with Carol's presentation, and wanted to know more about the technology for myself.

Thing 7: Prezi
www.prezi.com

Prezi is a website that allows people to make, store, and use presentations.  Basic accounts are free, and include presentation templates (with some ready-made content), tutorials,  and 100 MB of online storage.  If a user needs more storage or advanced features, they can opt to upgrade their account for a cost of $59 annually.

As with Pinterest (which I discussed at length in my post for Thing 5), people can create accounts with Prezi then login with a Facebook account.  I think this login structure makes the site more user friendly, and manageable as one means of social media available.

The main website of Prezi is divided into three different tabs. It is stylistically reminiscent of a set of file folders. On the main "Create" tab people can login or sign up for an account.  There, people first learn about the features included with basic membership with the site.

The "Learn" tab is where people find detailed videos explaining the various features of Prezi from basics like "Get Started" all the way through "Share your Prezi".  Each video is succinct, running about 5 minutes long. Prezi also provides subject-specific "cheat sheets" for ready reference under each video.  Beyond these options, people can also register for a 1 hour webinar on how to use Prezi in English or Spanish!

What makes Prezi stand out above applications like PowerPoint is that its presentations zoom--literally. To see what I mean check out these screen shots of Prezi in action.

Or this: 

Text and images can be set to rotate throughout one's Prezi presentation.  I enjoy this feature of Prezi. I think it allows the information being shared to make a bigger impact on the minds of its audience.  I know however, that Prezi's critics have often criticized this feature of a Prezi, claiming it may cause motion sickness in viewers.  


I think Carol's use of Prezi to promote UF's Map and Imagery Library shows one way of using Prezi in the context of an academic library.  Beyond this, I think it's important for all academic librarians to familiarize themselves with Prezi because one segment of the community an academic librarian serves is graduate teaching assistants.  I think Prezi could be a real asset in any college classroom!


~J

Twitter (Thing 6)

Good morning, friends! I'm glad you stopped by. Since I suspect its popularity is growing among university students, I decided to explore Twitter.

Thing 6: Twitter

Beyond Facebook, one other popular social media site used by some University Libraries is Twitter. I wanted to gain some knowledge about Twitter because among Top 15 Social Networking Websites, I noticed that Twitter was often used by University libraries.

Created by Jack Dorsey and launched in July 2006, Twitter is a competitor to Facebook in that it also markets itself as a social networking site. One main difference between the two is that Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters.  They must be text based and are referred to as "Tweets". It has slightly more than half of Facebook's users, claiming 500 million active users earlier this year. 

One interesting point of note about Twitter is its syntax. There is a pseudo syntax employed by users of the site. The most interesting elements of this in-site syntax are that the @ symbol is used to indicate that a tweet is directed at or about some other specific user. The # symbol is used to indicate that a tweet is aimed at a number of users. The # is also used in tweets to indicate that the tweet is about some particular subject or interest. For example, #youknowyourefrommiamiwhen would indicate a tweet was about growing up in Miami or living in Miami.  Twitter as a site has adapted itself to maximize the use of these syntactical conventions. That is, Twitter didn't invent these conventions, but added functionality to make it more useful (like emailing users when someone @-mentions them).

USF Tampa's library has a Twitter presence at @USFlibraries. Its posts on the site occur with even less frequency than do posts on the library's Facebook page. Prior to the tweet posted 14 hours ago, the most recent tweet was dated June 25th.

Before offering some thoughts about whether University libraries should use Twitter, I feel like I should warn you: I am not a fan of Twitter for personal use.  Although I do have an account, I seldom use it because I find tweets to be derivative of Facebook's "Status Updates" so I never fully embraced Twitter myself.  

That being said, I think as smart phones grow more popular with college aged students it might be a good idea for University libraries to use.  It seems the site could offer information to students in an instant because of its limitations on content in tweets.  

~J

Flickr and Pinterest: Photo Sharing (Thing 5)

Welcome back friends, thanks for stopping in!

We've all heard the old adage: a picture's worth a thousand words.  You might remember that I discussed Facebook at some length in my post for "Thing 2".  I would like to mention Facebook again here, if briefly only to mention that users can share photos on the site.  That site allows users to upload pictures, use certain ones as profile pictures or cover images, and share pictures (put into online albums) with friends.

However, as I noted in my post for "Thing 2", Facebook is primarily known as a social networking site, rather than a photo sharing one.  But photo sharing is still an important means of communication to many of today's patrons of academic and public libraries, so I explored the idea through using some popular photo sharing websites: Flickr and Pinterest. Here are my thoughts.

Thing 5: Photo Sharing

A. Flickr
www.flickr.com

Of the types of photo sharing I wanted to explore, Flickr has been around the longest.  Flickr is now owned by (Yahoo!).  The site allows users to group, publish, and share pictures with various groups of people in their lives.  Users of the site can share their photos with everyone, friends, family, or those who are both friends and family.  So, if you had taken some pictures at a party and you wanted to put them on Flickr without worrying that your mom might see them, you could do that with Flickr by restricting that set of photos to be viewable by friends only.

In addition to being impressed by Flickr's privacy settings (that is, being able to choose which groups of people can see which sets of photos), I was impressed by two other features of the site.  First, new users  and visitors to the site can opt to use a tutorial that explains some of the most popular features of Flickr. I believe this feature is intended to help users or visitors to decide if the site is right for them.  If it is, I believe the "Tour" of Flickr can show users how to maximize their experience.

The other thing I especially like about Flickr is that people can search the site for "Creative Commons" photos. Users of Flickr can choose to mark specific photos or sets of photos as Creative Commons indicating that these photos may be used by others regardless of copyright.  Being able to find "Creative Commons" photos quickly and easily may help a library or other user to find an abundance of photos for no cost to enhance any number of projects.

B. Pinterest
www.pinterest.com

Pinterest is a website that allows users to share photos through a "pin board". The photos shared may not have been taken by the same people who post those photos to their pin boards. Pin boards are organized by the user who created them.   New users choose interests and from this information, the site suggests people for the user to follow and pin boards they might enjoy.  Users can also choose to upload their own pictures to the site and can include these pictures on various pin boards.  


People can "repin" photos from others' pin boards onto boards of their own. The number of "repins" a photo has appears under the photo.  The site also tells users how many people they are following and how many users follow them.  I am a new user to the site myself, so I am still familiarizing myself with its layout and features.  I will say that creating my personal account was relatively quick and easy because the site allows people to create accounts using their Facebook or Twitter login information.  I also enjoyed creating pin boards and repinning others' pictures to them.  I have to admit however, that I am an infrequent user of the site because I am unsure of its place in my life or the life of an academic library.  

That said, I should note that some academic libraries are using Pinterest and I believe this number will continue to grow in the future. One academic library using Pinterest is Saint Mary's College in California.  They have an active Pinterest page dedicated to the college library. It includes 48 distinct pin boards for topics such as "best sellers", "banned/challenged books" and even "books you pretend to read".

I must say that I was impressed with the creativity of the pin boards created by Saint Mary's. Their creativity is encouraging to me. I am not a Pinterest devotee yet, but I will keep an open mind.

~J

Online Mapping (Thing 4)

Good afternoon, friends! I'm glad you stopped by!

I know I've mentioned here before that I am a new Library and Information Science student at the University of South Florida.  Well, currently I am taking one course, Foundations of Library and Information Science. Our instructor adopted a hands-on approach to this introductory class. Her assignments encouraged us to engage with professionals in the field.

One assignment required us to tour two libraries and interview two librarians, one at each library we toured.  Since I hope to become an academic librarian, I chose to tour UF's Map and Imagery library. I also interviewed its Map Librarian, Carol McAuliffe.  During our interview, she mentioned her belief that usage was up at the Map Library in part due to an increased awareness among students of map technologies such as Google Maps.  Ever since she made this comment, I've been curious about online mapping.  Thus, "thing" 4 is online mapping.

Thing 4: Online Mapping
(Or: "Where in the World is UC San Diego?")

Online mapping tools have become popular recently because using online mapping allows people to forgo using (sometimes) unwieldy paper maps.  Often, corresponding apps can be downloaded and used on smart phones, adding more convenience for users.

One popular online mapping technology is Google Maps. Since this technology was part of my inspiration to explore online mapping generally, it will be the primary focus of this post.

I use Google Maps personally, quite often.  I like to use it to get directions to various places.  People can set their location on the site,  or set locations they often visit.  The site gives users the distance between destinations in both miles and kilometers and estimates the time needed to drive from one destination to the other in current traffic.

Here is a screen shot of the "Get Directions" feature in action:

One other feature I've found particularly helpful is the "Street View" option. When users use this feature they will see current photographs of the street their destination is on.  I've found this feature to be a life saver as I am severely directionally challenged.

If you were looking for the "El Toreador" restaurant in Redmond, WA this  map with "Street View" image might be helpful:

Now, to return to UC San Diego. Their libraries, like other academic libraries do make use of some mapping technology to assist patrons.  From their main libraries web page, one can search simply for "map" to find driving directions and to find the library within a campus map.  Additionally, you can find color floor-by-floor maps with indications of exhibits, collections, and even rest rooms!

My only concern regarding online mapping is that libraries (academic and otherwise) are acting slower than I'd like in embracing the technology. I think online mapping may allow patrons to make the best use of a library's collection!

J

YouTube (Thing 3)

Hi! I'm glad you stopped by!

My "thing" for today is YouTube.

Thing 3: YouTube
www.youtube.com

I am a big fan of YouTube. I chose to research YouTube as a "thing" because I'm such an avid user of the site myself.  Marketed as a way for users to "broadcast yourself" it is a video sharing website that has been on the scene since 2005.

The site is a subsidiary of Google and allows users to upload, view and share videos.

In addition to being able to upload and share videos users of the site can also create and subscribe to channels.  Each channel might be dedicated to a theme or set of themes. Two channels I follow personally are Pittsburgh Dad and Vlogbrothers.

Pittsburgh Dad is a series of short "sitcom" caricatures about growing up in the city. Here is an example of Pittsburgh Dad reading a bedtime story:

Vlogbrothers is a video blog kept by brothers John and Hank Green as a way to keep in touch with each other and to reach out to their fans.  (They have fans in part because of the vlog itself and because John makes his living as a popular YA author. He has most recently written The Fault In Our Stars.) The brothers are committed to promoting the goods of reading to young people and so use their vlog as a means of conducting their own youth reading program.  Check it out:

I chose to share these two videos with you because I believe they showcase how YouTube can be used to promote literature and reading.  A library could start its own channel and use it in part to promote or conduct its own reading programs.

In fact, many university libraries use YouTube for many purposes.  Two university libraries that make use of YouTube are Emory University and Duke University.

Emory uses a YouTube channel to showcase visiting authors reading their own work and to promote current exhibits displayed at the library.  Here is one of their videos:

Duke University Libraries offers a video on their YouTube channel showing users how to use "book futons" to read rare books or manuscripts without damaging them.

I found it very informative--I didn't even know book futons existed before watching!

I am excited that a number of university libraries are using YouTube.  I think it is an excellent way of promoting collections, exhibits, and events to users of the university library.

~J

Facebook (Thing 2)

Hi!

Thanks for stopping in.  My second thing is

Well, my second thing is social networks, properly speaking. Now, in my personal experience, (much to founder Mark Zuckerburg's delight, I'm sure) when most people say "social network" they are talking about the popular website, Facebook. Because of this presence in popular culture I'll focus on Facebook in this post. Now let's talk about

Thing 2: Social Networks (Facebook)
www.facebook.com

Sure, you think you know about Facebook. Wikipedia informs us that Facebook was founded in 2004 by Zuckerburg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, it was originally intended for use by Harvard students only. It quickly expanded to allow students from Boston colleges, the Ivy League, and Stanford to create personal accounts. By 2006, any person who could provide a .edu email address could have an account. The site's next expansion allowed high school students and finally anyone over the age of 13 to create personal accounts. A fictionalized narrative of its beginnings was depicted in the 2010 blockbuster The Social Network. 

On Facebook people can create personal accounts for themselves or business accounts for celebrities and businesses.  Many University libraries claim patrons can

The university I currently attend, University of South Florida (USF) has a page dedicated to its Tampa campus library. In my opinion the page is fairly active with 1,778 people "liking" (read following) it and posts about upcoming classes, programs, events, and other points of interest nearly daily.  

I've also studied at Georgia State University, in Atlanta.  Like USF, Georgia State's Library also has a presence on Facebook.  Its page within the site has slightly fewer followers than does USF's, but its posts are somewhat more frequent. There are sometimes multiple posts on the page per day. 

Since Facebook is so ubiquitous in popular culture as to boast having over 900 million active users, and given the site's roots as a college start-up social media site, I think it is a good idea for University Libraries to maintain pages on the site.  My caveat regarding blogs stands with Facebook too, though.  These sites must be actively maintained. Beyond this concern,  I also think it's worth mentioning that Facebook is notorious for changing its privacy policies and navigation style within the site, so I think that librarians or others who maintain a University Library's facebook page must stay current regarding changes to the site that might affect the library's users.  

Finally, I feel that if University libraries choose to utilize social networks to get information to the communities they serve, it would be a good idea to have a volunteer advisory board to help the library staff stay up to date on the sites' formats and policies, as well as to keep library staff in the know about what social networking sites are the new hotness with students.  

~J