More thoughts

The future of library dissemination and diffusion is embedded in the whole process of providing and using information. Libraries began as a storage facility for knowledge. As this evolved, a way of accessing the information became necessary so different ways of organizing knowledge were developed including the Dewey Decimal System, the Library of Congress System and other types. For example, Paul Otlet devised the Universal Decimal Classification system because he visualized all information as individual pieces of information and developed a system of storing this information on index cards. But he had to devise a system to organize it so he took the Dewey Decimal System and adapted it as he needed. He in many ways he even anticipated a mechanical devise (computers), the modern World Wide Web, and online access (Coletta, 2008).

Libraries began to share their stored knowledge leading first to simple dissemination-we have put this information out there on the shelves and organized it if you want to use it. Then some librarians and other professionals began to go a step further until the library began to center more on the user and providing more directed services. Diffusion became part of the equation. We provide the best information to the user we can and guide them providing education as well. We want to know that the information is useful and being used.

The future of libraries is now tied directly into technology delivery. Organizing the knowledge available is even more crucial. The Internet is a vast ocean of knowledge with very little organization. The future of cataloging is dependent on a way of organizing meta data. OPACs must evolve to make them more relevant and useful. The user today is used to searching the Internet by keyword and hoping for the best. Providing a link to OPACs and making them user friendly is important, whether we continue to use cataloging with AACRII (Anglo American Cataloging Rules) or a newer version or change to RDA (Wiskoff, 2008) or we change to a entirely new system. We need to find a way to organize the information on the Internet. Winfield (2008) on her blog discussed an article on data visualization that listed several search engines that are providing new ways of organizing search results. New ways to make the information online and in physical formats available and preserving for the future must be devised.

Librarianship/Information Science is not on its way out. It is becoming even more relevant. We need to change and evolve along with the way acts of information creating, organizing, disseminating, preserving, and archiving are changing. Our field has always adapted to change and I think it always will.

Coletta, M. (2008, April). Do you know who Paul Otlet is? If not, you should... Information dissemination…Connecting people to information. Retrieved April 12,2008, from
http://infodissemination.blogspot.com/

Winfield, C. (2008, April 10). Visualizing search results. Information retrieval and the information professional. Retrieved April 12, 2008, from http://infoprosretrieval.blogspot.com

Wiskoff, E. (2008, April 10). RDA: Resource descriptions and access. Retrieved April
12, 2008, from Describing information: In a nutshell. http://emilyw6260.blogspot.com

Thoughts on Disseminating and Diffusion

We only have a few days left to post so I want to explore my own thoughts. First and foremost use what works to disseminate and diffuse. Do not be afraid to try new ways and technologies. Especially if it does not involve a great deal of time or expense. Analyze your clientele, what they want and what they need (this may not be the same thing).

The clientele of a public library, special library, or academic library will have vastly different needs. Blogs or wikis may work better for academic libraries than public libraries. Public libraries may find online information boards, newsletters, frequently asked questions useful. They may want to use book club blogs to reach their patrons. This could be useful for those who cannot physically visit a library. Academic libraries may find more response from podcasts and links to Facebook, etc. accounts.

Explore what other libraries with similiar missions and clientele have used with success. Let it direct you not dictate. Use technology to connect but do not forget the old fashioned one-on-one connection whether in a physical sphere or virtual space. Learn and evolve, but most importantly reach out, diffuse not just disseminate. Libraries from the beginning of this countries' history has played a role in educating, informing, and keeping democracy alive. Libraries had a role in the past and will continue to have a role in the future, it just will be a developing and evolving role.

Web 2.0 for libraries

Stephens in an article in American Libraries discusses how to make Web 2.0 useful for your library. Web 2.0 is useful if you are implementing carefully chosen social tools. His 5 principles are:

Remember your mission: They should be chosen because they foster the mission of the library not just for the sake of using technology.

Be selective: create a timeline featuring the tools that you would most like to incorporate, perhaps using a technology committee to explore and test.

Beware technolust: don’t jump on the bandwagon just because a feature is new, make sure it serves a purpose.

Tell stories: create a voice for the library, one that is caring; use the social tools to tell the human story of the library.

Participate: the social web is increasing exponentially, how will it look in 15 years? Will the library be there? Yes, Stephens says if we meet the users at their point of need, whether in a physical place or in virtual spaces.

Stephens, M. (2007, December). Web 2.0 and you: Which trends and technologies are for your library? American Libraries, 38(11), 32.

Article-Some Best Practices for Personalizing Outreach

Huwe, who is a librarian at the University of California-Berkeley, believes that the same basic rules of outreach for libraries apply today as they did in the past. What has changed is the technology used for outreach. He believes that a focus on user needs, a personal touch, and a commanding knowledge of the research challenges are the key now as then. He describes four best practices for outreach approaches:

1. Know your audience and trust your instincts. He talks about the use of blogs and the importance of crafting a blog that gives people the information they want. In addition, people need to be reminded about your blog, hopefully subscribing through RSS.

2. Decide whether to blog. Related to knowing your audience is evaluating if you should be blogging at all or just working in HTML with Web pages. In other words, know what technology is most appropriate for what you want to accomplish.

3. Build an audience-and keep on building. Marketing never ends, to be successful you must constantly monitor you blog and make it interesting.

4. Keep it simple but keep it going. To keep a professional blog you must be willing to commit to at least four blogging sessions a week.

Huwe also discusses using RSS as an outreach tool. Libraries need to move beyond just receiving and recording RSS content and into the field of becoming an RSS feed itself. “The most important strategy to apply to your feed is to ensure that it is substantive and on-point for your user community. That means going beyond topics like circulation due dates and special hours” (p. 37).

Another way to deliver information is by e-news publications. E-news outreach involves time and commitment. Alerts should be personalized to the individuals or communities you serve. In effect, the library becomes a news service providing targeted information to its audience. But to be effective it takes time to personally get to know your users.

Outreach should place the emphasis on the personal touch in the use of new technologies and build interpersonal communication with users over the long term.

Huwe, T.K. (2006, February). Some practices for personalizing outreach. Computers in Libraries, 26(1),36-38. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database.

Invigorating the Academic Library Experience

An article by Elizabeth M. Karle in C&RL News highlights the need for libraries in the academic world to reinvent them. According to a recent report by OCLC, “College Students’ Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources”, academic libraries have an image problem. Two findings were that many students were not aware of the variety of resources offered by their libraries and that they thought the librarians and staff could be friendlier.

The author of the article believes that we must find ways to actively engage our patrons and create a more user-friendly atmosphere. While some libraries have added coffee bars and comfortable seating she argues that there are other ways to achieve this, and by a more cost effect means, including programming, partnerships, and creative outreach.

There are five suggested activities listed in the article:

Host a fair. In addition to the usual job fairs, volunteer fairs, and science fairs there are also exposition formats to enhance the effectiveness of the expensive research tools that the library contains.

Plan a mystery event. An example is a mystery thief event hosted by Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Teams of students were given clues to solve the mystery that involved use of library resources including the OPAC, periodical indexes, and electronic journals and involved navigating the important areas of the library. The winners were given a prize, participant gifts were given to all, and refreshments were served.

Create a stress free zone. An area designed to relieve the tensions of studying that could include a wide variety of board games, puzzles, massage therapy, films, etc. at designated times to show that the staff were allies and demonstrate support for the students.

Have a blind date with a book. Students sign up to participate and list the type of books that interest them. Librarians can select titles to match and wrap them in paper with notes attached or the librarians can select titles and write a brief “profile” of each book, the students then choosing the title for themselves.

Invite children to the library. Provide an opportunity for children of all economic status to experience the academic library. College students can be matched with participating children for a series of events including one-on-one reading, “build your own book”, or introducing children to multimedia and audiovisual technology.

“Rather than competing with technological advances in an adversarial manner, libraries and librarians need to position themselves as offering complimentary, attractive, and relevant resources that supplement their students’ media-filled lives. This can be accomplished by using the library’s existing resources, but showcasing them for maximum effect” (Karle, p. 144).

Karle, E.M. (2008, March). Invigorating the academic library experience: Creative programming ideas. College & Research Libraries News, 69 (3), 141-144.

What do you thing? Is there an effective program that your library is using you could share? Is there an event you would like to suggest to try? Now's your chance to spread the word.

Model of Dissemination/Diffusion Revised

I have revised my model slightly and I was able to use paint to scale it down to a more reasonable size for the blog. Please scan to the bottom of the blog to view it.

Promoting Distance Learning

Distance Learning Services are important to the future of libraries as a form of dissemination and diffusion of knowledge. An article by Paul Alan Wyss addresses how libraries can promote distance learning services. He focuses on the use in academic libraries. He compares the “problem” to an algebra problem. There are givens and variables and you work with these to achieve a solution. He suggests using the following techniques: systems thinking, process mapping, team learning, and diffusion of information processes.

Systems thinking-he used all of the following strategies to promote library services to distance learning faculty-an introductory email, a hard copy letter, a personal telephone call, a personal office visit, and follow-up emails as services changed. He was disappointed in the response and decided to amend the strategies by including as much in-person promotion as possible, include as much as possible other librarians to promote the service, and continue the written letters and emails but not necessarily as the first step. He saw the exercise as a continuously evolving system.

Process Mapping-with the Distance Learning Librarian in the center of the map the flow can change and flow in any direction. Formal and informal promotion is included in the map’s structure. The distance learning faculty, Distance Learning Dean, the Dean of the Library, and individual librarians among others are pieces of the map.
Team Learning Initiatives- using the work of Senge, Kleiner, Ross, & Smith (1994) in their book The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization, you identify team members and design the team learning agenda. First, have the team members discuss what they want and how to accomplish it. Second, discuss the current situation and decide if you aspirations can be realistically met. Third, identify team knowledge and expertise and use them where they will be most beneficial. Fourth, make sure your team actually has the desire and commitment for learning.

Diffusion of Innovation Practices-the heart of any service is the positive qualities of the team which he list as enthusiasm, knowledge, organizational skills and excellent service attitude. To these are added knowledge of the audience served and a recognition of the learning styles of distance learners which is integrated with all aspects of the service including procedures, web pages, communication practices, and library instruction.

These 4 processes are used together to come up with the most effective way to promote a distance learning service.

Wyss, P.A. (2007, December). Solving the problem of promoting distance library services.
College Student Journal, 41(4), 747-754. Retrieved March 5, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

So what do you think. Are there ways to improve on these techniques to promote the library in distance learning? How about finding ways to directly involve the students in the process?

Information Power in schools

Teaching and helping individuals learn information literacy skills are a very important part of dissemination and diffusion. Lesley Farmer (2002) in an article in Teacher Librarian talks about helping to make this more effective in schools with what she calls a research-based cycle of inquiry.

The process she recommends requires an across the school curriculum examination and development of a literacy skills program. The American Association of School Librarians has developed nine information literacy standards which include among others standard bibliographical instruction, locating and using information for both personal and academic uses, and ethical use. But to get past the traditional idea of information literacy as an add-on or separate entity the teacher-librarian needs to translate this into the specific language of each discipline. The more they understand the subject-area teachers’ perspective on this issue the more they can make it an integral element of education.

Farmer describes the cycle of inquiry as a seven step process.

1. Define the desired outcome: information literate students
2. Identify the outcome “gaps”: look at both the process and product. The librarian should talk to the teachers and the students to clarify questions about the entire process, to help identify the origins of information literacy problems leading to intervention.
3. Describe the current practice relative to the outcome: librarians need to see the students’ final projects and the assignment itself. The assignment sheet helps identify the competencies expected of students, is it clear? Does it assume skills the students do not have? By examining final papers they can see what areas need work. They can also communicate across the curriculum to facilitate collaboration.
4. Determine the possible reasons for the gaps: teachers can state the degree to which they incorporate information literacy in their project and then an information literacy “grid” can be developed to compare projects, competencies, and what is addressed at each grade level for each subject-area. This identifies what is being taught, reinforced, and what needs to be addressed.
5. Identify and develop interventions targeted to address the gaps: the previous steps must be carried out in a systematic way and although this involves significant time it optimizes decision-making and implementation of the program.
6. Implement the interventions
7. Assess the results: how are the results manifested? By presenting clearer assignments, complete and accurate bibliographies in research papers, less plagiarism, and improved student work.

The research-based cycle of inquiry is a continuous cycle. Through this cycle Farmer (2002) states, “that the true power of information power reveals itself: lifelong learning that uses information in meaningful ways to transform individuals and society” (24).

I have always felt that if you teach someone how and where to find the answers to questions and how to evaluate what they find, then they can be well educated no matter what formal level of education they achieve. This is more important than any facts you can stuff into their heads. So to me information literacy should be the center of education not simply an add-on. What do you think?

Farmer, L. (2002, February). Harnessing the power in information power. Teacher

Librarian, 29(3), 20-24. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from Library Literature and

Information Science Full Text database.

Design thinking

I just read an article in American Libraries called “Design Thinking”. In the article, Steven J. Bell argues that librarians need to become design thinkers. He discusses the IDEO method developed at that leading design firm. Librarians mediate information from source to users but we find ourselves redefining how we fit into this new information based world. The heart of design thinking is to understand the problems before thinking of solutions. Not only do we often fail to determine the feasibility of new technology applications but we fail to even consider if our users will even value the service. We fail to determine the actual problem before implementing a solution.

Bell summarizes the 5 steps of the IDEO method:

1. Understand-get to know your actual user population and how they perceive your services
2. Observe-your users, how they work, what confuses them, how their needs can be met
3. Visualize-brainstorm new ideas and concepts and how they will affect your users
4. Evaluate/Refine-prototyping is key, test and improve processes
5. Implement-this can be the longest and hardest part of the process

Even with limited resources this process can be used. Librarians can observe users in real life situations, engage them in discussion to ascertain useful data, and therefore take the first step in design thinking. By talking, identifying patterns, the design thinker can assess the gap between what exists and what needs to be done and come up with the solutions.

We need to create better library user experiences by engaging the people who use our libraries and helping them make a personal connection. Bell (2008) states, “as a profession we need to move beyond thinking of our primary product as just a commodity to which we offer access" (p. 47). Our commodity is information but we need to expand beyond just existing as a source of information.

We need to make users identify us as a learning experience. Possible solutions can range from simply identifying procedures that create barriers for users, developing social and cultural experiences, to creating community recognition through technology leadership and support.

Bell also recommends joining the Blended Librarians Online Learning Community and becoming a regular reader of the blog Designing Better Libraries. I am providing links for these under my Links list.

So what do you think? Do librarians need to become “Design Thinkers”?

Bell, S.J. (2008, January/February). Design Thinking. American Libraries, 39(1/2), 44- 49.

Dissemination/Diffusion Model

I have added my idea of a model for dissemination/diffusion. I am still learning so I scanned it and saved it as a picture and added it to the blog, so it is large and grainy. I hope to find an improved way to display it eventually. I hope it makes sense and no doubt I will make changes as I become more knowledgeable about the subject. Please add any comments or questions as you like. Suggestions will be appreciated.

Google Generation

A study out of Great Britain concerning the “Google Generation” or the young people growing up in the Internet age shows that we should be involved with training skills for information use. The study found that although young people are very familiar and comfortable with computers they show only basic search skills and lack the analytical skill to use this information. Further the traits common for younger users including impatience in searching and zero tolerance for delays in the necessary information is now common for all age groups.
Dr Malcolm Read, Executive Secretary of JISC, welcomed the publication of the report, saying: “These findings add to our growing understanding of subjects that should concern all who work in further and higher education – the changing needs of our students and researchers and how libraries can meet their needs. We hope that this report will encourage debate around these important questions. We hope it will also serve to remind us all that students and researchers will continue to need the appropriate skills and training to help navigate an increasingly diverse and complex information landscape” (Pothen).
This is a concern that we should have for all users that we serve. We must disseminate knowledge and skills to everyone that we can reach about the wonders and dangers of information available online and from all sources. Search skills and teaching users how to utilize what they find should be a high priority.

Pothen, P. (2008, January 16). Google generation is a myth, says new research. Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Retrieved February 16, 2008, from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2008/01/googlegen.aspx

Disseminating Information to Others in Our Profession

Disseminating information includes sharing among fellow professionals as well as to seek ways to share with our users. I have started a Links to Check Out and my first link is to http://www.resourceshelf.com.

“Welcome to ResourceShelf, where dedicated librarians and researchers share the results of their directed (and occasionally quirky) web searches for resources and information.”

Explore this site if you can which provides descriptions and links to various sites. A sample of the resources: under Resources—Arts and Humanities, which would be relevant to February's Black History Month, Black College History goes Online

"Documents dating back to the early 19th-century about historically black colleges can be viewed online thanks to a new digital collection available to the public. The site includes campus charters, student yearbooks, campus architectural drawings, and photographs from 10 historically black institutions".

More Than a Building

"The Library" is now more than just a building. An article from Library Journal discusses this topic and Library 2.0. Library 2.0 recognizes what librarians have come to realize, that it is no longer just accumulating information into a physical building but being user-centered and that many of the services we offer do not reach the majority of our populaton. It discusses how library users can be given a participatory role in the services a library offers and how they are used. Even libraries with limited money sources for technology can find the means with many free or inexpensive technologies online.
"What makes a service Library 2.0? Any service, physical or virtual, that successfully reaches users, is evaluated frequently, and makes use of customer input is a Library 2.0 service. Even older, traditional services can be Library 2.0 if criteria are met. Similarly, being new is not enough to make a service Library 2.0" (Casey & Savastinuk para. 20).
Casey, M.E., & Savastinuk, L.C. (2006, September 1). Library 2.0: Service for the next-generation library. Library Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html