Technology Trends in Libraries - Today & Tomorrow

Technology Trends in Libraries - Today & Tomorrow By Rachel Vacek Web Technologies Librarian Candidate Lupton Library @ UTC

Overview • What’s HOT now • Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 • Examples of libraries and technologies • Lasting concepts and fading tools Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 2

What’s HOT • OpenID or one-time • Plugins, add-ons, & extensions authentication • Metasearching • Open WorldCat • Faceted browsing • Cell phones & texting • Mashups • Tagging • Online photo sharing • Social bookmarking • Citizen journalism • Folksonomies • Social networking • RSS feeds & aggregators • User comments and ratings • Wikis • Being connected 24/7 • Podcasting, screencasting, • Fast delivery and vodcasting • Instant gratification • Blogs • Widgets and gadgets • Gaming & virtual realities • Web applications replacing • Open source ILS desktop applications • Custom search engines Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 3

Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 4

From Karen G. Schneider’s Library 2.0 Cookbook Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 5

Concepts of Web 2.0 • Collaboration • Radical trust • Sharing • Personal data • Ownership • Remixable • Wisdom of crowds • Web-based • Personalization • Perpetual state of being in beta • Self-expression • Transparency • Community • Participation Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 6

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. From “Library 2.0” by Michael E. Casey and Laura C. Savastinuk, Library Journal, September 1, 2006 Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 7

From Karen G. Schneider’s Library 2.0 Cookbook Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 8

The Long Tail • Libraries provide a lot of services, some of which reach users • Far more people do not find or receive library services and tools than those who do • The trick is to find ways of reaching both groups Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, coined the phrase “the long tail” Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 9

Can libraries do these things? YES! Libraries should build, engage, innovate, and participate in Web 2.0 technologies, especially if they foster community and collaboration. Libraries MUST meet user expectations if they want to continue to exist. Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 10

Concepts vs. Technologies • Don’t implement a technology for technology’s sake • Library 2.0 is more about the concepts, not just the emerging technologies • The concepts are what will endure over time, not necessarily a specific piece of software or online application • It’s the human aspect – the users that are important • Technology is just a tool for helping people interact with one another Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 11

Excerpts from Karen Schneider’s “The User Is Not Broken: A meme masquerading as a manifesto” • All technologies evolve and die. • You are not a format. You are a service. • The OPAC is not the sun. The user is the sun. • The user is not broken. • You cannot change the user, but you can transform the user experience to meet the user. • Meet people where they are - not where you want them to be. • The user is not "remote." You, the librarian, are remote, and it is your job to close that gap. • Most of your most passionate users will never meet you face to face. • Most of your most alienated users will never meet you face to face. http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/06/the_user_is_not_broken_a_meme.php Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 12

So keeping these things in mind… Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 13

Social Software & Networking • Allows people to build communities from the ground up • Enables collaboration in real time • Encourages networking with both peers and users Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 14

RSS Feeds & Aggregators • RSS is a text-based format, a type of XML • It’s information repackaged by provider or creator to give the user more control over delivery • Can be web-based or client-side as well as stuck in browsers or email clients • Free, relatively inexpensive, or enterprise • Most blogs and most major information resources can syndicate a feed you can subscribe to Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 19

General Sharing of Information Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 23

Blogs • Have posts organized chronologically by date • Self-archive by date • Use a permalink for each individual post • Most have RSS feeds that syndicate the content • Benefits: – Can humanize your library – Communicate and interact with users and your colleagues in new ways – Allows you to focus on content, not process – Can update from anywhere Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 25

Tagging • Term given to a piece of information (like a picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling a keyword-based classification • Folksonomy vs. taxonomoy • Examples – del.icio.us - A social bookmarking site – Flickr – Tag the images you upload – Gmail – can use tags (labels) to help classify your email – Technorati - A blog search engine – Last.fm - A social music website and wiki that allows users to tag artists, albums and tracks Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 30

Tagging on the rise A December 2006 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 28% of internet users - and 7% on any typical day - have tagged or categorized online content such as photos, news stories or blog posts. Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 34

Cell Phones & Smart Phones Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 35

Instant Messaging Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 36

Wikis & Online Collaboration • A wiki is a website anyone can edit with little knowledge of markup • Allows for collaboration and sharing of information Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 37

Photo Sharing Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 41

Video Sharing Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 42

OPAC & ILS • Open Source ILS – Koha – Evergreen PINES • Other alternatives – Endeca – Primo (ExLibris) – Encore (Innovative Interfaces) Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 43

What libraries will look like… • Web 2.0 concepts will carry on, but the technologies will change • More mashups • More open source • More customization and personalization • More social interaction • More interaction with virtual worlds Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 44

Specific examples of other emerging technologies • Drupal – a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website • OpenID - open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity • AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) - a web development technique for creating interactive websites – Pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change. – Increase the web page's interactivity, speed, and usability • Ruby on Rails - a web application framework that aims to increase the speed and ease with which database-driven websites can be created and offers skeleton code frameworks from the outset Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 45

More Examples • OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) - a collection of RSS feeds can be shared by an OPML file and imported by others into their RSS readers/aggregators – Great way to create reading or additional resource lists for classes – Can share the feeds you use to keep current with your colleagues • Architectures of Collaboration - a type of network where web services and the integration between these tools work together to provide a consistent and reliable communication flow – Collaboration isn’t just between users - it needs to happen on the backend between systems as well Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 46

It’s all about the user. • The user helps determine what technologies are relevant • How do we find out what users need? – Ask them – Watch them – Surveys • Conduct local surveys • Look at reports from Educause, Pew, etc. – Look at traffic patterns on web servers – Weblog analysis – Give them the tools and let them build what they need themselves – Capitalize on the ubiquitous nature of open source Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 54

Thanks! Current Contact Information: Rachel E. Vacek Electronic Resources Librarian and Technology Coordinator Walker Management Library, Vanderbilt University rachel.vacek@owen.vanderbilt.edu 615-322-3818 AIM: vacekrae1976 Yahoo!: vacekrae Technology Trends in Libraries – Today & Tomorrow, by Rachel Vacek 55

Technology Trends in Libraries - Today & Tomorrow

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