Top 3 "Pinteresting" Resources

Here are three top resources about Pinterest in academic libraries:
Dudenhoffer, Cynthia. “Visualizing Information With Pinterest.” Using Social Media in Libraries. (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2013) 23-35.  

Dudenhoffer describes the use of Pinterest at the small Central Methodist University to market new books and technology. Included are brief sections about managing the tool, copyright issues, and educational use. This is one chapter in a book with many other essays about social media, and I recommend it to anyone else looking for information about social media tools in libraries.

Thornton, Elaine. “Is Your Academic Library Pinning? Academic Libraries and Pinterest.” Journal of Web Librarianship 6, no. 3 (July 2012): 164-175.

Thornton examines the Pinterest pages of 57 academic libraries, and discusses how academic libraries can take advantage of Pinterest’s unique functionality. This article is particularly useful because it includes a list of 7 descriptive recommendations for best practices based on research.

Richardson, Rebecca, et. al. “A Mightier Pin: Creating a Credible Reference Library on Pinterest  at Murray State University.” Internet Reference Services Quarterly 18, no. 3-4 (2013): 247-264. Web. Accessed March 30, 2014.

This case study of Murray State University in Kentucky discusses the use of pinterest to promote online resources owned by the university. This university is a good example of how libraries can build a reference section of their library on social media. Their findings are backed up with data, and it provides an in-depth look and analysis of Murray State’s Pinterest page.

Top 3: Wisconsin's Digital Library

For my "top" three items I've included:  the MPL webpage that serves as a user's guide to OverDrive; the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium's collection development statement; and an NPR radio piece that covers some of the issues and conflicts confronting libraries as they try to meet demands for ebooks. 

“Wisconsin’s Digital Library, Powered by OverDrive.” Madison Public Library. Web. 30 Mar 2014.

This webpage, on Madison Public Library’s website, answers questions about what OverDrive is, how to use it (including video and screencast tours), mobile device instructions. The page includes a FAQs wiki, a list of compatible devices, and a series of downloadable guides. 

Burchell, Justine (WPLC Board). “WPLC Collection Development Statement.” Wisconsin Public Library Consortium. Web. Accessed 29 March, 2014.

The WPLC is the consortium composed of 17 regional library systems including South Central Library System. Each system appoints 2 members to the WPLC selection committee (24 for adult; 10 for youth). According to their policy statement their scope is meant to be “broad, current, and popular” with a focus on bestsellers. Selection emphasis is on “contemporary significance” rather than “enduring value.” The first 2 of 11 selection criteria include “expressed or anticipated need in the general community” and then “availability of titles from vendors.” The statement includes a clause on intellectual freedom, noting that WPCL aims for a collection with “information spanning a broad spectrum of opinions.” While I’m not sure I’ll be able to answer my own question, I’m interested in how availability from vendor(s) limits a broad spectrum of opinions or “needs, interests, and viewpoints” of an “incredibly diverse” community.  

Neary, Lynn. “E-Books Strain Relations Between Libraries, Publishing Houses.”  Morning Edition. NPR, Washington: 5 August 2013. Radio.

Part of NPR's series on American libraries, Neary interviews Jo Budler, state librarian of Kansas, Jamie LaRue of Douglas Co. Libraries (Colorado), and Carolyn Reidy of Simon and Schuster. Librarians and publishers are experimenting with different ebook models. LaRue is attempting to bypass middlemen (like OverDrive) all together; Douglas County system deals with 900 small publishing companies and had 40,000 titles in its collection (WPLC had 37,000 titles through Dec. 2013, not including multiple copies the same title). Budler is pursuing a similar model. Reidy, the publishing representative, is pushing a model that would allow affiliated libraries access to their entire catalog, but would use the library as channel through which it could sell ebooks, such as bestsellers for which patron access often involves staggeringly long wait lists.

History of wikis

Reading this week's articles, I was interested to find out a little more about the history of wikis. Up until maybe high school, I thought that a "wiki" just meant Wikipedia because it was the wiki I was most familiar with. Given that this week's topic is Wikipedia and collaborative production of information, I naturally turned to Wikipedia to learn more. This Wikipedia article breaks down wiki history into several year chunks and compares with what was happening in Internet culture at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_wikis

I'm also interested in how fan communities online are using wikis to compile vast amounts of information specific to fandoms--like wikis about the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings universes. This essay by media scholar Jason Mittell delves into fan culture and wikis have helped shape each other. He believes that certain aspects about wiki-dom, such as the freedom they give the average Internet user, have help shape fan culture into the widespread Internet phenomena we see today.

Mittell, Justin. "Fan Wikis as Participatory Culture." Just TV. 2010. Web. March 2014.
http://justtv.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/wikis-and-participatory-fandom/

Trove: Crowdsourced Project of The National Library of Australia

This Paul Hagon’s presentation describes the experience of several cultural institutions with a variety of crowdsourced projects and adds to the understanding of the trends and user behaviour patterns related to the use of online material.  The National Library of Australia has already been using crowdsourcing to enhance collection descriptions. The library search engine Trove has become a powerful discovery tool for genealogists and historians ever since millions of descriptions and text corrections have been placed by users.

Digital Volunteers of the National Library of Australia
 

Hagon, P. (2013). Trove crowdsourcing behaviour. The National Library of Australia. https://www.nla.gov.au/our-publications/staff-papers/trove-crowdsourcing-behaviour

Top 3 Resources: WordPress in Libraries

1. Jones, K. M. L, & Farrington, P. (2011). Using WordPress as a library content management system. Chicago, IL: ALA TechSource.

This is a library technology report that introduces how to provide simple access to the patrons of libraries. It consists all the information that a library would need during the process of using WordPress to build a library content management system.

2. Jones, K. (2011). WordPress as Library CMS. American Libraries, 42(5/6), 34.

The article discusses the use of the electronic publishing platform WordPress as a tool for content management systems (CMS) in libraries. The authors argue that WordPress allows different library staff members separate design and maintenance tasks and contribute and edit to the site as needed without having to understand the more technical aspects to web site construction.

3. Farkas, M. (2008). Our new website is a blog: Using wordpress for content management. American Libraries, 39(9), 45.

The article introduces how to use WordPress as a content management website in a web 2.0 era and it mainly tells readers that Wordpress allows for the creation and management of blog posts and static pages, and thus can be used by librarians to post both timely and permanent content.

Wikipedia's Woman Problem

My first thought when looking over the selection of articles for this week was a topic that was discussed in a class last semester, touching on Wikipedia and the problems related to crowdsourcing.  Reading Daniel Kriess' article on how peer production isn't always as positive a force as it is presented only made me think of this particular controversy more strongly.  Last year, in April, a female author noticed that other female authors were being removed "systematically" from the "American Novelists" category on Wikipedia, and being moved into their own separate category "American Women Novelists".  The removal of these women from the broader category was problematic because it then presented the narrative, if you were only looking for "American Novelists" (as most people might reasonably do), that only American novelists were men.  There was no category created for "American Male Novelists".  The author, Amanda Filipacchi, posted an op-ed piece about this disturbing edit to the New York Times website.  She then subsequently posted another op-ed that reported her personal Wikipedia page being vandalized after her initial publication.

Kriess critically examines 5 (positive) claims about peer production in his article, three of which seem relevant to this behavior: "(1) Pursuing psychologically gratifying labor within peer production is an unqualified good; (2) Peer networks are an egalitarian and efficient means of producing information
goods; (3) Peer production necessarily realizes ethical relationships between collaborators;" and it's very interesting to see that his skepticism is somewhat warranted.

The two op-ed pieces in question are:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/wikipedias-sexism-toward-female-novelists.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/wikipedias-sexism.html

Top 3 Resources - Tumblr as Marketing Tool

Brenner, Robin. "Power Tumbl'ng." School Library Journal 59.9 (2013): 48. Professional Collection Development. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

This article, written by a youth services librarian, discusses why Tumblr is a particularly good platform to reach out to teens patrons, especially highlighting the high number of teens using this particular technology.  It also provides tips on starting and maintaining a successful Tumblr blog in relation to engaging patrons.

Davis, Hayes. "Why 2013 Is the Year You Need to Get Serious About Tumblr." Forbes.2014. Web.  30 March 2014. 

This article provides several arguments as to why Tumblr is a superior social marketing tool to other social media technologies, such as Twitter or Facebook.  It highlights the more permanent nature of Tumblr’s content, as well as its ability to draw individuals from diverse backgrounds together over shared interests.

McArdle, Molly. "The Library Is Open: A Look at Librarians and Tumblr." Library Journal Reviews. Library Journal, 25 June 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

This article is cited multiple times in different articles and blogs about Tumblr use in and by libraries, and appears to be one of the seminal articles on the subject.  It explains the basics of Tumblr, and also talks about why Tumblr is a particularly good platform to use in reaching out to library patrons.

Flickr: Bibliography of Sources

1. Ekart, D. (2010). Tech tips for every librarian. Flickr four by four. Computers In Libraries, 30(7), 46-47.

Article describes in brief but in detail four uses of Flickr for libraries: as a display for online exhibitions, as participation Mecca, as community collection of local history, as gateway and discovery tool for digital collection site.

2. Kalfatovic, M. R., Kapsalis, E., Spiess, K. P., Van Camp, A., & Edson, M. (2008). Smithsonian Team Flickr: a library, archives, and museums collaboration in web 2.0 space. Archival Science, 8(4), 267-277.

Started as a collaborative space for library, archives, museum, and technology staff units of Smithsonian Institution, Flickr became a major communication pathway for knowledge dissemination of professionally curated collection. Smithsonian was the fourth member of the Commons - a forum for cultural institutions to discuss and share their rich collections.

3. Terras, M. (2011). The digital wunderkammer: Flickr as a platform for amateur cultural and heritage content. Library Trends, 59(4), 686-706.

Article looks at the use of images outside the usual context of cultural institutions and beyond their regular work with collections of materials. It describes the examples when collections become useful and visible in online environment, the instances when Flickr gives a new and central point for communication between libraries’ communities and becomes a gateway for patrons - institutions communication.

User Tagging in Library Catalogs

     This week’s readings have focused on user-generated contributions, particularly those of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. However, user-generated content is also at work in library catalogs.

     Some library catalogs allow users to “tag” bibliographic records with descriptors of their choosing, creating another way to describe and provide access to materials. However, these tags are in no way as consistent as the controlled subject headings assigned by bibliographers. While tags are not consistent, they may provide access to materials that traditional cataloging may ignore.

     In “Tagging for Subject Access: A Glimpse Into Current Practice by Vendors, Libraries, and Users,” author Dr. Sharon Q. Yang, a professor and librarian at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ, reports that of 37 major Integrated Library Systems, only 5.41% allow user tagging.  She also found that public libraries were more likely to incorporate user tagging. To read her report, click here.

Citation:

Yang, Sharon Q. “Tagging for Subject Access: A Glimpse Into Current Practice by Vendors,  

     Libraries, and Users.” Computers in Libraries 32.9 (2012): 19-23. Web. Ebscohost. 31 March  

     2014.

ArchivesSpace: Three Citations

ArchivesSpace: A Google Group. Google, n.d. Web. 31 March 2014.

            This online forum is for users and interested parties of ArchivesSpace, with posts dating

back to 2010. This will be helpful for tracking potential issues with the platform, as well as just general concerns that archivists and other users have with ArchivesSpace.

“Open Letter to the ArchivesSpace Project Team, April 17, 2013.” Archivists’ Toolkit/Archon

Roundtable. Society of American Archivists, 17 April 2013. Web. 31 March 2014.

           

This letter, authored by the Archivists’ Toolkit/Archon Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists to the ArchivesSpace project developers, seeks to address concerns that the SAA community has regarding the governance of the ArchivesSpace software, membership types, the role of the chartering institutions, and the migration of items from Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon to the ArchivesSpace platform. This item is useful for demonstrating the involvement of SAA, and for highlighting common concerns of archivists about this software.

“ArchivesSpace Response to ATART questions.” Archivists’ Toolkit/Archon

Roundtable. [ArchivesSpace], 17 July 2013. Web. 31 March 2014.

This response from the project team at ArchivesSpace answers the questions raised by SAA’s Archivists’ Toolkit/Archon Roundtable, particularly about membership and governance. It details that ArchivesSpace is supposed to be self-supporting from dues, and that its ultimate governance is through its board of trustees. Each founding partner has a seat on the board of trustees. This document is helpful for understanding the underlying assumptions about how ArchivesSpace was developed.