You can pretty much tell what I've been up to so far by visiting my blog. If you just read the post on Reader, you will miss out on a lot of it. I have Flickr pictures across the top, Twitter updates and a Goodreads favorites collage on the side. No Meebo yet, but that will show up eventually, as will my Google Calendar, I'm sure.
I'm not sure, however, what will become of this page once the learning things are over, and that bothers me. I'd like to find a way to incorporate it into the library because I think it looks like it would be fun but I don't like the idea of having to redo things. I do have most of them on the library's page, but not all of them and I'm not sure at what point it becomes so cluttered as to be unusable. That may be why this page looks nicer to me right now.
I do think you have to meet the patron wherever the patron is, but you don't necessarily have to stay there. It just wouldn't be feasible to be on all of the different social networks, but it is possible to make ways for our patrons to first find us and then bring us into their worlds, so the library presence becomes part of their personal pages, wherever they are.
Jennifer once said to me (not an exact quote, but the gist of it and now we'll see if she's paying attention) "But, Karen, don't you want them to have to come through your website to get to wherever they're going?" It has changed how I approach my website because yes, I do, and I want them to find the page sufficiently useful that they want to be able to access it quickly and see updates from their own pages - I want to be LIKED on Facebook and I want them to think our website is worthy of RSS Feeds. I want them checking out our pictures, looking at the CDLC Digital collection, using our page to get to the catalog and to do online research. I want the library to be part of everyday life whether it's virtually or in person.
Did I say that?!? I still believe it to be true.
ReplyDeletePeople say websites are dead, but maybe it is because the information is lacking or buried so deep that it is easier to use the Yellow page, yes that free book that arrives at your door or mailbox, or Google.
Make sure your hours and phone number on are the front page (Yellow pages)
and that the site is clutter free (Google)
And for those who like to explore or wander, make sure to leave them some breadcrumbs to find a way back again.
Oh, look, you found it! And yes, you did say something very much like that. And what's more, I listened AND remembered AND take it into consideration when making decisions.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I think your reflection shows the deep thought and care you devote to your professional development and more importantly, the care and feeding of your library patrons. The medium for connecting to patrons may change: face-to-face, phone, email, websites, apps, but the true interactions and service does not. A librarian is a guide to the vast fields of information and knowledge created and stored every day and everyday leading to today and tomorrow. Roman and Egyptian and Persian librarians worked in papyrus, Medieval librarians in parchment. Digital information is only a step on the journey of human intellectual history. We are the mere scouts and guides, the wagon train cowboys and chuckwagon chefs. It is a great time to be a librarian especially one like you who grabs the new opportunities for connecting to people.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely in the "give 'em everything where they live" camp. But I know we can't realistically be everywhere at all times. So I'm a strong believer in providing our content via RSS feeds that can just happily keep updating the various social media sites without constant monitoring.
ReplyDelete