Resource : Library goes mobile (integrating iPads)

A wonderful page of resources by the ALA:

http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2012/03/continuing-the-conversation-integrating-ipads-and-tablet-computers-into-library-service

Best practices: SharePoint for your library

The latest issue of Journal of Web Librarianship, Vol.4, Issues 2 & 3, 2010, gives 3 articles on how to use SharePoint for your library.

• Organizational and social factors in the adoption of Intranet 2.0: A  case study/ by Kim, B.
  • This article presents a case study of the intranet implementation and adoption process of a SharePoint intranet at a small  academic library and investigates why the many Web 2.0 tools of the library intranet are currently underused. Staff interviews showed that common goals for an intranet, such as information dissemination, knowledge sharing, communication, and collaboration, are not necessarily easier to achieve when an intranet is equipped with Web 2.0 functionalities. The same level of thorough planning and organizational efforts required to make an intranet succeed before Web 2.0 is still necessary to realize the promise of Intranet 2.0
    
• A point to share: Streamlining access services workflow through online collaboration, communication, and storage with Microsoft SharePoint/ by Diffin, J., Chirombo, F., Nangle, D., de Jong, M.
  • This article explains how the document management team (circulation and interlibrary loan) at the University of Maryland University College implemented Microsoft’s SharePoint product to create a central hub for online collaboration, communication, and storage. The team’s previously adopted tools to improve internal operations had been adequate but not optimal. Also, a long-standing and overarching concern about the potential loss of some or all of the document management knowledge base existed. These reasons prompted the team to carefully examine SharePoint as a prospective tool. It was hoped that this early scrutiny would prove beneficial in the long run by avoiding a repeat of earlier technology implementations’ shortcomings. The group quickly realized the software would not be a cure-all but felt the prospects were good that it would be useful and dependable. SharePoint was fully implemented with great success because of the team’s careful consideration of collaboration, communication, and storage needs
  • An unexpected ally: Using Microsoft’s sharepoint to create a departmental intranet / by Dahl, D.
  • In September 2008, the Albert S. Cook Library at Towson University implemented an intranet to support the various functions of the library’s Reference Department. This intranet is called the RefPortal. After exploring open source options and other Web 2.0 tools, the department (under the guidance of the library technology coordinator) chose Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, a proprietary product, as their intranet platform. Various components of SharePoint fulfill the Reference Department’s needs, which include recording reference transactions, publishing policies and procedures, and sharing pertinent information at the reference desk. Several lessons and best practices have emerged since the department’s initial SharePoint implementation. A survey of reference staff indicates satisfaction with the RefPortal, but more training is needed for the portal to be used to its maximum potential.

Resource: Library technologies Guide

This website claims to be the place to visit if you want to know everything about Library automation, library software’s vendors (US located) etc.

http://www.librarytechnology.org

Web 2.0 tools are largely used among academic libraries

at least on the U.S., in U.K., Canada & Australia… according a new study.

The study covered the libraries of 277 universities. There was considerable variation in the use of Web 2.0 tools. It is found that 211 libraries (76.2%) had adopted at least one of the Web 2.0 tools, whereas 66 of them (23.8%) did not use any of the Web 2.0 tools.

Conclusion: Earlier libraries were places to visit and collect information; now, with the implementation of Web 2.0 tools, they have transformed into places which can be visited from remote locations with information being not only collected, but contributed, too.

Web 2.0 tools can take the services of libraries beyond their walls by connecting common individuals as consumers and contributors to libraries.

Academic libraries may reach a new generation of users who are not formal teachers and students of the institutions.

Thus, applications of Web 2.0 tools may bring change in the  relationship between users and libraries by improving the  involvement of users in the activities of libraries. (…)

The sophistication of the technology should not take precedence over its pedagogical relevance.

The judicious use of these tools can lead to transformation of libraries into  active knowledge hubs. Library professionals must use Web 2.0 tools to  offer traditional services in an innovative manner and address the  information requirements of the techno-savvy users.

Use of Web 2.0 tools in academic libraries: A reconnaissance of the
international landscape. Manorama Tripathia, ,  and Sunil Kumar. The International Information & Library Review, Volume 42, Issue 3, September 2010, Pages 195-207
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iilr.2010.07.005

Back to the future! Libraries Vs Databases

In reaction of a 120 percent increase of its Web of Science
subscription, a Canadian Library suggested a collaborative revolution:

The librarian estimates that there are some 40,000 science journals
published every year; if 3,000 libraries pitched in, he calculates,
“then each of them would have to index 15 journal titles.

” Instead of paying money to commercial publishers for products such as Web of Science, libraries could put their resources to work indexing the scholarly literature themselves“.

To become a serious competitor of Thomson + Elsevier?!

Leggott, Mark. UPEI, Web of Science and Knowledge for all. Posted on: 14th of August 2010.
http://loomware.typepad.com/loomware/2010/08/upei-web-of-science-and-knowledge-for-all.html

Your Library catalog with SharePoint

According this consultant it is possible to manage (more or less) easily a Library catalog with SharePoint.

2 ways:

• To contact a vendor who provides specific add-ons for SharePoint. For the US market, she mentions SydneyPlus and InMagic.
• To develop by yourself your portal including a Library database

In this case, Lirarians who are not IT specialists would use the technology of “programming without coding” to maximize web parts offered by SharePoint.

The consultant encourages a close collaboration between Librarians and IT people: 
“‘One size would not fit all’ libraries so setting up SharePoint directly ’out of the box’ would not work.
Without librarian input, the IT department that was not composed of librarians generated hundreds of information silos without any relationships to each other“

Weldon, Lorette S.J. How is SharePoint used in Libraries? FUMSI, August 2010, online:
http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/use/4714

Is your Library Mobile?

Prospective:

“In the near future, mobile versions of a library’s web site will be as common and as expected as the library’s current desktop site is today“

Laurie Bridges, Hannah Gascho Rempel, and Kimberly Griggs. “Making the case for a fully mobile library web site: from floor maps to the catalog.” Reference Services Review 38.2 (2010): 309-20.
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/16437

Library 2.0: a lower adoption in Europe

In examining six common Web 2.0 applications and 120 library websites,
a study found that libraries in North America lead significantly in the adoption of Web 2.0 applications compared to their European and Asian counterparts.

Across all libraries, the order of popularity of Web 2.0 applications implementation is as follows:

• blogs,
• RSS,
• instant messaging,
• social networking services,
• wikis,
• and social tagging applications

Blogs are commonly used to generate interest in subject-specific topics as well as to engage users.

Libraries use wikis in their websites to cull resources thematically from users.

Libraries that adopt RSS mostly use it to communicate news and events, updates of resources or collection on their websites.

Libraries that promote social tagging provide a link to websites such as Connotea, del.icio.us, and Digg

Libraries use social networking services such as Facebook and MySpace as an alternative channel of communication as well as to forge personalized connections with their users.

Chua, Alton Y.K. & Goh, Dion H. A study of Web 2.0 applications in library websites. Library & Information Science Research, Vol.32, 2010, pp. 203-211

Of interest: Journal of Library Innovation

Was released recently a new open-access journal to publish original research, literature reviews, commentaries, case studies, reports on innovative practices, and book, conference and product reviews. Mainly focused on various innovative practices in Library:

The Journal of Library Innovation (JOLI) is a peer reviewed, electronic journal published by the Western New York Library Resources Council. Its mission is to disseminate research and information on innovative practice in libraries of all types.

The Journal also welcomes provocative essays that will stimulate thought on the current and future role of libraries in an Internet Age.

Good luck to JOLI!

http://www.libraryinnovation.org/

SharePoint for Library websites: a showcase

The best show case to see how SharePoint can edit nice and efficient web sites for Library organization is the Library of Congress web sites collections, launched in spring 2008.

Let’s have a look:

http://www.loc.gov/index.html

http://myloc.gov/pages/default.aspx

Resource to understand the project:

Lamont Harrington’s blog