New Technologies in LibrariesWhat This Stuff Is and How You Can Use It

Library 2.0

What We’re Going to Cover

•All These Strange Words•Better Professional Development

•New Services for New Customers

Social Software Vocabulary

•Library 2.0– Libraries will become an interactive experience

•Blog– Online syndicated column

•RSS– Like a very condensed online magazine

subscription

•Podcasting – RSS for people who talk instead of type

•Wikis– Websites that are easy for multiple people to

edit

That’s Very Nice, and I Should Care Why?

• Users have come to expect information to be convenient – they will trade off quality for convenience

• Younger users expect to be able to customize and help create the services and products that they use

• While younger users are comfortable using new technologies, they usually don’t have a clue how these technologies work or how to judge the quality of what they get from them

From the Pew Internet Survey

Okay, but What Can My Library Do with It?

• Blogs• Cheaper than Dirt• Easy to disseminate large amounts of information

quickly and often• Not technically demanding for you or IT• Very customizable

– Requirements• Must have things to disseminate• Must be very organized• Content can be time consuming

– Best Ways to Use Blogs• Promote programs and services• More teacher-student than peer to peer – unless you

let your patrons help run the blog!

Blogging with a Captive Audience

• RSS Feeds– Like a magazine subscription to a blog– Users don’t have to remember to look at your

website for new content, they just get it– Also easy to set up and very customizable

• Requirements– If you have a blog, you can have a feed

• Best Uses– Keeping up with your own professional

development– Anything you would want to say in a blog

For Those of Us Who Can’t Shut Up

• Podcasting– Easy!– Despite the name – no iPod required!– Can be done very, very cheaply

• Uses– Poetry readings– Oral book reviews by your users– Storytelling– News

They Can be Good or Bad

• Wikis– Avoid the bureaucracy of getting IT to

change your site– Can be dangerous if too many people

can edit the wiki

• Uses– Librarian edited wikis for quick web

updates for the public

Gaming Vocabulary

• MMOG– Massive Multiplayer Online Game

• Modding – Changing the Game or Your Computer Yourself

• Machinima – Game-based Cinema

• LAN Party– Local Area Network Party

• Easter Egg– Game Powerup

Social Importance

• What’s the average game player’s age?– 30

• What percentage of people over the age of 50 play video games?– 21%

• Who is a bigger part of the game playing population – women over 18 or boys between 6 and 17?– Women over 18 (28%)– Boys are 21%

Numbers from the Entertainment Software Associations 2005 Sale, Usage and Data Survey

Significance of MMOGs

• Huge community – 6,000,000 players of the three most popular MMOGs

• Lineage II would have the 77th largest GDP in the real world between Russia and Bulgaria

• Lineage’s Money trades higher than the Yen and the Lira

From “The Gaming Generation and Libraries: Intersections” by Constance Steinkuehler

One View of Lineage

WOWC in Play

“Cinematic” View

Educational Value of Games

• MMOGs are intellectually rich environments

• Games aren’t in place of literary activities – they are a reading and writing activity

• Promotes a variety of career skills– Modding– Teaching– Positive social interaction

Using Games to Teach

• Games are a good Way to Teach both Customers and Staff– Let’s them work at their own pace– Makes Learning More fun– Students with Certain Learning Styles

will retain the information better

Waterloo

Waterloo

Even More Waterloo

Some of the Things Other Libraries Are Doing

• DDR Competitions• Competitions with family friendly

Nintendo and Playstation games (Mario or Madden)

• A Computer Club which includes learning how to write games and graphic design

• Role-playing Games• Reader’s Advisory Based on Games

Why Should I Care?

• Games are another form of media just like books, movies or audio

• They are an incredibly popular media • They draw in non-traditional library

users• The argument for and against games

in libraries today is very similar to the argument for and against carrying movies in the seventies

In Conclusion

• Users expect convenient, interactive services

• Think about new services you could provide that incorporate these ideas

• Ask your customers what they want and do your best to give it to them

For More Information

• Look at Those Handouts!• Contact me if you need help or want

more informationKathy:kmakens@browardlibrary.org