Article note: On assessing and communicating liaison librarians' work

The authors start by asserting that the academic libraries' narrative has been moving from telling the story of collecting resources to telling the story of libraries connecting to their campus communities, going outside the library. This is not exactly new; this has been going on for a while now, and they show some of that ongoing narrative in their literature review. Anyhow, this article looks at the efforts and roles of liaison librarians at Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick. The highlight is their account of the creation of a Liaison Assessment Committee. 

My interest in the article is that, like many academic librarians, I do some liaison work at my library. Here are some things I took away from the article. 

• Some things have not really changed. The authors cite Laurence Miller, who was writing in the 1970s or so that when it came to liaison relationships "those relationships required more than occasional contact and speculated that they would likely result in routine work receiving priority over more creative but less tangible activity" (286). Here we are in 2021, and more often than not when it comes to liaison work it is basically something you do if and when you can get to it because you have to prioritize the routine work that keeps the library functioning. We often start out with great intentions, but as soon as the daily priorities take over, the intentions do not go very far. After all, given how busy we often are, the higher ups never have a good answer to the question of "if you want us to do this, what are you willing to drop?"
  
• Along with that are the ever popular budgetary concerns: "As budgets tighten, liaisons have assumed more roles that require new skills and more specialized expertise. No longer can liaisons become proficient themselves in each new capacity; rather, they must partner with other specialized colleagues and, at the same time, communicate their own expert capabilities more efficiently" (290).  
• However, more often than not, money is not as much of an issue as time is, especially since no higher up wants to drop stuff being done to add or exchange for additional more focused liaison work. Collection development per se lessens as libraries become more reliant on things like patron driven acquisitions, standing order plans, and buying resources by the bundle. This makes the acquisitions process less humane (but that is another question for another time).
  
• Later on, a bit more of the same in 2009, this time the authors cite Karla Hahn writing for Research Library Issues: "While research libraries may agree on the importance of the position, how to reconfigure liaison work has become a topic of broad concern. Identifying emerging roles and determining how to develop corresponding liaison capabilities are common challenges" (288). 
• We do need to keep in mind that this article was written pre-pandemic. I have not seen much on liaison work in light of the pandemic, but I have seen more on things like services to students, which is fine by me, they should be our main focus in my humble opinion. But still, if things were difficult to keep up liaison work, the pandemic has not done any favors for us. 
• Keep in mind also that Rutgers is a very large campus, and their librarians have a lot of specialties. That level of specialization is not an option in a small campus like mine. Liaison work here can be specialized subject or functional. We do both here to varying degrees. 
• Recommendation from the article: "redefining job descriptions for new recruits to reflect a variety of functional specialties to engage more actively on campus on issues related to data, copyright, Web and digital services, the undergraduate experience, and instructional design" (292).
• We did that here, for example, when a position was created and filled for a Digital Initiatives Librarian. 
• Recommendation from the article: "It was also recommended that the liaison librarians create an internal, online portal that includes policy documents, tools to aid in the delivery and assessment of instruction, outreach strategies, and information about how to articulate and communicate liaison activities efficiently" (297). 
• Another idea from the article: "In addition to centralized, virtual reference services, the librarians offer local, pop-up reference assistance at the Cook Campus Stephen and Lucy Chang Science Library" (298). The idea of doing pop-up reference in locations outside of the library is something I have considered in and out since before the pandemic. I think it would be nice to offer it, but for me, the question is besides me, who else would be willing to put the time for it? I do not anticipate others jumping at the idea. But still, maybe once the pandemic slows down enough to allow some degree of movement. 
• An example from their art librarian: ". . . the art librarian began in 2014 to hold weekly office hours in the lobbies of those distant units to meet with potential users. Arranged to suit student schedules, the art librarian brings a sign, laptop, brochures, candy, and sometimes library materials or a button maker" (299). In addition to the benefit to students, this additional visibility meant more engagement with the art faculty for the librarian. For me, something like this remains a nice idea, but then I get reminded of time factors and the question of whether the administration would support it or not (and support it more than just saying, sure go for it but you still have all the other stuff you have to do). 
• Still, there are benefits according to the authors that can make this worth it: "This successful initiative demonstrates that spending as little as two hours a week in a place where users learn and convene reaps big benefits for the library and its users, building stronger relationships with a liaison librarian and fostering a solid foundation for engaging with departments" (299). If nothing else, two extra hours does not sound that heavy in terms of load. I am not too likely to carry a button maker; we have one here, but it is an older extremely bulky model you can barely move. Such an initiative does have potential to help increase library support for students in addition to research consultations, virtual reference, and visits to the reference desk.  
• From the article, some ways to get more engagement include: 
• "work more proactively with their community, not just provide services to it" 
• "assess skills needed to achieve their goals" (this implies goals are being set and there is some commitment to do the professional development to develop skills plus administrative support)
• "tell their story more effectively to both library and campus colleagues" (building and maintaining communications is a key point of the article)
• Article includes checklists to help assess liaison efforts and for planning. 
  

 

 

Citation for the article: Kranich, Nancy, et.al., "Moving from Collecting to Connecting: Articulating, Assessing, and Communicating the Work of Liaison Librarians." portal: Libraries and the Academy 20.2 (April 2020): 285-304.

Article Note: On libraries serving transfer students

Citation for the article: Vinyard, Marc, "The Kids Are All Right: How Libraries Can Best Serve Transfer Students." portal: Libraries and the Academy, 20.2 (April 2020): 339-360.

 

As the article states in the title, "the kids are all right." While there is room for improvement for academic libraries to serve transfer students, the situation for these students is not as bad as previous library literature suggests. This quote from a student sums up the situation well: 

 

"There's not so much where you have to explain everything to transfer students. Because, like I said, we've had most of the information before, it's just figuring out how it's done here, and just getting a new mind-set essentially" (339). 

More often than not the idea is that libraries need to teach students how to do things locally rather than give full on information literacy instruction. The transfer students likely did get that instruction previously. Having said that, that experience at times can also make those students a bit more confident than they probably should be when it comes to their skills; in other words, they can get a little cocky. The author concluded that these students usually have a good understanding of how to do research and are confident in their research skills. They just need to learn institution-specific skills when they arrive in a new campus. I will say this does match with my experience over time when working with transfer students. They know more than librarians may give them credit for. 

The study took place at Pepperdine University, which is a Christian liberal arts university with 3,400 enrolled students at the time of the article. It almost twice the size of the college where I work, but it would still be comparable to us. Their First-Year Seminar and English 101 classes would be somewhat comparable to our General Studies GSTR 110 and 210 which serve an FYE seminar-type function here. 

The article states that two researchers conducted "in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 transfer students at Pepperdine during Spring 2018" (343). These students had to be undergraduates "who had completed at least one research assignment at Pepperdine that required resources outside their course readings" (343). That sample size seems a bit small to me but the author claims that the applied thematic analysis technique used means they could have gone as low as six students and gotten meaningful information. I leave it up to readers to judge. By the way, the interview participants did receive incentives to participate. "Participants in the study received $20 Amazon gift cards and $5 Starbucks vouchers as incentives" (344). Must be nice since here it is next to impossible to provide any incentive when we want to survey students on anything. I know; I've asked.The usual answer is either lack of funds (i.e. the administrators do not want to give us funds for the incentives even as other campus units give out all sorts of incentives) or some other excuse about "if we give them some kind of monetary incentive it can interfere with their aid or other" (which see previous statement), but I digress. The participants were nine females and three males. 

The article includes an appendix that features the interview instrument. I am thinking we could adapt some of the questions for our use here down the road.

Some takeaways for me from the article: 

• I like the idea of setting up a personal librarian program for transfer students, and students in general, but this may not always be successful. For example, the author mentions a program at University of Carolina at Chapel Hill where such effort was made to assign 40 librarians to 800 students. "Despite e-mail communication and welcome letters to incoming students, only 3.9 percent of transfer students utilized the program, falling short of its initial goal of 5 percent participation" (341). As we can see some things never change, in this case the known fact that students often neglect to even read their campus e-mail. By the way, 40 librarians seems to me a lot, but we need to realize UNC-Chapel Hill is a big campus. 
• The study aimed to answer the following two questions: 
• "How do transfer students look for information?"
• "From the transfer students' perspectives, how can the library best assist them?" (343).
•  On how the students approach research: 
• "While discussing the sources used for assignments, student preferences were evenly split between starting with open Web searches and with library databases" (346). 
• "One student warned, however, that peer-reviewed sources might not cover recent topics. . . " (346). This caught my eye because this is a reality I often need to convey to regular undergraduates when they pick the latest fad topic or straight out of the news event and they come asking for "peer reviewed sources" because their teacher said they need such sources. This can lead me to some interesting conversations with a student. A transfer student may be more likely to have learned this lesson. 
• "Additional methods [of finding sources] included approaches to organizing sources, determining if multiple sources had recurring themes, brainstorming effective keywords, and writing the conclusion of a paper before searching for sources" (347). I was doing OK with these until that last one, which can be problematic. At times, students who write out the conclusion before doing research are the ones we get in a panic a day or two before the paper is due because they need "just one more source, two tops" that fits whatever conclusion they fixated on when they started rather than doing actual research and taking the question where the research went. 
• On the role of librarians: 
• Sadly, "transfer students would much more likely ask professors rather than librarians for assistance" (349). We need to work on that. Sure, ask your professors for help related to the class, but ask your librarian for research assistance. The author also found that out of the twelve students interviewed, only one "favored librarians" (350). That is not exactly encouraging. In my college, we are lucky that we tend to get good feedback from students for our research consultations. Librarians do need to put in the work and effort.
  
• "Prior interactions with librarians can potentially influence the help-seeking behavior of transfer students at their new institutions" (349). This is where making a good impression as a librarian and professional will encourage students to seek us for assistance. I have heard enough stories of how librarians in prior institutions were not helpful to students. Honestly makes me wonder why some people become librarians if they are not helping their patrons or consider them a bother.  
• However, the author cites research that found "that transfer students who received library instruction would be more likely to ask subject librarians for research assistance" (353). I will add that here we have found that marketing librarian research consults during library instruction has helped to get students to seek library help later. Yet during COVID, without formal library instruction, this marketing has been more limited. 
• "Because institution-specific information is so important to helping transfer students succeed, libraries need to make them aware of library services. Nearly all the students interviewed thought the library should participate in the transfer student orientation sessions" (353). 
• To sum up: "Specifically, we need to implement outreach efforts that help students gain the following competencies: (1) familiarity with their subject liaison librarians, (2) knowledge of the subject-specific databases, and (3) ability to navigate the library's physical layout and services with emphasis on the library's print collections" (354). The knowledge of subject-specific databases is important, and it is something we do try to emphasize here as much as we can. The common "just use a discovery engine" or similar just does not really cut it to do focused research on a specific topic, but that is another topic for another day. 

Some items from the article's bibliography I may want to read later: 

•  John C. Phillips and Thomas A. Atwood, “Transferring Skills, Transferring Students: A Call
  to Academic Libraries,” College & Undergraduate Libraries 17, 4 (2010): 331–48.
• Lindsay M. Roberts, Megan E. Welsh, and Brittany Dudek, “Instruction and Outreach for
  Transfer Students: A Colorado Case Study,” College & Research Libraries 80, 1 (2019): 94–122.
• Helene Lafrance and Shannon B. Kealey, “A Boutique Personal Librarian Program for
  Transfer Students,” Reference Services Review 45, 2 (2017): 337.
• Sylvia G. Tag, “A Library Instruction Survey for Transfer Students: Implications for Library
  Services,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 30, 2 (2004): 102–8. 
• Chelsea Heinbach, Brittany Paloma Fiedler, Rosan Mitola, and Emily Pattni, “Dismantling
  Deficit Thinking: A Strengths-Based Inquiry into the Experiences of Transfer Students in
  and out of Academic Libraries,” In the Library with the Lead Pipe, February 6, 2019, http://
  www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2019/dismantling-deficit-thinking/.
  

 

 

Article Note: On social media as platform for academic library marketing

Citation for the article: Wesley Wing Hong Cheng, et.al., "Social Media as a Platform in Academic Library Marketing: a Comparative Study." Journal of Academic Librarianship 46 (2020): 1-8.

This article looks at use of social media for marketing academic libraries. Libraries often hope to use social media as a tool to better engage their patrons. Given the popularity and ubiquitousness of social media, there is a need for library professionals to learn new skills and best practices in this area. The authors write that "librarians should know how to use these tools effectively by understanding behavior, culture, and etiquette of different users" (2). The librarians and library staff also need to examine how their patrons use and engage with social media. This article looks at an evaluation study done at University of Hong Kong Libraries on how effective or not use of social media was to market the academic library. The study focuses mainly on the library's Facebook page. Information was gathered via a quantitative survey created and distributed via a Google Form at the HKU campus. A total of 101 responses from faculty and students were collected.

Some takeaways from the article for me: 

• A definition of marketing: "Johnson (2014) defines the term marketing from a library context, which is to determine the wants and needs of the user communities, to develop the products and services to respond, as well as to encourage users and potential users to take advantage of those products and services" (qtd. in 1). 
• On perception of the Facebook page they found that "although respondents generally agreed that the use of library Facebook could be beneficial, some issues such as a lack of attractiveness, shortage of technical staff, and too much spamming might hinder them from participating in the HKUL's Facebook page actively" (5). 
• Suggestions from the article: 
• Use casual language and friendly tools so you can create a positive social media environment for users. 
• Introduce training sessions on library marketing with topics such as effective communication and use of social media tools. 
• Adjust posting frequency after investigating when users are most active. Do keep posting frequently. 
• Criteria you can use to evaluate how your social media is performing include numbers of likes, shares, and comments on posts. These are measurable and can be used to set benchmarks. 

 

 

Booknote: The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror (2nd Edition)

(Crossposted from my personal blog, The Itinerant Librarian)

Becky Siegel Spratford, The Reader's Advisory Guide to Horror (2nd edition). Chicago: ALA, 2012. ISBN: 9780838911129. 

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Library science, readers' advisory, horror

This book was a serendipity find for me at the public library. I picked it up to get a refresher on the genre and help keep up my RA (readers' advisory for my non-librarian friends) skill set. I did take the coursework for RA in library school, but I am also an avid reader and strive to keep up with various genres. After all, if this academic librarian gig does not pan out, I think I can still get employed at a public library. Plus, for me, reading is fun. As for the horror genre, I would not consider myself a "horror reader," but I do read in the genre, which I enjoy now and then. This book is part of ALA's RA series, and it was pretty good in providing an overview of the genre. It is a good aide for librarians who may not know much about horror.

The book focuses on horror; it does address what could be labeled as "related" genres such as dark fantasy or paranormal, but the bottom line here is true horror. However, in this day and age where paranormal fiction (often romance with paranormal elements) is such a big hit with readers, it needs to be acknowledged in any discussion of horror, and the book does that, providing some small guidance on those given the crossover appeal. This is to address, for instance, the nice lady who reads, for example, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and wants to read more "horror." What that reader probably wants is more paranormal fiction, possibly with romance elements, but it has vampires and werewolves, so it has to be horror, right? The librarian does not have to "correct" the lady. Just know the distinctions so you can provide the best advice possible and help your reader get to their next great read. Yet at the end of the day, the core of the book is horror.

For the purposes of the book, the author defines horror as:

 "a story in which the author manipulates the reader's emotions by introducing situations in which unexplainable phenomena and unearthly creatures threaten the protagonist and provoke terror in the reader" (13). 

That definition is the starting point.

The book's first three chapters provide a history and genre overview. The next set of chapters provide annotated lists with some readalike suggestions in these horror topics:

• classics, 
• ghosts and haunted houses
• vampires
• zombies
• shape-shifters
• monsters and ancient evil
• witches and occult
• Satan and demonic possession
• comic horror.

The last two chapters deal with using your collection and marketing. The chapter on whole collection RA was good as it reassures librarians they may already have many horror titles in the collection they can start promoting right away. This chapter also looks at other genres such as supernatural, paranormal, nonfiction, and graphic novels that horror readers may like as well.

The book is mainly designed for librarians, especially public librarians. However, I think the chapters with book lists could help some advanced horror readers as well as readers new to the genre. As I mentioned, I do read some horror; I have read some of the basics, including some mentioned in the book, but I also found some new reading suggestions that I jotted down.

Overall, this is an accessible, concise book that provides a lot of reading ideas and suggestions. As a reader and librarian, I really liked this one. It does make me willing to go look for other books in the RA series too.

I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

* * * 

This is the list of titles I jotted down from the book to add to my TBR list. In parenthesis, I am putting the label the book used and any comments I may have. I am also including WorldCat links to help my four readers and me find them later.


Books I jotted down from the opening chapters (i.e. caught my eye right away):

• Joe Hill, Heart-Shaped Box (I have been told this is pretty much classic. Only Joe Hill I have read, which I enjoyed, is his Locke & Key graphic novel series.) 
• Brian Keene, Castaways (the author mentioned this book a few times, deals with one of those "Survivor" type of reality shows.)
• Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes (I have read Bradbury, and I can't believe I have not read this. We need to fix that gap.)
• Arthur Conan Doyle, Tales of Terror and Mystery. (1906)
• H.P. Lovecraft (I have actually read some of his works, but would love to read more)

Other books I jotted down as I read the book:

• Ray Garton, Live Girls (vampires)
• Otto Penzler, ed., The Vampire Archives: The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales Ever Published. 
• Brian M. Stableford, The Werewolves of London (shapeshifters. I have read his The Empire of Fear, which is a vampire novel.)
• Bentley Little, The Return (Monsters and ancient evil)
• Bryan Smith, Depraved (Monsters and ancient evil)
• Martin H. Greenberg, et.al., eds., 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories (Witches and occult)
• Clive Barker, The Hellbound Heart (Satan and demonic possession. This is the basis for the film Hellraiser. I have seen the film. As for his books, only one I have read is the graphic novel adaptation of Great and Secret Show- link to my review.)
• Joe Hill, Horns (Satan and demonic possession.)
• Tim Pratt, ed., Sympathy for the devil (Satan and demonic possession.)

ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Closing Keynote with Maria Hinojosa

ACRL Closing Keynote
Speaker: Maria Hinojosa.
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013, 11:00am

• (With this post, I conclude the series of notes from the ACRL 2013 Conference. Will I make it to Portland in two years? Maybe. In the meantime, thanks to my four readers for stopping by, and read on)
• The American Dream does not exist anymore. (Ok, that's it, we are done. That is all folks. On a serious note, actually, I do agree with this idea. All we have to do is look around). 
• What happens when stories that are baseless are repeated? 
• The narrative is changing. Latinos do not see ourselves as a minority anymore, nor whites see us that way. Conversation and change are happening to change the narrative. Changing the narrative is the first step to owning the voice and transforming democracy. 
• Democracy matters to us all. 
• We librarians are the first line of defense. (Another thing I have often said, and I hope I am not alone in believing that)
• We need to build bridges of trust. Salvation lays in the binding of America. 
• Librarians are role models, so we are responsible to be accessible to those who need us. 
• "Eat your fear, put honey in your tongue, then swallow." In asking questions, take control. How do the questions you ask get others to tell their stories?
•  New immigrants are the America waking up, feeling out of place, so we need to care. 
• Hinojosa recommends reading Sonia Sotomayor's new book. (She did not specify which one, so I am guessing it is Sotomayor's memoir My Beloved World.) 
• Hinojosa strives to create safe spaces, in her classrooms and in her work, so people can tell their stories. This is about seeing beyond what we usually see. 
• If you see injustice, say something. If you see injustice, say and do something. 
• Understand that what we do and our stories have power. 
• For Latinos, stuck in the "US Mambo = 3 steps forward, 2 steps back." We are a big market, yet we get our books banned; we get discriminated against. In Arizona, librotraficante comes as a democratic reply, the book smuggler.
• Latinos in the front line of democratic excesses, of a challenge to democracy. We need access to information, knowing our rights and engaging in democracy and society. We librarians serve as an example to Latinos and others. 
• Latino youths need us to see them, and to see we fight for them. They need us librarians. 
• There can be happiness in seeing each other, in seeing ourselves in others' eyes. This is the work we do. 

ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Panel Session on Queering the Library

ACRL Panel Session
Topic: "Queering the Library: What are YOU Doing to Serve Your LGBTQ Community?"
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013, 8:30am

• (I was interested in this panel because I do have an interest in the topic, both as a librarian, and as an ally. I do have to note that this was an interest I could not always express, certainly not "too much" in my previous workplace, but let us leave that behind. In addition, since I have done some reading on the topic-- see here, here, and over here--, I figured this would be a good follow-up. It definitely was worth it getting up early on the last day of the conference for this panel.)
• See http://librarylea.com/queerlib for the presentation slides. 
• LGBTQ issues and needs of students is a good research topic; case studies can be meaningful. There is a lack in the LIS Literature (I know. I have not seen a lot of this neither). 
• Look at the LGBT Campus Climate Index (I did check. Curiously, neither my previous place nor my current place are listed. Though if I go by experience, my current place is lot more friendly, so to speak). 
• From cited survey by Rankin (it refers to this. Note, it is not a free product. However, I did check WorldCat, and a few libraries have it, so ILL may be possible): 
• 31% of LGBTQ students identify their campus as phobic. 
• 21% experience harassment. 
• Many students consider leaving campus as a result. This has an impact on retention (and I would guess it may have some impact on reputation as well, at least among LGBTQ people). Campus responses have been less than adequate.
• This is a library issue. 
• We are about equality. 
• Show that the library supports all students with materials and access. The challenge is the line between visibility and privacy. 
• Safe spaces to access materials are necessary. Also, work with any LGBTQ campus center, if it exists. Such places often have their own libraries as well. 
• Overall, LGBTQ centers are still rare on campuses. 
•  From the Q&A: I am one voice. What can I do? 
• Put yourself out. Still, let others know you are a resource. Start by making your office a safe space. You being visible is an act of subversion. 
• From the Q&A: Could this get me in trouble? (The basic answer is yes. Sort of implied in the discussion is that you have to measure your own risk tolerance and act accordingly, but act.)
• Embrace discomfort and trouble. 
• In hostile environments, maybe keep the faith as change is coming (this seemed a bit on the idealistic side to me. In some cases, change may be extremely slow to come, if at all. Still, try to remain positive). 
• In hostile environments, do be aware of yourself and others. Gather your thoughts and support base. At the end of the day, do take the time to decompress. 
• In an extreme case, getting fired may be worth it (though here I would say, again, measure your risk tolerance. If you are single with nothing to lose, you can probably do this with ease. If others depend on you, like family, maybe instead of getting fired you bide your time and move the hell out of Dodge. Don't burn bridges unnecessarily, but when you do move and secure a new position, make sure the old place knows exactly why you are leaving). 

Booknote: Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook

Consider this a brief intermission from my series of posts on my ACRL 2013 conference notes. I just finished this book, and I wanted to share it with my four readers right away.

Smallwood, Carol, ed., Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook. Chicago: American Library Association, 2010.

ISBN: 978-0-8389-1006-1

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Library Science, Outreach

I think this is a book that every outreach librarian, or any librarian planning to do outreach (or had outreach dumped on his/her lap) needs to have. It is not perfect, but it is pretty close. The editor brings together 37 librarians from a diverse range of libraries and settings (such as archives) to write about their best techniques and activities for library outreach. The only reason I say the book is not perfect is because the entries do vary: some are more practical in terms of telling you how things are done (what I am really interested in to be honest) and others are a bit more "how we did good, let's all be warm and fuzzy" entries. That aside, this is a very good book full of ideas that should inspire other librarians out there. One of the things I really liked were the various essays on collaborations between schools and local libraries, be they public or academic. Working in this kind of situation is something that interests me, and that at times I have tried to accomplish back when I was doing outreach (as it was my job title and what I did), but was never able to get around to it (it was low priority compared to other more pressing things). I still think such collaborations are crucial, and for me, maybe something to explore later. So, that definitely gave me some hope.

The book answers questions such as:

• how can I better promote library services? 
• how can I work with specific constituencies? 
• learn more about partnerships, be they on campus or in your community. 
• and more. 

To be honest, I wish I had this book back when I was working as an outreach librarian. I had to learn and figure out a lot of things on my own, often with very minimal support, and seeing what others have done, and more importantly, how they did it, would have been helpful. So, if you are an outreach librarian, whether because that is your job title or by default (because no one else wants to do it), do yourself a favor and read this book. My current workplace owns it, which is how I read it. But I would say this is one I would add to my own professional book shelf. It provides both advice and inspiration, and librarians can always use both.

Article Note: On Outreach Initiatives

Citation for the article:

Dennis, Melissa, "Outreach Initiatives in Academic Libraries, 2009-2011." Reference Services Review 40.3 (2012): 368-383.

Read via Interlibrary Loan.

The article discusses the results of a very small survey sample of 21 librarians who managed to correctly complete the survey on the topic of outreach duties. I have to wonder about my professional brethren's ability to read directions given that the author mentions that some non-academic librarians tried to complete the survey in spite of her directions specifying it was geared to academic librarians. And then, out of a total of 37 responses, only 21 managed to correctly complete it (373). I thought literacy was a requirement to be a librarian. The small sample size is certainly an issue, but this then just leaves room for further research as the author suggests at the end of the article.

I was interested in this article because I was an Outreach Librarian at my previous place of work (PPOW). That was my title, and my duties included coordinating, creating, and implementing programs for the library for the academic campus and the community at large. I also served as the library's social media specialist. In addition, I was also a subject liaison, and I worked as a reference librarian with rotations at the reference desk. So, the kind of work Dennis is discussing is the kind of work I used to do. I will note that my position was designed to have that title and set of responsibilities. In other words, unlike the librarians sampled, it was not just some secondary thing for me to do; it was my main thing to do. That support for it at various levels varied from inconsistent to non-existent is a separate issue (one I may discuss later).

Dennis notes that the ACRL Standards include expectations for the library to contribute to institutional effectiveness, which gives a rationale for outreach activities (qtd. in 368). For me, much of outreach is a contribution to institutional effectiveness. Specifically, it is important to campus commitments of creating lifelong learners. Dennis goes on to add that "implementing successful outreach initiatives may offer more ways for individual libraries to measure their value to the institution" (369). I would argue that a good outreach program can add value to the library and campus; it also can build a lot of good will.

Some additional notes from the article:

• An initial definition of outreach: "The term 'outreach' typically implies reaching out to non-traditional library users, extending 'beyond borders' of a physical library and promoting underutilized or new library resources. Today's outreach librarians may use the term more broadly to include any initiative that reaches an audience that otherwise may have not been exposed to library resources or services" (369). I partially agree with the latter part of that statement, and I will discuss it a bit more below.
• The duties of the outreach librarian will overlap with other departments and units. I know mine did. I worked very closely with our instruction librarian back in the day, plus I did reference work. In fact, reference for me was another way to reach students and whoever else came into the library. It is a given, I would say, that you will do other things, and your duties will overlap. The exception may be on a very large campus where librarians are very specialized, something the author notes. But if you work in a mid-sized place and smaller, outreach may well be one of the many hats you wear whether you have the title or not. Here I am slowly discovering that much of the outreach efforts will overlap with my instruction and information literacy duties; however, I do have a team I can count on for help. We have a lot of room for growth here.
• Funding can be a challenge. Support I would say is a big challenge as well. Outreach can sound like a glamorous job, especially if you think all it is is doing social media (also known as "sitting on your computer doing Facebook, online chat, etc. all day" as I have known some people who aspired to just that), which may be a part of outreach, but it is not all of outreach. It can be challenging. It takes work, and it takes an ability to get along with people since a lot of the work is collaborative in nature. An ambivalent administration and/or resistant librarians can also be a significant challenge. 
• There is a suggestion that academic librarians should "look to non-academic librarians as their own job duties expand and include outreach" (Cmor, qtd. in 370). Because there is no possible way we can learn anything from public librarians. Pardon the snark, but something that does irritate me is the snobbery a lot of librarians exhibit when it comes to public librarians; like somehow they are beneath us. Personally, I have found that I learn a lot from public librarians. I can only hope that what I share, some of them may find useful as well. I think in many cases there are opportunities for collaboration that are missed, often due to that snobbish attitude. 
• Dennis mentions that academic liaison librarians are starting to include outreach in their duties (371). This also expands the definition of outreach. Recently, on some online forum I prefer to not mention, there was the question of what is defined as outreach. The apparent consensus was that it is just reaching outside the library to the community at large. Yes, that is part of it, but it is not all of it. When I go work in a student dorm on campus, that is outreach (even though the students are my main constituency/stakeholder). When I reach out to faculty members, whether in person or online, to make them aware and engage them in our various services, that is outreach as well. When I bring them into the library for a program, that is outreach as well. So, if I am hiring for an outreach position, those would also be things I would look for. An outreach librarian works in and out of the library. You really cannot have one without the other, and it is not just for the "non-traditionals" or "not the usual" folks. Sometimes you do have to reach out to "the usual folks" as well. Plus, often those "usual folks" may be your ambassadors of word of mouth to bring other people to the library. 
• Other ideas for outreach, which are mentioned, and that I am thinking abut for my campus: 
• residence halls
• international students
• some academic departments (a librarian outpost)
• student affairs
• campus orientation (I am actually starting to work on this with some help from others on campus). 
• The eternal challenge, and this can vary in severity from place to place: "To increase participation, future events would need to be better scheduled, advertised, and more widely marketed" (372). This also includes knowing small local details, things like, if you live in a pretty conservative religious town (as I used to do), you don't schedule events on a Wednesday night (it's church night). 
• The article provides a small, nice list of some outreach initiatives other librarians have done. I will admit I am always amused by the bathroom stall newsletter idea. 
• As I mentioned, I had the title of outreach librarian. However, this may have been an exception rather than a rule if we go by the article. Dennis writes that "the fact that none f the titles of these participants includes the words 'outreach,' 'marketing,' or 'promotion' indicates that outreach is probably not a primary function of the participant's job, but rather a smaller portion of the job" (375). Dennis notes further than her survey did not ask how much time the participants devoted to outreach, something that I would have found of interest. Dennis concludes that outreach has become ingrained "in a wide variety of public service positions. . ." (375).
• We do need to note "it seems that the position of 'outreach librarian' is still inconsistent in many academic libraries, and thus the initiatives considered successful outreach projects come in different packages" (377). From my experience, I can attest to this. 
• "The survey indicates that academic librarians with little investment in outreach initiatives still feel a need to perform outreach, as new technologies require such projects to fall into their line of duties" (378). And there is more that could be said on uses of technology and social media for outreach, but that is another topic for another time. 

 

Article Note: Brief one on "Making the Most of Twitter"

Citation for the article:

Sump-Crethar, A. Nicole, "Making the Most of Twitter." The Reference Librarian 53 (2012): 349-354.

Read online.

Like most LIS articles dealing with some social media or technology, this one may be starting to show age already. That is a common hazard for this type of article. A reason I say that is the suggestion on using RSS readers for monitoring things given that, unfortunately, RSS readers seem to be diminishing. Google pretty much has the monopoly on that, and if they remain as flaky as they have been with other things, like iGoogle, I wonder how long before it goes out too. That would be a pity given that, in my case, at least, I do like to get my feeds nice and organized rather than relying on random feeds from friends and others in social media. Point is I just wondered how accurate the suggestion from the article was.

The other thing I wondered about, which is something I often wonder about as a librarian, is the issue of the digital gap. As a profession, we tend to make the assumption that everyone, somehow, magically, can get on the Internet pretty much at any time and do so with speed and reliability. There is also the assumption that almost everyone has a mobile device, and they can, again, access the Internet with speed and reliability, never mind things such as cell phone companies putting caps on data plans (you know, the so-called "shared" plans out there; exception at the moment seem to be Spring and T-Mobile, for now). While I do think libraries need to adapt as much as possible to new technologies, for one, I don't think we should do it at the expense of those who may not have newer shinier toys. I could go on, but that is not what this article was really about. This is just some stuff I was thinking about as I read it.

So, the article itself does have a few good points that I think are worth remembering, so I am jotting them down. In addition, I am considering whether our library should jump and get a Twitter account or not. So far, the consensus seems to be we do not need it. I see some potential for it, but I may wait to bring it up. In part because we just launched a blog for our library, so I may see how the blog is received before I try something else. Plus, we do have a Facebook page, so I can see why the urgency to jump on another social media tool is not there. This looks like something for me to reflect upon a bit more before I make a move, which would be supported (I am fortunate in that regard).

So, what are some ideas from the article I want to remember?

• "A library's Twitter feed needs to build relationships, grab people's attention, fit the user's needs, and generate a conversation between users and the library" (350). We do some of the above already on our Facebook page, and we hope to do a bit more on our blog now. The need for Twitter may not be there yet, and if it is not, then I don't think we should create a solution looking for a problem (at least not yet). 
• The article mentions management tools Tweetdeck (has been bought by Twitter), Hootsuite (which has free and paid models), and Echofon. 
• This next point does intrigue me because I do believe a library should be visible and play a central role in its community. The author writes, "libraries can increase their visibility and centrality as a community service by using Twitter to share important news" (352).  Sharing news and being a hub for people to find local information, whether by sharing content or creating it, seems to be a logical thing a library can do.
• If you do choose to use Twitter, don't just link it on the library website. Use a widget (and there are various options for this) to display the actual Twitter feed on the library website. Twitter does have an option to create something you can embed. As for some of the suggestions in the article, such as Widgetbox, they either cost something (when I checked Widgetbox it did not seem to have any free options and apparently the company was acquired by someone else) or they are just no longer out there. That is another hazard with a lot of 2.0 tools; they are often here today and gone tomorrow, so use with caution. 
• And finally, do remember that "social networks are personal" (353). There should be a person or more behind the social media presence. I will add that once you make the jump you do have to keep updating, adding and sharing content, and overall, be active and dynamic. Worse you can do is sign up and then leave a dead site in place. If you cannot put the effort in, do not bother. You are better off not doing it than starting out then letting it languish. 

Article Note: On Progressive LGBTQ Reference

Citation for the article:

Mehra, Bharat and Donna Braquet, "Progressive LGBTQ Reference: Coming Out in the 21st Century." Reference Services Review 39.3 (2011): 401-422.

Read via Emerald.

I found this to be a pretty good, practical article, and I will probably share it with the campus sex education specialist. Maybe it will spark a conversation or two. The basic question of the article is whether reference services have kept up with ways and tools to meet the learning and information needs of the LGBTQ community. The article presents a practice-based framework for these services. The authors also mention that library outreach needs to affirm its mission by seeking out and developing partnerships with other campus units such as student organizations; that is a lot of what I do here in my current role as the Outreach Librarian. However, the article did give me some additional ideas that I hope to apply in expanding that mission here. Such partnerships can facilitate new and better library programs. In addition, the authors state that virtual reference can also be an important service tool for LGBTQ patrons. This is due to the anonymity element virtual reference can offer, which the authors discuss in the article.

The article presents research done at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, which, as the authors cite, is an area "known for its conservative social views stemming from strong held religious influences, [that] is in the heart of the 'Bible Belt'" (405). The description of that area is very applicable to the area I currently work in. So, if those folks can make some positive efforts in regard to LGBTQ issues, maybe we could take some steps here as well. The review portion of the article goes on to state various diversity and LGBTQ-friendly initiatives the campus has taken. The authors also describe their libraries as having been "a leader on campus with regards to diversity initiatives" (405). That is something every academic library should aspire to do.

The authors go on to describe their research methods including use of qualitative study in the form of interviews of self-identified LGBTQ people. The questions asked that were related to the library and information services are useful ones to gather some good data. For the authors, this led to a reflective process that included doing a SWOT analysis and identifying opportunities and potential partnerships in order to move forward. The article then includes excellent, practical ideas for action.

Selected notes from the article:

• This quote from a patron, cited by the authors, made me think: "When you are coming out and digging for information, it is really important to be able to find information about yourself. You want to read stuff about you and what you are trying to figure out. Maybe a website that directs you right to the areas where you can find LGBTQ books or spotlight a gay books now and then on the library homepage. So having something that they can discover on their own, something that they don't have to go too far into the library website or the university website, for that matter, would be good. If you promote that you have these resources and let people know where they are, it will do a lot for those struggling to come out" (408). 
• Online information is crucial, especially since people at times may not feel comfortable asking a reference librarian at the reference desk. Online resources need to be relevant, local as well as external, and promote knowledge growth for the LGBTQ patrons, their allies, and I will add those people just wanting to learn more. This also includes virtual reference. 
• Again, I am reminded that I need to develop an LGBTQ research guide for us here. We use LibGuides here, so I've got that tool. The usual challenge is the lack of time (plus the possibility someone up above may say "what do we need that for?" or slightly worse). 
• On how librarians need to change: "In order to make this possible, traditionalist reference librarians will have to poke their 'ostrich heads' out of the proverbial sands of heterosexism and prejudice and learn to discard using outdated efforts towards LGBTQ matters and outgrow resistance that in the past have included (Mehta and Braquet, 2007b): ignoring or excluding any LGBTQ references in communication and information exchanges; being ignorant of LGBTQ concerns and thinking that is an acceptable excuse; maintaining status quo and refusing to change the way things function; not discarding heterosexual assumptions; using delaying and strategic actions of diverting attention or bureaucractic procedures; and making token gestures that do not make real changes" (409). For librarians, ignorance is not an excuse nor an option. And any librarian who behaves as described above, whether to LGBTQ patrons or any other patron that may not fit their paradigm or prejudices (racial, ethnic, orientation, etc.), as far as I am concerned they are as bad as those unethical pharmacists who refuse to provide legal contraception because their sky fairy beliefs take precedence. Those people should be fired and removed from their profession for they have failed to be professionals, not to mention failing at being human beings. 
• Why we need knowledgeable librarians in this regard. The authors cite another patron, and what happened to this patron should not have happened as far as I am concerned. Not in my library if I can help it. The scenario: "I contacted a librarian by e-mail for a paper I was doing and we never could meet, so she left me a packet behind the reference desk. She was helpful and not discriminatory or anything but over half the resources she gave me were not what I needed. They were off-the-wall and conservative. She wasn't doing it on purpose or anything; it was just not at all what I needed. So, having someone there who is familiar enough with subject matter to lead you in the right direction would have been helpful" (409). I think this patron may be a bit more charitable than I might be. Sounds like the librarian failed to do any form of reference interview, and she just picked out whatever she could find guided by her own prejudices. I will go so far as to tell colleagues that if they do not want to deal with someone based on something like this, refer them to me. I will be happy to take care of them. 
• Community engagement is crucial. 
• Training for librarians, especially those who may be less knowledgeable, is important. "For reference services to become a beacon of support to all LGBTQ individuals, this will mean, first and foremost, for reference librarians to spend some time to become familiar with the coming out profess so that they can effectively assist a range of LGBTQ individuals. . . . "(411). 
• The library's outreach role is crucial as well. This is something I work and strive for. The authors write, "instead, in order to stay relevant in the twenty-first century there needs to be a paradigm shift in the outreach liaison functionality of the academic library (including reference) to promote itself as a proactive player and supporter of LGBTQ concerns in the campus and surrounding community (Mehra and Srinivasan, 2007)" (qtd. in 412). 
• More on outreach, the authors describe this scenario. This is something I do try to do when I am doing outreach work; I do quite a lot of tables and booths at events, which makes me in essence a public face for the library. They write, "when the library does outreach, say at tables or booths at events, the library should get across the message the library is the place to find resources on all types of issues of diversity, including LGBT" (413). 
• I found the idea of using a university library's chat service intriguing. The authors describe a collaboration with local school librarians and GSA groups promoting the academic library as a resource for all, whether they are affiliated to the university or not. This is facilitated by the fact the chat service is anonymous and requires no log-in. What we use now is also anonymous and requires no log-in. Given the restraints I face, I am not sure I could propose this for the library's chat reference, but it might work for my own Meebo chat box in my research guides so folks needing assistance from schools and the community could contact me. I would like to investigate this further. 
• This quote on social justice also made me think. I find myself often going back to the ideas of social justice because it goes with who I am in spite of the prevailing environment I currently work in. It also takes me back the idea of library neutrality that I have reflected upon before. The quote in question: "It suggests the need for traditional academic librarians and others to play a more proactive social justice and social advocacy role to meet the needs of LGBTQ populations and other minorities who are pigeon-holed on the margins of society owing to prevailing trends of heterosexism, homophobia, racism, sexism, and other unfair and unjust legal, social, cultural, economic, and political rhetoric, values, behavior, and discriminatory practices" (417). 

Article Note: On Campus Climate and GLBT Resources in Academic Libraries

Citation for the article:

Ciszek, Matthew P., "Out on the Web: The Relationship Between Campus Climate and GLBT-related Web-based Resources in Academic Libraries." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 37.5 (September 2011): 430-436.

Read via Library Literature and Information Science database.

I found the recommendations at the end of the article to be the most useful part, but I did get some points for reflection and further thinking from the article overall. This is a relevant article from librarians seeking to be more aware of the issues as well as for those seeking to provide better services and resources for members of the LGBT community. While providing both print and online diverse collections is important, the article focuses on online and we-based resources. This is because online resources are specially essential to serve those who may be reluctant to approach library staff in person and/or may not be open about their orientation.

The article discusses results of a survey of 259 schools asking three questions (I paraphrased them slightly. The exact text in article on page 432):

• Does the library have research guides on the LGBT topics or geared to these students? 
• Is there a dedicated selector for this topic, or at least a contact in the library for more information? 
• Does the library subscribe to GLBT Life Database?

I will put myself on the line by answering the questions as they apply to my institution:

• Not at this time. 
• Unofficially, I would be that selector. However, the fact that I have some expertise or that I am the one who, primarily, selects materials in that area is not advertised by the library. In fact, there has been questioning of the fact I do such selections. I usually do a book display for Pride Month in June, which has met with some degree of objection as well locally. I do it anyways. As a disclosure note, I am one two advisors for the campus LGBTQA group. Some people are aware I do it, but overall they are indifferent about it. 
• No. 

The author states that library online catalogs, special collections and print materials were excluded from the research. This was done to focus on general resources, which the author states would be available in most academic libraries (432). I can see the point to this, but I wondered if eliminating the print also leaves out the possibility of finding  materials by browsing.. However, I do see the point as well regarding stigma when it comes to finding these kind of materials then checking them out of the library.

Though the author did find that there was a relationship between campus climate and the availability of LGBT resources, the places with said resources seemed low in number:

• "Evidence of a GLBT research guide was found at only 25% of libraries surveyed, and evidence of a selector or resource contact was found at even fewer libraries surveyed" (434). 
• A subscription to the database was found a bit more often, but the author credits this to the fact that, in many cases, the database may be bundled in a larger database package. Also, smaller institutions might find GLBT Life to be too expensive.

The article gives some very good recommendations for action. I will jot down some with brief comments:

• "Create a top-level research guide geared toward GLBT-related topics and resources on the library's Web site" (435). We could easily do it since we use LibGuides here. However, since I would be the one doing it, odds are good this would not be a high priority given the many other things I do have to do. I would like to do it; I just don't see the time opening up to do it at this point in time, and since this topic is not a high priority, there is no incentive. The author mentions that often LGBT materials get tossed in or put into larger guides for topics like Gender Studies or Women's Studies. He makes a valid point that some students may not think to look in these guides  We currently do not have a Gender Studies nor a Women's Studies research guide in our library. I guess no one ever requested one. Something more to consider.
• "Assign a selector for GLBT materials who is tasked to keep abreast of resources in the area of GLBT studies and purchase materials for the GLBT community on campus as budgets allow" (435). As I mentioned, I do this in an unofficial capacity. The literature selector here does purchase a thing or two, but GLBT is not a high priority overall. What I do select in large measure is part of my work and efforts for library outreach. It basically gets done as long as I do it. 
• "Highlight GLBT related collections and resources on the library's Web site, newsletter, and other institution communications to the campus community at large" (435). We do some of this. As the Outreach Librarian, I handle the library's communications to the campus and community at large. We do blog content, which does get channeled into our social media, mainly Facebook page and Twitter. I have also used the internal campus bulletin board for some of this, usually to announce a book display or event (something I do for other observances and topics as well). 
• "Perform an assessment of GLBT students, faculty, and staff information and resource needs and create a plan for meeting these needs" (435). Something I would like to do, but I may not be able to get to right away. In this regard, I would like to read a bit more on this assessment topic, and the article does provide some references I could use as a starting point. Then again, there are other areas where I would like to do needs assessment, if I can actually get the time instead of having to do a lot of busywork (but I will not go into that now). I am thinking a good place to start is with the local campus LGBTQA group. 

Here is one final point from the article that made me think a bit:

• "Mehra and Bracquet argue that academic librarians should become 'change agents' by not only improving the library collections and services to GLBT persons but also by promoting the equality of these people in society and in the institutions where they work" (431). 

Why did that make me think? For one, I do wonder how one or two librarians can do such in an overall environment that is not very friendly to 'change agents' (related to LGBT or any other issue for that matter). I am not saying that librarians then in such a setting should not do anything; silence is worse, but to what extent do you put your neck on the line when repercussions can be a very real possibility? And I am thinking in general terms here.  For me, this goes along with the whole idea of library neutrality, an idea I have struggled with at times and pondered (see here, here, and here). Change agent to me is more than just some twopointopian "visionary" (to borrow the term from the Annoyed Librarian). I have no problem with the idea; it's the carrying it out that at times I ponder.

Anyhow, leave my musings aside. If this is a topic that interests you, you probably should read this article.

Webinar Notes: David Lee King on "Facebook in the Library"

I am running a bit behind on putting notes up for things like this. Then again, my professional blogging has been running a bit slow, but I will not go into that now. At any rate, I had the chance to listen to this ALA sponsored webinar by David Lee King. The topic was "Facebook in the Library: Enhancing Library Services and Engaging Users." As my library's outreach librarian, which includes being the social media specialist, this certainly was something relevant to my work. These are my notes from the presentation which took place on November 2, 2011. My comments, if any, will be in parenthesis.

* * * * 

--Presentation began with a poll. Results of the survey of 220 participants on the question of whether their library has a Facebook page or not:

• 145/220 Have it.
• 28/220 Have it, but they do not do much with it. 
• 31/220 Do not have a Facebook page for their library.

--Question: How do we use Facebook in an organizational way?

--Libraries need to be in Facebook given that our communities are there already.

--51% of Americans 12 years old and up are on Facebook, according to Edison Research. 50% of those log in every day. This is an audience to reach via your Facebook organizational page.

--Facebook pages are made for conversation and engagement. Think of turning strangers into friends. Get to know people as you do people in your buildings.

--Some recent Facebook changes:

• Profile page changes. This his more like a "start page" now. Timeline is more prominent (update note as of this writing: Facebook is definitely implementing their "Timeline" feature whether you want it or not. For me, the jury is still out on this, so to speak). Timeline, which pretty much shows everything you have ever done on Facebook as far back as possible does present privacy concerns (then again, when has Facebook really respected or even considered any privacy concerns of its users?). 
• Status updates are becoming "stories." (And yet another annoyance since you are forced to choose between highlighted stories and recent. Either way, it boils down to what Facebook thinks you want to see. Personally, this is not very responsive to how I prefer to see the feed. For the library's page, it means having to work more on making stories "sticky" since they can get lost thanks to this new mess). 
• The "like" feature can now be a verb (I have not seen this yet). So you can "[verb] any [noun]." Like "gestures." You could now say things like "I read X" instead of just "I like X."
• Social viewing. 
• Apps. you may be implementing/adding to Facebook (or just some pesky app. that wants a permission, say if you read Yahoo! news and want to share it on Facebook using the Facebook app. on Yahoo!) will ask permission only once. You need to watch out for this (often people click through without thinking it over. Once you do, you pretty much gave Facebook permission to sell you to the app. maker and pretty much anyone else out there connected to the app.). 
• You can "subscribe" to people. This is different than "friending." A subscription allows you to select items to go to your wall without "friending." (This sounds basically like subscribing to someone's rss on a feed reader to me. Personally, if I already have someone on my feed reader, I am not duplicating them on my Facebook nor on my Twitter as a general rule. The reverse applies. If I follow someone on Twitter, I am not likely to add their blog to my rss or subscribe to them on Facebook. I don't need to see the same things over and over, and it is rare the folk who actually does anything substantially different from one platform to the next. However, for libraries, again, this boils to making good content that folks will want to read or see so they subscribe to you, since Facebook's new formula will bury you otherwise unless you get enough folks to like your content, etc.). 

--Facebook pages are changing too:

• You can comment as yourself or as your page/organization (this is in place already. I have not used the feature to comment someplace else "as the library."). 
• As an organization, you can "friend" or "like" other pages, but not individuals. 
• You can like a user and feature them on your page. You can do this instead of having a random list of people and pages displaying on your page. 
• Facebook will be cutting out the ability to send messages to fans. 
• Facebook places becomes "location." 
• Pages will have a timeline as well. 
• The feature of sending blog posts to Facebook notes automatically once you set it up vanishes. You now have to do it manually. 
• The discussion tab in pages is gone. 

-- King went over how to set up a page briefly.

--Went over some features. You can set up custom tabs (something I need to look into for our library page).

--Reminder that page administrators do need to have their own Facebook profile in order to have a page.

--You can use the page's status to post news, events, and ask questions (we do this already, so this was nothing new).

--The "call to action" feature. You can use this to direct people to do something: register for an event, comment, read something. Ask people to like something and share it. Ask questions so your users will answer. Do thank people when folks comment and interact on your Facebook page. This shows you are alive and engaged.

--Engagement is not so much about "likes" but about delivering content that persuades users to action and engagement. Need people to interact and comment so stories rise on the users' walls. This is trickier than before (due to Facebook changes, see my previous comment). You do get feedback on interactions from Facebook, including stats such likes, times shared, times seen.

--Consider "friending/liking" other organizations. Your content can appear on their pages then depending on their set-up.

--Host discussions. You can do this via your status updates.

--Educate your users, show them how FB changes and how they can make better use of it (something we work on, but we could do more).

--Post pictures and videos (we do post pictures. Videos may be coming soon now that we have a YouTube Channel).

--On goals:

• Planning is needed for a successful and active Facebook page. Who does the work? (Here, I do the work. However, getting the administration to accept and realize that planning is needed, and that managing the page is "real" work and not just I do on the side is a significant issue locally. It is part of my job, yet I often lack support for said part of the job. Yet, the administration does like to brag about the library's Facebook presence). 
• Plan how often to post. You can survey the library page's friends to see how much you should be posting. 
• Part of the planning should include how to answer any questions that come in to the page after hours as well as how to handle other "odd" questions. 
• Set goals for a year. How many updates a week? Content. How many fans do we want? (Right now, I do a lot of this "by ear." I would like to plan for this a bit more consistently, but at the moment, the support is not there due to "other priorities," some valid, some less so. I would definitely like to plan content better. I do try at the least to put content for timely things). 
• Check for Facebook plug-ins in Wordpress. 
• Facebook Insights are the analytics. You can find good statistics here. (I need to explore this more as part of the planning process). You can even see things such as were "likes" are coming from and demographics.
• A good goal can be to target audiences. This is where you use your demographic data, so you can target based on who you wish to target. 
• Something to consider is creating an advertisement on Facebook; however, this does cost money (ads, that is). 

Some questions from the audience:

• In academic libraries, you can do all of the above. The main difference is in focus. We have a known audience in academia, which can be good. Ask students what the find useful, what can be helpful, then ask them to "like" the library page. Give them reasons to "like" the page. 
• Use "hooks" in academic libraries such as freshman experience programs, etc. 
• As an academic librarian, "friending" students can be good depending on comfort levels (I have done this to some extent).
• City libraries often face bureaucratic administrations, various degrees of censorship, so on. (Actually, some academic libraries also have those types of bureaucratic administrations and degrees of censorship. I've had to deal with the campus news and information unit so they could be satisfied things would be "kosher" when I started out the library blog. More recently, they demanded to have a university representative of N&I be made an administrator in the library FB page; it's basically oversight). Tell them to see Facebook as a public conversation, like a town hall meeting. Pitch it as a public forum. Consider also having a social media policy, which can reassure the top folks (this is something I have wanted to do for a while, put something in writing in a formal way, but again, not a high priority to the top brass yet).
• On work versus personal profiles. Some have one profile. Other folks have two profiles. Facebook does discourage multiple user accounts, so use FB lists and privacy settings heavily. 
• Facebook is real work. It needs someone dedicated to it given it is a crucial communication tool (what I have been saying all along that I can't seem to get through to the powers that be). You make the connections to the users. This does include training the staff. The ROI (return on investment) is there. It is not easy to measure, but you can use Insights for some of it. 
• Taking photos in public places is legal--usually does not require permission. For a specific individual, you may need to ask. This is like a reporter getting contact information from an interview that will go on the news. 
• Set up multiple Facebook pages for library branches if branches have strong communities on their own. Setting up pages depending on services is also an option. 
• A sample goal: grow the page interactions with patrons. Keep updated with new/fresh content. 
• (For me, a sample goal would include writing a social media strategy document, also adding more staff. I would also like a goal dealing with specific community targeting).

Webinar Notes: On Training for Online Advocacy

This was an ALA free webinar, and to be honest, I was not particularly impressed since it mostly seemed like an infomercial for the information on the website. If there is anything I dislike about webinars, it is a sequence of PowerPoint slides with information that I could have found on a website on my own. Nevertheless, I took some notes, so I am jotting them down for possible future reference.

The event took place on October 29, 2010. Yes, I am running a little behind on transcribing notes, but then again, given I only have two readers, not much of an incentive, plus there is that other thing called work.

* * * * 

For me, the bottom line of this webinar was to discuss how to make advocates of your frontline staff, which I do think is a good idea, and we should be doing more in our libraries. After all, most if not all of our clients do deal with our frontline staff at some point. According to the presenters, doing this enhances your "traditional" advocacy. 

Two basic concepts: 

• The value of your respective library. You need to be able to articulate this. 
• Your value as a library employee. 

The idea is to get the frontliners to advocate at their comfort level. The frontliners are the ones who know the community; they have connections with patrons and users who then become our grassroots advocates. Managers do not have this, so it is important for the frontliners to work with management. So library advocacy is seen as everybody's job.

I found it interesting that in the example given from the Yolo County Library they have staff performance goals that reflect an "ambassador" role in service delivery and outreach. There is something to be said for the concept that the "ambassador" role should not just fall to the outreach librarian, but that it could be shared since we all make an impression of the library at one point or another.

Some questions to create discussion in your library:

• How do you define advocacy? 
• Why is it important? 
• How does it relate to marketing and fundraising? 
• What is our role versus the role of deans and administrators? 

It is important to realize that we need to demonstrate and communicate our value to the university (in terms of an academic setting, and we need to be doing this consistently). In addition, odds are good a lot of the frontline staff already do some form of advocacy; you should be able to articulate and recognize this. For the staff to be able to do it, they do have to be well-informed. 

Link to ALA's Frontline Advocacy Toolkit.

Link to ALA's Advocacy University.

Article note: On methods of academic librarian liaisons

Citation for the article:

Thull, James and Mary Anne Hansen, "Academic Library Liaison Programs in US Libraries: Methods and Benefits." New Library World 110.11/12 (2009): 529-540.

Read via Emerald.

This is another article discussing academic librarians and liaison work. This one looks a bit more at some of the theoretical foundations rather than just giving tips on technology use by liaisons like the previous article I read. As I stated in that previous article, the topic of liaison work for academic librarians is not one that is taught well in library schools, so reading in this area should be of interest to academic librarians. The Thull and Hansen article I read for this post provides a definition of liaison work and looks at some activities and practices for liaisons. I found this article particularly valuable because it includes a survey instrument for faculty; the tool is something I can modify and add to the survey I am currently working on for my liaison activities here.

The authors start with their literature review, where they look at the RUSA definitions for liaison work. They state that our clientele are faculty and students and that serving their needs is our primary goal. This is consistent with what we practice here, and I am sure other librarians will agree. The authors go on to mention that library users expect to find their information wherever they may be. Now, regardless of how unrealistic that expectation is or ill-informed like this guy who clearly does not understand how access to electronic scholarly sources really works. (and we could go into that topic some other time. And in the case of the guy, that he was a researcher and still does not get it is shameful), that expectation is there, and we have to address it. Folks think that everything is on Google and online. It does not matter that we know better. The fact is we have to educate others about the reality-- no, Google does not have everything. No, everything is not online. No, everything online is not free. In the end, we compete with Google and the Internet, and as the authors argue, our personal relationships with our departments may well be the best way to counter those unrealistic expectations while adding some value.

Some more notes from the article:

"Where libraries excel over Google is in providing reliable and authoritative sources of information" (531).

 Yes, we excel in providing added value, to borrow the business term. Anyone can run a Google search. Finding the good, reliable stuff is the real issue, and we are the ones who are masters at finding that good, reliable stuff (and we'll be happy to show you how to do it too).

A lot of the basic message in the article is for liaisons to be proactive. This includes being a marketer for the libraries. However, I tend to have a small problem with the idea given that it seems to let faculty off the hook. You see, if they don't hear from us, or rather choose to ignore us, then it must be our fault. While I certainly do believe in marketing, after all I work in outreach, there does come a moment when the faculty have to choose to get off their collective behinds and go to the library, or at the very least use the online resources effectively. And another thing articles like this often fail to mention in the rush to be optimistic is that there can be such a thing as too much marketing. As anyone who hates spam can attest, after a while, people will tune the messages out. The authors argue for being a library ambassador, which I certainly agree with since I do it every single day both as a liaison as the outreach librarian. Yes, we can and should be involved in things like faculty meetings, accreditation events, and other departmental events.

And sometimes you should go to some of those departmental events just for the fun of it. Our music librarian is a perfect example. The lady goes to every student concert and recital she can manage. It shows support for her students and faculty; it shows that the library, or at least some people in the library, have an interest in what the students do, and it shows that we can be interested in a way other than "pushing" what the library can do for you. I have always told her she should write a paper on some of her liaison work because she combines the actual marketing that many of these folks do with basic common sense. While a lot of these articles are big on using social software or technology, she still uses the personal touch, something I have advocated for before, and it works. She has strong departmental relationships with a combination of proactivity and genuine interest. Would that work for everybody? Maybe, maybe not, but I think that social angle is one to explore further. Or as she tells me when we get a small break to talk about what we do, "all that socializing we do is actually work. If only the powers that be would understand that."

Yet, not all the techniques you try to market the library work. As I mentioned, at times, the faculty do have to choose to show up for things. For instance, we have attempted the open house approach for faculty at the beginning of the academic year. We put a lot of effort into the publicity of the event and making sure our librarians are present. Faculty just consistently chose to attend. They clearly conveyed their lack of interest by their absence, so we decided to discontinue the event in favor of seeing if we can catch faculty, especially the new ones, in their offices. I mention this because a lot of the literature on the topic of liaison work fails to state the obvious-- it is a two-way street (or at least it should be a two-way street). No one ever addresses when the faculty choose to ignore you outright on the basis of "as long as I can get my research done in my office online, what do I need the library for?" Yes, that does happen even if a lot of librarians do not talk about it. I am talking about the faculty that you only hear about when they call the reference desk furious because their favorite database suddenly went down (hey, technical hiccups happen). I am talking about the faculty who complain that their students cannot do research (uh, you did see the information I have sent you in various forms on library instruction? Did you get my e-mails or other marketing on research consultations? Oh, you say you don't read the library's e-mails--yes, I have actually gotten that reply once or twice). Like I often tell my students, the tools are there, you do have to choose to use them. The authors discuss the issue of not all patrons being swayed, or rather they sort of mention it in passing:

"That being said, it should be acknowledged that some potential patrons will not swayed. Academic librarians should strive to educate all potential library users about the array of services and resources offered while recognizing that not everyone will be convinced to tap into library resources" (535).

Was it really that hard to say that? This reminds me of the days when I was in teacher training to become a school teacher where I had to eventually learn the lesson that you teach as if you were reaching every student, but you have to know that you will not reach all of them; you will lose some of them; a good number of them will fail and drop. It is a given. This is not that much different. We can work with idealism but being aware of the reality.

A couple of quotes from the article that are good and I want to jot down:

• "Being a marketer for the library essentially means selling the libraries resources and services to patrons and demonstrating why the libraries (sic) resources are better, showing them how librarians can help them and their students become better researchers through the reference and instruction services libraries offer" (532). Yes, and we have our work cut out for us. We have to show where we add that value. 
• "Libraries can have the greatest available services and resources but if their patrons are not using them then they are for naught" (532). 

The authors also bring up the all-time faculty excuse for not having library instruction-- we can't give up class time for it. I will be blunt: that is male bovine excrement. If you as a faculty member think that your students learning information literacy and learning how to do good research for your class is important, then you can make the time to provide instruction for it. It's called good planning. I honestly don't think faculty should get a free pass on this one under the "I have no time" rubric. Make the time, or otherwise you have no standing to complain when your students turn "research" based on Wikipedia, especially if we offered you options for library instruction and/or research consultations. The authors do list some compromises in lieu of this situation, and I suppose that in the end some solution is better than no solution. But we all know what really should be done. In the meantime, we will continue as liaisons to be creative and try to get our students the services they need.

Another quote that caught my attention: "Perseverance is necessary; it takes time, patience, and tenacity to cultivate effective liaison relationships" (535). That is something I have always said, and it is something I wish certain library directors who want quick results and stuff for "statistical reports" would understand. You have to cultivate those relationships. That process can and does take time, especially if you have a brand new liaison librarian trying to learn their way around an academic community (and if it is a small school with small town mentalities, the time factor may well take longer--that could well be someone's article too).

The authors additionally offer some suggestions and tips for getting to know a liaison area better. This is specially useful for those who get an area they themselves may not know well. It should not be an issue for a good librarian to learn what it takes to serve a liaison area. After all, we are good generalists and more importantly, we know how to learn and how to find the information we need. A good librarian is always keeping up and seeking to increase their knowledge.

I thought this was a statement of the obvious: "Institutional support that facilitates training opportunities in outreach and instruction for librarians is one key component of the liaison program" (536). Your library administration as well as your campus administration has to support your liaison work. Information and knowledge grow and change over time, and one has to keep up. Just because you got your MLS, it does not mean you stop learning or that you have no need for further training. For the institutions, I say this is a form of putting your money where you mouth is. You want good liaisons, provide support and continuing education for them. Otherwise, you reap what you sow, or rather fail to sow.

The final part of the article discusses the survey the authors conducted, and there are some insights in that part of the article worth looking at. As I mentioned, the survey instrument itself is useful as well. In the end, you can't just go by anecdotal evidence. You have to investigate to find out what are the actual campus needs in relation to the library, then act accordingly.

Article note: On student opinions of academic libraries using Facebook and MySpace for Outreach

Citation for the article:

Connell, Ruth Sara, "Academic Libraries, Facebook and MySpace, and Student Outreach: a Survey of Student Opinion." portal: Libraries and the Academy 9.1 (2009): 25-36.

Read via Project Muse. 

Right away, this article is starting to show a bit of age. Facebook (FB), in particular, has changed so fast since this article was published that some parts of the article are not as applicable. That is the problem overall in LIS literature trying to cover online social networking: by the time the article is written and published, a year or two have gone by, and that is a long time in the online world. However, that aside, there are some things worth considering in this article.

The article reports on a small study of first-year students done at Valparaiso University. They were asked "how they felt about libraries having a presence on social network sites and using that medium to contact students" (25). In the literature review, Connell discusses some approaches that other libraries have done from active solicitation of students to become friends of their FB profile to simply promoting the profile and letting students find it. Personally, I am not too keen on the idea of active solicitation. Yes, online social networks do have a lot of potential for libraries, and I think we need to go where our users are when it comes to service. However, being to aggressive seems like borderline spam to me. We do what Connell mentions that Penn State does, that is, "they recommend mentioning one's Facebook account in library instruction sessions and reference interviews and then letting students find that account" (28). I also mention it when we do outreach events. I usually ask students if they have an FB profile, and if they do, tell them the library has a page and ask them to consider checking it out.

Already in the literature review, the article is already showing some age. FB has pretty much moved organizations to create pages (here is ours, for instance), and it pretty much has closed down groups. And while the article does mention librarians having their own profiles, this distinction seems to get a little lost in the discussion. In addition, FB has done a few changes to their privacy options, sparking some controversy in the process. Additionally, a good number of the articles that Connell considers in her literature review were written when FB was a closed garden limited to college students. This is no longer the case as FB has expanded to become a very open ecosystem, with all the good and bad such implies. At any rate, the important question that the article raises is whether students are accepting of these uses. We have heard a lot in the library literature about libraries using online social media (I have looked at some examples from the literature here, here, and over here), but how do the students feel about it? This is what Connell is trying to answer. Let's look at the method and findings then:

• The sample is of 366 students out of 721 enrolled in what the school calls the Valpo Core (a sequence of classes all incoming students take) and first-year honor students.
• The study found a good degree of acceptance. According to Connell, "some participants, (63 or 17.2 percent) were very open to the idea and said that they would be proactive and invite the library to be their friend if they knew about the account" (31). In addition, the majority said they would not seek out the library, but they would accept if the library friended them (31). 
• The acceptance is dependent on the quality of the interaction. If the library offers useful information and updates, it is more likely to be accepted by the students. 
• A conclusion: "What was apparent from these results was that a one-size-fits-all model does not work when it comes to using social network sites for library outreach" (33). I would say that this boils down to getting to know your students and community. I would add that if you develop rapport with the students in person, they are more likely to check out and add your FB page to their favorites. 
• Connell urges librarians to create profiles for outreach; well, she uses the terms marketing and publicity (34), but I would like to think there is more than just marketing and publicity. I like to use our library profile for reference, for providing useful information, and once in a while to provide something interesting. The idea of librarians on FB and other online social spaces by now is a given. I think it is very rare to have librarians totally react against the idea. Some may choose not to participate, and that is ok, but I  think, at least based on my reading and observations, that the idea of us being in those spaces is accepted. Whether some take it too far is another question. And as side note, I do have a personal profile on FB, which I use a bit for professional use (I have student and faculty friends for instance, so I do some outreach that way), but it is also for personal use. As a result, I do avail myself of distinct privacy settings as necessary; also, my personal use is something I do reflect upon every so often. This is especially significant given that nowadays current and potential employers can use your profile against you if they find something they dislike (regardless of whether it is relevant to the profession, the workplace, or to put it  plainly, whether or not it is their business). So I walk a fine line of balance. 
• Another conclusion from the article: "Students made it clear in their responses that they do not want their time wasted" (34).