Article Note: On blogs and reference collaborative work

Citation for the article:

Pomerantz, Jeffrey and Frederic Stutzman. "Collaborative Reference Work in the Blogosphere." Reference Services Review 34.2 (2006): 200-212.

I have been coming across a few articles and items about blogs and applications for libraries and reference work. This article was picked up by Stephen Abrams, of Stephen's Lighthouse. Since he said it was a quick reading, I figured I would give it a try. He provides a link to the article, but it should be available on Emerald as well. The title did sound promising.

The article provides some basic definitions of what is a blog, and it identifies three types of blogs within the library community: the bulletin board type, the ones kept by individual librarians (like this one), and the ones from professional organizations like ACRLog. They make a small observation that "at this rate [referring to Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere"], it seems likely that blogs will come to reflect any and all topics in which people are interested" (201). I was thinking of how accurate or not that remark might be in light of Pew's recent study of bloggers. I found the collaboration idea quite intriguing, but in the end I am left with the question of how does the reference transaction start. Does a person post to a blog? The author's suggest that a reference transaction begins with the question from the patron (205), but does it mean it mean then a library would have a fully open blog for any patron to post? If so, how would one overcome issues like vandalism and spam? This is not made clear. They cite the example of Metafilter, but in order to post there, one has to register to become a member. I just don't see this detail working out well in libraries without a little more thought. Now, the use of the blog posts as a form of collective knowledge, an information resource, resembles what a knowledge base would do. I can attest that reference questions very often are repeated by various patrons over time. Our e-mail reference is an example of this, and some librarians who are savvy enough to save previous answers often will cut-and-paste a reply to a duplicate question (after editing out any previous identifying details). A reference blog might help solve this situation by making the answers to questions more accessible, but how does the user get to post the first time? Would we really expect our users to register for yet another thing in order to get an answer? This would not be unheard of, to an extent. Theoretically, many libraries restrict or limit their online reference services to people that they serve (an academic community, a particular county, etc.), but in practice, people can often send in a query if it is not really restricted (i.e., the library states a "preference" but does not verify if someone is affiliated to the academic community for instance). My question is would this be desirable and practical? It's the one question that the article did not seem to address clearly. Maybe the collective knowledge of readers out there might shed some light on the matter. The authors seem to be suggesting using the concept of a community blog, but unlike something like Metafilter, I am not so sure it would be as easy to get library users to register to another community. Then again, as I continue to spin it over, I wonder if the work some teen librarians have done for their libraries, where they do let patrons post reviews and things like that, may yield a possible answer. That would probably make a bit more sense in my estimation.

The authors also discuss possible issues in using a blog for reference services. One of these issues is the matter of credentials. Do we only let librarians answer questions? What about other paraprofessionals? Would patrons make an issue of this? Another issue is that of referrals. Librarians may at times refer a patron to another agency or location to get an answer. This could be addressed a bit better online because referrals may well be unnecessary. Since it is a community blog, the diversity of membership would be able to provide an answer. In contrast, in the traditional model of one librarian and one patron, if the question is outside the librarian's scope of knowledge, it would need a referral. Online, it would be like bringing various minds together. I can see the possibilities.

Some questions that the authors propose for further study include: maintaining quality of the responses (this is to avoid the Wikipedia syndrome), and what are best practices for using blogs in reference work (211). There are still questions, but this article does suggest some interesting ideas.

Quick Teaching Assessment Tool

Stephen Abram, of Stephen's Lighthouse, points to the getFAST quick assessment tool for teaching. It looks like something I should take a look at as a tool I may be able to use in my library for our instructional programs. At the moment, it is free software (at least until October 2006 according to the website).

When institutional cultures and innovation clash

I was scanning one of the Corante Innovation Hub's feeds, and I came across this line. I have been doing a bit more reading in the area of innovation and organizations. At this point, I mostly scan what I have added, but I am finding some interesting things. At any rate, the post's title is "Culture Shock: Do Most Innovation Problems Come Down to Culture?" According to Jeffrey Phillips, a Corante contributor, "Probably a third of the people I spoke to [at the Front End of Innovation conference] felt stymied by their culture - to the point where they've given up trying to implement anything and are simply observers of innovation." The line stuck with me for a couple of reasons. For one, while I was at Immersion, I had a chance to talk to some people in the program track during breaks and common sessions. A very common concern for the program folks was the issue of institutional culture. It seems they had a lot of questions in that regard, and some of those questions did make their way into the teacher track as well. How do you bring innovation when faced with an institutional culture that is stagnant, indifferent, and/or resistant? I will admit that I also wondered about that question. I am still looking for an answer.

Second, I wondered about libraries in general. The blog sector where librarians hang out is often full of the people who "get it." We hear of a few librarians who do great things, which is wonderful. We need more of those. However, it bothers me often that those who "get it" feel the need to chide (or worse) those who "don't get it." Here is my question: what if you do "get it," but you are in a culture that stymies you so much that you know implementing anything is out of the question? Sure, I am all for becoming the change you want to see and so on. One should be able to put their money where their mouth is. But there are places and moments that will drown the most shining example of a luminary. You see, for many of those libraries that do the wonderful things the rest of us read about, they needed to have institutional support in one form or another. They could have had the greatest minds of the L2 movement, but without an institutional culture to nurture, embrace them, and commit to innovation, they could have given up, or more likely used the power of their feet. I think it's easy to chide those seen as "not getting it" when you are in an easy supportive position. What is tragic is when someone talented and brilliant gives up to become the observer, and it probably happens in a quiet fashion that many do not consider. That came to mind when I read that line.

While I thinking, the post also quotes a definition of "learning moments" that I found interesting. I don't necessarily think that libraries will start giving out trips as prizes to those who share their learning moments. However, if my director is so inclined, I may have a list of places in mind I would not mind visiting (I know she reads this, thus the remark). What I want to point out is that the idea of removing fear so that learning can occur and be shared is a good one. It's good to take risks. Anyhow, the quote is from the CEO of WD-40 according to the post:

"A learning moment is a positive or negative outcome of any situation. But what it really is, is a culture where people are applauded and rewarded for sharing what works and what doesn't work. It's a freedom culture. It is one that takes away fear. I ran a 12-month program where every month I had people email me and share their learning moments. They would all get prizes and in the end we sent one of our employees on a fully paid trip around the world. The first month there were a few emails. Then as they saw they weren't being punished for this, more came."

In the time I have been a teacher, I have come to learn from what works and what does not work. You have to take risks. Sure, you will fall flat a few times, some lesson plans will simply implode or explode, and that should be ok. I like that freedom culture.

Presentation Notes: SirsiDynix's Library Conflict Management Webinar

I just completed listening to the online web seminar on Library Conflict Management offered by SirsiDynix. I have to say that after sitting an hour for it, I was a bit disappointed in this one. It seemed a bit too theoretical and not practical enough. In addition, the presenter seemed to be moving a bit too fast, which may be a reflection of trying to cover too much information in a short amount of time. It did have a lot of information. In the initial poll they ran, it turns out that a little over half of the attendants were public librarians (or from public libraries), which I admit makes me wonder about their settings. The seminar gave some signs of unhealthy conflict, key questions to ask, and four magic words to keep in mind. These are useful things, but in essence, for me at least, it seemed a bit too centered on "you have to change" and less on "what about when you do change but nothing still happens." In other words, as my father used to say, "if you bend over too much. . ." you get the idea. Personally, I don't bend over very well. I am flexible, but I only go so far. So in a way, the seminar's advice seemed a bit too idealistic. The reason it concerns me is because that line of thinking often leads to the conclusion of "if it's not working, it may be time to move on." But, there are still some useful ideas.

• The three key questions to ask when trying to resolve a conflict: what do you want? what about the other person? what will you change? The presenter noted that it is often very easy to forget about the other/opposing person in a conflict.
  
• The four magic words: what do you want next? what do you want instead? what do you want despite? what would satisfy you? Asking about what is next is looking towards the future. One should not be obssessed with the past; it is not healthy. Asking about instead and despite serve to acknowledge that the world is not perfect, and it looks towards making a change.
  
• You need to have empathy. However, empathy does not mean you agree with the other party. It means that you understand how something affects them. Also, remember to give people the benefit of the doubt.
  
• The presenter emphasized the importance of taking civility seriously, even if it means putting in as part of job descriptions and making sure people are evaluated on this as well as being evaluated on their more technical/job skills. This would definitely be nice. It is not something we need to worry about in terms of our workplace, but some of the patrons do have the ability to push the limits of civility. However, the seminar only concentrated on the workplace.

The seminar also looked at a list of bad symptoms. There were ten items on the list, which I am sure readers can look over in the archive once it is available. I just have some thoughts.

• The presenter started with bitterness as the first item. In the personal front, if you are bitter, you become toxic to others. So, it may be time for you to move on. Just remember not to take that bitterness with you. If you go to a new job, forget the old one, never talk about it, leave it behind. After all, you are looking to the future.
• Another bad symptom is stopped learning. This I would consider catastrophic, maybe because I could not envision myself as not learning. If I get to that point, I know I have to quit. To cure this, the presenter suggests including continuous learning in job descriptions and holding people accountable for it. Another bad symptom was stopped contribution where people just stick to a rote and refuse to be cross-trained or seek new tasks. The solution is the same as dealing with stopped learning.
  
• Loss of respect was listed as number eight on the list, but it probably should be higher on the list. Under this, sarcasm can be a very bad sign. Personally, respect is a big issue for me, and I see it as something you earn. You are owed courtesy, but respect you have to earn. So, if you don't respect a leader/administrator, options are either leaving, isolation, or minimizing the disrespect.
  
• Another issue was lack of consequences. This would be situations where: no one is ever disciplined or fired (due to conflict aversion), where there is no praise or reward, and/or where there are no evaluations or accountability. The question I would ask is what if there are evaluations, but they hold no consequences. In other words, an evaluation becomes an annual (or semiregular) ritual exercise that does not bring any merit reward (monetarily or otherwise), and it probably ends up in a dossier someplace that will not be revisited. If there is no incentive other than the ritual, what is the point? I would not mind an answer to that.
  

So, I would give this one a mixed review. There may be some good things for people who may not know anything on the topic. However, if you have already seen other workshops on the topic or read on it, there is nothing here terribly new.

Presentation Notes: Two on online tools for librarians

Yes, I am still playing some catch up, but I am also thinking some things over. This time I have Evanescence's "Haunted" on Pandora, which actually goes nicely with my mood, but let's get to it. In his presentation for the HigherEdBlogCon, "Blogs, Wikis and IM: Communication Tools for Subject Specialists," Chad Boeninger suggests that "instant messaging, blogs, and wikis can help to make the subject librarian's job easier and more effective as these technologies allow for increased communication with the academic community." Mr. Boeninger is a business subject specialist. He describes his setting and the business curriculum, which tends towards group work. Actually, this is similar to some of our business classes. He started his Business Blog as a way to answer recurring questions from his classes. He describes some of the blog's contents as follows:

The content of the Business Blog posts has ranged from general business research tips, such as how to find a SWOT analysis, to more specific topics such as finding information about the popcorn industry. I’ve even used the Business Blog to tell faculty and students about new databases and resources, as well as alert them to upcoming library events. Regardless of the content, the intent of each post is to teach and recommend the best resources for a project, not to simply provide an answer to a question.

The blog has proven successful overall given usage and the fact that other librarians have gone to create their own subject blogs.

Mr. Boeninger goes on to describe his use of instant messaging (IM). He, in essence, has made himself available to students by offering his personal IM screen names for students to contact him. I have done the same for my classes starting last spring. While I have not logged any transactions on IM yet, I do like the idea of offering another option. I can leave the IM running in the background while I work, so it's not intrusive. Unlike Mr. Boeninger, my screen names are not on my contact information on library web pages. I just advertise them in my classes along with other information like my e-mail. If I make that trading card I was thinking about for students, I would probably put my IM screen names in it. I do get a good number of e-mail reference transactions, and that works out well for me.

Next, Mr. Boeninger describes how he began experimenting with wikis for library guides' maintenance, and this led to the creation of the BizWiki, which is described as "a collection of business information resources available through Ohio University Libraries. It is designed to assist business researchers in finding the best resources for their projects or topics." Advantages of the wiki include the ability to search by keyword and the ability to assign categories to articles in the wiki. Cross-referencing can be greatly enhanced as well. There are other advantages to using a wiki discussed in the presentation.

Overall, this presentation shows how a combination of online tools can enhance communications with the academic community.

I also went over Rebecca Hedreen's presentation "An Online Research Toolkit--Exploring Web 2.0 for Library Research." This presentation has things for librarians, but it is also useful for students. The presentation's opening lines were interesting to me as I have often wondered about finding stuff I found once online at a later time. I started a del.icio.us account to supposedly
solve that, but I find that I don't really use it consistently. Sure, I have a bunch of bookmarks in one place, but one problem for is that I like having different sets of bookmarks. For instance, there are items that are related to work. Then there are other more recreational things I want to keep separate. Maybe I need a different account for those, or a different tool. I am aware of some tools to synchronize bookmarks from one computer to another, but I don't necessarily want the stuff I have at home mixed with the stuff I have at work. Something for me to think over.

The presentation begins with a small video introduction using YouTube, which is an interesting way to "walk the talk." She highlights her Online Research Toolkit, which provides reviews on various 2.0 tools. The presentation then moves on to various slides highlighting specific tools and application, using a blog to hold it all together. The presentation is well-organized, and it is the type of content that students may find useful for their research. I think some things may work on our setting. The set up with ODEO and Blogger looks like something I may be able to put to use, maybe for instructional purposes? Just a thought at this point.

The presentation also points out some of the disadvantages in the use of 2.0 tools, something I think some of the evangelists in their zeal tend to forget, such as loss of access or change in a company's ownership. Overall, remember that anything you put in these tools is public, even if you use the privacy options, so don't put anything sensitive on them.