Reaching Library Users: Delivering Dynamic Library Content with Blogs and Wikis

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Reaching Library Users Delivering Dynamic
Library Content with Blogs and Wikis

• Chad F. Boeninger
• NELINET IT Conference
• October 13, 2006

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Outline of Talk

• Overview of Blogs and Wikis
• Applications to complement or replace traditional
  subject guides/pathfinders
• Promote resources and research skills
• Pros and Cons of blogs/wikis

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What is a Blog?

• Initially a blog was a log of ones daily web
  travels
• Blogs became popular as online journals
• Now blogs are used for a variety of purposes

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Common Blog Characteristics

• Frequently updated
• Posts appear in reverse-chronological order
• Often theme or topic oriented
• Many allow comments
• Sense of community
• Syndicated content

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Leveraging Blogs for Libraries

• Create Dynamic content
• Multiple Authors
• Reduce bottleneck of information
• Give others ownership of content
• Syndication
• Internal and External Communication

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Internal Communication

• Communicate with department or library
• Keep staff up to date
• Build a knowledgebase
• Refblog http//www.library.ohiou.edu/refblog/
  (protected)

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External Communication

• Communicate with patrons
• Promote resources
• Announce events
• News Blog http//www.library.ohiou.edu/newsblog/
• Syndicate Podcasts http//www.library.ohiou.edu/po
  dcasts/

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Subject Blogs

• Subject blogs are tailored to a community of
  users
• Encourages knowledge of the community the
  library/librarian serves
• Encourages participation from the community

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Content of Subject Blogs

• New products, new book lists
• Promote resources
• Research hints
• Contact information
• FAQ resources
• Nuggets of Information Literacy
• Mortar for community building

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Why A Subject Blog

• Patrons can check the blog for the most recent
  entries
• Patrons can search the blog (knowledgebase)
• Librarians can link to posts
• To make your job easier
• To be a better librarian

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Examples of Posts

• Supermarket Grocery Industry Trends
• Company and Industry Research Guides
• 100 Best Companies to Work for
• Top Business Resources
• Apparel Industry Resources
• Mutual Funds Resources Video

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Business Blog Readers
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Blogs for Assessment
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Dreams vs. Reality

• Originally used to complement research guides
• Aspirations for comments/ community building
• RSS slow to catch on

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Cons of Blog

• Measuring use is difficult
• Which posts are being read?
• RSS is slow to catch on
• Authors must regularly generate content
• Organization of archives can be an issue
• Spam-- Use a filter like Akismet

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What is a Wiki?

• A website in which content can be created and
  edited by a community of users
• Best example is Wikipedia
• Strength of the resource is often dependent on
  the strength of the community

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Wiki as a Research Guide

• Previously had 3 research guides
• Business Research Guide
• International Business Research Guide
• Marketing Research Guide
• Redundancy of resources
• No interlinking
• Multiple edits of the same content

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Why A Wiki

• Incredibly easy to add content
• More room for content and nuggets
• Organize by categories
• Searchable
• Huge potential for building community
• Familiar interface???

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The Biz Wiki

• Organized by area of research need
• Browse by category or alphabet
• Searchable by keyword
• Users can edit/add content
• Interlinked articles allow for increased access
  to information
• The Biz Wiki
• http//www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/

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Reference Content

• Key reference resources
• Guides to common questions
• Definitions of terms
• Examples
• Regional Encyclopedia of Business Management
• Doing Business in Another Country
• Company Annual Reports

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Instruction Content

• Wikis make excellent teaching tools
• Replace class handouts
• Broader scope than class specific handouts
• Example Industry Research Basics
• Example Marketing 379 Assignment

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On the Fly Content
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On the Fly Content

• Email question from patron
• Respond to patron
• Similar question via IM
• Use content of previous question to create wiki
  article
• Answer is out of email and on the web
• Easier future access to information

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Creating Content

• Create an article
• Link to the article from another article
• Assign a category for the article

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Measuring Use
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Biz Wiki Usage

• 1 115055Academic Search Premier
• 2 37955 Lexis-Nexis Academic
• 3 21845 PsycINFO
• 4 20621 ERIC
• 5 18874 Business Source Complete
• 6 11456 Science Citation Index
• 7 11224 JSTOR
• 8 10711 Business and Industry
• 9 9793 BIOSIS Previews
• 10 9605 Education Abstracts

• 11 8789 AnyWho Directory
• 12 8438 WorldCat
• 13 7897 Medline
• 14 7883 Hoover's Online
• 15 7577 Factiva
• 16 6774 RefWorks
• 17 6686 Communication Mass Media Complete
• 18 6087 Biz Wiki
• 19 5911 Mergent Online
• 20 5769 Google
• January 1-October 5, 2006

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Feedback on the Wiki

• You werent around, so I showed them the Biz
  Wiki Guide to Doing Business in Another Country,
  and they were satisfied.--Reference Librarian
• I had no idea how to find a swot analysis, so I
  just searched for swot in the Biz Wiki, and low
  and behold, you had an article on finding a SWOT
  analysis. ---Reference Librarian

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Wiki Challenges

• Getting others to contribute
• Faculty, students, other librarians
• More content more maintenance
• Maintaining organization and structure with
  growth of content
• Difficult to see new content
• Spam, Spam, and more Spam

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Other Wiki Applications

• Internal Communication and Knowledgebase
• Campus/Community collaboration tool
• Course content management system

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Other Great Wikis

• SJCPL Subject Guides
• Butler Reference Wiki

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Blogs and Wikis

• Extend the reach of the librarian
• Promote sources
• Teach research skills
• Make the job of the librarian easier
• Make information and knowledge more accessible
• Potential for contributing to the academic
  learning community

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Lessons Learned

• Blogs and wikis take time
• Blogs and wikis save time for librarians and
  patrons
• Blogs and wikis can make you a better/more
  effective librarian

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More Lessons Learned

• Dont be surprised if usage is different than you
  expected
• Dont expect to be cool because you have a blog
  or wiki
• Patrons/Community will appreciate your work

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Future of Blogs and Wikis

• Gather measurable feedback from users
  (librarians, students, faculty)
• Record usage of library resources
• Investigate Other Uses
• Student Research Blogs/Wikis
• First-year experience wiki

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Special Thanks

• Alden Library Reference Staff
• Alden Library Systems Staff
• Numerous Library Bloggers
• Ohio University Business researchers

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Questions??
Slides available at LibraryVoice.com