www.le.ac.uk

Confessions & LamentationsSocial Web at the University of Leicester Library

Gareth J JohnsonDocument Supply & Repository ManagerDavid Wilson LibraryUniversity of Leicester

Slides: http://tinyurl.com/yjaqjs4

llordllama

Overview

• Questions (with no answers)

• The University of Leicester

• My World of Web 2

• Selected Web 2 elements at Leicester

• Concerns & challenges

• Questions (with some answers)

Questions

• What happens when your staff follow you in Web 2?

• Would you be a Facebook fan of your library?

• Should comments on blogs be unmoderated?

• Is all public communication “official”?

• What benefits to my organisation or custoemres could Web 2 offer?

Leicester University

• Top 20 in all National tables– 91% student satisfaction rate– 6th Highest citations rates relative to size

• 23,000 students– 41% Distance Learners

• Around 1000 academic staff– 93% submitted for RAE ’08– 87% determined to be producing internationally

significant research

• 4 Colleges– Moved from faculty structure this academic year

DWL Facts• Multi-award winning• 1500 User spaces• 38km shelving• 1M+ volumes on

shelves• 350 PCs + wireless

network• 13 Group study rooms• Graduate Media Zoo• 2 IT training suites• Also houses Careers,

Accessibility & Student Learning Deptswww.le.ac.uk/li/about/building/factsandfigures.htm

Web 2 is a State of Mind

• Web 2 is– Dynamic– Interrogative– Social (usually)– Public (mostly)– Organisation 2.0– Buzzwordtastic

• Web 2 isn’t– Static– One way– Formal (usually)– Private (mostly)– Organisation 1.0– Everything it’s

cracked up to be

My World of Web 2.0

• 1995 BBS (Arafel)

• 2004 Live Journal, My Space

• 2005 Wikipedia contributor

• 2006 YouTuber, Last.fm

• 2007 Facebook, Delicious, Linked in

• 2008 Tweeting, Wordpress, SlideShare, Kongragate

• 2009 WetPaint Wikis, Blip.fm

• 2010 Qik video

Personal Brand

From Wordle.net

Where Lies the Wub?

Web 2.0 at Leicester

• Library Blog

• Library Facebook presence

• Personal & Corporate Twitter accounts

• SlideShare

• Delicious social bookmarking

• Smallwordlz

• Team wikis

• Projects

• Youtube

• Chat Enquiries

• Google docs for collaboration

• Web 2.0 community

The Leicester Web 2.0 Community

Blogging

• UoL Library Blog– Informal but professional tone– Target audience of library and institution– Started quietly to gain voice– Went “public” after a month– Core of authors although all invited

• Knowledge based information resource

• External cloud based platform (WordPress)– High customisability– Low technical requirements

http://uollibraryblog.wordpress.com/

Facebook

• Page to promote services– Maintained by information librarians– 1,055 fans currently

• Rolls out and links to official news– Also houses some HQ images of the library– Replies to the occasional comment

• An attempt to reach into users social spaces

• Not actively promoted beyond front page links

http://www.iconarchive.com/show/web-2-icons-by-fasticon/FaceBook-icon.html

Twitter• Professional networks and networking

– “Enhanced my professional networks more in 2 years than CILIP has in 15”

– Involvement in local projects and community– Self-selected for engagers and enthusiasts

• A resource for enquiry resolution– Friendlier & more engaged than mailing lists– Instantaneous feedback & crowdsourcing– Cross pollination of blogging & other endeavours

• Are people talking about your service?– Search on #tags, monitor twitterfall or saved searches

Wikis

• PM.Wiki– Enquiry team manual, locally installed

• WetPaint– Cloud computing service with live linkage– Two team manuals on it now– Locked as private resource

• Team ownership– Allows easy editing by all, although in reality…– Allows rapid record of S.O.P.– Allows easy access globally 24/7

Web 2.0 Projects• Smallworldz

– Academic attempt to build PG professional networks– Students didn’t like enforced networking

• SM@LL– Portal project drawing on Delicious and Netvibes sites– Up front discussions and development using twitter

(#smallJISCRI) & Google Docs

• My Leicester Digital Archive– Video, image and text digitisation project– OCLC Content.dm with folksonomy and community

content addition

Web 2.0 at Leicester

• Library Blog

• Library Facebook presence

• Personal & Corporate Twitter accounts

• SlideShare

• Delicious social bookmarking

• Smallwordlz

• Team wikis

• Projects

• Youtube

• Chat Enquiries

• Google docs for collaboration

• Web 2.0 community

Brickbats

• Getting a twitter client installed– Isn’t email good enough?

• Stalkers and hidden followers– When openness bites you in the ass

• Official slap downs– Loss of control, clarity of message

• The stupidity of crowds – Dealing with trolls and griefers– Majority of interactions promising and

supportive

Concerns

• But what about Second Life?– Poor UI and experience

• Web 2 allows breaking down corporate façade– Humanises the service

• Concerns over splitting personal from professional?

• Justifying it to senior management – “It isn’t suitable for US!”

• Go where the users are don’t expect them to come to where you are?

Questions (Redux)• What happens when your staff follow you in Web 2?

– Encourage twitter, remember crowded room. Others less keen

• Would you be a Facebook fan of your library?– No, it’s personal and they pay me to be there

• Should comments on blogs be unmoderated?– Yes, promotes open discussion and can always activate spam or

redact entries

• Is all public communication “official”?– No. Not everything I say is “official” so why would anything I

tweet be.

• What benefits to my organisation or customers could Web 2 offer?

Final Toghts

• What works for us might not work for you

• A lot depends on culture, ethos and personalities

• Experiment (if you can) with services and see what others use them for

• Better to start small and often, than big and static

• Share your experiences openly in the Web 2.0 domain

• Be frequent, be responsive and avoid auto-responses

• Gareth J Johnson, DS&R Manager– Email: gjj6@le.ac.uk– Tel: extn 0116-252-2039– Web 2.0: llordllama– Hashtag: #uol #ukoln

Contacts

References

• Slides– http://tinyurl.com/yjaqjs4

• Facebook DWLibary– http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2

• Leicester UoL Web 2.0 Community– http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2

• UoL Library Blog– http://uollibraryblog.wordpress.com/