Lost In The Tubes

When we read Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” in LIS 768, we also read a rebuttal article, “The Critics Need a Reboot” by David Wolman. I remember being very disappointed by Mr. Wolman’s article. It was all shallow and surface, and in this it did more to support Mr. Carr’s arguments than it did to rebut them. As an alternative rebuttal to Mr. Carr, I humbly suggest this article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-chabris-computers-brain-20100725,0,6062669.story

I find it possesses far more depth, it offers a compelling alternative to Mr. Carr’s ideas, and the subject authority of the authors is pretty good. I suggest this article should replace Mr. Wolman’s in the class reading for LIS 768.

Infographic by PPC Blog

Yesterday (May 26, 2010), Facebook announced that they’re rolling out new privacy features.  It looks like they’re giving a good deal of control back to the users and making the interface simpler.  In particular, there will now be an option that prevents third parties from knowing who your friends are, or what your interests are.  These are good things, in my opinion, but the new features are still largely based on an Opt-Out mentality, rather than an Opt-In one (which would be preferable).  As always, these changes may reset some of your settings to the new defaults, so check your settings when these changes hit your account!  Here’s a nifty little open-source tool to help you monitor your FB privacy settings.

For an excellent primer on the new settings, see this post: 10 Things You Need To Know About Today’s Facebook Privacy Changes

Wow.  I wish I’d seen this graphic while we were still in class:

http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

Kind of frightening, isn’t it?

I was very excited when I saw this class listed on the course catalog for this semester, and I couldn’t register for it fast enough! Half of my courses in the program have been for archives & special collections and the other half have been on digital and online library resources. Digital is the future of libraries and archives alike, so it makes sense to me to take as many classes as I can related to online technologies. I’d also seen Prof. Stephens’ name mentioned in a lot of the research I’d done for other classes, and several classmates had spoken very highly of him, so I was eager to get a chance to have him as a professor. When I saw a class about Library 2.0 and using social networking tools in library services – taught by one of the people widely credited with inventing Library 2.0 – it sounded perfect for me!

What I didn’t expect, though – This is the only class I’ve had in the GSLIS program since my 701 with Prof. Del Negro where I got to dig so deeply into the ideas and ideals of librarianship itself. Yes, the tools and gadgets were all here – and I learned more than I imagined there was to learn about how to use them – but this class was about so much more than that! I was reminded, anew, why I want to be a librarian in the first place. Prof. Stephens’ passion for this work, his obvious delight in his craft, the drive to help people and to provide the best services possible, is infectious and powerful! The tools we use are important, and it’s important that we learn how to use them well, but the reason we use them – the purpose of all of this – is to serve our communities. Too few of my classes to date have stressed that enough. This class taught me to remember the absolute importance of service in our chosen field.

I said this to Prof. Stephens already, but it bears repeating here: I’ve wanted to be a librarian for a long time. But I’ve never been as excited about becoming one as I am after taking this class!

I actually feel a little guilty right now – course reflections like this are supposed to offer constructive criticisms, and suggest improvements for the future. But I don’t have anything to say about this class that isn’t overwhelmingly positive! This is the best class I’ve had in the GSLIS program. Period. I’m going to miss it, and all of you, and Prof. Stephens, for a long time to come.

EDIT – I guess I do have one suggestion – I think the class would be better served in a less formal setting, without the desks sitting between us, someplace we could gather more in-the-round… but I don’t know if the University has a space like that with the level of technology the class requires.

The issues of online privacy and anonymity are not easy ones to tackle, but they are becoming increasingly pressing as we delve deeper into the Digital Age.  Many conflate anonymity with privacy, and the ability of people to control the information they share by maintaining an anonymous online presence does seem to reinforce the privacy of their personal information.  The privacy of patron information has long been one of the core values of library practice.  It seems natural to extend this same ideal of privacy to our online services as we venture into the world of social networking.  However, there is a price to pay for providing our patrons with online privacy – and, by extension, anonymity: some people will use this anonymity as an excuse to behave badly and disrupt the system.  I would argue, though, that this has been true of every human system throughout history, and we have always found ways of coping with such individuals.  The potential benefits of anonymity in library services are great; therefore, it seems counterproductive to deny our users, our communities, and ourselves these benefits just to deal with a handful of troublemakers.  Rather, we need to maintain a responsible and rational social networking policy to minimize the effect they can have.  We also need to be aware of the dangers posed to the privacy of personal information that are unique to online and social networking systems.  These dangers are real and we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about them, and about the proper methods of protecting our patrons from them.  Once again, denying services out of fear of these dangers is not the correct response.  Failing to offer socially networked services does no one any good.  These services offer real value to our patrons and to our communities; they are services that people want and libraries have an obligation to provide them to fulfill user needs.  The correct response in the brave new world of Library 2.0 is education and responsible implementation.

[This abstract is the concluding paragraph of my full paper, "Privacy and Anonymity in Library 2.0".  If you wish to read my full paper, click here.]

I was thinking more about our discussions in class about signage in libraries and how we should communicate rules to patrons.  I really like the philosophy that it works better for everyone if you tell people what they can do, rather than what they can’t.  For whatever reason, this reminded me a debate I had in a comparative religion class I took as an undergrad.  The professor suggested that the most telling comparison between the religious tenets of the Old & New Testaments is to contrast the Ten Commandments with the Eight Beatitudes.  Both are sets of behavioral rules, but they’re very different!  “Thou shalt not” is imposing and commanding; “Blessed are the” is suggestive, and makes the listener responsible for deciding how to enact it.  My undergrad class had a debate similar to the discussions we’ve had in this class – we agreed that telling people what they can do is more empowering than insisting on what they can’t do.  Then one of my classmates asked the question, “But how do you know how to follow the rules of the Beatitudes?”  Say what you want about which set of rules is friendlier, the Ten Commandments are very clear about how you should obey them!  The Beatitudes are too nebulous for people to be certain that they’re obeying them correctly.

OK, I know this comparison is massively overblown (and possibly sacrilegious) but I think my former-classmate’s question has relevance to our discussion about library rules.  Despite my comment in class that “semantics can solve most of our problems” and that “we just need to present them differently” – I’m beginning to wonder if this issue isn’t something much deeper.  It’s not just about how we state the rules, I wonder if we need to question the need for these rules in the first place.  I wonder if we need to radically alter the nature of the relationship between library and patron so that the idea of imposing rules on our patrons becomes irrelevant.  Instead of telling them how they should behave – either through commandments or through empowering suggestions – the relationship should be more of a partnership, more a conversation and a collaboration, than one of rule-maker and rule-obeyer.  If patrons were as vested in the operations and success of the library as the employees, if they were made equally responsible for creating the best library possible, then maybe the need for certain behaviors – and the need for limits on certain behaviors – would become self-evident and self-enforcing.

Or maybe, as always, I’m being hopelessly naïve and idealistic.

Reading through the articles on Social Media Guidelines, I noticed right off the bat that all of them are largely saying the same things.  All of them mention the need for common sense and the need for personal responsibility; they each suggest a definition of social media and tell us to be polite.  Several of them specifically mention copyright and the need to add value to an organization through the use of social media technologies.  I find Sharlyn Lauby’s article on Mashable.com, “10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy”, particularly helpful, as it brings together all the common points from the other articles.  I thought Dan Schawbel’s article, “Implement Social Media Guidelines, Now”, offers a solid conceptual framework for social media policies – the why to Ms. Lauby’s what.

As I was reading, I realized that I’m already familiar with the ideas behind these guidelines through my full-time job.  No, I don’t manage or participate in company social networking, but I handle customer service and the rules of conduct are pretty much the same: Be as helpful and friendly as possible.  It’s really that simple – and these ideals should be the basis for all library practice, whether face-to-face or through social media networks.  While we’ve discussed social media as a marketing tool for libraries, we need to remember that it’s also customer service.  We use these tools to interact with our patrons and to provide a wider range of services.  The rules of customer service apply here.

It seems like I always use public libraries as the setting for my assignments.  I find that when we’re exploring the concepts, theories, and practices of librarianship, public libraries are usually the first and most fertile testing grounds.  They boast the widest variety of users and user expectations, and they’re constantly being scrutinized in the public eye.  So, this Social Media Policy is for an imaginary public library in a medium-sized urban area.

The Athenaeum Library: Social Media Usage & Guidelines

The Athenaeum Library recognizes the popularity and prevalence of online social media in our community and we believe this technology presents tremendous opportunity for us to improve and expand both our user services and our presence in the community. Social networking sites enable users to create, explore, and share information resources, digital content, and media.   Among the most popular social networking sites are: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and MySpace.  The mission of online social networks is fully consistent with the best practices of librarianship – they enable beneficial information exchange and enrich learning environments.  We feel that social networking technologies should be embraced by all employees at the Athenaeum Library, to increase our engagement with our patrons and community, and to generate positive exposure for the Library.  In order to generate greatest benefit for our patrons and for the Library, we strongly encourage all employees of the Library to actively participate in these technologies and to connect with our patrons and community in new ways.

There are some basic guidelines that all employees should follow when engaging in social networking activities on behalf of the Library:

Be open, be honest
Talk about what we’re doing in the Library and why we’re doing it.  We want our patrons to know what we’re thinking about so that they can have input in the process.  Admit our mistakes, too.  We want our patrons to know that we take responsibility for them and we want them to see what we’re doing to try and fix things.

Don’t say anything that will harm the Library’s reputation or place us in legal liability.
We all have a vested interest in the Library’s reputation.  Please consult the Employee Manual for a comprehensive list of the things you’re contractually obligated to keep to yourself.

Don’t violate patron privacy
Don’t post anything that can reveal the identity of a patron or their library usage, either explicitly or through inference.

Don’t violate copyright or intellectual property rights
Don’t post anything that violates copyright or the intellectual property rights of anyone with whom we do business – patrons, publishers, or any of the various companies we work with.  Such postings include – but aren’t limited to – links, images, video, audio, text, or proprietary information.

Welcome feedback and constructive criticism
The more we know about our patrons’ needs and wants, the better able we’ll be to provide the best possible service!

Recommended Etiquette

Online social behavior should be governed by the same rules that we accept in face-to-face social interactions:

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you
Everyone wants to be treated with dignity, respect, and kindness.

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all
Insulting, derogatory, degrading, discriminatory, or hateful comments are illegal and violate the Library’s Code of Ethics.  We will not tolerate any such behavior and will deal with any such instances swiftly and harshly.

IMPORTANT – If you encounter such remarks from a patron, DO NOT RESPOND TO THEM!  Alert the Library’s Director of Social Media Initiatives to the comment, including the poster’s user name and the time and day the comment was posted, and they’ll determine the proper course of action.

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
Courtesy, kindness, and common decency do more to serve our patrons’ needs than anything else.

Make your mother proud
If your behavior would make your mother proud, then it will make your Library, our patrons, and our community proud, as well.

But mostly – Have Fun!

We’re proud of our Library and all our efforts to serve our community!  We want our patrons to know this!  We strive to make the Library a great place to work, and a great place for people to come to and use.  Let your passion show in all your interactions with our patrons and the community at large!

Sources Referenced:

Lauby, Sharlyn.2009 . 10 must-haves for your social media policy. Mashable. http://mashable.com/2009/06/02/social-media-policy-musts/ [accessed April 11, 2010]

Schawbel, Dan. 2009. Implement social media guidelines, now. Brian Solis. http://www.briansolis.com/2009/09/implement-social-media-guidelines-now/ [accessed April 11, 2010]

(Citations courtesy of Michael Stephens at http://lis768.tametheweb.com/assignments/social-media-policy/ )

For our Personal Learning Network project, we started with a face-to-face discussion – appropriately enough, given how important we all feel personal interaction is to a PLN.  We talked about what we each knew and didn’t know about PLNs, we asked each other questions, explored various avenues for approaching this topic, and by the end of that first session we had a rough outline of what we wanted to create together.  After the first face-to-face meeting in class, much of our communication was done through email; for many of us, it’s still the most convenient and reliable way to communicate.

Katy created our initial Personal Learning Networks Wiki using Google Sites and we each contributed to the content, showing each other what we were finding, sharing our own PLN resources and those we were discovering in our research, and exploring what we were each thinking.  I think it worked well that our particular interests were varied enough that we could each take on different aspects of this topic.  We originally thought we’d build a website using Drupal to present to the class, but, as you know, we ended up deciding that the social nature of the PLN we wanted to create was better served using Ning.  After communally deciding to dump the Drupal idea, Katy built the New Librarians: PLN site using Ning and emailed us each an invite to join.  Once the Ning site was up and running, I, for one, pretty much stopped using the Wiki.  From this point forward, our interactions were mostly through the Ning site and email, as well as one more face-to-face get together a couple weeks ago.  Most recently, Vicki suggested we have a group chat on the Ning site to finalize the order of our presentation, and yesterday (Friday) those of us that could, chatted.

There were also some tweets between us, and a couple of us posted resources that we found in our research on the LIS 768 class website for our fellow PLN group members to see.

I loved getting to use the Ning site for this project!  How wonderful that the vehicle we used to do our work is also the final product we got to share with everyone!  The fact is this – the best way to learn about PLNs is to build one and use it.  As you can imagine, we each spent a lot of time exploring our own PLNs and the technology that underlies them and makes them possible.  Now, I don’t just use my Google Reader – I think about how I’m using it.  I’m much more aware of why I use Facebook more than Twitter.  All the technologies and resources we’ve been exploring in this class are components of our PLNs; our group project let us experiment with these technologies in greater depth, and explore the wide variety of ways that they all intertwine to create a holistic learning environment that’s personalized to each of us.  I couldn’t have asked for a better capstone to this class!