August 2010
1 post
2 tags
Supporting Your Community | David Lee King →
In your library’s social media spaces, don’t be “The Library.” Be “David, the dude who works at the library.” Be a person, not a billboard.
July 2010
2 posts
2 tags
Online communities depend on continuity →
1 tag
Drupal 7.0 Alpha 6 released →
Our fifth Drupal 7 alpha version was released a little over a month ago. Today [July 9], we’re proud to announce the release of the sixth (and hopefully final) alpha version of Drupal 7.x for your further testing and feedback.
On or about August 1, 2010 (or when the upgrade path is working, whichever comes first) we will create a new official Drupal 7 release. If this list is fixed, it...
June 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Yahoo Style Guide and Web Content Resources →
Yahoo has released a style guide, The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World, in direct competition with the AP Styleguide. It will be in stores (yes, in digital & physical formats) on July 6th.
2 tags
What to expect as an online community manager →
Are you thinking about building your own online community? Perhaps you want to get paid to manage an existing one. If you’re new to the role of online community management, read on – I’ll outline what you can expect.
May 2010
1 post
2 tags
Does your Website Look Professional? →
Here’s something fun to do – browse through a list of libraries in your state, and poke around on their websites for a bit. If your state is anything like mine, you’ll find some nicely-designed library websites, and many others that … well … come up a bit lacking.
April 2010
2 posts
2 tags
An open letter to companies planning online... →
It’s great that you’re thinking about building an online community – but please make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, and in the right way. Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
1 tag
Drupal 7.0 Alpha 4 released →
[The] third Drupal 7 alpha version was released just over a month ago. Today, we’re proud to announce the release of the fourth alpha version of Drupal 7.x for your further testing and feedback.
3 tags
Don’t build a boring online community →
Online communities tend to fail for the same few reasons:
Lack of focus and understanding – There’s often too much focus on features and technology (most of your potential members are not interested in these but for some reason they’re top of your priority list).
Failure to ask ‘how’ – How will you attract members and get them talking? You spend days/weeks/months building the community website...
March 2010
6 posts
2 tags
Expressing your Organizational Personality Online →
Does your organization have a personality? You bet. Do you know what it is, and how to express it in different venues? Probably not, I’m guessing. Libraries are a great example of this. For many of us, the in-the-library personality is expressed as a fun, casual, maybe even sometimes inspirational one – smiles, helpful staff, colorful books, etc. That adds up to a light, informal, casual-but-hip...
2 tags
Your Library on Your iPhone →
I am not going to pretend that Gale/Cengage’s new AccessMyLibrary iPhone application is the reason I want an iPhone. I wanted an iPhone a long time ago, this just makes my yearning more painful and urgent.
3 tags
Release Day! SOPAC 2.1 Release Candidate & More! →
SOPAC 2.1 includes a number of very significant “under-the-hood” enhancements as well as a number of new features that vastly improve the search experience for the end user. 2.1 also sets the stage for a host of forthcoming SOPAC modules that will position SOPAC to start allowing patron-to-patron engagement. In many ways, 2.1 is the release where we can say that we go...
2 tags
When an influential community member goes rogue →
Not all members of your online community are created equal. Some are more popular than others, some contribute more often than others, and some are just more influential than others.
These influencers are of huge importance to your online community – and they’re also a little dangerous. You need to keep them onside, but you also need to be seen to treat them the same as everyone else.
So how do...
2 tags
10 Takeaways from the O’Reilly Tools of Change... →
Earlier this week I attended the O’Reilly Tools of Change (TOC) Conference for the first time. Over 1250 attendees gathered in New York City to discuss and network about issues and trends in publishing, in particular, digital publishing. While much of the information presented was for the publishing industry, I did manage to find several great ideas and concepts that relate to libraries.
February 2010
7 posts
3 tags
10 Technology Ideas Your Library Can Implement... →
Here are 10 ideas you can use to start creating, collaborating, connecting, and communicating through cutting-edge tools and techniques. All of them are culled from the 10 books in the Tech Set series, to be published by Neal-Schuman in March.
1 tag
New Drupal Book - Drupal 6 Performance Tips →
…. aimed at Drupal beginners, developers, designers, and webmasters who utilize the Drupal content management system to create robust websites. It provides crucial performance-related information for Drupal users of all experience levels, including module contributors, webmasters who simply configure and maintain Drupal websites, and even themers.
2 tags
Facebook as a Library Tool: Perceived v. Actual... →
Ye Olde Resource Shelf pointed the way to a preprint of Facebook as a Library Tool: Perceived v. Actual Use.
Libraries, in the past few years, have begun to examine the possibilities available to them through social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook as a tool for library awareness and marketing….This paper examines reported versus actual use of Facebook in libraries to identify...
3 tags
Humanizing your Facebook Pages →
So, to answer the question “Do students friend university library Facebook Pages?” (I hear that one a lot) the answer would be yes – IF those pages are being humanized. Looks like the pages with high fan counts have constant activity streams. Pretty much every day or so, something is happening on those Pages – there are regular status update posts, photos or videos are being added, and event...
2 tags
A beginner’s guide to building a presence on... →
Twitter is the best online marketing tool of the last five years. Thanks to Twitter, you can engage in immediate conversations, receive immediate feedback and find new people who share your interests.
From a community building standpoint, you can use Twitter to find potential new members, make people aware of your community, build your reputation and introduce people to others.
Many businesses...
1 tag
Showing Patrons the Door | David Lee King →
Is your website confusing? Do customers have to puzzle out what they need to do next while on your site? If so … your website is showing patrons the door. Same with our catalogs – a confusing catalog might just steer customers away from checking stuff out – and that’s one of our major, must-have services!
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Drupal and Libraries: An Interview with Drupal... →
Drupal is on a lot of librarian’s minds recently as a prime content management system candidate, especially in the wake of the New York Public Library’s recent Drupal debut. Alex Bronstein, a Software Architect at the web-development company CraftySpace, knows Drupal better than most. In addition to his work on library sites, Bronstein is also a developer of the Drupal Core, the essential...
January 2010
12 posts
2 tags
AMA's Free Conference: Social Media: Cracking the... →
You do not want to miss AMA’s Free Virtual Event - Social Media: Cracking the Code for Business Marketers on February 25, 2010 (9am - 5:15pm CST).
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Give yourself the best chance of community... →
The key to building a successful online community is to start small – build individual, meaningful relationships between you and potential members, and amongst your potential members. Don’t rush to build an online community website before you do this – you’ve already made the first (and probably the most common) mistake.
3 tags
13 Ways (and 147 Tools) to Help Your Library Save... →
These are my favorite options for libraries to use as alternatives to the expensive paid services and software that we use now, usually because our parent organizations or IT departments have gone along with the mainstream, bought the expensive stuff from the well-known companies, and never blinked. But now that we are all facing budget crunches the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades, we...
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Drupal Resources | Librarian in Black Blog →
[Here] is a presentation I did for the Califa Edgy Librarian Online conference, as part of a panel on using Drupal in libraries. My section focused on the resources that are out there to learn more about Drupal, tinker with it, and find support on how Drupal can be best used in a library setting.
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Improve Your Website: #02 Navigation & Wayfinding →
Navigation is a Big Deal. You might be thinking that it’s such a big deal that short of a complete arcitectural overhaul of your site, there isn’t a whole lot of “tinkering” you can do to make any real difference. Well, hold on to your hats, because that’s exactly what this post is about: quick, easy changes you can make to your library website to improve navigation and wayfinding.
1 tag
Why Social Media Isn't for Everyone →
In this giant food-mill of collective meaning making we are defining the significance of new terms and putting our arguments to the test. Like any self-interested group however, we easily slip into dogmas that serve our purposes but may not serve our clients. Lately I have become increasingly aware of the oversimplified answers that social media consultants apply, often regardless of business...
1 tag
Drupal 7.0 Alpha 1 release →
After nearly two years of development, we are proud to announce the release of the first alpha version of the Drupal 7.x family. This alpha includes a tremendous number of new features and new under-the-hood improvements for both users and developers.
3 tags
Open Source Saving Libraries Money →
Open source advocates have been claiming that libraries can save money by making the switch from proprietary solutions to open source alternatives. Two libraries are reporting that open source did just that - saved them money.
1 tag
New Book: Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours →
Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours helps you get up to speed with Drupal quickly. Whether you’re starting from scratch or working to fill in some gaps in your Drupal knowledge, you’ll find descriptions, examples, and Try It Yourself numbered steps to walk you through working with Drupal.
2 tags
Why do Librarians use Facebook? →
I’m sometimes asked why librarians should be interested in Facebook. Here’s a great answer to that question, via other librarians! (A video by David Lee King.)
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New Year’s resolutions for online community... →
It’s a New Year – a time to refocus, and potentially a good time for a fresh start. Allow me to propose some New Year’s resolutions for those that manage online communities:
1 tag
New Drupal Book: Drupal for Dummies →
Designed for non-programmers, Drupal For Dummies shows readers how to take advantage of everything in Drupal that is ready to use, including modules and third-party templates. For those readers who have been tapped to administer a Drupal site designed and programmed by a third-party developer, Drupal For Dummies provides the plain English instructions necessary to make changes across the site,...
December 2009
7 posts
2 tags
Inviting Comments →
Sometimes, a blog post or article on a library website doesn’t get any comments. And that’s fine – not every post is comment-worthy, right? But there are ways to prompt, or “invite” visitors to comment … even by using the website’s built-in comment functionality.
2 tags
Online community metrics: numbers you need to pay... →
I’m surprised people haven’t pulled me up on this yet – I often state that member count isn’t a reliable indicator of the success of an online community; but nobody has asked me what numbers are better to use. Here, I’ll offer you some suggestions.
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Improve Your Website: #01 Wrangling Content →
Less is Less (& That’s Good) We bet that your library’s website has too many pages. You might think that there’s no harm in keeping pages around just in case someone needs the info there. You’re probably wrong. More stuff on your site means that:
it takes more time to make sure it is still relevant and up to date.
your patrons are forced to sift through junk to find what they really need.
...
2 tags
Twitter lessons from Depeche Mode →
So what lesson is here for the library? Tweet when people are talking about you, and link to the original story or post. Re-Tweet particularly nice Tweets about you. Be consistent in sending out updates — but don’t overwhelm your users. Tweet things that your user base might be interested in. Remember – they’re fans. They’re following you because they care. So listen to them, reach out to...
3 tags
Michael Stephens on Hyperlinked Library →
Michael Stephens has a wonderful presentation (available as a PDF) entitled: The Hyperlinked Library in Times of Change and Challenge. As with all of Stephens’s presentations, I come away not only with more ideas and thoughts about my library’s services, but with a better feeling about what libraries do for society…our impact ever day on the people who access our services.
2 tags
User posting guidelines for library websites →
I get a lot of questions about what kind of policy to write for the public to get them to “write the right stuff” on the library’s website. Much of this stems from a fear that every library user will log on and write nasty things, use profanity, and somehow make the library website blow up. And you know what? It never happens.
2 tags
A pre-launch checklist for your new online... →
Maximise your chances of success – only launch your community website to the world when the following conditions have been met…
November 2009
14 posts
3 tags
New Technologies That Save Time & Money |... →
I presented at the Hawaii Library Association about technologies (largely web services & software) that are free, open source, save time, and/or save money….Some examples of what I cover: software for public & staff computers, staff scheduling tools, team meeting tools, tech support tools, audio & video services, eLearning tools, reference tools, social network tools, website...
3 tags
The Challenge Of Assessing Digital Library... →
Too often we have simply launched online services “because they’re cool,” without really thinking if they are appropriate for our audiences, whether we have the staffing or funding to support them, and whether or not they match up with our organizational priorities. Hopefully, I have presented a framework that can assist in providing well-thought-out digital library services.
3 tags
Improve your online community in five easy steps →
I get a lot of people contacting me for help with their online community. Most of the time, they are unhappy with the amount of activity taking place – they want to see more. Most of the time, I see the same (or at least similar) problems. Therefore, in this article I want to outline five ways you can easily improve your online community.
1 tag
Whitehouse.gov re-launches on Drupal →
Earlier this month, the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America relaunched their website, Whitehouse.gov, using Drupal….In this video, Macon Phillips addresses how they want to create opportunities for citizens to participate in their government. David Cole talks about why they wanted to change their technology platform, what they actually built, and where they are...
3 tags
Community Discussion Guidelines for our Digital... →
Remember my post from last summer about comments at my library’s website? Here’s a follow-up post to that earlier discussion.
Because of all those comments (some of which were mean, snarky and personal), we needed a good, fair, “official” way to deal with them. So I started poking around other websites with commenting policies and guidelines, and came up with a library version of commenting...
2 tags
Tapping the Power of the Local Library Anytime,... →
Doing research in our pajamas is a huge benefit of the Web and modern computers. But committed readers and researchers still want access to local libraries, with their vast troves of books, periodicals, and reference works. The best of both worlds? Tapping into your library over the Web, 24 hours a day.
1 tag
Drupal wins Hall of Fame Award in the 2009 Open... →
Drupal has won the Hall of Fame Award in the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. Drupal previously won the 2007and 2008 Best Overall Open Source CMS Award. As a result of the previous wins, Drupal graduated to the Hall of Fame along with Joomla.
1 tag
Drupal wins best open source PHP CMS for second... →
Drupal has won best open source PHP Content Management System for the second year in a row in the Packt Publishing 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. Drupal won by popular vote and a critical selection by a panel of judges. This award reflects the strong support of the Drupal community and our focus on quality which leads to critical acclaim and rapid adoption for large, high quality projects. Drupal...
3 tags
What is an online community manager? →
The precise description of an online community manager varies from organisation to organisation. Some companies will describe the responsibilities of an online community manager very differently to others. Some will offer roles with very similar job descriptions but very different job titles. The issue is this – there is no standard definition as to what an online community manager is, or does. We...
1 tag
ricklibrarian: This Book Is Overdue: How... →
In a time of economic stress, when librarians are needed more than ever, yet library budgets are being cut, Marilyn Johnson speaks out in our behalf in her forthcoming book This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. Her message to anyone who will listen is that librarians are the “authors of opportunity.”