Tech Day — Diana's group

In the “Yellow Moon” group, we had representatives from large library systems and small libraries (where the representing librarian is the only librarian). So our discussion, led by Diana Weaver, approached the topic of “How can we keep up with new technology” from a variety of viewpoints.

Question 1. We came to the conclusion that if our libraries are going to have blogs, we need to publicize the blogs, talk about them and get them into the public eye. But more importantly, we need to make sure we have the technical knowledge to create and maintain blogs. Not everyone in our group was familiar with the technology, and although they were assured that it’s easy to create a blog, they made an excellent point: talking about blogs and seeing presentations on blogs is no substitute for real-time, hands-on instruction on how to create a blog. Smaller libraries don’t have anything like a web content team to handle a blog, and librarians at smaller libraries don’t always have the time to learn about and maintain a blog.

Question 2. We started by talking about the most frequently asked questions from patrons about computers–and realized that there are a lot of them, and they’re usually fairly basic questions. It was proposed that NEKLS provide technical support in two ways: by sending trainers to libraries, especially the smaller ones who don’t have the time and staff to send people to Lawrence, to help with technology training (for both librarians and patrons); and by creating an online resource, a blog or wiki, that NEKLS members could use for frequently asked questions about technology.

Question 3. We all agreed that the most important service we would like to offer patrons was training them on where to find things–from items in the catalog to information on the internet. We would also like to offer patrons more advanced training in computers and technology. We talked about how we could use IM for reference, but we didn’t come up with any solid answers.

Question 4. Sort of continuing from the second question, we talked about how many of us need more than just the occasional technology conference to really help us keep up with new technologies. For some of us, just reading blogs and surfing the web helps us keep up with changing technology, but for most of us, we need classes and hands-on training that focuses on relevant technology. We also talked about how bookmark managers, like del.icio.us and Furl, could be used as a resource for librarians to communicate with other librarians, sharing sites for reference, crafts, book reviews and book clubs (among other things). We also talked about using other technologies to help create a real identity for a library’s community: using wikis to create a database on town information (and gossip); using Flikr to share library events with the community and the world; connecting people to the library, personalizing the library, showing the community that real people work there and use it.