Blogs Still Work, and other stuff I learned in 2010

Here's a summary of some things I learned in 2010.

1. It's not what you know, or even who you know - it's the fact that you're willing to step up and share the knowledge

I've said before, the great thing about all the technology floating around the net right now is that it enables you to do stuff for yourself. Why wait for someone else to come up with the same idea, or to act on yours? You don't need any seniority, or even any money - just ideas and a will to put the time into making them happen.

On a similar note, you don't have to be particularly expert on something to talk about it, or write about it, or create it. You just have to stick your head above the parapit and be visible and a bit determined.

2. Blogs still work

2010 has been great and much of the good stuff seems to revolve around having a blog. The blog is like the sun and all the other opportunities that come up are like the planets - they get their light from the blog. The blog is like the conduit, or the gate-way, for cool stuff.

Since I started blogging a year and a half ago, I've read many articles claiming blogs are dead or dying. Those accused of man-slaughtering the medium include micro-blogging particularly, and also more visual stuff like Tumblr and video-blogging. I can see the arguments FOR those media, but I don't neccessarily think those same points are arguments AGAINST traditional blogs. Blogs allow context, space to let ideas develop, and they allow you to give a fuller account of yourself.

More than that though, for me this blog is the route of the opportunities that have come my way. People only know to ask you to do things like write articles or books, or present at events, if they know who you are, what you're doing, and what your views are. A blog is a great way to ensure this is the case, and to synthesise and anchor all your social media presences.

3. Make one thing happen for yourself, and five things will happen TO you with pretty much no effort on your part whatsoever...

I'm amazed at how many opportunities come to you once you've made a few for yourself. Once you set the boulder rolling down the hill, it gathers momentum on its own.

4. There is no divide between new professionals and senior professionals, not really

I've heard a lot of talk of such a divide, but in my experience we all work together pretty well. Of course, they are people (in both camps) who are difficult to deal with and don't want to work with the other camp, but that's just down to the personalities of individuals.

We really do need to be able to work together to change, move forward and indeed protect this profession of ours.

5. In the social media age, we all grow up in public - may as well get used to it, and embrace the journey

I am not fully formed as a professional. I make mistakes, I make errors of judgement, I do things I look back on with embarassment. I learn all the time. I approach things differently now to how I did in Janurary. I worry. I feel vulnerability that I try not to show. Like most people, I fret when I shouldn't. There's still part of me that puts gaining a follower on Twitter down to pure happenstance, and puts losing one down to some grave error in the way I've conducted myself.

Part of me would like to show more vulnerability but at the same time, someone who comes across as confident tends to get more stuff done. I want people to listen to me - I believe in my ideas, whatever periodic crises of confidence I may have about my approach or myself or the way I'm perceieved. So I try as far as possible to come across as fully formed.

That said, if you embrace social media fully than inevitably people get to know a lot about your process as well as your results. And actually I quite like that. I like how human we all know each other to be, because we reveal this online. I actually feel like the people who went through all their journies before social media arrived have missed out, in a way.

6. Babies are ace!

No review of 2010 for me would be complete without reference to far and away the most significant thing that happened to me, and has ever happened to me. Emily Alexandra Potter is, quite literally, the best thing ever. I never knew babies were so much FUN!

10 online tools I've found useful in 2010

10 online tools I’ve used in 2010

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Other stuff I'm still using from last year includes wordpress.org, the KING of blogging platforms! And Slideshare of course, I'm using that more and more. Photofunia I still occasionally use if I want to put a photo into some kind of interesting context with the minimum of fuss. Flickr creative commons for images. iGoogle is still the starting point for my web use - I find being able to log into any PC in the world and find the same home-page, with all my bookmarks etc, very helpful. Pbworks wikis are ace - you can set one up for anything, even if it's just to have your own 'in the cloud' storage space. And finally Twitter - it's just over a year since my first ever Tweet, and it's arguably the single most valuable tool I use, I think. It's great for a million and one reasons - if you're an Information Professional not currently on there, I too used to be a big skeptic but trust me, it's worth it.

This is the final pre-Christmas blog post, so, have a good one! :)

- thewikiman

I'm writing a book on marketing libraries and I'd like your input

I've been approached by Facet Publishing to write a book on marketing modern libraries. It's intimidating (the previous Facet book on libraries was written by Terry Kendrick, who is a marketing legend and a member of the Marketing Guild and all that stuff) but a really exciting thing to be a part of. The idea is for it to cover all aspects of the nuts and bolts of marketing libraries - the grass roots - and to cover a wide spectrum of sectors, too.

Although the echo chamber theme will pop up here and there, this isn't a book about marketing the profession (or the industry) - it's about marketing your specific library. So, I would absolutely love to hear what you think you'd like to see in such a book. Each chapter will be on a different theme, and they'll all feature a case-study. I'm yet to finalise the proposal with Facet, so if you can give me your ideas quick I'll try and make sure they're addressed!

Stuff I'm currently intending to cover includes:

• Grass roots essentials
• Going to where your users are / user studies
• Marketing with social media + web2
• Marketing on no budget
• Marketing to internal stakeholders
• Language, style + materials
• Special collections, Archives and Library Branding
• Understanding the media and using them to market your library
• Rebranding, reinvention, and the Unlibrary concept
• Quick wins (a brief overview of a bunch of other people's success stories)

-

What else would you like to see in there? Would you want more than one chapter on web stuff as it is so important these days? Do you think there should be a chapter about advocacy because without it we won't have any libraries left to market, or will the kind of people who'll buy this book not have time for all that? Do you know of a library with a story that would fit any of those themes as a case study?

I would absolutely love it if you can leave me some comments, or email me your thoughts if you'd rather it be private, and tweet a link to this post to encourage others to do the same (or share it on Facebook). I want to make the most relevant and useful tool possible. Thank you! :)

- thewikiman

P.S There will be a separate marketing blog and twitter account coming soon, once we've made the final decision on the name of the book. It'll cover all the stuff the book will cover, and also report on any other great marketing schemes happening out there in libraryland.

A Library Christmas Carol

A mean-spirited, miserly old Librarian named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his Library on Christmas Eve. His Assistant-Librarian, Bob Cratchit, sits inactive in the anteroom because Scrooge refuses to let him use social media to promote the library. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to a Christmas party; Scrooge reacts to this with bitterness and venom, also spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!" in response to his nephew's suggestion that libraries need to change if they are to remain relevant in the digital age.

Later that evening, after returning to his chilly apartment, Scrooge receives a terrifying visitation from the ghost of his dead former Head Librarian, Jacob Marley. Marley, looking tired and ill, relates his unfortunate story. As punishment for his backwards-looking and pessimistic professional life, his spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth weighted down with all the physical journals he eschewed an online subscription to. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him during the night, with the first at midnight. After the wraith disappears, Scrooge falls fast asleep and dreams of saying “Ssshhh!” to frightened minors.

He awakens in time for the arrival of the Ghost of Libraries Past, a strange Victorian-looking figure, candle-lit and very formal. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Libraries from the ages, having promised to return him by half-past-twelve. Scrooge expects to be told that old-fashioned libraries were terrible and not respected in times gone by; in fact, invisible to those he watches, Scrooge sees how libraries have always served the information-needs of their communities, using the most appropriate platforms available for the written word. For much of history this has meant books and journals. Scrooge feels great nostalgia for the time when libraries were thought of as great intellectual institutions, where great minds were formed, and great ideas researched. He reflects how well he’d fit into the front-line staffing of Libraries Past. The spirit returns Scrooge to his apartment, and Scrooge notices that it is actually 12:35am. He tells the spirit that he will have to fine him for this late return, and that the spirit may be prevented from taking other curmudgeons out into different time-zones until the fines are paid in full. The spirit complains that this is grossly unfair and mumbles to himself that this is a typically cynical scheme to extract money from patrons, and Scrooge explains to him that the reason for the fines is not as a revenue stream but as a deterrent to keeping people for too long when other Ghosts may wish to borrow them, and anyway they’re called ‘customers’ now. After this the spirit evaporates, and Scrooge waits patiently for his next temporal adventure.

The Ghost of Libraries Present - a majestic giant with an iPad, on the back of which is written “I work here, how can I help?” - then takes Scrooge through London to unveil Libraries as they will happen that year. He is shown new, dynamic, fluid, innovative libraries – libraries catering brilliantly for extraordinarily diverse information needs. At first he is sceptical but soon he sees how well these libraries serve their communities – be they public, academic, business, health or any other community. He sees libraries introducing new technology, new collections, new classes, and new directions. He sees libraries training people, helping people find jobs, providing solace and a place to work, and being a hub around which networks and relationships can be built. He sees children being entertained and educated, adults crossing the digital divide, and great minds being fostered. But he also sees that libraries are being undermined by those with a powerful and loud public voice, and those who do not have libraries' interests at heart. He sees libraries struggling against cuts, despite being needed now more than ever before. He sees many potential library members completely indifferent to the plight of the industry because they are unaware how libraries can be useful for them. They think libraries are still much the same as the ones Scrooge was shown by the Ghost of Libraries Past.

When Scrooge is finally delivered back home, he is abuzz with how many great things are going on, right now. But he is worried that not enough people know about them, and fears that society will not continue to benefit from libraries for much longer if things carry on as they are.

The Ghost of Libraries Yet to Come takes Scrooge by the hand. Scrooge half-expects to be shown desolate former library buildings being boarded up; unhappy former librarians trying to find new jobs; perhaps even to find himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave, and Scrooge looking at the headstone and reading the name of the deceased: ‘Libraries. From Alexandria to Google – but not beyond.’ But he sees none of this. In fact, he sees nothing at all. Ahead of he and the spirit stretches a long, blank, vista of nothingness. “I do not understand, spirit,” says Scrooge. “Will you not show me the future of libraries?” The spirit shakes his head. “Can you not predict the future, spirit?” Again, the spirit shakes his head. And then the Spirit speaks.

“The only way to predict the future is to make it happen, Scrooge. The future of libraries has not already been determined; it is up to you and your colleagues in the library community to shape the future you wish to see. Battles are being lost but you can win the war – if you decide to do so. If you focus your efforts on such a goal. If you are willing to adapt, to change, to meet new needs, to promote, to advocate, and to work collaboratively with other Information Professionals and their institutions, all over the world. Can you do this, Scrooge? Can you step up to this collective challenge, or will you let others dictate your fate to you? Will you allow those who do not have libraries’ best interests at heart to shape this future narrative? Or will you take control of it yourselves?”

Scrooge realises that he and everyone else must assume responsibility for the future, and promises to do everything he can to make sure librarians are in control of their own destinies. He is then deposited at home, and the final wraith vanishes.

Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his new found optimism for the library profession. He sends an Amazon Kindle (3G version) to the Cratchit house and sets up a Twitter account for his library, to the stifled surprise of the twitterati. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and writes his and his peers' own future of their profession. Together, they make it happen...

How to use Prezi really well

I'm loving using slides to disseminate stuff at the moment, so I've re-written and updated my Prezi FTW post and produced a new top ten tips on creating a great presentation with the online zooming software. Also, I used it as an opportunity to really really hard with the slide-deck and experiment with a slightly different style.   (And put in a little bit of library pride on the final couple of slides.) :)

edit: since these slides were created, Prezi has improved some features and made some changes - including a Theme Editor. This means point 2, about choosing your colour scheme early and the fonts / colours not being mix-and-matchable, is no longer quite as true...

How to use prezi and WIN - feel free to share / use this.

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For more in-depth information, including a Prezi guide in Prezi itself, see my ultimate guide to Prezi.

Prezi as grand canvas

Since the original Prezi FTW guide I've used Prezi in a new way. Rather than just creating a presentation on a blank background, I've started trying to use an image as the canvas, and superimposing all my text, graphics etc onto that image.

Here is the interactive library map I created for the New Professionals Information Days:

Everything you need to know about technology and working in libraries on Prezi

As you can see it's designed to be used interactively by the viewer, rather than navigated through in linear fashion - everything highlightable is clickable. I think this makes more of the unique properties of Prezi versus PowerPoint - increasingly, I don't think it's worth using Prezi over really nice slides unless you exploit some of these types of capabilities.

In Edit view the Prezi looks  like this:

All those blue boxes are Hidden Frames, and hidden frames are what makes each bit highlightable (and clickable on). It's really easy to do.

I think this has loads of potential. You could do maps, plans, desks anything with a top down view really. Because Prezi writes directly and transparently on to whatever the surface of the canvas is (as opposed to having to create a text-box with a white or coloured background, for example) you can add text to anything which doesn't already have text on it. So for example you could take the full size version of this picture (from www.sxc.hu):

...and write text of varying sizes on all the little bits of note-paper, making full use of all the different angles, etc etc. You get a nice cohesive top-down view, and then you get to zoom in and read all the intriguing pieces of text individually. Or you could use an old fashioned painting as your canvas (imagine a 19th century oil-painting of a lake) and then zoom in with extreme close-up of some modern water-skiers on there, for some Banksy style anarchy (but subtler)!

So I'd encourage anyone to experiment with the Prezi as Grand Canvas idea. Good luck!

- thewikiman