The adventures of LASSIE: libraries and social software

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The adventures of LASSIE libraries and social
software

• Dr Jane Secker
• Centre for Learning Technology, London School of
  Economics and Political Science
• Energy Institute Web 2.0 for the Library
  Information Profession
• Wednesday 28th May 2008

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The LASSIE Project

• Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 were happening
• Social software surely offered potential to
  enhance the experience of distance learners using
  the library?
• Funding provided by University of Londons Centre
  for Distance Education
• Lassie filming on location in Florida. Photo
  courtesy State Archive of Florida

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Project partners
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Project Overview

• Literature review of libraries and social
  software and distance learners (draft and final
  version)
• Review of web 2.0 tools and what libraries are
  currently doing
• Five case studies using social software to
  investigate how these technologies might enhance
  the experience of the distance (and full time)
  learner?
• Students were on UoL External Programme
• Tried to provide real evidence about what works
  and what is useful

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The Literature review

• What is social software, Library 2.0 definitions
• How do you carry out a literature review on
  social software and using it?
• What are the current issues in supporting
  distance learners and how might social software
  help?
• Are libraries a social space and can virtual
  libraries replicate this?
• Available online from Project website

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Social software that we used
Podcasts / Screencasts
Social Bookmarking
Media / resource sharing
Social networking
Blogs
RSS / Feeds
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Some features of social software

• Services rather than software
• Hosted remotely / not locally
• Social interaction
• Inclusion of user generated content
• Tagging
• Re-usable data
• Syndication / feed enabled
• Easy to use.

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What is Library 2.0?
From Michael Habibs Flickr site (Licensed under
Creative Commons) http//www.flickr.com/photo_zoo
m.gne?id222296001sizeo
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Some examples of using social software from LSE

• London School of Economics and Political Science
• Use of RSS for news on CLT website
• Using RSS feeds for bringing together training
  events across the school
• Using wikis and blogs for staff development
• Added rich content to catalogue for an Amazon
  appearance

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LSEs training portal
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Examples from elsewhere

• Social bookmarking
• Penn Tags
• Subject guides in del.icio.us
• Libraries using blogs
• Madison-Jefferson County Public library
• Ohio University Library Business Blog
• Kansas State University library blogs
• Library of Congress Blog
• University of Worcester ILS Matters
• Librarians also love to write blogs!

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Stanford University
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Madison-Jefferson County Public library blog
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Worcester ILS Matters
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Other examples

• User comments reviews in the catalogue
• Hennepin County Library
• University of Huddersfield
• Libraries using social networking sites
• MySpace and Facebook library accounts
• Groups for libraries and librarians
• Useful for professional networking for example
  Ning and LinkedIn
• Library Success Wiki

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Hennepin County Library
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Other examples of Library 2.0

• RSS feeds for searches in databases such as
  Ebsco, Web of Science, and now in COPAC
• Journal table of contents delivered as RSS feeds
  also useful ways for researchers to keep up to
  date
• Social bookmarking tool quick links added to BBC
  website and other sites
• Library applications in Facebook such as
  catalogue searches, book sharing etc.

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The case studies

• These aimed to gather further evidence of what
  might work
• Also offer best practice advice
• All available on project website
• Explored five key areas
• Presenting reading lists to students
• Resource sharing with students
• Podcasting for teaching information literacy
  skills
• Blogging and libraries
• Facebook and libraries

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Case Study 1 Reading lists and social software

• Used social software to present reading lists to
  students as an alternative to paper lists and
  commercial reading list systems
• A reading list for LSE external programme
  students was selected for inclusion
• Tested out CiteULike, H20 Playlists, Bibsonomy
  and LibraryThing
• Piloted with distance learners and feedback
  gathered
• Students liked online reading lists with book
  jackets!

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CiteULike
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LibraryThing.com
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Case study 2 Social bookmarking

• Exploring social bookmarking as a way of creating
  a subject guide of internet resources for
  students using del.icio.us
• Created a list of resources for distance learners
  on the TRIUM course at LSE
• Created a list for PGCE students at IoE which
  they could add resources to
• Del.icio.us very flexible and easy to use
• Could be problematic to add library resources to
  this type of list
• Highly valuable as a personal tool and easy to
  embed into other websites / services e.g.
  Facebook and Moodle

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Using del.icio.us
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Case Study 3 Podcasting

• Literature review revealed information literacy
  is a key challenge for distance learning
  librarians.
• Podcasting offers a new way of developing
  training materials
• Created an online screencast including
  powerpoint and audio on citing and referencing
• Feedback from students gathered through a survey
• Attracted considerable interest from other
  libraries

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The screencast
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Case Study 4 Blogging and libraries

• Maintained LASSIE Blog since March 2007 and now
  addicted to writing a blog!
• Highly valuable for publicity, documenting
  progress, reflecting and getting (some) feedback
• More readers than the departmental blog!
• Informal posts get more responses
• Still difficult to gauge who is reading it
• Features such as using RSS to push content onto a
  website most valuable
• Includes best practice for bloggers

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The LASSIE Blog
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Case Study 5 Facebook and Libraries

• Based on experiences of the team using this
  social networking site for past 10 months
• Largely a social networking site, but difficult
  to predict how valuable it might become in the
  future
• Identified many library related groups and
  applications
• Looked at best practice for librarians using
  Facebook
• Certainly the communication tool of choice for
  the Google Generation

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Library pages in Facebook
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Key lessons from LASSIE

• You can teach an old dog new tricks!
• Social software has the potential to reach out to
  users in new ways
• Libraries and librarians need to continue to
  experiment with emerging technologies and many
  are keen!
• Way ahead not clear but social software is
  important and not just a passing fad
• The wiki way and beta is good!

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Further research

• Project finished January 2008
• Project team meeting in August 2008 to discuss
  where next
• Possible developments in Moodle course for LSE
  External Programme focusing on using library
  resources / information literacy
• Now delivering web 2.0 training sessions using
  lots of these tools people really like
  hands-on!
• Limited places available at event at LSE on 3rd
  July contact me for details.

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• Thank you and any questions?
• LASSIE Blog http//elearning.lse.ac.uk/blogs/soci
  alsoftware/
• LASSIE website http//clt.lse.ac.uk/Projects/LASS
  IE.php
• Check out the resources for todays talk on
  del.icio.us http//del.icio.us/lse_lassie/Energy_
  Institute08
• E-mail j.secker_at_lse.ac.uk