Because it’s true. Like Soylent Green, it’s the individuals within the institution that make it great. A big part of my job is harnessing these online resources to bring that same level of personality online. I’m hoping these slides serve as an crash course in many of the tricks of the trade.

Be sure to click on the links in the presentation for other relevant resources. And please share your strategies for organizational identity management in the comments.

Staff members are probably your website’s biggest users.

–Edward Iglesias

I remain convinced that there are more useful ways of examining our data. We collect large numbers of stats – both those required for state reporting and those for our own internal measures – but each individual statistic seems to exist as an island unto itself. I’ve been wondering if there’s a new way to combine this data in a way that might prove more fruitful, and subsequently use it for further improvement. It’s not like I’m a Bill James or a Nate Silver, so learning to crunch these numbers is always an uphill battle. But I think it – along with some of the usability studies explored in this presentation – could help us out quite a bit.

We tried to do some heatmapping/click analysis last year, and had to abandon the project because we couldn’t find software that worked with our website. Most heatmapping sites use an imagemap-type overlay, plotting heavy clicks based on their position on the grid. Our site’s main navigation bar uses a lot of collapsing menus,which makes these locations anything but fixed. Without that kind of context, useful data may not be obtainable using this method.

Luckly, there are alternate measures, as pointed out by this session’s presenters. Debbie Herman and Edward Iglesias, of Central Connecticut State University; and Alka Bhatnagar of the New Jersey State Library highlighted a number of potential tools. Google Analytics got a lot of deserved props, and I’m realizing that I’m only scratching the surface of how it can be used. But it also looks like we can do some one-on-one studies, perhaps by rigging up some simple eye-tracking setups. The software – Silverback for Mac, mainly – looks like it’ll come in handy. And at $50, it’s cheap cheap.

But for this stuff to work, we’ll need to come up with the right questions. What on our website is intuitive to us as librarians that might be causing the public to pull their hair out.

Notes: You know where to find them.

New Tools for Metrics and Measures: Assessing Usability on a Budget

Debbie Herman and Edward Iglesias, Central CT State University

Alka Bhatnagar, New Jersey State Library

EI: Usability as a recurring theme through all sessions

LITA publication on usability a bit old

“If we don’t learn it here, we’re on our own.”

Not to be confused with UX – UX represents the perception left after the interaction. This is based on a series of transactions with people, space, services, materials.

Usability is focused on how things work.

Eye-tracking

Mouse-tracking

Heat Maps

(See chart in printed slides)

Eye-tracking has come a long way. Possible to build soemthing for about $300 (safety glasses w/cameras attached – one pointed at the eyes, one pointed out)- only problem is you have to write your own software.

OpenEyes software – can work with webcam

Technique creates a heatmap of what gets looked at most

Clicktracking – using mouse to determine

Third-party programs – giving them a lot of data

Other bits of software:

• Silverback (Mac) – $50
• Webinaria (Windows) – free
• Morae (Win) – 1120 for educators
• Camstudio – Open source

Can use screencasting software to caputre sessions

Using Silverback – school implemented MetaLib and used this to start testing

Very little documentation, but is very intuitive

Coming up with set behaviors to test for is key – what is intuitive to us, that may not be to our users?

Analytics – Google Analytics

Applying filters (filter out internal IPs)

Observations:: Find articles pages are heavily trafficked, while other pages are underused

Subject guides get little use. More point of need placement is necessary (sound familiar?)

Second tier index pages aren’t used

Stats on users: few use 800×600 resolution or worse

Feng-gui.com

delicious.com/debbie.herman/cil2009

AB: New Tools for Metrics & Measures

Maximize value, OBE, ROI, findability

evaluate engagement – key 2.0 metric

Tools: Google, WebTrends

websites used in case study: goodmorningresearch.com, njki.org

test-and-learn process

Use referring sites to identify collaboration partners

Benchmarking features – compare to similar sites

webanalyticsassociation.org

Q: which do you prefer, WebTrends or Google Analytics

A: Google. More features, easier to manipulate data

Someone who knows you is less likely to slash your budget.

–Kathy Dempsey

Kathy Dempsey of library marketing blog The M Word provided a breathless list of ways libraries can connect with various stakeholders within the community. There was a noted lack of computers discussed in this talk, but I think the principles can easily be applied to the online world.

Key principles: Ask anyone and everyone. Keep your name out there. Hustle. Hustle. Hustle.

I think it’s pretty straightforward. Of course, actually summoning the gusto to make it happen is a different matter entirely. But that’s my own ongoing struggle.

Raw notes (naturally) after the jump.

Building Community Partnerships

25 ideas in 40 minutes

Kathy Dempsey

Libraries Are Essential

The M Word blog

Notes are in the handout packet

Partnerships can help keep you solvent.

Chamber of Commerce/Speakers Bureau

“Someone who knows you is less likely to slash your budget”

Storytimes in grocery stores (!)

Target support staff of major stakeholders – be their best friends, and the support will trickle up.

Flower shops – be their friends, place bouquets in library in exchange for publicity

(what other venues can you use for this purpose)

IT experts

Professors

Community people for programming

Scout troops – work for badges

gardens, bookshelves

game stores, skateboard shops (what can you trade for?)

Cheaper stuff, street cred

Existing clubs (see Meetup, other sites)

Create local happenings in between big conferences – keep it specific to immediate needs

Major orgs (AARP, for example) – get them to provide visibility in exchange for recognition

Ask. Ask. Ask. Everyone, everywhere, everything.

Senior centers – what can you get in return?

Book sponsors

Guest bloggers

Microdonations

Advisory boards – transparency, once again is key

DLK’s guide to facebook

It’s not “if you build it, they will come” – the it has to be the connection, not the platform.

Lack of context outside of the bubble – tell them what seems most obvious to you

Build, exploit, continue connections. Remember Jamie LaRue’s pyramid of support.

Don’t be afraid to have fun

“There are more PLs than there are McDonald’s.” Really?

Hustle. Hustle. Hustle.

IGotGame-GH001

Originally uploaded by Skokie Public Library

My coworker at UtopianLibrary posted her photos from last week’s game night. Head over to Flickr to see the full photoset from MPOW.

I’m particularly fond of this video, where I caught another coworker caught up in the fun.

The auditorium for this year’s PLA keynote speaker was lit up like a Van Halen concert. Between the video screens, the blue and green roof lighting, and the lack of house lights, I felt like Diamond Dave was going to emerge from the curtain and start doing jump kicks on stage. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World author John Wood didn’t quite display the same level of physical acrobatics, but he commanded a groupie’s level of admiration by the time his keynote was over.

“World change starts with educated children.”

This quote, which Wood used to kick off his presentation, has been so patently obvious that we’ve all but overlooked it. What’s admirable about Wood is his effort to actually do something about it. By taking the GTD philosophy (or “GSD,” as voiced through his slightly bluer adjustment) and applying it to this sentiment, Wood has turned his organization Room to Read into one of the most efficient charities on the planet. It’s got me thinking about how much we can do to apply GTD to library work, and using the Room to Read principles to our interactions with the community. Is it possible to get things accomplished without the succumbing to the urge to hold one committee meeting after another? Can we trust our community stakeholders enough to use our resources to meet their goals on their terms? It’s a lot to think about, and really makes me wonder how we can strike up a balance between serving as a useful community partner while trusting our stakeholders with the autonomy to succeed. Thanks, John. I look forward to hearing more about your continued success.

Pepsi paid $5.4 million dollars in which Justin Timberlake suffered various slapstick humiliations in order to advertise its latest contest. Among the prizes you can win are free downloads from Amazon’s mp3 store. In this seeming throwaway bit was the bombshell. Do you see it?

That’s right. Amazon.com is using “DRM-free” as a selling point. Which means that enough people understand what DRM means for them that Amazon* will spend $180000 to point out that its product does not have it.

Of course, this represents a complete 180 in relation to what they’re doing with the Kindle. Things, as our esteemed Mr. Abram would say, are afoot.

* (assuming they paid Pepsi for their share of the ad)

Clearly, the best dentist ever, as long as it comes with a good anesthesiologist.

I was originally going to post it for the amusement value, but it got me thinking. Not all tools (in libraries or otherwise) are used according to their intended purpose. Sometimes two features come together to provide to heretofore unimagined service.

Take the Firefox extension Book Burro, for example. This add-on pops up any time you visit a chosen commercial bookseller, such as Amazon or BN.com. You can check other libraries by choosing from a list, or by entering a ZIP code which will check against OpenWorldCat.

(A word to the wise: The add-on has a “blind spot” where it overlooks the area within the ZIP you enter. Use a neighboring ZIP to sidestep this glitch.)

This is great when you’re unsure of a book’s exact title, as Amazon’s slightly fuzzier search parameters can often put you on the right track. Find the item, click on Book Burro, and it will take you to the book’s listing in your ILS.

This is very nice, as I tend to use Amazon as a fail-safe in many of my searches. But what I didn’t realize was that it works within the “More Info” module within our own catalog. This enables us to price-check Amazon, as well as check availability at other nearby libraries.

Neither plugin new about the other, but when they came together, we discovered a new application for both. That’s a Karate Dentist, right there. And one that will save a lot of time spent searching for books.

Does your library have a Karate Dentist? What other sort of happy accidents have you found?

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you can see, it’s a sober-eyed look into the life of a busy library director, and the ways in which she’s integrated Web 2.0 technologies into her life. Enjoy!

Photos from Staff Day are available on my Flickr, as well as those of Jenny Levine, Utopianlibrary, and MPOW.

You can view the slides (via Google Docs) at this link. The handout is available (in .pdf) here.

Note to self: Must add more lolcats to next presentation.