I have just realised that I have not updated my blog for sometime, which for many is like not changing your underwear!

2010 I feel is going to be a steady year after all the ups and downs of 2009, which resulted in me being one kidney down and a wife up! We returned from our honeymoon last week which included a three day trip to Vegas, as well as a cruise along the ‘Mexican Reviera’. I feel fully replenished, ready for the tasks of the year:

Single sign-on

In Easter 2010 Bath Spa Library and Information Services plan to ditch ‘classic Athens’ authentication for all of our electronic resources, reverting instead to the new OpenAthens LA 2.0 product which we have been successfully trialling for some months now. In fact (and as you will see) our success has enabled us to be presented as a case study on Eduserv’s site.

Blackboard

I had some excellent discussion with some colleagues at other University Libraries toward the end of 2009 on how their services integrate with Blackboard. I begin this year by presenting some of these ideas to my colleagues, before putting them into practice in the summer.

Image Management System

Last year we bought a range of products through Extensis, allowing us to catalogue a large number of images before publishing them online. So far we have catalogued hundreds of images and 2010 will see a whole lot more if the DACS licence is updated (fingers crossed).

Institutional repository

We currently sit within a small group of Universities in the UK that are yet to implement a repository. This year will see the development of the project, selecting a system and exploring our hosting options.

Last week I launced Bath Spa’s new Library blog, allowing Library staff to promote our services. The theory is to use the blog to expand on news items that we provide via our website, as well as enhance the visibility of our electronic services. In addition there are many electronic service projects that will be coming into fruition over the next few months, so I will be using it to keep students and staff up to date with new developments.

I was particularly excited to find that www.libraryblog.co.uk was available as a domain, so I snapped that up straight away! The bonus of hosting my own installation of wordpress also meant that I was able to customise the template, providing our own branding througout. A major thank you to JISC Digital Media, who helped me clean up the Bath Spa logo, as my offering was pixelated and jagged!

Bath Spa University Library blog

I cannot emphasise how useful the following tip is. Everybody should know about this feature, available in both Firefox and Opera! I was shocked recently at how many people at work either have never heard of this, or simply do not use it.

Librarians spend a great deal of time searching across the same web services day by day. Assigning a keyword for these searches cuts out the need to visit the site you need in the first instance, streamlining many of your tasks throughout the day.

Do the following (shown here in Firefox, very similar in Opera):

1. Visit a website you search all the time. My example is Amazon.co.uk, as I spend a lot of time here looking for books.

2. Within the search box of the website, right hand click and select ‘Add a keyword for this search’ (below).

3. A box entitled ‘Add Bookmark’ now appears. As I am using Amazon I have put ‘Amazon’ as the name, followed by a keyword of ‘a’. The keyword can be as little or as long as you like. However by keeping it short you will be able to make quick use of this service, something which become clear shortly.

4. Now you can search amazon by simply visiting your address bar, typing ‘a’ followed by your Amazon search.

This can be done for almost all search functions on the web. I have it set-up for Google (blogs/images), Amazon, eBay, ebuyer, incredibly useful for searching quickly across sites.

In February this year Bob McKee, chief executive of CILIP blogged a short article entitled All of a Twitter. The piece quickly took an authoritative tone, casting a bizarre paranoia over ‘informal’ librarians who network away from the closed environment of the CILIP site. A hip-hop beef quickly ensued as web consultant/librarian Phil Bradley posted CILIP: epic fail, declaring his disgust at CILIP’s stance, claiming they were placing a distance between themselves and potential members.

Bradley’s article became a triumph of debate, provoking a barrage of response from Twitter friendly Librarians equally disgusted at McKee’s outburst. Some of this response appeared to be born out of sheer frustration, as non CILIP members were unable to reply to McKee’s post through CILIP’s ’sanctioned’ blog environment.

The outcome of this debate was responded to positively by CILIP, who last week invited Phil Bradley and fellow guru Brian Kelly to present on the use of Web 2.0 technologies to enhance communication within the LIS community. The event also became a platform for experiment, encouraging librarians to discuss the topic over Twitter. Official Tweeters were also assigned, posting up key topics as they were presented at the event.

I have to admit that I was not overtly impressed by this concept. Discussion over the topic began almost 24 hours before the event, using #cilip2 hashtag. Participants were encouraged to use Twitterfall to follow the event, which presents tweets on particular topic in real time. Going back over the transcript of the event quickly reveals how silly this became, as participants with very little to say were using the hashtag, polluting official entries as the list of entries grew longer. The job of following the discussion became intolerable, especially as many of us only had the time to read back in our own time, after working hours.

I believe the use of Twitter to support this event was perhaps naive; the statistics reveal that 150 librarians provided around 1200 tweets. But without naming names a handful of librarians were clearly spamming, an issue which other discussion technologies can already cope with. Overall though the event was undeniably successful in bringing a quantity of professionals together, but quality was compromised.

Whilst I feel Twitter was misused here as an open forum on the future of CILIP, the blog discussion surrounding CILIP 2.0 is superb. The transcript posted on the main CILIP blog is much more easier to follow, and the following articles provoke much more focussed debate:

Brian Kelly’s review of the event

A positive response to the use of Twitter

A much more balanced review, written by Katie Fraser

An article on how Twitter in this instance proved that Twitter is a useful tool for conferences, Amelia Luzzi

EDIT: I have corrected a typo, mispelling Brian Kelly’s name. Sorry Brian!

The Kindle 2

As many of you may be aware, the Library at Bath Spa University bought two eBook readers last month. Library staff are being introduced to the readers, who are then encouraged to feedback via a questionnaire on how useful the technology will be for students and staff at the University.

However the more I play with the Sony PRS-505, the more I get distracted by all the talk surrounding the Kindle eBook reader. The PRS-505 has impressed me; the battery life is superb and the device can handle a number of document formats. The screen is comfortable to look at and overall the device is robust and attractive.

However I think the Kindle could could really be the product that could revolutionise the eBook market in the UK, providing real advantages beyond simply being able to store a large number of books on one device. Increasingly it is products that combine a number of technologies that have become successful,  a ‘mash-up’ of services that harnesses the  Web 2.0 culture.

The Kindle appears to hit the nail on the head: a WIFI/3G connection which allows to users to purchase books without connecting to a computer, removing the need to download software you didn’t want in the first place. Users are able to subscribe to RSS feeds freely, as well as purchase newspapers and magazines over the device.

This product brings eBook readers out of the category of the ‘gadget’, and actually provides technology that will actually make a difference to the culture of its users. Imagine waking up in the morning to find the Guardian has already been downloaded and available for you to read, as well as alerts to blog updates. You read a book review which interests you, pick up the Kindle and read it.

The major hold-up for potential UK Kindle users is the mobile networks. In America users pay a flat fee for the Kindle and nothing more; the 3G connection is provided free by the mobile network. This is clearly highly complex for Europe, which contains many networks spanning many countries. Amazon has to strike a deal with as many of these networks as they can before they can release the Kindle – I do not envy this task!

I am extremely happy with Windows 7.

I downloaded the BETA version back in January when it came out, installing it on my old laptop as a direct replacement for Vista. Despite coming packaged with the Laptop I bought two years ago, Vista was running like Gordon Brown’s mind, slow and unable to react. This was despite numerous re-installs and a threat to retro step back to WinXP.

The installation of Windows 7 took forever, making me instantly regret making the choice. However after two months of using it, I haven’t looked back at all! It is important to point out that graphically the look of Windows 7 does not really differ to Vista. The themes are very similar and the Start Menu is near identical.

However everything is so much more smoother and customisable. As the screenshots show, I was able to make everything a glaring red with just a few clicks of the mouse. The quick launch toolbar found next to the start menu is also more user friendly; programs can be ‘pinned’ or ‘unpinned’ to it by a simple click and drag, removing the ‘open folder’ technique we all use in XP. The launch icons will also glow if the application is already open, as well as display small open application windows when you run your mouse over the icon.

Visually the system is Vista with a few improvements. However the major benefit is that it runs superbly even on system which struggled with Vista. My laptop runs on a 1.6 AMD dual core, 1gb ram, 120gb Sata HDD. This was only just good enough to run Vista effectively (despite having the Vista sticker!), but Windows 7 boots and runs twice as fast despite being the newer product.

I understand that Microsoft will release the same varience of systems that Vista provided, but will also turn their attentions to the Netbook world. If this product maintains its stability over to this platform, I really can’t see how anybody will be able to compete. It will really break my heart when I will have to stop using 7 in August, it means I will have three realistic choices: Buy a new laptop, revert back to Vista, or spend lots of money on the commercial release!

Two weeks ago we bought two eBook readers to trial at work. The intention is to see how viable technologies such as this are for University students of the future, particularly as we already buy eBooks through our supplier, Dawsonera.

After just under a week of playing of the device I have to admit I am suitably impressed; the PRS-505 to start with is beautiful to look at, housed in a leather wallet which provides the studious smell you get from leather bound books. Sony also provides 100 free classic books, but these can be accessed for free anyway!

The screen is superb; I have been able to read from it without any of the strain on the eyes experienced from LCD screens. The device can also be tilted at many different angles and the reader can still view the text, something near impossible when reading from a laptop screen.

Accessibility is good, users can simply zoom in and out of the text with the touch of a button. I was also able to bookmark without any issue, as the device will save multiple pages across multiple books. The battery is impressive to – I have used it now for around 4-5 hours with no visual drop in battery life, despite only having an hours’ charge time so far.

The only drawback is that Sony requires you to install software in order to transfer books onto the device, something which many have come to detest with some MP3 players. It would be nice to see an updated version at some point, providing a simple ‘drag and drop’ set-up in Windows explorer.

Seeing this as a viable alternative for students is very challenging. The eBooks we buy are hosted through our suppliers site, as licencing issues mean that a system has to be in place for digital rights management. Making eBook texbooks available on these devices would mean years of complex negotiation with publishers, but I am sure this negotiation has already started.

A full review of this product will follow shortly. All members of Library staff will have the opportunity to try them out over the next few months, with a short questionnaire to complete.

In the summer I stumbled across Camstudio, an open source program that allows you to record your desktop screen activity. This is an extremely useful product for those of us who are yet to invest in products like Adobe Captivate.

As a Librarian I feel products such as Camstudio will quickly become essential. The Internet has quickly become the only place users visit to find information, and the private nature of this activity means that many make simple mistakes. The creation of online tutorials using Camstudio allows Librarians to meet students online and provide clear visual instruction.

I have used Camstudio as a training tool for the number of online databases that we subscribe to, and have been hosting them on our Library website with additional plans to integrate them with our VLE.

Some basic examples of video tutorials that I have done can be found below. They took me minutes to do and were instantly converted to flash video files upon completion.

http://www.filton.ac.uk/lrc/howtoguides/flashtutorials/gmid.swf.html

http://www.filton.ac.uk/lrc/howtoguides/flashtutorials/sector%20briefing.swf.html