Blogging the future: Theory and use of web logs to enhance library information services.
Blogging the future: Theory and use of web logs to enhance library information services.
Christopher Sean Cordes
Assistant Professor
Instructional Technology Librarian
IowaStateUniversity
University Library
Room 153 Parks Library
AmesIA50011
Abstract
Digital resources are becoming a common medium to address patron and library staff needs. There are a number of means and applications used to satisfy information demands. These include digital reference materials, and the reference persons that provide access to these objects, information and instruction web sites and, multi-media applications and displays. These applications provide a fairly thorough means for meeting the information demands of faculty, staff, and patrons. But there are some information needs relating to complex, implicit, or specialized knowledge that aren’t readily addressed end-to-end by typical information publishing and knowledge management and instructional methods. This paper uses information theory principles to provide a framework for identifying some of the limitations of current information delivery methods in terms of their relevance to modern library reference and information services. In addition there is an explanation of blog technology, with suggestions for enhancing library information services. Last, some cautions for using blogs is discussed.
Keywords – blog, weblog, reference, knowledge management, library instruction, digital library, library reference, Rich Site Summary
Christopher Sean Cordes holds bachelor’s degrees in English with a minor in technical writing, and psychology with emphasis in human factors from the University of Missouri – Rolla. In 2003, he received a master degree in educational technology with specialization in networked learning systems from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He completed the master’s of library science program, also at the University of Missouri – Columbia in December 2004.
He is currently the Instructional Technology Librarian at Parks Library, Iowa State University School of Science and Technology. In his current position he performs technical information planning, development and management services for a user base of 24, 000 students, researchers, and practitioners, including technical management of a large scale (3200 students per semester) online course environment. Current affiliations include the American Library Association, the Association of College Research Libraries and the WebJunction.org learning community. You can contact him via postal mail at Christopher Sean Cordes, Assistant Professor, Instructional Technology Librarian, IowaStateUniversity, University Library, Room 153 Parks Library, AmesIA50011. You can also email him at .
Blogging the future: Implications for using web logs to enhance library information services
Introduction
There’s a package for this and a portal for that. A quick view around today’s library information landscape brings to light a gaggle of methods and applications for supporting library information needs. These include digital reference materials, instructional web sites, and multi-media applications and displays. These applications provide fairly thorough coverage, if not sole means, for meeting the information demands of faculty, staff, and patrons.
But there are user information requirements, especially those relating to the volume, immediacy, or complexity of information, which for many reasons (mostly time, money, lack of skilled labor, or inappropriate planning) isn’t readily addressed by typical information publishing and knowledge management methods. In short, there are gaps in information need that can exist in the best of systems that present challenges in our ability to turn information into knowledge for our patrons.
These needs include: 1) the analysis of information sets, 2) the access of relevant complex, localized, and personalized information, and 3) the ability to collaborate in a standardized, accessible environment. For example, despite much promise, the retrieval of online sources, while in many ways comparable to that of human referenced print materials in the physical facility, still does not always address the requirements of today’s user demand. Brenda Dervin’s seminal writings during the 1970’s on information seeking, raise a number of “dubious assumptions” entrenched in the literature and pedagogy that have serious implications for today’s information systems and the services provided1. These assumptions, grounded in the everyday information needs of individuals, provide a framework on which to explore these conditions as they arise in information service organizations.
First, as Dervin informed, more information is not always better. The diversity and dispersion (the variety and spread) of content across web space can limit the effectiveness of information search. While an answer may be available through a number of sources on the web, and while a library may have access to these, the correct source must still be identified. This can be troublesome considering the volume of recalled returned on the typical web engine search. While more information can result in more knowledge, (and better informed users), too much information can create an overload effect. As a result, many results are overlooked or buried to deep to be useful in the attempt to filter and manage results.
Further, these searches frequently yield numerous results that show little connection to the other. So it’s hard to tell which location has information suited to a given need, where this information is duplicated, or what form it is in. At the most extreme, are the ‘sponsored’ results delivered from a general search engine. For example, if a student does Google search for a Dr. Martin they can get highlighted results for Dr. Martens foot-ware, a reputable brand, but most likely not the person they are seeking. More, they also get results for content about Dr. Martin Luther Kings Jr. While this type of objective information can be transmitted out of context to the knowing user, the meaning can be lost for many users because are only given a small picture of the whole. There’s an inexhaustible amount of raw information; but no guarantee that my search will yield a relevant result that meets my need.
Relating to direct reference, a search returning a result with a map of the university is little help to the student trying to find a computer lab on campus with the hardware or software they need to complete a class project. Further, users can’t be sure of what they will find regarding function and content when they visit a location. Results with similar labels may lead to locations having great differences in the quality, depth, and breadth of information found there. Users might find a really nice site with a virtual tour of university facilities, but without the required plug-in, they can’t use it. This situation becomes more critical in highly structured university and public computing. While many current methods are relatively adequate for declarative or procedural information, they fall short where immediate access to implicit, ill-defined, or time oriented information is required. In these types of situations, typical resources often fail to address issues of interest specific to the particular needs of a given faculty and staff, and its patron audience.
One example is the procedural nuances in localized library processes and applications. For instance, while a Flash tutorial may show the steps required to use an application, it may not tell the user that the library terminals must install the application before using it, or where files can be saved safely when the work is done. Similarly, user groups and needs are unique, and the facilitation of suitable information often requires specific terminology.
This can lead to confusion regarding definition usage that varies with user perspective, especially regarding information requirements in complex or ill-defined topics. For example, a keyword search for educational systems in a typical academic research library catalog yields results ranging from the use of computer based training in the 1970’s, to the structure and use of African-American English, to the teaching of Mathematics using emerging technologies. Likewise, a subject search for educational systems can result in listings about educational technology, and the systems and process used to deliver technology, while a search for education systems yields information about the planning of education more closely related to the physical infrastructure, particularly in urban areas.
Distinctions in terminology also come into play regarding the physical location relating to the information. For example if I looked for information regarding cages in one academic library, I might get information about how to reserve a study room, rules for acceptable use of the room, and what types of computer connections were available. But a search for the same topic in another academic library gives me information telling me that cages are locations where books are sorted, and shelved for subsequent removal to storage. In short, while our current methods for organizing and accessing information are quite suitable for volume, they are not always readily adapted for the complexity of information we use.
In part, this is due to the need for cost effective delivery solutions. At an institutional level, we often assume that our units of information can be adapted to meet any user need. But these units-- chiefly books, journals, databases, artifacts, formal reference services and informal computer interfaces--don’t always provide a complete solution for library users. Resulting, people rarely use strictly formalized means for acquiring the information they require. Instead, people most often choose the path of least resistance in their search, gathering information from the most accessible source, typically friends, family and other informal channels. In fact, much of our searching is often accidental and serendipitous2.
While institutions package information for efficiency, users require a degree of informational efficacy, a sense of comfort that matches the reality of their information requirements based on the situation as they define it. Simply, for the information to meet the user requirement, it must make sense to them3. As Case conveys, “The main problem facing an objective operationalization of relevance is the contextual nature of human judgment4. So, from a service perspective, the satisfaction of information need can never be truly objective. There are gaps in information need that can exist in the best of systems that present challenges in our ability to turn information into knowledge for our patrons. But blogs can help.
What is a blog anyway?
Like the amalgamation it is, the term weblog or blog is somewhat ambiguous. It’s been defined as both noun and verb in Webopedia5. And been credited to Jorn Barger when he used it in 1999 to describe internet users, known as blogger or pre-surfers, who created a ‘log’ or links on a topic of personal interest. It’s also been attributed to a bulletin Board system (BBS) developed as the result of a phone call between two IBM engineers stuck in a snowstorm that struck Chicago in 19786.
Regardless of origin, subsequent incarnations have some common traits, including: 1) public accessibility, 2) personal comments that reflect the personality of the author7, 3) frequent updates8, 4) topics of particular interest to the user 5) and an opportunity to collaborate9.
Blogs have been around in concept since the early days of the web. But as discovered in a quick trip to the Internet Public Library, the tools popularity as a means of information publishing has increased with the appearance of simplified automated publishing systems, and features such as archiving and searchability functions.
For years the blog has been applied for personal use. Now its low cost, flexibility, and adaptability has seen it applied in a number of information enterprises including the newspaper publishing10, stock trading11, corporate communications12; where information sharing is the goal, blogs can help, even in libraries13. That established, there are a number of potential applications for the technology in library instruction and reference services that can lessen the relating to the shortcomings noted examples above.
How Blogs can help?
First, in the case of disparate reference sites, blogs can enhance knowledge management practices by providing a way for patrons to use blog information to elicit and draw from the experience of others who have performed similar tasks. Second, blogs provide a way to inquire about and distribute implicit or intuitive information, for instance, other processes that may be involved before an application will work. This could include everything from using the library Power Point application to create a master template, to how to add a windows application to a terminal so that it can be launched.
Last, blogs can help fill gaps in information by allowing for the addition of complex details not available from typical sources. For instance, a typical web site might show which research cages were available, but information on a blog could tell me which ones are drafty, or which are near other students in my research field. The ability to fill these gaps in knowledge is particularly crucial given the diverse and integrated nature of modern library information systems. Finally, and perhaps most important, blogs can help users deal with the effects of information overload, by providing “a valuable filtering function for their reader14.” A general strategy for applying blog technology to support existing library information reference systems and programs might include:
1) Providing information support. The library webblog is not intended to replace or supplant existing reference functions. Its purpose is to extend and complement traditional functions by providing a web of cohesion between--and depth to--static points of library information resources, processes, and concepts. The blog fills in and extends information outlined in existing library information structures.
2) Increasing information currency. The business of information service and instruction often exist in a dynamic, rapidly changing information environment. Most current means of publishing, including newsletters and static web sites, lack the ability to meet the ‘real time’ needs of today’s patrons. Blogs allow for the rapid publishing of information about new programs, changes in policy, or subsequent thoughts about these changes. Further, they can bridge the time between formalized publishing cycles.
3) Explaining and extending information. Library webblogs provide a way for library faculty, staff and patrons to publish, distribute, archive, and retrieve information integral to the library mission that requires clarification or elaboration. Blogs can be used to fill informational gaps, like changes in instruction schedules, agendas, or requirements; and to provide detail to existing information structures, such as a blog to discuss complex library issues where initial information is often limited by time and space (a workshop) or format (a guide or tutorial).
4) Building and connecting knowledge. Web sites are often highly structured, static, and/or inflexible. Blogs are free flowing, continuous, and dynamic. The flow of blog information provides connections between disparate topics or points of orientation within an organization, and fills in intuitive, implied or other gaps in library reference processes, tools and procedures. In this way shared knowledge bases can be built across departments and user audiences.
5) Providing flexible information. In the most basic sense, blogs are dynamic listings of Frequently Asked Questions, (FAQs) with a multitude of functionality and uses. Blogs can archive information on a set schedule. Information can be stored, searched and retrieved. In addition, controls are simple, so content can be published and managed by those with limited technical skill.
What can you do with a Blog?
There are a number of ways blogs can be used to compliment library instruction and reference information systems. They can be utilized as a project management tool, proving a periodic logging of project progress15. Mentoring programs can use them as a platform to facilitate the knowledge exchange process between novice and experienced practitioners16. Blogs are currently purposed in a number of ways in the library. References librarians employ blogs to update rapidly changing service information, or provide insight into complex library procedures. Instructional librarians use blogs to build learning communities, and exchange instruction and ideas between students and instructors. Librarians of all specializations can develop blogs to build an archive of institutional knowledge17, or subscribe to blogs outside of the organization to maintain current awareness of the field18. Blogs may even provide cohesion between staff members working independently or at a distance19.
Beauty and the blog
There is a stew of solutions for the information appetite, everything from content management systems, to courseware, to tutorials built with Macromedia Flash technology. Some of these systems are integral to library service, but rarely does an application or system encompass all the information requirements of the libraries various objectives end-to-end. Simply put, the beauty of the blog is its low over-head, minimal learning curve, and wide range and ease of use. And while it’s rarely a solution in itself, blogs offer a flexible, cost effective (some are free) information support supplement for the dynamic library setting.
One promising use of the blog in library reference is the ability to provide current awareness service using RSS, often referred to as Rich Site Summary or more practically, Really Simple syndication. Simply, RSS is a very basic XML (extensible markup language) syntax to describe ‘feeds’ or ‘channels’ of information. At the most basic level a channel can be described using only 3 tags, a title, a link, and a description. From a user perspective, RSS allows users to subscribe to lists that are read using client software called an aggregator. From a service perspective, RSS can be combined with PERL, PHP or other scripting languages, to provide real time updates from the information feed directly to your library web pages20. Using this combination of technologies, libraries can easily alert patrons to current, activities, new titles, and time related service information through the library web site. In fact, over time the real power of blogging tools may be the ability to adapt to the winds of emerging technologies. A clear overview and some the practical implications of these related technologies will soon be released in Gerry McKiernan’s article, This Just In: Web feeds for enhanced library services21. Useful now, much of the information in the article is currently available online on his RSS(sm): RichSiteServices web site at But like all technologies, the boons of the blog are not without caveats. For instance, as with all technologies, policies should be established to ensure proper conduct and security. For instance, human resource literature documents that in one organization, “The employees were allowed to post anonymously, which immediately led to problems22.” There have even been reports of “cyberterrorist” hackers targeting blogs. 23