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In the Spring 2009 issue of Art Documentation, in an article titled “Archiving 2.0: Problems, Possibilities, and the Expanding Role of Librarians,” Sue Maberry, Director of the Library and Instructional Technology at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California addressed the archival issues associated with web 2.0. (Full article available through subscription only. You can read the abstract here.) As more and more content is created on the web, how do we preserve it? Many of these technologies are meant to be ephemeral, so should we even attempt to archive them? I think these are issues a lot of libraries and archives struggle with, but few resolve.
For Otis College of Art and Design, the key was to put the library at the forefront of new technologies and teaching and learning initiatives at the school and to begin archiving right from the start. A few grants and some brilliant, techie, fresh-out-of-library-school librarians also helped the process.
In her article, Maberry writes:
“The TLC funding excited everyone. Faculty and students created and used e-portfolios. Some began experimenting with wikis…Blogging was embraced…Flash learning objects were created. We acquired land in Second Life and began building. Students designed virtual art exhibitions…Art historians and social scientists experimented with audio and enhanced podcasts…Many faculty members became interested in making video “learning objects” for their courses.”
They really did it all. And with tools like CONTENTdm and DIGIcation, they have been able to preserve some of this content.
All of this is great, but my question is, how did they get the students and faculty to participate? What did they do to market the initiatives? When I go to the Otis College of Art and Design Library (aka The Millard Sheets Library) website now, there is no mention of these web 2.0 activities. There is, however, a Meebo chat widget and a YouTube tour of the library (see video below), two more web 2.0 technologies. (Is there anything web 2.0 the Otis College of Art and Design Library hasn’t experimented with?)
It would appear that while the library is the key player in the web 2.0 exploration at Otis, the initiative supports the entire school. The undergraduate admissions page includes links to Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. And the webpage on Technology and Learning is where they’ve hid the rest. Perhaps they would get even more interest by putting some of these links on the Library’s homepage.
The Thomas J. Watson Library is the primary research library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2006, the library assembled a web 2.0 team to initiate web 2.0 technologies in the library and throughout the museum. Not only did they learn about and discover new tools, they also used these technologies to communicate with one another throughout the process, in order to get a feel for how these tools could be used, and which would be most appropriate for the museum setting. A lengthy slideshow of the process was posted on SlideShare (Note: The SlideShare presentation embedded in this post may not appear when using Firefox versions prior to 3.5 or Internet Explorer.)
Once the web 2.0 team selected a set of tools, they spread the word through the museum newsletter, email, flyers, meetings, and instructional classes, and over a period of four months, attracted the attention of over 250 staff members from 32 departments. They got overwhelmingly positive feedback and several staff members said they had never considered the use of these tools in a research context. Yes! Success!
The majority of their successful web 2.0 experiments were for internal use: the staff blog, Google Calendar seating chart, and Google Doc reference schedule, but the WordPress-built web portal with RSS, and Flickr photostream were also highly successful.
Since the primary users of the Watson Library are museum staff, these web 2.0 tools are a great addition to the system–they facilitate many forms of communication and research. But as an outside viewer, things look pretty dull (I’m not too interested in photos of the Watson Library Holiday Party or conference photos). Overall the tools are easy to use, and the incorporation of an RSS feed on the portal further improves the usability. I love it when information gets sent to my Google Reader so I don’t have to check dozens of blogs on a daily basis.
So maybe it isn’t that easy to get students to read a library blog, but how about becoming their friend on Facebook? These days it’s almost necessary to have a Facebook account in order to stay in the loop with friends, family, and even places…like the library! Even my dad is on Facebook! The Sloan Art Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a great example of a successful attempt to attract users through social networking on Facebook.
The Sloan Art Library Facebook wall (you will need to login to Facebook to view this page. If you are not a member of Facebook, you can view the page in the screenshot above.) is updated regularly, sometimes multiple times per day, with information on library tools and resources, exhibitions, events, and timely arts news from around the world; the info page includes links to the library’s website and a map of the library’s location, as well as the library’s hours and phone number; and the event page allows the library to advertise events and send invitations, and also acts as an archive of past events.
The Sloan Art library Facebook page is not advertised on their website, but that’s the beauty of social networking–friends see the link on a friend’s Facebook page, they become a fan, and the chain continues. Currently there are 81 fans of the Sloan Art Library.
Since Facebook has a set layout and categories, every page works the same way, which makes it easy to find information. (We all get in a big tizzy when the layout or features change, but we learn to like it and get over it pretty quickly.) The one drawback with Facebook is that not everyone has an account, so by posting information on a Facebook page, you neglect to inform everyone. For this reason, exhibit and lecture notifications, such as those posted by the Sloan Art Library, need to be distributed in multiple formats, which is actually the best way to reach the greatest number of people anyway.
Facebook isn’t the only web 2.0 tool in use at the Sloan Art Library. The Sloan Art Library’s Flickr photostream features a small selection of images of events and artists’ books, a Google maps mashup pinpoints all art museums in North Carolina, and a widget on the Library’s home page shows RSS updates from three arts news sources.
pARTicipation 