Connecting with people :Twitter reading groups, scenarios for the future of public libraries and games

Thank you very much to ALIA Tasmania for inviting me to talk and to Karmen Pemberton and all the others who have done the organisation to make this visit possible.
My work is with public libraries in NSW – some of it is to facilitate collaborative projects The key indicators of public library across NSW use show that the public are using libraries more than ever. 2010 figures show: Library visits are above 37 million, and have increased by 15% over the past 5 years Loans have exceeded 50 million per annum for the first time - up 7% over the past 5 years Internet use has increased by 30% in the past 5 years
State Library of NSW public library research project completed in 2009, each year there are 2 -3 public library research projects, we have public libraries on the project teams and also consult with them as part of the research process Project consultants exploring scenarios for the future of public libraries were Richard Watson and Oliver Freeman – Leanne Perry and I co-led this project For more information about the research program http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/public_libraries/network_research/plnr_completed_projects.html Almost 200 public library staff involved in the development of these scenarios includes all ages and all job types Need to keep in mind they are scenarios and not predictions, and each should not be used in isolation – (don’t nit pick the detail) Part of the research project was educating library staff about scenarios They are public library scenarios, but can be used to consider ideas for other kinds of libraries as well
Four scenarios exploring possibilities for twenty years time – and obviously all the trends have started now To help public libraries with their strategic planning and for how they plan their services into the future Varying degree of optimism and despair in the scenarios – and this is also an interpretation which varies from person to person You can read the complete document here http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/public_libraries/publications/docs/bookendsscenarios.pdf Silent spring has extreme climate change and rediscovery of reading and library spaces
How buildings learn – technology increasingly important, growth in e-government services in libraries – libraries not collection focused
Neuromancer - Faster, faster faster…but libraries can provide reliable connectivity, and spaces for people to slow down in, libraries also as spaces for business intelligence
Fahrenheit 451 – screen based culture, post literate world..
Each scenario has an overview
Early warning indicators
And a timeline Discussion during the preparation about these scenarios about need for library profession to be more agile and structures less hierarchical and a broader range of skills required. Also highlighted need to be leaders rather than followers in information provision, being bold and constructive. We need to be trying new tools to know how they work and so we can plan proactively rather than reactively. The bookend scenarios aim to help with this, and with helping people think bigger and more collaborately. Highlighted need for library staff to engage in their own development and not wait for their employers, but also seek out communities of practice – twitter and other social media have a big role in this, I will talk about this more later
Producing this publication has led to annual futures forums organised by the staff in Public library services 2010 futures forum http://futuresforum.eventbrite.com/ 2011 futures forum http://plff2011.eventbrite.com/ These events target library managers and they are asked to bring someone along who will be in the workforce in 2030 (so broad range of staff are coming to these events)
Wildcards also developed Literally a set of cards with suites of ideas, nature, society, politics, economy, culture and technology, as well as a few jokers Used to encourage brainstorming for councils and libraries planning for the future – they are not library specific The cards have been used extensively across NSW as we distributed sets to each council, have also been used in other states and territories in Australia as well as Vermont and Utah in the USA.
Serious games are an area which museums have been working in for years, libraries are starting to enter this space and also to think about how games can be used in libraries in a way which looks a little different Reference, reader advisory, local studies possibilities. Forsyth, Ellen Playing with readers : online games and their potential for reference and readers advisory services in public libraries Information Online, 1 – 3 February, 2011 http://tiny.cc/rxpxm Forsyth, Ellen From Assassins creed 2 to the Five greatest warriors: readers advisory and games 12 to 24s@Your Public Library In Australia and New Zealand, Beenleigh Events Centre Queensland 2010 http://www.scribd.com/doc/43205830/From-Assassins-Creed-2-to-the-Five-Greatest-Warriors Forsyth, Ellen Readers advisory services for older adults , Next chapter: public libraries in Australia and New Zealand for older generations, State Library of New South Wales1-2 May 2009 - includes some ideas for using games http://www.scribd.com/doc/43205296/Readers-advisory-services-for-older-adults
The following is from Wil Wheaton – featured in a clown jumper in this image… http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2010/01/regarding-the-matter-of-video-games-v-movies.html Narrative video games aren't going to replace television and movies any more than television and movies replaced books, but as technology continues to advance, and games become even more cinematic and interactive, the battle won't be only for the consumer; it will also be for the creator. People who went to school 20 years ago to learn how to make movies are now going to school to learn how to use the same narrative storytelling techniques to make video games. It's going to be a fierce battle, and even though I think it will likely be fought to a draw, we're going to get some incredible entertainment out of it. As creators and consumers, we're going to experience things that we can only imagine right now, and I can't wait.
Games: - going to where people are Reference Readers advisory Reading groups http://gamesandlibraries.wetpaint.com – showing part of a discussion. Sockmonger is the speaker Series of library talks being held in World of Warcraft – about libraries and games in a library in a game
Seminar held in 2010 as starting point Few geographical limits participants from Australia, NSW, Canada and USA (these are the best time zones for the talks) As you can see it looks different to a session we are having now – all the participants shown on screen are wearing armour and carrying weapons, there is significant racial diversity, wildlife – and fancy beards The different look changes the discussion a bit, in a good way.
Screen shot of one of these sessions – showing a reading group discussion in World of Warcraft. So it is about thinking about our library services more broadly – when exploring readers advisory services, not just asking about what people have been reading, but what they have been watching and playing – as how they talk about it will provide strong hints – so you can find out if someone likes action packed reading, by how they describe watching a recent sporting event. Don’t use library jargon, but make sure you ask leading questions – and not questions which will lead to what you have just read. There are lots of great possibilities with games and reading which are being under explored
Each of the talks has a transcript provided of it – usually on the same day. This is just to give you an idea about the transcripts, not for you to actually read this. A mix of people have been doing the transcripts. It is quite easy to log the discussions and then they just need to be cleaned up. Full transcript of Lucas Gillespie’s presentation can be viewed here http://gamesandlibraries.wetpaint.com/page/Lucas+Gillespie+transcript#fbid=bwLPF5u0kPX Lucas was talking about the WoW in schools project which is an amazing way of engaging with students in the USA
WoW in schools http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/w/page/5268731/FrontPage
This shows a recent talk by Eli Neuburger –to give a feel for the location but stripped of text Transcript of his talk available from http://gamesandlibraries.wetpaint.com/page/Eli+Neiburger+transcript
Eli Neuberger was talking about the summer game program at Ann Arbor Public Library – involved quests about the library and to with library related things, mix of online and off – no age limit – there were some very active players in their 70s
http://play.aadl.org/get_started
This is the wiki where the transcripts are stored, anyone can join wiki – need to ask to be a writer. You need a WoW subscription – for about $15.00 per month, and you need an Alliance toon in the Saurfang (Oceania) realm – I am happy to help you get started with this. Games and public libraries wiki http://gamesandlibraries.wetpaint.com/
Google analytics – for the games wiki -
Games and libraries wiki is not the only wiki used by NSW public library staff. They are collaborative working tools for staff – and they look like it Reference and information services group wiki http://referenceandinformationservices.wetpaint.com/ includes local studies
Ref-ex : reference training for library staff http://wiki.libraries.nsw.gov.au/index.php/Reference_excellence This is a reference training tool
Readers Advisory wiki http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/ Collaborative tool for professional development and communication Which leads on to
Why twitter – talk about uses? Ask who uses twitter Next I will show you a recent conversation from the State Library twitter stream and a member of the public…
Conversation from 23 August 2011
The 2010 library workers challenge http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/2010+Librarian%27s+Reading+Challenge was the starting point for the 2011 twitter reading group which anyone can participate in. This was the most edited page on the readers advisory wiki in 2010 – and it was for library staff to encourage people to read different things, specifically to read outside their comfort zone – and people participated with enthusiasm. Any of you are welcome to join this wiki – no geographic boundaries, and builds on the learning 2.0 training many of the wiki participants have done.
Theme for the year, but each month as separate theme as well The planning for this took place in a readers advisory meeting in Manly late last year, with over 30 people present – people knew it would be discussed at the meeting as it was the sole agenda item. Wiki provided a space prior to the meeting to collect suggestions for those who could not make it to the meeting and quite a few ideas were collected this way State wide group means most people don’t get to all the meetings, hence the value of the wiki for contributions the blog for the reading group was put together by the steering committee – although other people were asked if they wanted to be involved
Cathy, Jenn, Vassilki, Amy, Helen, Therese, Monique and I are doing the coordination. Locations of these librarians include Coffs Harbour, Wagga Wagga, Bowral and different parts of Sydney. And not all tweet (Monique and Therese don’t but that is not a problem for any of the team) The planning has been done by e-mail, teleconference and google docs as we are usually all in the one place once a year at the annual readers advisory seminar in March.
Wingecaribee Library on twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/wingecarribee promoting the reading group in May – they linked directly to the blog, but put their own spin on it – claiming the group as their own (which is great to see)
From Townsville Library on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/TownsvilleLib – again - no way to telling it isn’t local
And even a specialist library – the Forensic and scientific services library is encouraging their followers to tweet their reading
http://flsblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-is-sci-fi-month.html From Victoria this public library has picked some highlights for their blog post – linking to the reading group site – and it looks like it is their own work
From Readers in the mist blog http://readersinthemist.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/read-it-2011-5/ Similarly here – and it is great to see the way some libraries have really embraced the twitter reading group and been promoting it for their clients
Read @ UTS blog http://read.lib.uts.edu.au/ And universities have been doing this as well
coming themes for #readit2011 Complete list of themes available from http://readit2011.wordpress.com/
Blog for the reading group is at http://readit2011.wordpress.com/ It is called a twitter reading group, but you can use these themes how you like – people can comment on the blog to share their reading, people can write on their own blogs, they can post photographs or videos, discuss in face to face reading groups or tweet
Theme for August is #geekreads Each month people tweet their reading during the month, then on the last Tuesday of the month at 8.00pm people tweet their reading live. These are lively discussions s0 Hobart Once this talk is over tonight – if you tweet – please tweet #geekreads – you might tweet your own reading, or reply to someone else who is tweeting on that hashtag. If you don’t tweet – you still might like to have a look via twitter search Launceston – last night some of your more southern colleagues participated in this discussion, you can still add a tweet on their subject – but it may not be the heated interactivity of last night. Please feel free to promote this reading group to your readers – not matter what kind of library you are in.
readit2011 https://twitter.com/#!/readit2011 There is a twitter stream for the year – which you can follow as well
Exploring twapper keeper – this is for a previous month – just to show indicative data – and it is indicative, but it helps to tell the story of what is happening url for this page http://summarizr.labs.eduserv.org.uk/?hashtag=goreads For twapper keeper http://twapperkeeper.com/index.php
and Archivist – which is a similar tool I am trying out to see what story is being told through all of this. http://archivist.visitmix.com/ellenforsyth/1 (url for this page) http://archivist.visitmix.com/ Archivist home page
http://archivist.visitmix.com/ellenforsyth/1/source You can even track source of tweets by tools
http://archivist.visitmix.com/ellenforsyth/10
http://archivist.visitmix.com/ellenforsyth/17 (this archive will be deleted in September)
It is also about promotion – so t-shirts Redbubble readit2011 t-shirt http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/6748844-t-shirt The reference and information services group, which the readers advisory group is part of, has a redbubble account, they make no money from the t-shirts, so what you pay goes fully to redbubble.
Reminder to promote reference and information services – t-shirts are being designed for all reference, readers advisory and games seminars – the number sold are low, but they are selling. The group gets no profit as they set up sales this way – other wise it gets to complicated
Fully customiseable t-shirts other than the print colour – you can choose colour, style and whether the printing is on the front or back – with a big size range They are printed in Australia and are printed on demand – so no stock to be paid for. Arrive within about 5 days.
David Lee King wearing one of the readit2011 t-shirts http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidking/5589809243/ The reference group sent it to him when they sent him one for the reference seminar he was presenting at via Skype earlier this year. So it has provided a good way of promoting the reading group, but things are scaling up next year
Now we move to the national year of reading – the blog is already live. This has been planned by the NSW readers advisory group – with a meeting in Bowral to discuss the parameters of the themes 10 of which are based on the themes showing on the petals of the love2read flower There is a blog – shown on screen with information about the themes for each month – you may want to use these with in –library reading groups – which is why the information has been available from mid August – or you may just want to promote them to your readers who tweet next year – it is totally up to you http://love2read2012.wordpress.com/
Looking at May you can see that there is a broad interpretation each month
So that lots of reading will fit. There is also a post about reading so that it is clear that it is not only long form, but that it is in any format, any location any content, and for any age group – while admitting that the style of the blog is more targeting adult reader. Next year the plan is there will be a blog post a week – focusing on the reading themes each month. It is also likely that this group will participate in blogjune which this year saw 30 travel read related blog posts written Please use this in what every way works for your readers, but so it is not too late to participate in readit2011 by telling your readers about it.

Connecting with people :Twitter reading groups, scenarios for the future of public libraries and games

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Connecting with people :Twitter reading groups, scenarios for the future of public libraries and games

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