Thing 6: Tracking Your Library

Before we even try to track anything, let's define what Google Alerts, Social Mention and Addictomatic are and how to get them:

• Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on an industry
• getting the latest on an event
• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams, librarians, politicians, authors and more.
• Social Mention allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about your library, your school, your newest additions to your collection, or any topic across the web's social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc.
• And Addictomatic searches the best live sites on the web for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images. It's the perfect tool to keep your patrons up with the hottest topics at your school library.

Now, let's sign up for a Google Alerts which is the same as creating an alert to follow. Head over to Google Alerts to create or follow a Google Alert. You'll need to sign-in to your google account; if you do not have one, create one. Google accounts are free and can be accessed from any computer. Once you have signed in, this is the page that you will see:

You can enter a specific search term, such as Chicago Public Library. The screen looks like:

You can edit the way you receive information about Chicago Public Library; each area has a pull-down menu with the following options:

• Type includes: News, Blogs, Videos, Discussions and Everything.
• Frequency is either Once a day or Once a week
• Email length is Up to 20 results or Up to 50 results
• Deliver to: Email or Feed

The Chicago Public Library Google Alert appears in your mailbox and looks like this:

Now, how do you use Social Mention? Let's sign up for an account which is exactly like Google Alerts but for social media. Head over to Social Mention to the home screen which looks like this

You need to choose either to Create an alert or Get the widget. If you choose an alert, the following screen is what appears:

As you can see, the type of feed you receive ranges Blogs to Q&A to All. If you want to add a widget to your site or blog, the screen that appears is:

Adding a widget is easy too, just follow the simple directions.

And finally, Addictomatic which instantly creates a custom page with the latest buzz on any topic. You can follow your library and the page that is created looks like:

If you don't like how the page is displayed, you can customize it. Bookmark it and you're done.

Some things to think about:

• Could this type of tracking affect grants libraries might apply for?
• How could these kinds of statistics inform new library services or marketing approaches?
• Could these sites be included in a library staff member's job description?

Thing 5: Delicious

And here we are at Thing 5 already! And it's Delicious! Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows you to store all your bookmarks in one place – accessible from any computer or device with internet access. It also allows you to tag your bookmarks and share sites with others on Delicious. Many of us are still saving our bookmarks via the browser which means they reside on the computer you are using at the time. But bookmarking through Delicious allows you to access your bookmarks regardless of the computer you are using. Tagging allows you to organize your bookmarks in a more accessible and more relevant manner than folders. And sharing bookmarks with others allows for project collaboration, networking and mentoring.

To really get a glimpse of the power of Delicious in a library setting, read Making Your Library More Delicious by Ellie Dworak and Social Bookmarking and Tagging Boost Participation by By Melissa L. Rethlefsen.

Commoncraft does a great job of explaining in simple terms what it's all about (note that the current delicious website is delicious.com)


Here's a great overview and how-to register and use Delicious (though this is an older video, it's still a very helpful overview of how to use this great tool!)


Two examples of Delicious accounts relevant to library services for children:

• La Grange Park Library
• Holdrege Library Kids

Now it’s time to create your own Delicious account. Start saving some websites you visit frequently via Delicious. Try importing bookmarks from your browser.

Some questions to ponder:

• How might you use Delicious in your daily work activities?
• How can you use Delicious to collaborate with colleagues?
• How could Delicious help students who use your library?
• How can they use it for homework?
• What about parents and teachers?
• What about for recreational purposes?
• How can students use Delicious for group projects or social networking?

Thing 4: Sign up for Google Reader and Learn about RSS!

Congratulations, bloggers - now that you've got your own blogs up and running, it's time to learn about RSS and sign up for Google Reader. You've heard about it, right? As you begin reading more blogs (and you will!) you may find it difficult to keep up with all the new posts. Or, perhaps your staff or library starts blogging — how will you manage to visit so many different blogs on a daily basis? Fortunately, there is another tool that has changed the way we receive new online content (not just from blogs). It’s called RSS. Wikipedia says it stands for real simple syndication and it's a cool tool that you need to be using.

This week we’ll look at subscribing to blogs and websites and using an aggregator to manage those subscriptions. After setting up an RSS account, you will subscribe to your favorite blogs and other sites that publish new content on a regular basis (like news headlines). You could subscribe to as many blogs as you like – even hundreds – but all you'll have to do is visit one site and be instantly updated on all that is new on all your favorite blogs.

Watch this video (another from the great CommonCraft Team) to understand more about how RSS works.



There are a number of RSS services, Newsgator, Bloglines, RSS Bandit, and more. But with Google Reader, there are so many options to share, play, and favorite certain feeds. Watch the video below to find out how to get started.

Now go out into the big world wide web and get your Google Reader started!

When you set up your blog, we recommended a few cool blogs - you can subscribe to those, your own favorites, or try one of these:

• Bees Knees Reads (a whole blog about great picture books)
• A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy (another book, music and movie blog written by a witty and passionate librarian)
• The ALSC blog (if you didn't know about it already)
• Away to Garden (fun and informative gardening blog)
• David Lee King (digital services librarian in Kansas who's got loads of ideas about the changing role of libraries)
• Tame the Web (Michael Stephens' fun library blog about technology)

Additionally, most non-blog websites now offer RSS capability too like the NYtimes where you can subscribe to particular sections of the paper and CNN as well as libraries, like Multnomah County Public Library's Catalog (captured in this photo) where you can subscribe to your personal interests as formats are added to the catalog. I actually subscribe to several of these just to stay on top of new books!

You can, of course, subscribe to this blog and since we have a slew of people participating in this national 23 Things project, but most importantly, we'd like you to subscribe to some of your fellow participants' blogs. We'll be emailing you a list of all the participants' blogs when we get them.

Need more of a challenge? If you're already using an RSS Reader or are just one of those types, try creating folders and organizing some of your feeds. I have folders for technology, children's literacy and books, cooking, gardening and so on.

Don't forget to blog about your experience with each thing! Some questions to ponder:

• Did you run into any speed bumps setting up your account?
• How do you feel about this new approach to customizing your news and information?
• It's easy to feel overwhelmed, how do you handle info-overload when you're feeling bogged down?
• Do you think RSS may help with that feeling?

Week 2

So, how was your first week? Some of this stuff can get overwhelming, but it has major potential for F-U-N too! We have quite a list of Things for you during this 2nd week of activity. Don't panic! We are asking you to sign up for Google Reader and Delicious accounts (they're both delicious really!) and learn about tracking your library online. These 3 tools are powerful and have the potential to change the way you work and live! So enjoy!

Be sure to post about your experiences with each thing and be in touch with your mentor if you have trouble or any questions! We're here for you!