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PLACE CUBED
One of the leading mantras of the library modernization movement is the oft-referenced notion of providing the “third space” a community needs, if the first and second spaces are home and work/school. In my own life, the local library has served that role: when my daughter was an infant, we were regulars at the mid-morning lapsit at the branch down the street. It was about more than instilling an interest in literacy and language in a small child; it was a place to go to escape the monotony of home and socializing. It also served as a way to meet and share experiences with other neighborhood parents. After going for a few weeks, we’d start to see parents and kids we knew from the library around the neighborhood, and started organizing playgroups and get-togethers. The library had served as the jumping off point for community organization and involvement. Suddenly a big city neighborhood felt like a tight-knit community that we were a part of.
While reading Chapter Thirteen, Gaming, in Meredith Farkas’s book, Social Software in Libraries, I was pleasantly surprised by the coincidence of finding the same branch librarian who organized those lapsits — a friend of mine for nearly two and a half years now — quoted for her expertise in library gaming. Catherine Delneo’s 2005 article, taken from Young Adult Library Services, lays out a number of the key facts behind promoting library gaming: the sheer numbers of game players, the increasing percentage of female players, and the social aspects of videogame play. Delneo also described an interesting program in which the Austin Public Library introduced youths to game design through an easy-to-program software scheme that allowed the participants to collaborate on their own new games (Delneo, pg. 34-35).
Farkas goes into further detail on gaming and it’s history, from its roots in the 60s and 70s, the popularity of consoles, game genres (fighting vs. first person shooter, for example) that a non-gamer wouldn’t be familiar with, and some of the ways libraries have implemented game playing. These included “LAN Parties” featuring networked computers, tournaments on console games, creating gaming-dedicated areas, and attempts at providing “reader advisory” services that might, for example, steer a role-playing gamer towards epic fantasy reading.
All of these suggestions serve the Third Place concept. Teens — and an ever-increasing segment of adults — play videogames. It is a compelling interest for them. By circulating secondary materials they might not be able to afford to purchase (spin-off novels and DVDs, strategy guides, related comics), the library can create value for these users. By providing a physical space for them to play, they can try LAN-based games or games they do not own at home. A gathering point is created, and those teens and young adults have the opportunity to create a community of their peers — just as I became part of a community of my peers by bringing my young child to the branch for lapsits.
Academic Libraries
The academic library environment is commonly held fairly far apart from the public sector; collections are to serve the institution’s research needs, not the pleasure of the patrons. Academic libraries are not as caught up in the high-culture/low-culture debate that has persisted in public libraries. However, some academic libraries are starting to look at gaming as a potential vehicle for library relevance. Jim Morris of Lake City Community College in Northern Florida writes that adopting gaming in the library — particularly in after-hours, when the din of a tournament won’t detract from the study-hall environment — goes hand-in-hand with other loosened regulations (allowing food and drink, bringing in comfortable furniture, circulating reference materials) to create a more appealing library. One night might be LAN gaming; the next might feature a poetry slam. Morris believes these disparate activities both serve the same purpose: saying “yes” to his patrons. And therefore, Morris is creating a new twist on the Third Space: dorm and lecture hall as first and second, library, again, as the third.
References:
Delneo, C. (2005). Gaming for tech-savvy teens. Young Adult Library Services 3 (3), pg. 34-38.
Farkas, M.G. (2007). Social software in libraries. Medford: Information Today, Inc.
Morris, J. (2007). The new academic library and student services. Journal of Access Services 5 (1/2), pg 31-36.
PODCASTING TO THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE…
In this follow-up to Creating a Durable Voice, I investigate methods by which libraries are reaching out to the public with podcasting technology.
Run time- 3:47
MOVING MOVABLE TYPE
The established barriers of the modern publishing industry did not exist in the early days of printing. Nowadays, a novelist has little or no say in the jacket design or typeface — that’s left to the marketing team, who hire graphic artists, typesetters, and other subcontracters to perform the tasks. Infamously, many cover artists haven’t even read the book they are designing for, leading to some oddly innappropriate covers.
Amongst early printers, that wasn’t always the case. The workshops of the Estienne Family, a Parisian print house, were notable for the involvement of their authors. Charles Estienne, a doctor and brother to master printer Henri, not only wrote books for publication, he personally carved the woodcut images to accompany the text. For example, he published one book on all the known fish of the world, and personally set the typeface and illustrated it:
Oronce Finé, a French astronomer and mathematician not only drew the woodcut print illustrations that accompanied his books (among them the influential work De Mundi Sphaera), he also designed the typeface.
Now, it’s certainly the case that with ready-made blogger, WordPress and LiveJournal templates anyone who “can type a sentence…can probably use a blog” (Farkas, pg. 12). But in many ways we find ourselves back in Estienne’s workshop, with the opportunity to tinker with the typography ourselves. A dedicated blogger isn’t merely a writer; they need to develop an eye for graphic design, choose a look from amongst a slew of templates, tweak the designs to their liking, or develop their own. They need to pay attention to things like column width, consider links, directories, archives, trackbacks, etc. It goes well beyond writing. While many contemporary published authors are no doubt relieved to leave such technical details in the hands of professionals, the amateur blogger has more leeway — and there is a certain democratizing beauty to that.
The Elements of a Successful Blog
What is success? How can it be defined?
Meredith Farkas’ book, Social Software in Libraries, makes the point that the term “blog” is used to describe completely different uses. For example, the Becker-Posner Blog (the joint project of a federal judge and award winning economist) and a “blog written by a teenage girl about her personal life” both qualify (Farkas, pgs. 11-12). The goal of one and the other are vastly different; the number of readers, the nature of comments (or if comments are even allowed), the content provided. So when we talk about blogging, we’re really talking about a set of technology tools, not a style of writing.
Farkas describes a number of the usual elements: archives of past posts by date or category; dated, timestamped entries; permalinks to individual posts; reverse-chronological postings (the most recent post at the top); and a two- or three-column format. Some blogs encourage comments, provide search features, or trackbacks to allow the administrator to find links to his or her post (Farkas, 11-13). A number of these features are included as standard options on popular services like blogger, Wordpress or LiveJournal.
Farkas divides blogs into three categories: filters, personal journals, and knowledge logs, but I believe just three categories is inadequate for the range of what can be found — even just within the “biblioblogosphere”. But for now, let’s accept this definition of a blog and move on to the question at hand: success.
Measuring Success
When my wife and I created our baby blog, our goal was to post periodic updates on her pregnancy and childbirth and the life of our daughter. We wanted our immediate friends and family to know how we were doing as a family, and create a chronicle of her life in the process. Two and a half years on, we don’t have more than 20-30 readers per week. Each post generally garners between 2-5 comments. But for us, that is success! We look back on old posts to reminisce. Family members will mention in conversation things they saw on our blog, or save some of the photos we post. That blog has achieved its goals.
Any blogger starting out should contemplate their goals and vision for their blog: are they trying to relay information, develop a community, make a profit, or write a memoir? How many readers make it successful? Is it for friends and family, or do you hope to shape a professional field? Only with these answers in hand can you set about meeting your goals.
Achieving Success
There are plenty of sites that will tell you what to do or not do with your blog. Raj Dash’s post “41 Reasons Your Blog Probably Sucks” is focused on blogging for profit and suggests you stay away from the overly personal*. In contrast, Write to Done’s “12 Essential Blogging Tips” kicks off with “write from the heart”, telling the writer to use personal examples in their writing. What to make of this?
*As an aside, I found Dash’s blog, Performancing, a marvel of poor visual design that breaks at least several of his 41 rules. Well, I guess design is a subjective thing.
Here are my own subjective suggestions, culled from their lists and from others:
- Keep it interesting by using a thematic connection (even as format and subject varies).
- Make it personal — without navel-gazing.
- Post regularly.
- Provide links to useful or interesting sites or information.
- If you want a wide audience, promote, promote, promote.
Reference: Farkas, M.G. (2007). Social software in libraries. Medford: Information Today, Inc.
