1. Confessions & Lamentations
Social Web at the University of Leicester
Library
Gareth J Johnson
Document Supply & Repository Manager
David Wilson Library
University of Leicester
www.le.ac.uk

2. Overview
• Questions (with no answers)
• The University of Leicester
• My World of Web 2
• Selected Web 2 elements at Leicester
• Concerns & challenges
• Questions (with some answers)

3. Questions
• What happens when your staff follow you in
Web 2?
• Would you be a Facebook fan of your library?
• Should comments on blogs be unmoderated?
• Is all public communication “official”?
• What benefits to my organisation or custoemres
could Web 2 offer?

4. Leicester University
• Top 20 in all National tables
– 91% student satisfaction rate
– 6th Highest citations rates relative to size
• 23,000 students
– 41% Distance Learners
• Around 1000 academic staff
– 93% submitted for RAE ’08
– 87% determined to be producing internationally
significant research
• 4 Colleges
– Moved from faculty structure this academic year

5. DWL Facts
• Multi-award winning
• 1500 User spaces
• 38km shelving
• 1M+ volumes on shelves
• 350 PCs + wireless
network
• 13 Group study rooms
• Graduate Media Zoo
• 2 IT training suites
• Also houses Careers,
Accessibility & Student
Learning Depts
www.le.ac.uk/li/about/building/factsandfigures.htm

6. Web 2 is a State of Mind
• Web 2 is • Web 2 isn’t
– Dynamic – Static
– Interrogative – One way
– Social (usually) – Formal (usually)
– Public (mostly) – Private (mostly)
– Organisation 2.0 – Organisation 1.0
– Buzzwordtastic – Everything it’s
cracked up to be

7. My World of Web 2.0
• 1995 BBS (Arafel)
• 2004 Live Journal, My Space
• 2005 Wikipedia contributor
• 2006 YouTuber, Last.fm
• 2007 Facebook, Delicious, Linked in
• 2008 Tweeting, Wordpress, SlideShare, Kongragate
• 2009 WetPaint Wikis, Blip.fm
• 2010 Qik video

8. Personal Brand
From Wordle.net

9. Where Lies the Wub?
Professional
Professional
Workplace Personal
Workplace Personal

10. Web 2.0 at Leicester
• Library Blog • Smallwordlz
• Library Facebook • Team wikis
presence • Projects
• Personal & Corporate • Youtube
Twitter accounts
• Chat Enquiries
• SlideShare
• Google docs for
• Delicious social collaboration
bookmarking
• Web 2.0 community

11. The Leicester Web 2.0 Community

12. Blogging
• UoL Library Blog
– Informal but professional tone
– Target audience of library and institution
– Started quietly to gain voice
– Went “public” after a month
– Core of authors although all invited
• Knowledge based information resource
• External cloud based platform (WordPress)
– High customisability
– Low technical requirements

14. Facebook
• Page to promote services
– Maintained by information librarians
– 1,055 fans currently
• Rolls out and links to official news
– Also houses some HQ images of the library
– Replies to the occasional comment
• An attempt to reach into users social spaces
• Not actively promoted beyond front page links

16. Twitter
• Professional networks and networking
– “Enhanced my professional networks more in 2 years
than CILIP has in 15”
– Involvement in local projects and community
– Self-selected for engagers and enthusiasts
• A resource for enquiry resolution
– Friendlier & more engaged than mailing lists
– Instantaneous feedback & crowdsourcing
– Cross pollination of blogging & other endeavours
• Are people talking about your service?
– Search on #tags, monitor twitterfall or saved searches

18. Wikis
• PM.Wiki
– Enquiry team manual, locally installed
• WetPaint
– Cloud computing service with live linkage
– Two team manuals on it now
– Locked as private resource
• Team ownership
– Allows easy editing by all, although in reality…
– Allows rapid record of S.O.P.
– Allows easy access globally 24/7

20. Web 2.0 Projects
• Smallworldz
– Academic attempt to build PG professional networks
– Students didn’t like enforced networking
• SM@LL
– Portal project drawing on Delicious and Netvibes sites
– Up front discussions and development using twitter
(#smallJISCRI) & Google Docs
• My Leicester Digital Archive
– Video, image and text digitisation project
– OCLC Content.dm with folksonomy and community
content addition

21. Web 2.0 at Leicester
• Library Blog • Smallwordlz
• Library Facebook • Team wikis
presence • Projects
• Personal & Corporate • Youtube
Twitter accounts
• Chat Enquiries
• SlideShare
• Google docs for
• Delicious social collaboration
bookmarking
• Web 2.0 community

22. Brickbats
• Getting a twitter client installed
– Isn’t email good enough?
• Stalkers and hidden followers
– When openness bites you in the ass
• Official slap downs
– Loss of control, clarity of message
• The stupidity of crowds
– Dealing with trolls and griefers
– Majority of interactions promising and supportive

23. Concerns
• But what about Second Life?
– Poor UI and experience
• Web 2 allows breaking down corporate façade
– Humanises the service
• Concerns over splitting personal from
professional?
• Justifying it to senior management – “It isn’t
suitable for US!”
• Go where the users are don’t expect them to
come to where you are?

24. Questions (Redux)
• What happens when your staff follow you in Web 2?
– Encourage twitter, remember crowded room. Others less keen
• Would you be a Facebook fan of your library?
– No, it’s personal and they pay me to be there
• Should comments on blogs be unmoderated?
– Yes, promotes open discussion and can always activate spam or
redact entries
• Is all public communication “official”?
– No. Not everything I say is “official” so why would anything I
tweet be.
• What benefits to my organisation or customers could
Web 2 offer?

25. Final Toghts
• What works for us might not work for you
• A lot depends on culture, ethos and personalities
• Experiment (if you can) with services and see what
others use them for
• Better to start small and often, than big and static
• Share your experiences openly in the Web 2.0 domain
• Be frequent, be responsive and avoid auto-responses

26. Contacts
• Gareth J Johnson, DS&R Manager
– Email: gjj6@le.ac.uk
– Tel: extn 0116-252-2039
– Web 2.0: llordllama
– Hashtag: #uol #ukoln

27. References
• Slides
– XXXXXXXX
• Facebook DWLibary
– http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2
• Leicester UoL Web 2.0 Community
– http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2