The page integrates a lot of content and access to the library as well as some “fun” features that make the page more of a place to explore than just an information hub. One of these features is the inclusion of the streaming music player from Myspace. A default feature on most accounts, the libraries I’ve looked at so far have not used it, but it allows the account administrator to add a song that will play automatically when the site loads, getting more senses involved and creating more of a sense of setting.

The page also includes the default blog in which event promotion and reader’s advisory information is presented. Reader’s advisory is also available in a widget that from Shelfari.com that presents a virtual display of selected library holdings. What is really interesting about this Myspace page is its direct access to the library catalogue – a search box in the page, including “Keyword”, “Title” and “Author” field options, brings up a new page of results from the library’s OPAC. This page not only promotes the library and its services, but acts as an interactive link to library circulation.

The page also includes a variety of links to other helpful sites for teens, along with quick summaries of their purpose. The website for the Denver Public Library: Teens section is prominently advertised in a few places, and a glance at this suggests that the eye-catching and efficient design of the Myspace page is not something new to Denver teens. On this site, the Myspace page is given a prominent link, which partially explains the 854 friends eVolver has at this time.

This Myspace page is a great example of the customizability that these social networking sites provide. In the equivalent of 2 page lengths, the eVolver site presents reader’s advisory, news, events, and access to a variety of web resources, all geared towards the teen audience, and still has room to play music and play with a virtual pet. This account, along with the website under the denverlibrary domain, suggest that this is a library system that has considered its users very thoughtfully and used the technologies at hand to make them feel welcome and important.

Blog syndication for Wendt Library

While the Myspace page offers a blog feature by default, Wendt Library has decided to integrate a more feature-rich blog presentation for its posts. First, the widget used allows more blog entries to be displayed on the main page, with the use of a scroll feature within the section. Even more usability and access is possible with the “Share this Widget” feature – users who want quick access to the library’s news or want to share it with others can copy the feed to one of 25 different tools, including their own computer desktop or their webpage. Since one of the great strengths of libraries on Myspace is the ability to present information where users will find it, it only makes sense to include built-in support for further publication.

The page includes a lot of promotion for the engineering library – within the “Films” section, the librarians have embedded a 24-minute video of a presentation by UW students regarding new technology projects at Wendt. The static sections of the page are used to present more access points to the library, including building hours, email, instant-messaging handles, and links to the library on other social networking sites. Unfortunately, the Myspace page isn’t linked in any way from Wendt Library itself, though the main page does link to their Flickr, Facebook and del.icio.us pages.

The use of a widget within myspace to make syndication easier and more obvious to users is a great step, but for this page to be used as it should, it needs the support of the more “official” library webpage. It is impressive that, despite any direct link from the school itself, this page has managed to get the use it does, which speaks to the networking potential of Myspace “friends”.

The main library of the University of Texas at Austin – The Perry Castaneda Library – has created a presence for itself on the online social networking site, Myspace.  For those not familiar with the site, Myspace allows individuals to create profile pages from which they can post information about themselves, post blog entries, videos, songs and network with other Myspace accounts.  Here, “PCL and the UT Libraries” is a 33 year old female whose quote is the athletics’ motto “Hook ‘em Horns!”.

PCL’s Myspace page uses the structured fields creatively to fit a lot of information and promotion of the libraries into what is meant for information and promotion of an individual. For example, under “Music” where most users would list albums, bands and genres they like, PCL advertises library music collections, including a brief note on how to search these on the library’s OPAC.

The libraries have 1127 friends on Myspace at the time of this posting, and the comments on the wall range from thank you’s for services to well wishes to the library itself. The blog is used regularly to post information about library access, new programs, events,  and helpful tips for students.

Users can find this page either by Myspace’s search feature (PCL, University of Texas and Perry Castaneda all bring up the result) or through the “For Undergraduates” section of the UT Libraries website. At the bottom of this page, linked directly from the main library page, other social web tools are listed as well, including Facebook and del.icio.us.

This page and its promotion gives young UT students a fun and accessible access point for their libraries. The information listed on the page – including 24 hour service over crunch time in December – is available on other places online, but by presenting it on Myspace, where users can be its “friends”, the information is easily-updatable, immediately available to its users and presented in a way that is appropriate to many new students.

The library uses Gcast podcasting software, which gives the page an aesthetic, user-friendly layout that

Gcast podcast display

doesn’t always come across with pure html or RSS. Through the display for each channel, users can read text summaries, play podcasts, browse previous podcasts by date and title and subscribe to the RSS feed.

A blog associated with the webcasts is also run by teen users, and provides space for the authors to present news – such as a need for more contributors – and for users to post comments and feedback. Each tool has a clear and prominent link back to the other.

The webcast page itself has a prominent link from the homepage of the Boulder Public Library Teen Web, which in turn is linked to directly from the Boulder Public Library homepage. Within the Teen Web, stylish and functional web design presents an electronic space quite distinct from the library’s main site.

From design to content, the teen podcasts from the Boulder Public Library are very user-friendly and offer an exciting way for teens to stay informed and involved in the library and with their own community. Compared to the other podcasting applications I have been exploring, this seems to be the one getting the most use, at least in terms of updates. Instead of 4-12 posts in total, each “channel” contains at least this many, on various topics in different tones.

Each is presented in an interview format between the Chief of the LRB and one of the bureau’s librarians. From reviewing these podcasts, it seems that the library has developed many tools to make user navigation more efficient and convenient, including updated lists of new LRB publications, and the podcasts serve as advertisement and introduction to these.

While the subject matter in these podcasts might seem a little dry at first glance, for users interested in accessing these resources, such an explanatory and introductory tool is priceless. As a special library, the organization of and access to the resources at this library may be quite different than the public or academic library systems familiar to most users.

Many pages within the LRB and some external blogs link to the list of podcasts from the library and the subject-based podcasts on legal issues. Unfortunately, the library portion of the LRB site does not link to these podcasts – instead, users will find the list under the “Publications” section of the LRB homepage. These are listed in html, with no option to access or subscribe to an RSS feed.

Since the library podcasts are concerned with promoting library services and providing advice on their use, including links from within the library services pages to the relevant podcasts would make better use of both resources. Using the RSS feed technology used in other parts of the library’s page would also offer more convenient access to users. Library staff might find that this increases the traffic to these audio files and in turn be encouraged to create more.

The subject-based podcasts give straightforward instruction and advice on using existing library tools, and in the text summaries for these, there are links to relevant webpages, such as the Databases & Journals access page.

A library user might come across these podcasts in one of two ways. First, through the library’s homepage, the user would click on “News & Events”. There, the 3 most recent podcast titles will be linked, as well as the complete listing, including an RSS feed.

The user can also find these podcasts through the WSU Wiki, which has a page on podcasts throughout the university. This wiki page also includes information about podcasts, and if users find this format useful, they can also find course-related, student organization and NPR feeds. A weakness of this wiki seems to be that it is difficult to find it from the WSU homepage – a quick anaylsis from Google shows that there is only one incoming link to the main page, one from the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Technology. Users will need to know to look for the wiki through the university homepage’s search function.

Once a user is aware of this service, they would have the choice of downloading these podcasts to review while commuting or as a real-time guide during searching. Overall, it is a very useful feature that adds to the instructional value of the library and its accessibility, but it is one that could benefit from better advertisement on the library homepage.