Thing #26: Getting Social with WorldCat.org

In 2006, OCLC introduced WorldCat.org, a free destination Web site where anyone can use familiar keyword searches to explore the complete WorldCat database. Since that time OCLC has been adding lots of neat new functionality to the site, including many social networking features that make it easy to spread the word about library materials and services! And that, my friends, is the focus of Thing #26: Getting Social with WorldCat.org

To take full advantage of WorldCat.org’s social networking features, the first thing you need to do is create a free account.

Create an Account

Creating a WorldCat account is fast and easy, and requires only an e-mail address. On top of the ability to search many libraries at once, a WorldCat account lets you:

• Create a public profile that lets other WorldCat users know something about you and your interests.


• Build and maintain public or private lists of books, videos and many other kinds of items owned by libraries.


• Add information to WorldCat records, such as factual notes, tables of contents, and ratings and reviews.

To create a WorldCat.org account go to http://www.worldcat.org/ and click on the “Create a free account” link. If you prefer, you can go directly to the Create an Account page. Select your user name and password, enter an email address, accept the terms of service, and you’re set!

Create a WorldCat.org Profile

In general social networking services encourage users to create personal profiles, and WorldCat.org is no exception. Once you’ve created a WorldCat.org account, consider filling in some profile data. Here’s how:

1. If you are not signed in, do so by clicking the "Sign In to WorldCat" link on the right-hand side of the WorldCat menu bar at the top of any WorldCat page.


2. On the left-hand side of the menu bar, hover over "My WorldCat" and select "Edit My Profile."


3. Fill out your profile. You can provide as much or as little information as you wish. You can optionally upload a picture that will serve as your user avatar. (Please upload only those images you have the right to distribute and that are in line with WorldCat's Terms and Conditions.)


4. Click the "Save Profile" button at the bottom of the page. A message will indicate you have successfully modified your profile.


5. Check that the privacy setting for your profile is what you want it to be. On the menu bar, click the "My WorldCat" menu and select "Privacy Settings." Adjust the setting, if necessary, and click the "Save Changes" button.

To search for other people who have created a WorldCat profile, hover over “Search” on the menu bar and select “Search for Contacts.” You can search by User Name or by First or Last Name. Can you find my profile if I tell you my User Name is sknisely?

Favorite Libraries

When you conduct a search in WorldCat.org and pull up the detailed record for an item of interest, WorldCat.org attempts to determine your location based on the IP address of your ISP (Internet service provider) in order to show you nearby libraries that own the item. (You may need to scroll down the detailed record page a bit to see the list of libraries.)

You can also manually specify your location by entering your zip code or, if you have a favorite library that you always want to see at the top of the list if it owns an item, click on the “Add to favorites” link to the right of the library’s name. (If you aren’t already logged in to your WorldCat.org account, you will be prompted to do so before you can “favorite” a library.)



Note: A library’s holdings will only be displayed in WorldCat.org if the library has added its holdings to WorldCat via one of the many OCLC services available for that purpose, e.g. CatExpress, Connexion, Batch Processing. A subscription to the WorldCat database on the FirstSearch reference service is also required for Web exposure of holdings via WorldCat.org. Nebraska libraries are covered by the statewide FirstSearch base package subscription, which includes access to WorldCat.

* * * * *

Ok, now that we have preliminaries out of the way, let's move on to some of the other useful and potentially "social" things you can do with your WorldCat.org account.

Create Lists

Once you have a WorldCat.org account you can create and save lists of books, DVDs, and other kinds of material owned by libraries. You can keep your lists private or make them public. Lists can serve all types of purposes. I’ve listed a few examples below. Can you think of others?

• New titles added to your library collection.
  
  Example: May 2009 – New Books (created by the University of Washington Art Library) See how they link to this list from their web site!


• Genre-specific book lists.
  
  Example: Vampire Novels for Young Adults (created by the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District Young Adult Materials Selector)


• Books related to a particular program.
  
  Example: Washington Reads (created by the Washington State Library in support of their statewide program to promote reading)

Creating lists is easy. To create a list first and then add items, select the ”Create lists” link on the left side of the WorldCat.org home page or the “Create” link in the “Lists” section of your profile page.

This takes you to the “Create New List” page. Type in a list name, set your list privacy to “Viewable by Anyone (Public)” or “Viewable Only by Me (Private),” and click on “Create New List.”

You can also create a list from a WorldCat.org search results page or from a detailed record page.
To create a list from a search results page, select one or more items to add to your list. Select “[New List]” from the “Save to” drop-down menu that appears above the result list and click “Save.”

You will now be prompted to create a list. (Of course, you can also save items to a previously created list, which will also appear in the drop-down “Save to” menu.)

From a detailed record screen click on the “Add to list” link. Save your item to a previously created list or choose the “Add item to new list” option.

For more help creating lists watch a 3-minute YouTube video on WorldCat Lists

Finding Lists

So how do people find your lists? Well, if they are a geeky librarian like me, they can use the WorldCat.org “Search for Lists” functionality.

To do this, hover over “Search” on the left-hand side of the top menu bar and select “Search for Lists.” Type in one or more keywords that you might expect to appear in the name or description of a list of interest. Click on “Search.”

In the example below I’m searching for “book club,” hoping to retrieve lists of titles being read by other book groups!

If I find a list I really like, I can click on the “Watch This List” button located beneath the list title. This adds the list to the “List Watching” area of my profile, allowing me to track updates to the list from within WorldCat.org.

Chances are most non-librarians won’t go to WorldCat.org to search for lists though, nor will they return to WorldCat.org to check for updates to lists. Therefore, if you want to get the word out about a list—whether you created it to reflect a personal interest or on behalf of your library—you will want to take advantage of some of the social features built in to WorldCat.org. These features let you get information to users at sites they already frequent, as opposed to making them come to WorldCat.org!

Share Lists (via email, RSS, bookmarks)

One thing that makes WorldCat.org social is the ability to easily share user-created content with others via email, RSS, and bookmarks.

To access your list of lists, hover over “My WorldCat” on the menu bar and select “My Lists.” Click on the title of the list you’d like to share.

Email - When viewing your own list you will have the option of clicking on a “Share” link at the top of the page to send your friends an email that includes a link to your list. Your list must be public for this to work.

• RSS - When other users view one of your public lists (or when you view someone else’s public list) they will have the option of subscribing to it as an RSS feed in order to monitor changes to it. All they have to do is click on the “RSS FEED” button at the top of the page. This retrieves the AddThis “Subscribe to Feed” page, which links to a variety of free Web services that can monitor RSS feeds. After selecting one of the displayed services, users can either sign in to the service to subscribe to the feed or create a new user account.


• Bookmark – Users viewing a public list can also click on the Bookmark button to add the list to popular social bookmarking/networking services they have accounts with, such as Delicious, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. This is a quick and easy way people (or libraries) can share content they find useful with many other individuals.

Additional WorldCat Tools

• WorldCat Search Widget - Put a WorldCat search box on your Web site or blog! Or, if you can swing it, encourage other people or organizations in your community to put a WorldCat search box on THEIR Web site or blog, along with a testimonial about your library’s ability to provide community members with access to the material listed in WorldCat, whether owned locally or not!
  
  To add a WorldCat search box to a Web site all you have to do is go to the WorldCat Search Box page, copy the code for the search box you want, and then past it into the code for your Web page.
  
  If you’d like a wee challenge, test this out in your Thing #26 blog post. When composing your post, just remember you’ll need to temporarily switch to “Edit Html” mode in order to paste in the code for the search box. After doing this you can switch back to “Compose” mode for the rest of your post.


• Create a WorldCat Link - When you’re writing about books or other types of material that can be found in libraries, don’t link to commercial third-party sites; link to WorldCat.org to promote libraries in general and to connect people to local libraries in particular!
  
  There are lots of ways to link to WorldCat, and lots of situations in which it would be appropriate to do so. I’ve given some examples below, but I’m sure you can think of others!
  
  
• Whenever you mention a book on your Web site or in a blog post, link to the WorldCat.org detailed record for the item - On a detailed record screen click on “Permalink,” which appears to the right of the “Bookmark & Share” button, to retrieve the URL you will want to use to link your readers to the record.
  
  Example: Check out Diary of a Wimpy Kid at your local library today!
  
  
• Link to lists – Create lists on WorldCat.org and link to them from your Web site or blog. Even if your library holdings don’t show up in WorldCat, you can still compile and link to a list of titles recently added to your collection! Or create subject bibliographies on topics of interest to your community, featuring books owned by your library!
  
  Example: The Nebraska Library Commission owns and/or recommends a number of books on gaming in libraries.
  
  
• Link to real-time WorldCat.org search results with embedded search terms – Help your patrons stay up-to-date by pointing them to the latest material on a particular topic or by a particular author. Follow these easy instructions to create links that generate WorldCat search results for a single subject keyword, multiple subject keywords, author keywords, or title keywords. You can even combine indices to help limit and refine your search results if necessary.
  
  Example: Check out 2009 books on food allergies! (If our library doesn’t own a title you’re interested in, we’ll be glad to request it for you through ILL!)
  
  
• Facebook Application – Does your library have a Facebook page? Or do you promote libraries on your personal Facebook page? If so, why not add the WorldCat Facebook Application and encourage your friends to do the same!
  
  Once you’ve logged in to your Facebook account, click on the “Applications” button at the left end of the Chat bar at the bottom of any Facebook page. In the menu that appears, click on the “Browse More Applications” link. Search for the WorldCat application and add it to your page.

Assignment

1. If you don’t already have one, create a free WorldCat.org account. Don’t forget to edit your profile!
   
   
2. Perform a search in WorldCat.org in order to identify an item owned by a nearby library. “Favorite” that library.
   
   If your own library’s holdings don’t show up in WorldCat.org, what library did you favorite? How could this be used by you or your patrons?
   
   
3. Do one or more of the following:
   
   
• Create a list…
  
  
• Search for a list created by someone else and “Watch” it…
  
  
• If you have an account on an RSS feed aggregator, subscribe to a list RSS feed…
  
  
• Bookmark a list (or detailed record) in order to share it via one of the social network/bookmark sites supported by AddThis…
  
  
• Review or rate an item you know something about…
  
  
• Create a link in your blog post to the detailed record for an item, a list, or real-time search results…
  
  
• Add a WorldCat.org search widget to your blog…
  
  
4. Write a blog post discussing your experience with WorldCat.org and brainstorm ways a library could use it.

Thing #25: See the world and be seen using Google Maps

When you hear the name Google Maps you may just think it’s simply a tool to provide you with directions from point A to point B but it’s much more than that. Thing #25 will highlight some of the great features available in Google Maps. As you work through Thing #25 think about how your library could use each of the features.

I’m going to be presenting the assignments a bit differently in this part of the lesson. Instead of putting the questions all at the end of the assignment they will be spread throughout the post and included at the end. You can decide if you want to answer the questions as you go through the lesson or wait and do them at the end.

Let’s get started with the basics.

The Basics

Google Maps is located at: http://maps.google.com/

Navigation - Using the Navigation Controls
On the top left side of the map you will see the Navigation Controls. The circle contains 4 arrows that will move your current view to the north, south, east or west. For now we will skip over Pegman (the little stick figure) that appears below the circle and move to the zoom slider. There are three ways to control the zoom slider. You can click on the + or – signs located at the top and bottom of the bar, or just click on a spot on the bar or drag lever up and down the bar.

Navigation – Using your mouse
Another way to navigate the map is to use your mouse. When your mouse is on the map it will appear as a hand. If you left click and hold your mouse button down you can now move the map around. When you are done moving the map let go of the mouse button. If you have a mouse with a wheel on it you can use it to zoom in and out.

Views

As you explore Google Maps you’ll see that there are different Views available. The first five options can be found on the upper right corner of the map. Clicking on them will toggle the view on or off.

• Map – Traditional map view that shows towns, roads, rivers, bodies of water and more.

• Satellite – Shows aerial images. How far you can zoom in while in this view varies. The satellite images are approximately one to three years old.


• Terrain - Shows the physical elevations of the land.


• Traffic - Traffic information is not available for all locations. The Traffic button will only be displayed when traffic information is available.


• More – The More option provides four choices of additional information to view. Each of the options will appear as thumbnails on the map. Clicking on the thumbnails for these items on the map will provide more information.
  


• Photos – The photos are from Panoramio. Panoramio is a site where anyone can upload and share their photos. The owner of the photo must have mapped the photo’s location in order for it to show on the Google Maps.

• Videos - The videos come from YouTube. The owner of the video must have mapped the video’s location in order for it to show on the Google Maps.


• Wikipedia – Wikipedia articles will show up as a white box with a black W in it.


• Webcams - Webcams information comes from Webcams.travel.


• Transit – Information about public transportation is available for 262 locations worldwide. The Transit button will only show up when Transit information is available.


• Street View – Is available for some locations in the United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand and Japan. Street view basically gives you the same view you would have if you were driving down a street. Watch this short video (2:02) to learn how to use Street View. *Update: On June 3rd Google introduced a new way to navigate while in Street View. You can read about it on the Google Lat Long Blog.*
  

After we talk about Searching and Driving Directions you’ll have a chance to explore all of these views.

Searching
You have many options when it comes to searching. In most cases if you know the zip code of the area or address you are searching you can use that and not include the city and state information.

Your search results will be displayed in the left hand column and on the map. A marker with a letter inside it links the map location with the information on the left. Clicking on the marker in the left hand column will display the corresponding information box on the map. Clicking on a marker on the map will display the corresponding information box and highlight the corresponding information in the left bar.

Here are just a few examples of what you can search for.

• 1200 N St 68508
  
• Moscow Russia
  
• Iceland
  
• Smith Falls NE
  
• motels Wayne NE
  
• libraries Nebraska
  

Explore This Area

Explore This Area may appear in the left hand column after you do a search for a specific place such as Washington, DC. It shows you photos, videos, and user-created maps. Explore is not available for every location. Watch this short video (1:21) to see it in action.

Get Directions

At the top of the left hand column is a link for Get Directions. By default you are provided two boxes to enter your starting point and your destination. If you have more than one destination click on the Add Destination link to another box. Just like with searching, you do not need to have an exact address. After clicking Get Directions your route will be displayed on the map. Driving directions will appear in the left hand column. Watch this short video (1:46) to learn more about getting driving directions.

Click on the image to the right to see a screen shot highlighting a number of the features in Google Maps.

If you need more help getting started check out Google’s Maps User Guide.

Assignment Part 1

For part 1 of the assignment explore the features in Google Maps that we’ve talked about and blog about your experience. Here are some questions to get you started.

Search for 1445 K St. 68509.

• What is located at this address?
  
• Select the Satellite view option. Can you zoom in close enough to see the color of the cars parked around it?
  

Use the Get Directions options to find directions to a location of your choice. What type of navigator are you? Do you prefer looking at the Map view or do you like to look at the Satellite or Street View so you can visually see buildings and landmarks?

Let’s leave Nebraska and explore a few more exotic places. Use Street View to “drive” around a few of these places. What do you think of Street View?

• Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
  
• Random street in Japan
  
• Kangaroos in Australia

Beyond the Basics

Now that you’ve had a chance to explore some of the basics lets dive in a bit deeper. As we work through these next features I’ll be asking you questions about your library. If you don’t work at a library pick your favorite library to use.

Edit the Map

Sometimes when searching Google Maps for a place or business name you’ll run across a marker that might not be in the exact correct location. To see an example of this do a search for Carhenge. You don’t need to enter any other information. The results I see show three markers on the map. Marker A is located pretty close to the correct spot but markers B and C are down the road a bit. Looking at the map you may be wondering how I know which marker is in the correct location. I know this because I’m looking at the Satellite view of the map. On the Satellite view I can clearly see the location of Carhenge. If you haven’t done so, view the Satellite image of Carhenge and look at the placement of the Markers.

One of the great things about Google Maps is that they allow you to edit the map and move it to the correct location or you can even add a location. (That said please don’t fix the Carhenge markers, at least not until everyone is done with this Thing!) You can also update detailed information included address, phone, and website URL. In order to edit or add a place you will need to logon to your Google Account. If you are using Blogger you should be able to use your same logon information to logon to Google Maps.

These short videos explain how you can edit a location or add a place.

• Edit Map (0:41)
• Add a Place (0:43)

Additional instructions can be found in Map Help area.

Assignment Part 2

Now that you know how to edit and add, it’s time to search for your library and start working on your assignment.

1. Start off doing a very basic search for your library’s name. If you get too many hits try adding NE, Nebraska or your zip code to the search. If that doesn’t work then try doing an address search. Did you find your library? What search worked?


2. Try zooming in and using the Satellite view to make sure the marker is placed correctly. Is the marker correct? If not login to Google Maps and move the marker to the correct location.


3. Next read the information that’s provided about your library in the information window. If you don’t see the information window, click on the marker that corresponds to your library to display it. Is it correct? If the library has a website is the URL listed? Remember this is the information everyone in the world can see about your library. If it’s wrong take a few minutes and update it.
   

Bonus Information

For those of you who would like to do a bit more, you can take the next step and claim your business or in our case claim your library. This is optional and not required for Thing #25. If you work at a library with more than one staff member make sure you check with any other staff members that may also be participating is Nebraska Learns 2.0. I’d hate to have multiple folks trying to claim the same library!

Google offers businesses the opportunity to claim the listing on Google Maps. In order to do this you will need to have a Google account. Search for your library and display the info window associated with your library. Click on Edit in the info window. At the bottom of the info window will be a link to Claim Your Business. If a business has already been claimed it will tell you. As part of the claiming process Google will either call or send you a postcard that contains a PIN. They do this in order to verify that you truly do have the right to update the listing.

Claiming your business or in our case claiming your library offers a few benefits. First of all it lets you control the listing. After a business has been claimed nobody else can update the listing. It also allows you to add additional information such as hours of operation, photos, and videos. Google also allows businesses to add coupons to their listing for free. Check out the post on The ‘M’ Word – Marking Libraries blog for suggestion on the types of coupons a library could post.

• Blog post from The Official Google blog: The Local Business Center dashboard opens its doors
• The Local Business Center is located at: https://www.google.com/local/add/ but there’s really not much to see or do until after you have claimed your business.
  

My Maps

Another great feature is the ability to create your own custom maps. With My Maps you can keep track of places, driving directions, highlighted paths and areas, and add photos and video. In order to use this feature you will need to be logged on to your Google Account.
Watch this short video to learn how you can create your own map (1:48).

Here are a few examples of user created maps.

• Nebraska Regional Library Systems
  
• ESU Offices in NE created by Chris Pultz
  
• Lincoln Public Schools by Chris Pultz
  
• Lincoln Recycling Centers by Andi Davis
  
• Nebraska Disc Golf Courses By BigChiz
  

Sharing a Map

Google Maps provides users with a number of ways to share a map. In the top right hand corner of the map you will see the options to Print, Send or Link to a map. The print and send options are self-explanatory. The Link option gives users two options. The first option listed is a simple (and sometime long) link that you can email or use to create a link to a map. The other option provides you with HTML code that you can embed in your website. This code will then display the Google Map on your website. The Customize option allows users to select the map size.

You can choose to share any of the types of maps discussed in this Thing. It may be a simple map that just shows the state or your town. You can also do a search for your library and display the location of your library on your website.

Google Maps and Your Library

Throughout this lesson you’ve learned about a lot of different types of maps and features that are available through Google Maps. Now it’s time to think about how you can use Google Maps in your library.

Read about how Mikael Jacobsen from the Franklin Park Public Library has used Google Maps in this article from Library Journal.

Google Maps: You Are Here From: Library Journal 10/15/08

Mikael also created a short Google My Maps Tutorial (3:52) video.

Here are some other ideas to get you started.

• Learn Google Maps so you can better help your patrons find directions or create their own maps.


• Put a map that shows your library’s location on your library’s website.


• Claim your library and add additional information such as pictures, videos, hours, URLs, and coupons. If your library houses a local historical or genealogy collection it would also be useful to include that information.
  


• Create a map of the locations where the bookmobile stops.


• Create a map of your service area.


• Show patrons the Street View option. Wouldn’t it be cool if they were studying or planning a trip to another country to be able to “drive” through the streets?


• Do you have visitors stopping by asking for directions to a local attraction? Try creating a custom map that you can point them to, then you can print it out or link to it from your website.


• If you work with local businesses, show them how they can claim and update their own business listing.


• Create a map that shows local historical and/or tourist hotspots.


• Add photos of your library and community to PanOramio. PanOramio photos that are mapped and selected will appear on Google Maps.

Assignments Part 3

Wrap up your blog post by summarizing your thoughts about Google Maps. Here are some questions to get you started.

• What feature did you like the best?
  
• Did you claim your library?
  
• Did you create a customized map or have a good idea for one?
  
• Did you embed a map on your library’s website?
  
• How else can your library use Google Maps?
  

Assignments (due by 6/30 for credit)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this Thing the assignments have been spread throughout the lesson. If you have not already done so you will need to complete all 3 parts of the assignment by 6/30 to receive CE credit. For your convenience I have listed the three parts of the assignment below.

Assignment Part 1

For part 1 of the assignment explore the features in Google Maps that we’ve talked about and blog about your experience. Here are some questions to get you started.

Search for 1445 K St. 68509.

• What is located at this address?
  
• Select the Satellite view option. Can you zoom in close enough to see the color of the cars parked around it?

Use the Get Directions options to find directions to a location of your choice. What type of navigator are you? Do you prefer looking at the Map view or do you like to look at the Satellite or Street View so you can visually see buildings and landmarks?

Let’s leave Nebraska and explore a few more exotic places. Use Street View to “drive” around a few of these places. What do you think of Street View?

• Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
  
• Random street in Japan
  
• Kangaroos in Australia

Assignment Part 2

Now that you know how to edit and add, it’s time to search for your library and start working on your assignment.

1. Start off doing a very basic search for your library’s name. If you get too many hits try adding NE, Nebraska or your zip code to the search. If that doesn’t work then try doing an address search. Did you find your library? What search worked?


2. Try zooming in and using the Satellite view to make sure the marker is placed correctly. Is the marker correct? If not login to Google Maps and move the marker to the correct location.
   


3. Next read the information that’s provided about your library in the information window. If you don’t see the information window, click on the marker that corresponds to your library to display it. Is it correct? If the library has a website is the URL listed? Remember this is the information everyone in the world can see about your library. If it’s wrong take a few minutes and update it.
   

Assignments Part 3

Wrap up your blog post by summarizing your thoughts about Google Maps. Here are some questions to get you started.

• What feature did you like the best?
  
• Did you create a customized map or have a good idea for one?
  
• Did you embed a map on your library’s website?
  
• How else can your library use Google Maps?

Thing #24: Feed Your (Library’s) Ego

Introduction

With the proliferation of Web 2.0 services like Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and other services, there are lots of conversations taking place on the web about everything from politics to consumer products. Library service—good or bad—isn't immune. When you find yourself blogging, Twittering, or sending out information via RSS, chances are others are talking about you and what you’re saying. Maybe more importantly, even if your library isn’t distributing information via these platforms, there’s a good chance others are using those platforms to talk about your library. So, regardless of your stance on publishing via Twitter and the like, you should be tracking what’s being said about you.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways that you can find what’s being said about you or your library and in most cases, via RSS, get that information sent to you automatically.

In this Thing I'll be presenting five different services you can use to monitor the web for references to your library or any other topic that interests you: Twitter Search, Google Alerts, Bloglines, Flickr, FairShare. After reading up on these services you'll be asked to experiment with two of them.

Additionally, familiarity with how to subscribe to and read RSS feeds, although not necessary, will greatly enhance your ability to take full advantage of many of these services.

Twitter Search

The first step: head on over to http://search.twitter.com/ and enter the name of your library. (Keep in mind any common abbreviations that may be used. For example, Lincoln City Libraries might want to try searching for “LCL”.) Here’s an example of a search result for “mccook public library”.

If you’re more interested in what’s going on in your town as opposed to specific mentions of your library, try setting up a search for your city(town)/state instead. (This of course applies to the other searches talked about in this lesson.) Here’s an example search for “lincoln ne”.

The results are great but what can you do with them. First, providing you know how to take advantage of RSS, subscribe to the results. (The red arrows point to where you can find links to the results feed.) Once you subscribe, you won’t have to redo the search. Just sit back and receive any newly-found results.

Next…respond. It’s simple to do, assuming you have a Twitter account. If you find someone complaining about your library offer them some assistance. If they’re praising the library, send a thank you. Trust me, in most cases these people believe they’re shouting into the wind. If you send them a response you’ll not only surprise them but you’ll also start a conversation and possibly gain additional support for the library in the process.

Google Alerts

If you’re someone who uses Google services a lot, or prefer getting information via e-mail, you may want to consider setting up some Google alerts. Simply put, Google Alerts are Google searches that are performed automatically and the results are sent to you instead of you have to re-perform the search.

To get started head on over to http://www.google.com/alerts:

If you already have a Google account (you do if you’re using Blogger) go ahead an sign in then return to this page. Then enter your search terms, the type of search you’d like performed (News, Blogs, Web, Comprehensive (everything), Video, or Groups), set how often you’d like to receive results (as it happens, once a day, or once a week), and enter your e-mail address. When finished, click Create Alert.

Now, on the schedule you set, you’ll receive e-mails containing links to results matching your search.

Providing you’re signed in to your Google account, you can now manage your alerts. Here’s a screenshot of the alerts I have set up:

For each one I can edit the search terms, change the search type, change the delivery method from e-mail to RSS, and change its frequency. Click on the screenshot above to zoom in and see in more detail the types of searches I have set up here.

Bloglines Citation Search

If you have a Bloglines account (which you do if you did the first 23 things) you can use it to search for, and subscribe to the results of, links back to your sites. For example, someone might write a blog post in which they mention your library and provide a link to your library.

For example they might write “I found it at my local library.” A Google search for the name of your library won’t find you this one. To find it, do a citation search in Bloglines. This screenshot shows the results for a citation search for “http://www.nlc.state.ne.us”. (The search is entered in the upper right corner of the Bloglines page.)

Trouble is, this search will also find links in which one Commission page links to another. Therefore I need to click on More Options and adding the same URL into the search but making sure to set it to “None of these words” “in the URL”. This way results will not include links from your site to your site.

Now that we have a good set of results, all I need to do is subscribe to those results via RSS:

Now, whenever someone links to my site, I’ll know about it and I can read the whole post, get the context, and respond accordingly.

Flickr Comments

If you’re posting photos on flickr, be sure you’re keeping track of any comments left on your account. Yes, you can log into your flickr account daily and check for new comments but why not use RSS to get the comments sent to you. All you need to do this is log in to your account, click on the “More recent activity link”, scroll to the bottom of the page, and find the link labeled “Feed - Subscribe to recent activity on your photostream”.

Once found, just use that URL to subscribe to the feed. Now you can keep easily keep track of what’s going on with your flickr account.

FairShare

Finally, FairShare is a new service designed to track your content when reposted on other sites. I’m listing this one last since I’m still getting the hang of it myself and it’s not exactly perfect. However, here’s how it works:

First, it’s best to have your content already licensed under Creative Commons. (This is something we’ll be covering in a future lesson.) Next, head on over to http://www.fairshare.cc/fairshare/ and enter the URL to the RSS feed for your content. Let me be perfectly clear: enter the URL of your RSS feed, not the URL of the blog. Click next to continue.

Next, choose the license that your content is using. If you’re not CC-licensing your content, just choose “I don’t license my content”. If you’re using one of the other CC licenses, choose the appropriate one. When done, click “Choose license”.

Next, create your FairShare account.

You’ll finally be presented with links to various versions of the newly created RSS feed for your site.

The first feed is for tracking this particular site. Subscribing to this feed will alert you of any reposted content as it happens.

The second feed contains a weekly summary of all reposted content for every site you’re tracking in your account.

I’ll be subscribing to the first feed as I prefer to track things individually, as the happen, instead of via a weekly summary. Since I’m a Bloglines user, I just click on the “+ Bloglines” icon to add it to my account.

You’ll immediately receive one item from FairShare in your feed welcoming you to your account. It also tells you that you’ll need to wait up to eight hours before any real results start appearing.

Checking back the next day I received more than 175 reports of our content being reprinted elsewhere on the Net. There’s a catch in our case however. In many cases, on our blog we repost content we found elsewhere such as press releases from ALA. In these cases, many other blogs are also reposting that content. In these situations, it’s completely logical that many others would have reprinted the same exact content. So, for this example, pretend the content being flagged was originally written by the Commission.

Here’s a sample reported item in Bloglines:

Clicking on the link under Reused: will take you to the NLC’s blog post. Clicking either of the links (in this case) for kfor1240.com, or “Go to page details” will get you the following:

Here you’ll see more complete information than was presented in the RSS feed including the number of words copied, the percentage of your article copied, whether the reusing site contains ads, and how much of your content they’ve copied in the past 30 days. Most importantly, this screen presents you with a copy of the page that contains the reposting of you work and a “Jump to copied segment” link which will show you exactly what was reused and in what context.

So, as you can see there are several ways in which you can easily track who’s linking to you and who’s reusing your content. Once you’ve found those instances be sure to follow-up as appropriate. In many cases a simple “thanks for the link” on the other person’s blog can generate a lot of good will without too much effort on your part.

Assignment (due by 5/31 for credit):

1. Use at lease two of the presented services to track the content of your blog, your library’s Web site, or your town. If you’re not getting any results, try different terms or topics until you do.
   
2. Respond to at least one of the results you found. Wait a few days to see if they respond back.
   
3. Write a blog post about your findings.
   • Describe the types of results (online newspapers, blogs, other libraries, etc.) and their content (good, bad, indifferent) regarding your site.
     
   • If a conversation did happen with the other author describe that too.
     
   • Discuss how you can see these tools can assist you with marketing your library.