Too much noise in the LRC? [Image by jorivando]

Social software is something of a mixed blessing for librarians. On the one hand it offers a potential way to reach out to and communicate with our users; but on the other hand many librarians bemoan the fact that some students seem to be sat at our library PCs just using sites like FaceBook instead of doing their assignments. This means that students needing to use the PCs for work may be losing out; sometimes this social use leads to disruption and noise; and there may be further concerns about related topics such as academic standards, e-safety, network security etc. It is no wonder that it is a topic that occurs often, usually as a survey:

• A recent survey on the CoFHE list about managing behaviour in the LRC [March 2010], and another about FaceBook usage in FE [April 2010]
• Alyson Tyler mentioned a potential new Web 2.0 survey of libraries in Wales on the FE-LRC-WALES list. The survey would include finding out if libraries/institutions block access to social software sites. They’re hoping to run the survey in March or April. [February 2010]
• A survey on LIS-LINK asking whether libraries ban FaceBook, some responses can be read here and here. The conclusion was that “the overwhelming majority do not, and have no plans to, ban facebook use” The anonymised results can be downloaded here. [November 2010]
• One of my colleagues in the JISC Regional Support Centre West Midlands asked LIS-LINKers whether they banned YouTube access; out of 41 replies only three institutions blocked YouTube outright [October 2009]

Three main aspects

The whole issue of managing access to (and use of) social software in education is something that is continually being debated, not just by librarians. There are three aspects.

1. E-safety / student safeguarding: managing access to social software in order to protect students (concerns like cyberbullying). There can be an element of giving students the skills to navigate the web safely, and obviously information literacy is an important driver here. If this area is of interest then tools like this online safety planner can be useful. RSC London has a Moodle area on e-safety (’Login as a Guest’) as does RSC East Midlands.
2. IT security: managing access in order to protect data, networks and equipment, rather than people (concerns such as computer virus transmission, bandwidth usage). Obviously this is the domain of the IT department and the rest of the college may not have any involvement at all here.
3. Management of student behaviour in a learning environment: in terms of making sure people are not disruptive to other learners, and are not using scarce resources (e.g. high-demand PCs) for social purposes at the expense of students who need them for educational purposes. This is the aspect I will look at in more detail below.

[Image by kilikilo]

Options for managing user behaviour

Last week I gave a talk to some library undergraduates at Aberystwyth University’s Department of Information Studies. The talk was about the FE and HE library sectors, as well as some current themes such as e-books, information literacy, library 2.0, access management, and resource discovery tools. As part of it I wanted to give them a brief example of a realistic scenario an LRC manager in FE might come across, in order to give context to the other things I had been saying (and to make sure that the students were still awake!) The scenario I set was as follows:

• Each person in your group is an LRC Manager for a different campus of Coleg Dysguda, but facing the same issue.
• In each LRC is a block of computers. However there are frequent complaints from students that can’t get on a PC to do work – because other students are using them for FaceBook or other social purposes.
• Firstly, decide if you want to do anything about this issue or not.
• If you do, what interventions could you propose to deal with this?
• Finally, the group can discuss as many ideas as you want, but you can only take ONE proposal to the senior management in the college. So you have to agree on what you will do, if anything.

I was impressed that the students came up with realistic options and managed to think of most of the ways an LRC might deal with this issue. I have included the options they thought up below, along with some others I think should be included. Many institutions could combine a number of these.

Block access to the web sites

Obviously some insitutions just ban access to these technologies outright, either for students and staff, or just students. Or ban access to individual sites like FaceBook. In the past this was more likely to be done in FE libraries than HE. But are we then missing out? It is worth considering these points:

• In some cases there may be legitimate uses for social software, sometimes tied to courses. For example the ‘Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by UK FE & HE to Support Student Learning & Engagement‘ found that “social software tools support a variety of ways of learning”.
• Increasingly institutions have entries on sites like FaceBook, so the institution has to be careful about seeming inconsistent if it then implements an outright ban on such websites. As an exemplar of what can usefully be done with social software, it is worth looking at Gloucester College. Their usage of FaceBook was highlighted in the BBC site last Autumn. Also the FaceBook in Education site has some examples of the positive use of FaceBook in education.
• Caroline Rhys of Deeside College pointed me to the new Ofsted report ‘The safe use of new technologies‘ (February 2010) giving recommendations for managing social software rather than locking it down.
• Blocking sites is certainly an easy option, but we need to be aware of what we may be losing in terms of the above, as well as an opportunity to educate students. In ‘Harnessing Technology, Safeguarding Further Education and Skills learners in a digital world‘, published by Becta, it says:

“Organisations are finding that a blocking and banning approach, which merely limits exposure to risk, is not sustainable. Organisations need to focus on a model of empowerment; equipping learners with the skills and knowledge they need to use technology safely and responsibly and managing the risks, whenever and wherever they go online; and to promote safe and responsible behaviours in using technology at college, in the workplace, in the home and beyond.”

• RSC London have summarised the issue in one of their blog posts.
• Can Social Networking help with retaining students? There is an Excellence Gateway case study “Warwickshire College: Social networking improves student retention“. Also see this BBC News article.

So, what other options are there?

Separate area or PCs for social use

There could be separate PCs that allow certain social uses (possibly placed in an area that can be monitored, but safely away from quiet study areas). Once these short stay PCs are established other areas could become ‘FaceBook-free’ zones for quiet study.

Get more PCs

The downsides of this option are that it depends on budgets, and it doesn’t prevent disruption and noise (unless combined with other solutions). Space is often an issue in LRCs and there may not be room for more desktop PCs, but this is where laptops available for loan to students can take the pressure off. This solution deals with the scarcity of PCs, and increases facilities for all students.

Booking system

Having a system whereby students can only use the PCs (or a selection of them) for limited times e.g. 1 hour slots. This answers the issue of scarcity to a degree, shares access more equally and prevents individuals from hogging PCs for social use. It doesn’t solve the issue of disruption though. These systems don’t need technology to work, but I will discuss automated booking systems as an option later.

Separate times or quotas for social use

Here the LRC would only allow social use at certain times (such as lunch times), but with restrictions in place during the rest of the day. As examples from Wales:

• In Coleg Morgannwg students are only allowed access to Facebook in the morning until 9am; then from 12pm to 1pm; and then again after 3pm [March 2010].
• In Swansea College social networking is allowed on a range of sites but on a one hour quota (whether the  one hour is spent on one site or a mix) [May 2010].
• Yale College allows limited use of Facebook (and other social networking sites) for four 5 minute slots per day, for both staff and students. Staff can request additional access for themselves or groups of students via their manager. [May 2010]

Acceptable Use Policies (AUP)

Simply having a clear Acceptable Use Policy can make a difference – letting the users know what they can and can’t do. At the most basic level it could just be a policy of priority so that students working on a PC get priority over those ’socialising/playing’. Whatever the content, there is a clear element of user education required in establishing any AUP.

As well as being an option in itself, an AUP would work best in conjunction with one or more of the other solutions mentioned here.

Developing an AUP is a good process to go through anyway, and as part of it the LRC could adopt a risk management approach, touching on issues of e-safety as well as behaviour management. As part of the development you would obviously need to consider how it will be enforced and monitored. Library patrollers? The duty of staff based near PC areas? Or the use of technology solutions? I will discuss some of those below.

For those considering an AUP there is some schools’ guidance here, which has some points relevant to FE. It is also a topic to discuss with other library managers, possibly sharing policies that have been developed. See also this discussion about library policies from LIS-WEB2 (here and here).

Ask the users

If there are no acceptable use policies in place at present it may be worth considering them, possibly preceded by a debate within the college involving students and staff. It would be useful for giving everyone a voice, and to make sure that nothing too draconian is applied. Survey them, have focus groups over coffee, find out what they think, decide what you could and would allow as a compromise. The advantage here is that they become stakeholders.

PC booking and monitoring systems

Software and technology solutions can be useful. There are systems that allow monitoring of what is being done on each PC, enabling remote enforcement of policies (many allow you to pop a message up on a user’s screen, and lock their access if required). There are also booking systems to share out usage, so that everyone gets a chance to use a PC. Most commercial systems combine these two functions. Some systems have other uses for directed teaching.

Note that having a system doesn’t necessarily mean monitoring students’ screens all the time – once students get used to a policy and realise that it is enforced they tend to be more aware of the LRC policies and realise that there is no point trying to circumvent them. So the systems can be a deterrent to abuse.

RSC Wales has some information on PC booking systems on our Information Area, and links to actual systems that can be used in our Delicious account.

Conclusion

There are many other management options, this list is not comprehensive. Some may work in one circumstance but not another. That is where raising it as an issue for discussion with other managers is the best option – only when you speak to people that have tried a particular approach can you find out what worked and what didn’t! There are no easy answers to this subject, but by sharing experiences we can get a better idea of what works best.

I couldn’t resist something topical, which also shows the power of the book (and the librarian). Here are staff from the National Library of Australia at the 2008 staff Christmas party. Maybe we’ll get a Welsh version from the National Library of Wales one day.

Over the years I have found many useful sources of video clips which I sometimes use to spice up a presentation or an information literacy teaching session with students. There are pros and cons to using other people’s clips: on the plus side they can save you time and may have higher production levels than you could achieve yourself; on the downside they are sometimes just slightly out of kilter with local needs.

The Commoncraft Show is a good example of the latter – they are simple breakdowns of technical subjects, often related to Web 2.0, but because they are US-based they don’t always fit perfectly into a UK/Wales setting. However they can be used as inspiration for ways of explaining things in a language that non-librarians can understand. Take the following example where Commoncraft give some concise tips on improving search strategies, which has obvious implications for information skills teaching:

Commoncraft are popular with me because they are also unafraid to tackle pressing issues of the day:

So as sources of inspiration, as well as things to use in teaching, it is worth becoming familiar with sources of video clips. (One big tip – if you are going to use one in a teaching session it is best to download it in advance if possible, in case there are network problems on the day, so that you don’t stand at the front of a class saying “Well it worked last night…”)

If you want to make your own videos there are many commercial options, however with a bit of lateral thinking even photo-slideshow tools like Animoto can be used for getting a simple message across. When teaching I sometimes make one that is themed to the session and let it play in the background while distributing handouts and getting people logged into PCs. Or you can use them to promote a service or resource – this is an Animoto video I created in my ‘other job’ to promote Aberystwyth University’s federated search tool, then uploaded to YouTube (Welsh version here):

You can see an FE LRC-themed Animoto video in the top right of the Netvibes account Sam and I share.

In terms of creating your own – also see Sam’s blog post and Moodle areas on screencasting; and the first comment below (by Christine) for some other software you can use.

Creating short instructional videos aka “screencasting” is all the rage so if you fancy trying it out, it need not be expensive or difficult (apart from not cringing at the sound of your own voice..). We have a new Moodle area which covers the basics to get started with some of the free screencasting tools that are available:
http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=174
Pros and cons of each are highlighted and you can watch some very short sample videos for each (on the riveting topic of “Finding free resources on the JISC Collections website”).

These kind of videos are ideal for
….showing how to access online resources, logging in via Athens / Shibboleth, how to use the library catalogue etc. etc.
….making all the above available permanently via the web for students who miss induction (or distance learners)
….pre-recording a demo to take the pressure out of a teaching session
….creating visual learning materials to cater for different learning styles or learners with poor literacy skills
and much more! Videos can be uploaded to your website, intranet or VLE, or hosted on sites such as YouTube.

At last I can use the ‘zombies’ tag again…

One of the winners of the Info Tubey awards was the following video promoting a public library in the US. I would love to work on a Welsh equivalent… So many of our colleges have media courses and eager students, I have often thought that getting the students to work on promotional guides and materials for the LRC could be a good way of getting free materials as well as strengthening the links with the departments.

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I attended a CoFHE Wales meeting on Friday 23rd November. It was a multi-site meeting via video conference, so I joined Ellen Harris (Trinity) and Mark Ludlam (Gorseinon College) at Trinity College, Carmarthen.

Ellen Harris gave us a tour of the library afterwards. Unfortunately my camera is broken so I couldn’t get any photos…

During the tour the three of us discussed the music video for ‘Librarian‘ by Haunted Love. Mark had used it during a session with students once, something that I had been planning to do as well! It can be useful in a few ways, e.g. in challenging expectations of what a library or LRC is like; or perhaps as a way of introducing a dry topic such as rules and regulations – “Does the boy deserve to be killed? What did he do wrong?” (Obviously not really suggesting murder as a penalty for breaking the regulations!)

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In terms of public transport adventures, on the way home there was a minor collision between a camper van and my bus. My bus won – the camper van lost its wing miror, which made one hell of a bang…

[Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth - photo courtesy of Lis]

The RSC LTRG group are the Learning Resources Advisors from each of the RSCs around the UK – LTRG stands for ‘Learning and Teaching Resources Group’. The meetings for both days were at the Holiday Inn Express, Portsmouth, at Gunwharf Quays.

Monday 17th July

As well as the general business of the meeting, there were a number of talks.

First was Liam Earney of JISC Collections, talking about recent developments and looking at how the RSCs can work more effectively with JISC Collections. JISC Collections is one of the main sources to go to in order to see what e-resource deals are available to LRCs.

Scott Gibbons from Coutts Library Services then gave a talk on the Coutts E-books service, MyiLibrary. A couple of Welsh FE colleges have already signed up to MyiLibrary.

[I interrupt this broadcast in order to have a ranting fit against the modern trend towards cutesy pronoun-appropriating egoism in names - from the iPod, to MySpace, to Windows ME, to the Nintendo Wii (pronounced 'We'). Coutts managed to beat that by combining two of the terms in the name of their e-books platform. I am just waiting for a company to offer 'MyIBookmineME'. Ah, the egocentrism of popular culture. Sorry, rant over, normal service is resumed.]

The Coutts platform has a number of features:

• Unlimited multi-user access (if you pay a slightly increased fee).
• Based around the idea of buying individual titles, not bundles you may not need.
• Their platform only shows what you have subscribed to.
• They don’t always have the latest edition of the textbook available online (often due to publisher restrictions, but still something worth being aware of).
• Their system has built-in DRM (Digital Rights Management) – so if you avoid DRM, then you need to be aware of this.
• You own the books you purchase in perpetuity, though have to pay an annual access fee (based on JISC banding, c. £150 for most FE institutions if they are in bands E-J). You can get the books on a CD if you ever stop paying the access fee.
• You can access titles via IP, referring URL, Athens or Shibboleth, or a combination.
• If you subscribe then you can send Coutts ISBNs from reading lists: they will then send you the prices and availability of the titles on MyiLibrary (a free service).
• Currently they have c. 70,000 titles, and are adding more all the time.
• About half of the titles are pdfs, the others are html format.

Peter Godwin from London South Bank University then gave a talk on ‘Information literacy meets Web 2.0′. This was especially useful because I am hoping to work on an information literacy course on the RSC Wales Moodle, that can be used by FE colleges (similar to Hannah’s Podcasting course). Let me know if there is anything you would suggest including!

Peter covered lots of the tools used in Web 2.0 – blogs, wikis, RSS, social bookmarking, media sharing such as Flickr and YouTube, podcasting and so on. It stimulated a lot of thought – in terms of LRC usage, maybe we could get media or drama students involved, and get them to do a video about your library/LRC, then upload it to YouTube: so that as well as being promotional you could use it in inductions or incorporate it into your VLE? YouTube can also be used as a trigger for discussion, e.g. the ‘Librarian’ video Peter played (or the start of this one here) which could be used as part of a student ice-breaker induction to show what the library ISN’T like! Another video we might use is this one – I went to University with the person who wrote the song in this clip (’Cursor Miner’). The video has the classic line ‘Librarians are often sexy’, so obviously that one could also be a debating point with new students…

Annette Crosbourne of Highbury College then talked about effective LRC use of Moodle at the college. VLEs have obvious uses for the lecturers, but sometimes it is less clear how an LRC can use them, so this was an interesting case study.

The evening involved exploring Gunwharf Quays; chatting with my colleagues; and sampling food, lager, and some fine whiskies.

[LTRG after hours - photos courtesy of Lis]

Tuesday 18th July

This day was given over more to discussion of various LTRG issues and relevant resources and tools. Lis and I gave a brief talk about Services Supporting Learning in Wales: A Quality Toolkit for Evaluating Learning Resource Services in Further Education Colleges (link). We discussed the background and how the quality toolkit has been used in Wales (advocacy, benchmarking, inspections and so on). Although the toolkit was created for self-evaluation, the next step in the development of the toolkit was a Peer Evaluation scheme, which has been trialled and is due to become more widespread across Wales in the near future. Basically one or two professionally qualified librarians from other colleges come and evaluate your service (operating on a reciprocal basis whereby you then agree to participate in the assessment of someone else’s service). Peer evaluation is becoming seen as an important counterpart to benchmarking, valued by assessors, so this is an exciting development.

Following the meeting Lis and I got two trains back to Swansea with no trouble; and after a quick meal at The Retreat, I got the bus back to Aberystwyth – home for 10.30pm!

[Me using a 'powerball' after the meeting - photo courtesy of Lis]