4 – 5 November 2008 Everybody is a Specialist A Learning and Collaborative Platform for Reference Librarians at the National Library Singapore The Hong Kong Library Association (HKLA) 50 th Anniversary Conference 2008 Ivy Lee National Library Singapore

“Collaboration” buzzword of Web 2.0

Collaborative Reference Marrying available technologies with the need to collaborate Tapping on expertise of librarians located in diverse library structure

National Library Board Singapore NLB oversees National Library Singapore 3 Regional Libraries 19 community libraries 2 community children’s libraries 17 government, schools and private institutional libraries A total of 42 libraries in Singapore National Library Singapore building

Library 2010 New Knowledge Framework for Singapore Building knowledge and expertise Making information accessible Sharing and exchanging knowledge Library 2010 Report

Everybody is a Specialist : Collaborating to provide best answers A project that taps on the use of social networking tools such as forums, blogs and wikis to create a familiar environment within our work space to facilitate and capture conversations amongst staff, especially for handling difficult enquiries.

Why Collaborate on CRNS? Learning as Observers Staff who did not participate in conversations can learn at their own time by observing discussions. Hands-on Learning Only staff who sought assistance gains new knowledge and learn while discussing with others. Knowledge Management Conversations are captured, archived and made searchable for future reference. Knowledge Gap Staff seek assistance via personal , phone or face-to-face. Conversations, which are evolution of learning, not captured. Collective Knowledge Staff can rely on communities of subject librarians to seek inputs for difficult enquiries. Work Solo Staff relies on personal contacts for assistance on difficult enquiries. Collaborative Reference Network Service (CRNS) Traditional Reference Service

CRNS works on the basis of 3 beliefs Everybody is a specialist in his/her own right. Collective knowledge can improve the quality of reference service. Our customers deserve the best answers that we can provide, and we are committed to provide the best quality answers we can give as library professionals.

Portable and Personal Workspace Web-based

Input Template providing structured layout WYSIWYG Structured Page Drag & drop citations

Drag & Drop citations from Catalogue Drag & drop to launch OPAC

Search Catalogue for item records Click on title to view record

Ease in copying item citations Click on title to view record Click on “copy” to auto-populate citation fields in template

Auto-populate citations to input template OPAC record copied into template automatically

Drag & drop citations from websites Drag & drop to launch Google Search

Ease in copying website information to input template Click on “copy” to auto- populate citation fields in template

Auto-populate website information to input template Web record copied into template automatically

Drag and drop citations from database articles Drag & drop to launch federated database search for articles

Ease in copying database article information to input template Click on “copy” to auto-populate citation fields in template

Standard and structured appearance via URL Sample of how the final answer looks like to the reader

Standard and structured appearance via URL More of how the final answer looks like to the reader

Asking for assistance at workspace Plug-in allows librarian to activate at will Pop-up box allows librarian to select communities to broadcast enquiry and attach input template

Discussions are tracked and threaded Tagged enquiry is tracked and threaded with auto-generated ID

Wiki-enabled input template Staff can attach the input template in their broadcast and community members can use the drag and drop citation function to add citations directly into the input template.

Discussion threads viewed, archived and searched by staff Communities of subject experts Discussion threads Content of discussion Members in the community

Blog View of Discussions Blog View of threaded discussions

HTML view of discussions HTML view of threaded discussions

Profile of specialist and tracking of contributions Each specialist has a profile page with contributions tracked and viewed by members

Learn from specialists by viewing their contributions in “their blogs” Each specialist’s postings are presented in a blog view for other librarians to learn and be “mentored”

Outcome achieved for CRNS More than 200 members are now working in collaboration on reference enquiries 18 subject communities formed More than 400 postings and contributions on average every month Over 1211 discussion threads have been created (since August 08) A record of over 2249 reads (log-ins by staff to read the postings for self learning)

Key findings from CRNS project You don’t know who knows what. Best way to glean the most inputs is cast your net wide, rather than depend on own small circle of contacts. Greater participation encouraged if contributions are recognised. Staff are more inclined to seek inputs to further enrich replies with existence of discussion platform. Quality of replies improved compared to traditional method. Communities of specialists need not be formed based on job descriptions but can be formed based on staff’s own interest. Stumpers unique to Singapore and its region best answered on this platform compared to other existing forums/listserv.

What’s Next for CRNS Develop directory of external contacts and profiles of specialists Engage users to leverage on their expertise and knowledge Extend CRNS platform to the library community outside NLS, to ASEAN and Asia-Pacific region

Thank You For clarifications,