Apparently what happens on spring break doesn't stay at spring break, thanks to TampaBay.com's Mug Shots database.

I'm trying to rouse a sense of moral outrage about taking information that, while part of the public record, increases the amount of exposure given to these crimes and the people who commit them.

But what little moral outrage and discomfort I felt was wiped out by the gales of laughter her t-shirt inspired.

How rigid are your library's policies about social media and online community engagement? Are they set in stone, or do you like to keep things fast and light? Part of my goal as part of my library's web team is to be an advocate for agility when it comes to all things web, and thanks to a recent incident, I have reason to believe that this is still a good path to follow.

Initially, my supervisor and I were the only ones who had access to the Twitter account, but we opened that up to people in the Marketing and Communications and Promotions departments. Our Twitter "voice" is pretty consistent which is to be expected when the people who post most are yours truly and my supervisor. We don't have an official Twitter (or social networking) policy as of yet. We're working on one, but we've intentionally kept it pretty fast and loose so that it would be easy for us to adapt to changes in our audience, Twitter's terms of service, or in our community and web development strategy.

The other day, someone from a different division made a series of ten posts to our Twitter feed in the span of a few minutes. One of our followers provided some very friendly feedback about this flood of tweets, and suggested that this might not be the best way for us to provide updates to the public. I agreed with him, apologized, and asked him to tell us (well, me) his preferred method of receiving library updates.

So why am I telling you all this? I think that our lack of a formalized process regarding the use of the library's social networking accounts made it possible for us to quickly adapt to the current situation. Social media is volatile, and as a result we need to be light-footed and quick to respond to incidents as they arise.

Cecily, what the heck does this have to do with beta testing?

By now, I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with beta software.

When products, especially web applications, are in beta, developers and designers are able to release a product to the wild while it's still in it's working stages. It's during this phase where developers get the richest feedback from users who are actually working with the product and putting it through its paces.

Depending on the product, this can either be a boon to the user, or it could be a tremendous pain in their backsides. What makes the difference is the developer's responsiveness to customer complaints. Being that I work with web services, I understand that the average user expects change at the speed of the web. While it isn't always possible to make that change immediately, we are able to respond to customer complaints (and praise!) quickly and easily. So even though the actual change in the product or service may happen over time and on a slower schedule, we're still able to make small adjustments to our product (library services) that leave our customers with a positive impression of our institution. Never underestimate the power of goodwill.

I'm not suggesting that we operate without a safety net here at the library. We draw upon best practices/common knowledge when necessary, and we understand that there are instances when agility and informality might be a hindrance rather than a help. But rigid institutional policies can be hard to change, especially when designed by committee.

Beta can mean unfinished, but it can also mean emerging. I'd rather leave library users with the impression that our organization is dynamic and active.

In case you can't read the screenshot, the results read:

You are an Digital Collaborator If you are a Digital Collaborator, you use information technology to work with and share your creations with others. You are enthusiastic about how ICTs help you connect with others and confident in how to manage digital devices and information. For you, the digital commons can be a camp, a lab, or a theater group – places to gather with others to develop something new.

Easy to use navigation is a key component of a well-designed website, so I get really excited when I see evidence that a company has put some thought into the categories they'll group their products into. Task-based navigation asks the customer what they want to do, or how they plan to use the product, and then organizes the products based on the customer's answers. You can see this at work in the screen shot below.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

The Moleskine product line is extensive, and sometimes choosing the right notebook for the job can be challenging, especially if you're not familiar with the product. By asking site visitors to think about their needs before making a selection, the designers have increased the likelihood that a customer will choose the right product the first time. Sure, when you're selling something you might want to have your customers stick around a little longer to see what is available, but what's more important - a quick transaction that results in return business, or a poor transaction that results in the loss of a sale? Besides, there are other ways you can keep site visitors engaged o an e-commerce site, and Moleskine offers additional content in the form of news releases, an events calendar, and a build-your-own page application that gives customers the ability to design custom pages that will be inserted into notebooks they purchase through the website.

One small quibble - I think they might need to rethink the headings on their news categories. To my mind, there's little difference between News, Press Releases and In The News. It seems a little redundant to me.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

While I'm rocking Field Notes more often than Moleskines these days (It's a money thing) the attention to design and customer needs are so beautifully handled on this site that I'm shaking my piggy bank to scare up a couple of extra Twonies so I can buy a new notebook. Well done, Moleskine.

I haven't done one of these for MPOW, but I think I will. Maybe this explains why so many adults think libraries are only for children.

I'm sure Chris Brogan is a perfectly nice guy.

I don't know him personally, but his reputation and influence speak for themselves. He really knows his stuff, and it's because he's so well-informed and respected that one of his recent blog posts brought out the Librarian Avenger side of me.

In the post, Brogan extols the virtues of using a bookstore as a remote workplace. While the reasons he gave were all solid ones, I'll argue that if you replace the word "bookstore" with the word "library", you'll find that most if not all of the virtues he writes about are available at your local library. David Lee King went through the same exercise and reached the same conclusion.

Even better, your local library will let you carry on these activities without trying to sell you anything, and you won't have to worry about running your business while consuming another company's resources, something that if you tried in some commercial spaces, would run you afoul of management pretty quickly.

I groused publicly about Brogan's post on Twitter which led to a conversation about customer service expectations in libraries and whether libraries are work-friendly spaces for the public. My dear friend Michelle Jones shared an experience she had while visiting a library branch in Louisville, KY. While her experience was valid and deserved to be heard, I tried to reinforce that her experience was one out of many, and that it shouldn't be used as evidence of the prevailing experience people have when using the library as a remote office.

Libraries are not spaces that were designed only for children and parents. I'd almost wager a guess that the ROI (in the form of tax dollars paid) for library use for child-free adults is much lower than it is for parents. We (probably) pay more taxes, but yet for some reason we don't feel as if the library is a space that we can claim as our own.

I'm here to tell you that you can.

Libraries are public spaces that are open and accessible to all; children, parents, students, seniors, and adults. We exist to serve the whole public, and as a member of the public, if you feel that your customer/public service expectations are not being met, express your concerns to library management. If you don't feel management is reacting fast enough to the changes you'd like to see, then escalate your wishes to the library board of directors, or to the municipal (or state) government that provides funding for your local library. I doubt that you'll have to go that far, but in the interest of not coming off as an apologist for dismal library services, it is important for me to tell people what avenues are available to them.

I won't try to deny that many of us folks of a certain age have all had the experience of being shushed in a library or being intimidated by the officious librarian who was more interested in protecting books than crafting positive customer service experiences. The good news is that more and more of those people are dying off "aging out of the profession", and there is a crop of librarians and library workers who have different ideas and are ready to take their place as library leaders and managers. We have our own ideas about what things work and what things don't, but as customer-centered librarians, we welcome and value input from the public. You help us get better, but if we don't hear from you, our chances for creating the change you seek is greatly reduced.

It's your library too. Own it.

Not only is it tacky to ask people for follows, you might want to learn how to spell the very business you claim as your goal.