Social Networking Survey

There’s a cross-posting between this blog and Libraries Using Evidence about the social networking survey we’re undertaking. I’m really interested from the 2.0 angle, looking at what tools we can harness, and also, what barriers are being put in our way. This then ties into the idea that we need to be evidence-based in what we do, so then there’s the angle that we’re collecting this evidence – what does it show us about our practice, potential practice, or barriers to practice? I’m also excited that we’re using the tool that was used by the MLA Social Networking Taskforce (with permission, I hasten to add), and that we might be able to do some comparisons. Of course, there are many fewer of us here than in the US; but that doesn’t mean we’re not sitting on more of a bleeding edge than they are!

Passwords

I’ve just signed up for another online suite of journals, and discovered, with a sigh of relief, that I can set the client username and password.  We have soooo many different logins and passwords for our clients, I don’t blame them for just dumping a lot of stuff into a document delivery request form.  I hate the fact that we have one major suite of resources – from a centralised source – but because it’s a proprietary set of resources, I don’t like to use the password with their competitors’ resources.  So we use the same login and a different password.  But a third resource doesn’t give us the choice of login, so we must give an unintellligible string to our clients.  Not to mention logins for individual journal subscriptions.

We can’t use IP addresses, there’s no way we’ll be allowed to run EZ Proxy or something similar, and it’s driving me nuts.  I know about Athens, but it’s expensive for a small campus, and I don’t really want to be supporting individual logins – although I’m sure I’ll get there soon enough.  Actually, I’d love to know how Athens goes with the way that Ovid and Ebsco are pushing individual accounts, where you have to login after you’ve logged into the main site.

Anyone with a magic solution out there?

Australian Health Librarians and Web 2.0 – SURVEY NOW OPEN

The Australian Health Librarians and Web 2.0 Survey is NOW OPEN.

Go on, take the survey now!

The survey :

• is open to all health-related librarians/library technicians/assistants etc across Australia

• will be open 29 Oct 07 – 25 Nov 07
• is endorsed by Health Libraries Australia (HLA)

Please contact Lisa, Suzanne and Gillian at projectchili2007@gmail.com for further information.