I’ve got questions.

Most libraries have some form of web analytics, to measure at least the basics:  page views, number of unique visitors, time spent on the site, and so forth.  But those numbers are often largely meaningless.  Sure, maybe your library’s site got more page views than last month, but so what?  What does that translate into?  More views don’t necessarily mean that your library will have more (for example) circs or more attendance at programs.

The relevant term here, used in web analytics,  is conversions.  A conversion is when a visitor comes to a website and then takes whatever action the owner of the website is hoping the visitor will take.  For retail sites, defining a conversion is generally easy.  Someone came to the site and then bought something.  Even for other not-for-profits, figuring a conversion is relatively simple.  Typically, they want you to donate money or take an advocacy-related action, such as writing your legislator.  In both of these instances, there are clear actions that the site owners want visitors to take.  The conversion is, essentially, the holy grail of web metrics.  It’s the thing that really matters.  Did the website help users take the desired action or not?

Now, back to libraries.

To measure a conversion, you have to first have at least one goal for site users.  I’ve often seen goals like “helping users find what they want to do more easily.”  Sure, that’s great.  But how do you convert that to something the library wants users to do?  Libraries often want to  do things like circulate more items or increase program attendance.  Both are offline actions.  How can web analytics be connected to offline goals?

Metrics can help libraries tell stories, target specific audiences and better arrange their websites for users.  In no way am I saying that metrics are unimportant.  ( If you don’t have them, get them.)  But, I’m truly curious about how libraries figure conversions, when conversions measure goals met.  In other words, how can a library really calculate success via its website?  The website is primarily an outreach function of the library, not the library itself.  Metrics might tell you how easy to use or interesting your library’s site is, but I wonder how well they can tell us how successful the library is.

What am I missing?  Folks who are heavily steeped in analytics–can you provide any insight?

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This infographic from LTU Technologies helps to put it in perspective.  If your library is still puttering along on  Twitter with only text content, it’s probably time to re-think that as a strategy.

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It’s true:  I have a yen for weird little apps and web services that are truly niche in purpose and yet are helpful.  I’ve mentioned some of my favorites previously, such as Newsle and Sunrise.   I’m not sure the one I’m featuring today is going to be one of my favorites, but it does get points for being unique.

Here’s the thing:  I telecommute to work most days. (Yes, from my house. No, I don’t wear my PJs or do my laundry.) And, it’s quiet. Really quiet.  My main sources of noise are my CPU’s humming and the fizz leaving my carbonated caffeine source.  I find music to be too distracting most of the time, unless I’m doing something fairly mindless.  Apparently, I’m not the only telecommuter to have this dilemma, because now there’s an app that’s got us covered.  Welcome to Coffitivity.

What does Coffitivity do?  It provides coffee shop-like background noise.  Yep, that’s it.  The makers of Coffitivity base its effectiveness on published research that shows that ambient noise can be better for creativity than silence.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

• I’m not sure I’m more creative, but I do admit that I like have the ambient sound, as opposed to silence.  If you’re working in a quiet back room at your library, you may find that you like this effect as well.
• You can play Coffitivity’s sounds at the same time you’re playing music, for the real aural experience of working at Starbucks.  The site even recommends the ratio of volume to use on its front page.
• One thought I had: would this be useful at library programs in some way?  Maybe to add ambiance to an event?

Would you use this? Is it weird?  What do you think? Tell me in the comments!

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A new service called SpeakPipe is making this a reality.  It allows you to install a simple widget to your website (or even your Facebook page), and people can simply click to leave a voice message.  After the person is done recording, he/she has the option of listening to the message before it is sent, re-recording and can also choose to add a name and email address.

Users can choose to re-record their message, and to leave additional information.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

• The pricing plans are very reasonable (and even the priciest plan–which is probably overkill for most libraries–is less than $40 a month).  There is a free option as well, although the storage for messages is only 20 messages a month.  All of the pay plans come with a 30-day free trial, so you can road test this before you fully commit.
• All of the options support mobile device support.
• The pay plans include the ability to embed a widget on multiple websites, and on a Facebook page.
• There are also some “pay as you go” plans.

The demo on the SpeakPipe website is easy to use. Give it a shot. What do you think–is this something your library would consider using?  Why or why not?  Post your opinions in the comments.

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Newsle does something that no other tool seems to quite do.  It tracks my LinkedIn and Facebook contacts, and let’s me know when they appear in online news.  The service’s tagline is “When your friends make the news, we make sure you know.”  What makes this particularly useful is that it completely disregards social media (even though it tracks your SM contacts).  It’s not a duplicate of Google Alerts; it only sends me emails when my contacts appear in an online newspaper or blog.  This makes it very useful, as it cuts down the noise tremendously.  It also is looking for information in places where I might not otherwise look.

Screenshot of actual Newsle email

Now, I hear when my contacts are teaching a new workshop, writing for a publication, or are featured in a story about a new library service.   It keeps me apprised of what folks I know are up to, so I can offer congratulations, read their stuff, attend their class, or just “be in the know.”  Overall, a very handy little service that doesn’t overwhelm my inbox.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

•  You can not only track your Facebook friends & LinkedIn contacts, but also your favorite actors, authors, athletes, or anyone else who interests you.  If you’re applying for a job, this is another way to find out more about the organization, as you can search for particular individuals.  Check to see if any trustees or the library’s director has made the news recently.
• Newsle also lets you know if you are mentioned online.  There’s also a widget you can embed into your personal blog (I have not tried the widget myself, so I can’t speak to how well it works or doesn’t).
• Newsle says that it checks “every major newspaper, news site, and blog for news hourly, as well as most minor ones.”  So you are getting very current news.

Is this something you would use?  Do you already use it?  What do you think?  Post your thoughts in the comments!

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Last time on MeanLaura, I shared stories from library IT staff about moments they had with non-tech staff that were frustrating.  This week, I’m sharing more stories, this time about some of the…interesting…things that patrons have done.  Enjoy, and please post your own stories in the comments–I know you’ve got them!

• The kids had rotated the computer screen on the OPAC upstairs. Nobody else had simply thought to check the rotation under the graphics properties on the desktop.
• I had to pass this one on. We just had a Patron contact staff, and then staff contacted the after hours support team (Rob and myself). Apparently, a Patron had inserted a memory card (small flash disk) in to our card reader, and it fell into the machine. Well, our first comment to the staff member was…we don’t have card readers in any of our computers. The Patron had put the card into one of the vents on the front of the PC. On top of this….while the staff member called, the Patron had lifted the computer up, shook it, and the card had fallen back out. So I don’t know which was worse. The Patron putting the card into the computer….or the Patron picking up a computer (which had a monitor on it) and shaking it while it was on to get the card back.
• A patron jammed a USB stick in, upside down.
• I had a patron come in and wanted to save something to her ‘USB thingy’ that she was told to buy. When I looked at I found that what she had actually brought in a 6 ft USB cable! I had to explain to her that she needed a USB drive.
• I was running updates on a public computer and had put an Out of Order sign on it. A patron came over to the computer lifted up the out of order sign, sat down and closed out of my updates and started working on the computer. I booted her off using remote desktop.
• I spent  considerable one-on-one time with a patron setting up a new Yahoo email account. I helped him navigate the sign up process, explaining that he needed to write down or print out  his user name and password, and showed him the basics of how to open messages, etc.. I thought he was good to go. On his next visit to the library, he sought me out because he couldn’t log in to his new Yahoo account. I asked him if he had his user name and password. He said he did and showed me what he had typed in.  It was  e.g. free2rhyme@yahoo.com  which is the example for entering a Yahoo user name. He said that was what Yahoo told him his user name was, and he didn’t bring the paper from when he first opened the account.     Head. Meets. Desk.

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I got quite a variety of stories, and I’d like to share them here (all identifying details removed). Read, laugh, and weep.

(This is Part One–those stories involving only staff.  Part Two will include stories involving patrons.  Thank you to all who took the time to respond to my request!)  If you have a library IT “Head Meets Desk” moment, please post it in the comments!

• Phone conversations:

Me:  Hi what’s you problem?

Caller: my computer is giving me an error.

Me: Okay, what’s the error message say?

Caller: I don’t know I just clicked OK and it went away.

Me:……………………………..?

Me:  Hi what’s you problem?

Caller: the printer quit working.

Me: Okay, let’s start with the basics.   Is it plugged in?

Caller: Yes!

Me: is it turned on?

Caller: OF COURSE IT”S TURNED ON!

Me: Is there paper in it?

Caller: ………………………………………….Thanks. <click>

• I was once instructed to refer to the computer as a monitor and the monitor as a computer in order to suit the outlook of a particular co-worker.  It made communication interesting!
• One [problem] was a new printer the staff person set up on her own.  She called me to say the printer seemed to be working but the paper was coming out blank.  I tested it and then checked the properties and all looked fine.
  I open the front of the printer and it looked OK.  I pulled out the black ink to see if it was empty and the plastic safety tape was still on the back of the cartridge.
• Another staffer was trying to print a report and we default to the copier for printing but have a color printer in another office for anything that needs to be printed in color. She told me she had tried “a couple of times” to print the report but so far nothing had printed. I checked the queue on her PC and it was empty. I went to print the report and the printer selected was not the default but the color printer. I walked to the other office and there were 11 copies of the report sitting in the tray.
• [Staff complained that] sound doesn’t work. Mute was on.
• [Staff complained that the computer was] not printing in color.  Default was set to b/w.
• I really like it when they [staff]  say the laser printer is out of ink.  Say what? That’s really a good thing, isn’t it?
• More than once I have told staff I would connect via remote desktop, and I explain that means connecting to their computer remotely, and they so OK and then power off the  computer off since they cannot use it until I am done.
• Once every year, usually in the fall, I receive an envelope via our courier from one of our branches.  Every year it contains the same thing, a single page printout that is barely readable.  The image is splotchy, with some areas appearing somewhat normal, and others so faint that they are unintelligible.  Every year there is a note that says, “Can you come out and take a look at our fax machine?  Something is wrong with it”.  Every year I send them a new toner cartridge, which is something they can order themselves through central supply. I don’t hear from them again for about 12 months.
• My favorite story goes back to the days before the Internet when libraries only had the OPLIN.Remember one free computer, a router and a T1 line. It was my first week on the job, staff called the Director and I was called at home because someone had hacked the “home page” and changed it to display a picture of Miss June (actually a woman wrestler). The world as we know it was coming to an end, etc. Turns out that some kid on one computer in one branch had figured out how to right-click on the “desktop” and change the background  image. This led to a quick reversal  of the policy of not locking down the computers, installing filters, etc. A close second was when a patron convinced staff and then my staff that they had to have a video player. Staff’s reaction to the first video they found playing was “Oh MY!” And more recently the staff member who called the police because she was being sexually harassed by a Know-it-Now chat bot.
• My most (least?) favorite tech communications issue is that classic moment when I hear staff speak the phrase “The computers are down.” This single descriptor is used to alert me that 1.) the ILS software temporarily lost network connection, 2.) a workstation lost network connection, 3.) all workstations lost network connection, 4.) a workstation will not boot, 5.) an unexplained message appeared on a workstation, 6.) a given website will not load, 7.) someone has disconnected the display from the workstation, or almost any other possible occurrence.
• A good story came up just this morning. I arrived to find the circ computer still on and a note that read, “Computer continued to reboot upon shut  down”. You got it, the Shut Down Window was set to “Logoff” rather than “Shutdown”.
• A staff member was trying to download a USB-only downloadable e-book to her Kindle via wi-fi at the library and told me our web filter is blocking the download!
• I kept getting called to fix problems with the reference desk PC and certain public PCs in that area.  Half the time, there was nothing wrong.  Some of the calls would bring me in from home to plug in a keyboard or something ridiculous like that.  Through patient troubleshooting and social networking, I discovered that the root cause of all the issues was that a certain reference assistant had a crush on me.
• Staff calling and swearing printers are missing. When you ask questions, they say it was there yesterday and now it’s gone…come to find out they didn’t scroll to the right to see the other printers!

 Read Part Two

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I sign up for all sorts of new web things.  If it’s in beta, I usually want an invite.  I like testing things out as they come along, and I suspect that you may also enjoy tinkering with new services.  However, I have to admit that I simply opt out or ignore the vast majority after the first or second interaction.  Most fail to prove their worth to me quickly and, as a result, I sweep them off my virtual table pretty quickly.

A new(ish) service, called Sunrise, is not one of those.  I have found it simple, and simplifying.  What does it do? It collates.  It takes all of my events and birthdays from Facebook and of the events from the various Google Calendars I have (or have viewing privileges for) and emails them to me every morning.  All of my daily stuff in one, easy-to-read email.  It doesn’t slice or dice, but it does more:

• It adds in weather icons for my location, throughout the day
• It organizes everything chronologically, with all-day events at the top
• It adds Facebook profile pics for events that are for other people (e.g., like seeing a picture of my boss next to the listing for his meeting), so it’s easy to scan
• The events are even color-coded to match the color-coding of my Google calendars
• You can click on people’s names to get more information about them; Sunrise also pulls from LinkedIn.
• It can pull in from more than one Google account, and from EventBrite as well, although I haven’t needed these features myself.

It’s not a complicated service, and it’s not meant to be.  On more than one occasion, it has reminded me of birthdays and events that I had forgotten about.  I love having it show up in my mailbox each morning.

Here’s a shot of today’s, the subject line of which was “Thursday, January 10 – 7 events and 2 birthdays.”

The first 2 events are actually from the Google calendars of my coworkers.

I don’t have any evening events today, but it shows a weather icon. And 2 Facebook friends have birthdays.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

• Sunrise doesn’t try to do a lot:  it does one thing, well.  It collates information you may have scattered across Facebook and Google calendars.  It emails the results daily:  I usually receive mine before 7 am Eastern.
• In my POW, we share a bunch of Google calendars: our individual ones, and ones for the office as a whole.  If you share Google calendars with your coworkers and/or a spouse (like I do), this tool can really make things easier by mailing you only what’s going on for today.

Post in the comments:  is this something that you would use?  Why or why not?

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DISCLAIMER: There is probably no educational or CE value in this post anywhere.  Probably.

• Express yourself with the appropriate animated GIF.  One of the stranger memes that took off in 2012 is the re-emergence of the animated GIF.  The site gives you variety of these things…if you call a “variety” one guy, and each expresses a different emotion.  Sprinkle these liberally in your forum posts throughout the Internet, to achieve annoyance for all. James Van Der Memes.
• Watch a dog lick your computer screen.  No, I don’t know why.  But it’s cute.  I think it’s a pug puppy.  But I’m not a dog person, so all I can ascertain is that it’s a dog.  I’m sure someone will correct me in the comments.  Likely, someone will tell me it’s just a puppy-faced alien.  Whatever it is, it’s licking the screen.  Watch it here.
• Play with circles.  When you enter this site, you get four circles.  Each time your mouse passes over a circle, it splits in four.  Have only a couple of minutes to waste?  That’s about all it will take, to get to the surprise.  Try it here.
• Get current events trimmed for your attention span.  Familiar with the acronym “TL;DR?”  (Too Long; Didn’t Read.)  On this site, browse a week’s worth of topics in a few minutes.  (Ok, this one might kind of useful.  Sorry.)  Take a look, here.
• Catch up on your memes.  Can’t keep up with latest meme?  Me either.  This site, the Internet Meme Database, helps you feel a little less out-of-the-loop.  You can’t really live without being familiar with Grumpy Cat or YOLO.
• Feel better about your Photoshop skills.  Hey, you might lack Photoshop skills, but at least your work isn’t on the front of, say, a national publication.  Giggle and point at the snafus of supposed experts.  See Photoshop Disasters.
• Feel guilty about not working.  Spending too much time goofing off? Productivity Owl to the rescue!  This Chrome extension only allows you a few minutes or seconds to spend on time-sucking websites, before kicking you off.  It even keeps score, to see if you’re sticking with the program.  No, it can’t be distracted with a Tootsie Pop.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

Probably not much, unless I’ve left your favorite out.  Let me know what fun and cool sites you found this year in the comments!

Want to see the 2011 List?

Want to see the 2010 List?

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However, there’s an ongoing design trend that many libraries have embraced:  that of adding all kinds of widgets, icons, logos and graphics to the sides of their sites.  Many of these come from library vendors and services, and often they represent a more professional level of graphics than may occur in the rest of the website’s design.  However, aside from the fact that this usually makes for cluttered interface, there’s some very real reasons to reconsider this practice.

1. Banner blindness.  Banner blindness means that users never look at any item that looks anything like an advertisement, due to either its shape or position on the page. This applies to logos and icons positioned on the sides of websites—which is typical placement for many banner ads on the Web. Guess what many of those logos and widgets look like, to your library’s end users?  This concept has actually been around for some time.  Jakob Nielsen studied it in 2007.  In the image below, a series of eye tracking results taken from his findings, the areas in green are completely ignored (so are areas with no overlaying color except grey).  Notice that placement is only part of the problem; if something just looks like an ad, it gets ignored.
2. 

   “Selective attention is very powerful, and Web users have learned to stop paying attention to any ads that get in the way of their goal-driven navigation. “ —Usability expert Jakob Nielsen

3. Google penalizes you.  Google actually has a ranking system (algorithm) that will lower your Google ranking in search results if your site is too ad-heavy.  The algorithm, called the Google Page Layout algorithm, was introduced (albeit somewhat quietly–I just found out about this myself) in January of this year.  From the official announcement: “Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away. So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience. Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.”

What does this mean to me, Laura?

• Check your analytics.  (You have them, right?)  Chances are very good that those side widgets are not getting used.  In many cases, they don’t get any, or get a number so low you might feel like you’ve been duped into using them. Rethink the ROI on those icons and widgets.
• Rethink “above the fold.”  I, myself, have built a fair number of sites with larger header graphics–after all, that’s a current design trend.  However, knowing what I know now, I will be more aggressive in terms of convincing libraries to avoid these.

What do you think about this?  Will you be taking a closer look at your library’s site layout?

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