Comments on: Visualizing the Flow of My Library’s Information Online

By: Swiss Army Librarian » Automate the Internet with If This Then That :: Brian Herzog

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:21:43 +0000

[...] hoping to use it to automate some of what the library does online (as seen in our Online Marketing Flowchart). There are lots of triggers and actions available, and it seems limited only by your imagination. [...]

By: Connecting Librarian » Blog Archive » Information flow

Connecting Librarian » Blog Archive » Information flow — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:42:25 +0000

[...] back in August, Brian Herzog posted on his blog Swiss Army Librarian – Visualising the flow of my library’s information online and I pounced on that idea. His flowchart came after their Facebook page launch and so I created [...]

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:36:30 +0000

Finally put your post to good use. Thanks!

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:38:55 +0000

@Megan: to be honest, most people at my library experienced the same sort of amazed revelation once they saw it all laid out like this – including me. And for me, my first reaction whenever I see something is to try to simplify it – and this mish-mash of arrows seems pretty ripe for simplification.

By: Megan W.

Megan W. — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:28:08 +0000

I am sort of blown away by this. I am currently in library school after four years of working in a small public system. I always see this disconnect between the thoughtful ideal solutions of school and the time and resource crunched ‘get it done’ attitude of work. Something like this, which seems so simple and obvious represents the kind of melding of the two I am looking to train myself into during my second year in school.

Who thought, information professionals mapping the flow of information we provide should seem so novel and exciting, but it does seem novel and exciting for some reason. Maybe it was more a symptom of the environment I was in previously, but I think as a profession we need more simple but thoughtful planning.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:14:28 +0000

What a great idea! I have just created one for our library service, which will give everyone else (besides myself and my manager), an idea of what is going on with our web presences and exactly how much work is (or is not) required. Gotta love RSS feeds!

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:11:20 +0000

Generally, I subscribe to the second philosophy as well (here’s the setup I recommend to schools http://t.co/w1vqk5A). While there is some crossover among the tools, each one really has a unique audience. For example, teens love Facebook, but don’t care for Twitter, and hate Email; whereas your baby boomers more often prefer email. I say, let people choose which tool they’ll use to get information, and send a consistent message across all of them.

That said, when I think of my public library, they blast every event over twitter, but thankfully use Facebook more sparingly and more for announcment and discussions. I’d probably block them on Facebook, if they used it like they do Twitter.

Perhaps a good compromise is to follow philosophy two, but have separate feeds for events.

By: Allison

Allison — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:10:30 +0000

Hi Brian
I am a Undergrad student from an Australian University and I find so much value from reading your blog. I just stopped by because I find this post particularly useful and inspiring as a student studying a Social Media class. Just thought I would let you know I did a post on your article on my blog for my class. Look forward to reading more from you.

By: Reflections on a Swiss Army Librarians’ Information Flow « library geek in training

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:07:41 +0000

[...] decided to re read Brian Herzog’s post at Swiss Army Librarian this morning because I felt that his post was really valuable to assignment two and in deciding [...]

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:30:52 +0000

@Heather B: I forgot about LibraryThing – I add our book groups and other events to LibraryThing Local too. And I’m with you on the second philosophy – I think it’s best if we go where ever our patrons are, not try to dictate where they need to be. I’d be curious to hear your your evaluation program goes.