A Web 2.0 Library is described as being user centered, providing a multimedia experience, is socially rich and is community innovative in changing with users and community. (Maness, 2006, para 8)
When I started this unit in November 2010 I had no contact with Web 2.0 technologies. Since then I have created a blog and a wiki. I have had experience of Facebook, del.icio.us, Twitter and Second Life. I’ve read a great deal about Web 2.0 technologies and seen how they apply to libraries and to people generally. I’ve had the frustration of being without a computer for almost three weeks whilst various things were done to it and managing study in a public library. I’ve become a fan of Web 2.0.
One of the most public faces of Web 2.0 technology is Second Life. I can see the value in such things as HealthInfo Island (http://healthinfoisland.blogspot.com/2010/09/healthinfo-island-make-over.html) and Info Island (http://infoisland.org/about/). However, to access this easily really up-to-date computer systems are required. For the educational environment setting up a virtual meeting place can have its advantages particularly for distance education but I find the artificiality distracting. However my experience of virtually gaming worlds is non-existent. I live in a limited web world.
My first enticement to Web 2.0 was a little widget called RSS. Li (2008, p. 31) says a person using RSS can realistically subscribe to more blogs, monitor more social networking pages and generally stay connected more that other people. I think this widget is a wonderful tool that can be used by every library everywhere. It does everything a good librarian wants – it gets information out to the client, it does it immediately and the client doesn’t have to make an effort to receive it.
Facebook was used as the main communication tool throughout this unit. I am accustomed to the use of subject forums which can vary from very good to very poor. Facebook is an excellent tool for communication in this area. As a person with a strong privacy code I find Facebook as a personal revelation daunting but used in this context it is an effective way of opening and keeping a dialogue going. I can see it as a tool libraries can use to alert a diverse group on various areas.
Twitter is of course a quick alerting tool where the item of interest can be kept to 140 characters. During the course this was shown to be used very effectively by libraries worldwide.
My project consisted of creating a wiki for the Mental Health Museum of W.A. of which I am secretary. This was an elegant solution to a problem of preserving corporate knowledge and information in the rapidly aging population of this group. Before doing this unit I would never have considered the concept of the wiki let alone the possibility of creating one. As a librarian I am imbued with the concept of preservation of information but the creation of the wiki was a Web 2.0 solution to this problem since it allows collaboration of all the committee members and will be accessible online for the foreseeable future.
During the course of this unit the students were exposed to many technological tools. Some of these are mostly useful in educational areas but a number can translate readily to library use. Podcasting is a Web 2.0 tool that can enhance the effectiveness of teaching, for instance, how to access and search a database. Most librarians undertake this task.
As with anything to do with the public there are always procedures and policies and legalities that must be followed. Embracing Library 2.0 means covering the usual areas of confidentiality, privacy, copyright and all the rest with the addition of the permanency and publicity of online-publishing. This requires careful consideration and well-developed social media policies.
One of the difficulties of bringing Web 2.0 to the library is how open the organization is to hosting it. Most libraries are progressive in inclination from the first embracing of the catalogue on computer. The difficulty is persuading management that it is worth while taking on. Like most things in the library world this is best achieved by nibbling away at the edges of the difficulty until the goal of Library 2.0 is achieved.
Reference
Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2008). Jujitsu and the technologies of the groundswell. In
Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies
(pp. 17-37). Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press.
Maness, J.M. (2006). Library 2.0 theory: Web 2.0 and its implications for libraries. Webology, 3(2) June, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.webology.org/2006/v3n2/a25.html.
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