Web 2.0 reading

Reading other people's comments on the use of Web 2.0 in libraries was totally amazing. Looking at "Away from the icebergs" does highlight some of the issues we already have at ACL. The numbers of (adult) customers coming up to the reference desks for assistance with blogs, email, digital cameras, flickr and even how to do basic things on computers is increasing. Many older users are feeling increasingly swamped and alienated with the new technology. The 'Click and Learn' classes which we hold have proved popular, and there is a demand for more than we can provide with the resources we currently have. The other comment on user education also hit home, saying that many libraries are insufficiently resourced for this: a better idea was to ensure that the search interfaces the public use are as easy to search on as some of the modern search engines.

Intrigued by the comments in the article "On the way to the library experience of the future", where "Libraries are not just collections of documents and books, they are conversations ..." After all, blogs and wikis are also conversations, so is this where libraries are headed? Also interesting was the observation that there may be competition amongst libraries for the best "librarian avatar" and the "people will collect librarians rather than books ..." Searched on Google for "librarian avatar" and found this article. Scary stuff!


The other thought that struck me was that librarians have expertise in cataloguing and classifying information. If that is the case, we could be developing a service for "tagging" online information for easier location.

The future of libraries was a conversation point at the LIANZA conference in Rotorua. Delegates were offered the chance to record what their vision of libraries would be in 2017 with interesting results. Here is the flickr link.


Another thought highlighted in the "Into a new world of librarianship" article was the use of Web 2.0 technologies e.g. wikis and blogs to connect with users online, and the idea that library users could participate by assisting in the creation of online library content. Perhaps we could also use a site blog for communicating up-to-the minute information to other library sites. Perhaps through Library Zone with an RSS feed? This could be useful, as our Reference Desks do not support departmental/site email.