Beyond Library 2.0:  Building Communities, Connections and Strategies

(under construction)

I had the opportunity to attend a day at the Computers in Libraries conference in Arlington, VA on April 16.  It was the first time I attended the conference and the only thing I would have done differently is to have planned to stay for all three days.  This year's conference focused on Library 2.0 and Web 2.0.  Almost everyone has heard one of these buzzwords used in some fashion lately and their meaning can encompass a wide range of activities and interactions -- using this wiki, blogging, subscribing to your favorite news page (RSS feeds), adding a comment on ITunes, or creating a brand new you in Second Life.  Take a look at Aftab's DCL TechNet page for more examples.

The conference was full of bloggers documenting each program.  Check out a few of the registered conference bloggers here.  There are some great blogs including Helene Blowers of PLCMC who is leading the pack when it comes to Learning 2.0, and Meredith Farkas who is THE expert on libraries and social software -- plus many others!  I suggest checking them out, picking a few you like and then setting up a RSS feed to their blog to stay up with their latest writings.

Here are a few highlights of my day and the prgrams I attended.

1. Coffee (wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy a coffee at the library)

    

    

2. Walked across the street to conference

    

    

3. Went to registration booth (no line)

    

    

4. Coffee (long lines, dreams of sipping coffee in the library)

    

    

5. Coffee (how cool would it be to have coffee in the library)

    

    

6. Library 2.0 -- Building Communities, Connections and Strategies:  Ken Roberts, Chief Librarian, Hamilton Public Library.  I was a little disappointed in this presentation -- the program specifically mentioned investigating Second Life to to help build communities but Roberts ran out of time and his library's Second Life Island is still a work in progress.  However, it is worth taking a look at the Hamilton Public Library for its success in it's community portal project and Hamilton is incorporating many Web 2.0 tools -- RSS, collaboration spaces, web casting.  Hamilton has 26 web authors to maintain its "virtual branch" -- which accounts for 1/3 of all library visits and like any other library branch it has a branch manager!  The community portal project changed the Hamilton Public Library's standing in the community and the library now has representation at all major city initiatives.  Roberts says to succeed with a new service you need:  trust and respect; shared values; the right people; start small, think big; integrate the service into your business (recognize that roles may change, there may be "new" work and that sometimes pay needs to be adjusted accordingly), and finally test and retest the service; make changes as needed.

    

    

7. Building Collaboration, Communication and Community Online:  Meredith Farkas, Norwich University.  Farkas is one of the leaders in the library profession addressing how social software is changing how we work and play.  She is the Distance Learning Librarian at Norwich and the author of Information Wants to Be Free and the book Social Software in Libraries.  This was by far the best program I attended, so I have a lot to share!

    

   Characteristics of social software (examples):

• Easy content creation and sharing (WYSIWYG)
• Online collaboration (single shared space)
• Conversations are distributed (blogpulse; network)
• Conversations are real-time (library on a buddy list)
• Capitalizing on the wisdom of crowds (google vs del.icio.us)
• Transparency (rate my professor)
• Personalization  (Bloglines; podcasts; RSS)
• Portability (delivery of content using Web 2.0 tools)