Libraries and social software: an overview Dr Jane Secker Centre for Learning Technology London School of Economics and Political Science Web 2.0 and Information Literacy: 12 th June 2008 Yorkshire Universities Information Skills Group

Outline of talk Based on findings from the LASSIE project What is web 2.0? What is Library 2.0? A snapshot of library activity related to web 2.0 technologies including: –RSS technologies –Blogs –Social networking –Social bookmarking Some issues to consider for today….

LASSIE Libraries and social software in education Nine month project funded by University of London’s Centre for Distance Education Several project partners Literature review to provide a snapshot of activity Five case studies to explore different technologies Lassie filming on location in Florida. Photo courtesy State Archive of Florida

What is web 1.0? Web the user as a consumer Web editors created content Limited interactivity Communication via e- mail Dial-up connections Software on PC

What is Web 2.0 Using web as a platform for –Communication –Interactivity –Sharing –Storing information User generated content- blogs, wikis, social networks Always connected

Some features of web 2.0 Services rather than software Hosted remotely / not locally Social interaction Inclusion of ‘user generated content’ Tagging Re-usable data Syndication / feed enabled Easy to use….

What is Library 2.0? From Michael Habib’s Flickr site (Licensed under Creative Commons):

How are librarians responding? With enthusiasm and experimentation! Lots of examples of practical applications UK still someway behind the US Staff development an issue Some librarians have seen it as a threat, bandwagon, something to be ignored JISC currently exploring this area with the TILE project

RSS / news feeds Phil Bradley argues RSS underlies web 2.0 A new way of reading the web Content brought to you via a reader or aggregator Great for keeping up to date Content can be re-used elsewhere The BBC have an excellent overview of what RSS is and how it works what RSS is and how it works

LSE’s training portal

RSS from a blog RSS from a database

Web 2.0 library catalogues Features include: –User reviews and ratings –Tagging of items –Using loan data to make recommendations –RSS capability for example to generate new book lists All linked to overall trend to make library catalogues meet user’s expectations (largely based their use of Amazon)

Hennepin County Library

Libraries and blogging Libraries and librarians are starting to embrace blogging Increasingly blogs used for Library news – can target specific audiences LASSIE blog invaluable for reflection, comments, news Requires a more informal written approach?

Madison-Jefferson County Public libraryMadison-Jefferson County Public library blog

Worcester: ILS Matters

Libraries and social bookmarking Sites like del.icious allow users to share / access their bookmarks Excellent for resource sharing Several libraries have developed their own social bookmarking tools Several libraries using del.icio.us to maintain lists of internet resources Flexible, portable, customisable

Stanford University

Libraries and social networking OCLC report suggested libraries didn’t have a role to play in social networking Despite this relatively high usage of sites such as Facebook by librarians Groups used for professional networking Pages can be created by organisations Many library related applications in Facebook The jury is still out!

Library pages in Facebook

Questions and issues for today Can we ignore web 2.0 technologies and survive? How do we cope with the staff development challenges? Which tools do you think you might use? What does web 2.0 offer information literacy?

Jane Secker Further reading Godwin, P and Parker, J. (2008) Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0. Facet Publishing. LASSIE blog: