Northwest Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing Conference Communication in the ILL Community Joe Anderson, WJ Content Manager September 20, 2007

What is WebJunction? A highly successful online community for library staff –~30,000 members –70,000+ unique visitors per month –13 state library subscribers…and more on the way Roots in the public library community Expanding reach into academic library community Launched 2003 Initial funding: Gates Foundation Parent organization: OCLC

Some areas of focus Public access computing E-learning Virtual interest groups (Communities of Practice) Partnerships with library organizations –State libraries –Grant-funded organizations –More on the way

Resources Patron services Management Technology Weekly tips Combines 4 previous WJ sections

Courses Course Catalog and Clearinghouse E-Learning Institute Resources for library trainers and administrators implementing e-learning. Live Space WJ’s web conferencing solution

Community Forums Features Volunteer activities

Access to WJ services Most services are freely accessible Free registration required for posting to discussions and taking courses Courses are free to members in partner states Some projects are limited to particular groups

Course Catalog Over 250 courses Course providers including MindLeaders, University of North Texas, OCLC Western/OCLC CAPCON, WebJunction Wide variety of topics Continuing to add courses Access to courses is available one year from purchase Typical course price = $25 - $50 Bulk purchase discounts available

WJ E-Learning Institute: Publications –Trends in E-Learning for Library Staff –Blended Learning Guide

WebJunction Communities of Practice Online groups of practitioners in particular library disciplines A growing suite of available tools for building community A cohort of community builders sharing best practices Visibility within the WebJunction site

Community of Practice features Rich content RSS Threaded discussions Courses Community connections People Virtual meetings Face-to-face meetings

Other tools available Blogs Wikis Web conferencing tools Bulk tools Listservs Calendaring

“WebJunction 2.0” New funding from the Gates Foundation to improve the flexibility, functionality and ease of use of the site

WJ 2.0 Highlights Emphasis on: –user-contributed content –social communication tools Built on open-source platform designed for community-generated extensions Based on knowhow from four+ years of operation as an online community

WJ 2.0 Highlights Currently defining product offerings, pricing, support Currently evaluating potential beta participants Beta spring ‘08, launch summer ’08 Long-term plans to broaden our reach

Questions about WJ?

What we’ve learned about building online communities

It’s about people, not tools Start with strong program managers Recruit early adopters to help Provide incentives and programs for followers Reach out to latecomers Not everyone will get on board

Balancing content, community, and learning Web 2.0 tools help you: –Build a shared professional knowledge base Searching and browsing are very efficient –Build professional connections Peer to peer Mentoring and getting help –Build skills Career development Organizational development

Manage each tool appropriately Each medium has its own techniques –File sharing –Wikis –Blogs –Discussions –Mailing lists –Social interaction tools

Integrate the in-person element Nothing beats face time Face time takes time Use online tools to extend, enhance, deepen F2F interaction WJ Blended Learning Guide tells all

Use the tools to get Real Stuff done Don’t underestimate the power of connection… …but everyone’s busy! Focus on projects that address real problems

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