Using Web 2.0 Applications as Information Awareness Tools Jay Bhatt and Dana Denick – Hagerty Library, Drexel University Smita Chandra – Indian Institute of Geomagnetism Presentation for: International Conference of Asian Special Libraries Shaping the future of special libraries: beyond boundaries November 27 th, 2008

Why Web 2.0? New research initiatives being developed in institutions, universities and organizations Drexel and IIG are no exception Multidisciplinary Fields: Nanotechnology, Plasma Medicine, Engineering Cities, etc… More research being done New and innovative ways of reaching out to researchers need further exploration Need for increased information awareness of new resources and tools

Web 2.0 tools are effective ways to share, generate and distribute knowledge among researchers – shared communication Stephen Abrams thinks that Web 2.0 is “about a much higher level of interactivity and deeper user experiences…” Potential for more academic and research based collaborations Why Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 Applications covered Blogs RSS Feeds Feed Readers Bookmarks and Tagging Aggregators Social Networks

What is a Blog? Why use a blog? Consists of dated entries in reverse chronological order Frequently updated Library blog can include news items, announcements, instructional tips, new electronic resources, etc. Searchable by subject area

Drexel Library Blogs Library Log News from the Drexel University Libraries Careers Collections Blog Announcing new career-related resources, events and advice for job hunters in the Drexel community. Drexel Physics News, events and resources from the Drexel University Libraries relating to physics. ischoolResearch News and tips from the Drexel University Libraries relating to the iSchool. Drexel Emerging Technologies What’s new and interesting for Drexel University Libraries Staff Print is Dead – E-Resources blog Primarily for Drexel University Libraries staff, designed to keep readers abreast of developments in electronic resources

Engineering Resources Blogs Engineering Information Blogs Announcement of new resources, instructional tips for using a particular database or a resource, new and important web resources and more. Archive of information added over a period of time Emphasis on resources for CoE and Biomedical Engineering – mainly subscription based

Engineering Resources Blogs Engineering Design Resources Biomedical Engineering Finding Books, Electronic Books and Journals Biomedical Properties Patents and Intellectual Property Ethical Issues

Englibrary Blog

What is RSS? RSS - Real Simple Syndication Brings contents to you Content available as new feeds XML based (eXtensible Markup Language) For content distribution called feeds Aggregators – contains compilation of feeds Collect feeds and display them in easy to read format More later during the talk See also: Using RSS to increase user awareness of e-resources in academic libraries user-awareness-of-e-resources-in-academic-libraries/

Getting RSS Feeds Feed readers (RSS feed readers) Collect various feeds and consolidate the information Downloadable Feed Readers: Google Reader, Bloglines, RSS Compendium: Many blogs have built in RSS feeds. RSS feeds are identified by ‘XML’ or ‘RSS’ icons Just add the URL associated with the icons to your feed reader

Google Reader Screenshot

Engineering Resources RSS Feeds

Electronic Journal Feeds Integrating feeds from journals and journal articles Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials Institute of Physics Science Online IEEE Computer Society Royal Society of Chemistry University of Chicago Press Journals Many more to come including ScienceDirect

Announcing Events on Blogs

Collaboration with Faculty & Students Identify faculty and students working on blogs Drexel CoAS E-Learning Blog Drexel Smart House Blog Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Blog One more opportunity to work together!

Bookmarks and Tagging Social Bookmarking services allow users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. Del.icio.us Diigo Information rich resources can be shared among engineering faculty and students. Users can categorize resources using their own tagging system.

Aggregators Collect various feeds from blogs, bookmarking systems and other forms of posted material in one location Friendfeed Twitter

Friendfeed

Social Networks Students in academic environments use social networks to connect with their friends and colleagues. A Librarian’s presence on a students’ social tool will increase the visibility of library resources: Information Awareness Social Networks: Facebook Myspace Orkut

Friendfeed- Facebook

Notes - Facebook

Posted Items - Facebook

Vision More and more electronic journals will develop RSS feeds Increased use of applications such as Facebook with imported Feeds More collaboration among students, researchers, faculty members and librarians More outreach necessary

Thank You! Thank you very much and have fun using Web 2.0 Applications. Please send us your feedback. Interested in creating and developing a collaboration? Contact us anytime at: Jay Bhatt, Smita Chandra, Dana Denick,