LIBR 246-13 Building the Social Library Online

It was really great to hear from someone who helped pioneer social software uses in his library (as well as libraries in general), because at the time Chad was considering the use of blogs and wikis for his business school it didn’t seem like there were many other examples for him to draw from. I really liked his comment about his job being “pattern-oriented”, which I think a lot of subject reference librarians can identify with. After being asked the same question over and over again, you begin to think “There’s got to be an easier and quic

That being said, here goes...

1. How has your view of social software changed since starting the course?

    Policies are absolutely necessary in order to successfully implement social software in libraries.  Meredith made a great point on someone else's blog that the level of policies should reflect the ability of users to edit the content.  So totally open wikis will need stricter policies, while blogs without commenting capabilities may may only need light restrictions.  Specifically, I'd like to address two areas where I think policies are most needed.  Librarians need to create policies regarding their stance on social software, and libraries need to fig

 Here is more evidence of online social networking becoming mainstream--it made CNN headlines.  In this case, Twitter helped a UC Berkeley student get out of Egyptian jail.

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Although creating my screencast took several hours, I am optimistic about this as a resource that will really make an impact in librarianship and information services. Customers at my public library really appreciate when I come to their internet workstation to help them with the computer, and I think this is because many people are visual learners.  Often times verbal explanations get lost, confused, or distorted, especially when it comes to using technology.  However, showing customers how to complete a task on the computer by standing next to them and letting them control

The front page of the San Francisco Chronicle today featured an article about Obama (not uncommon this year), but the neat part was the mention it gave to bloggers, facebookers, and myspacers.   Many people have been commenting lately on how much organizing for Obama has taken place online.   At times I feel like my generation (of twenty-some-year-olds)  is much more disassociated  from politics than my parent's generation, but reading about the massive online political movement going on now is rejuvinating and inspiring.  We may no longer see people prote

When I think about applying podcasting to libraries and library service, my main question is: How will patrons get to the podcasts?  In other words, where would they be located and how would customers find them?  I have two visions, and am interested to hear what yours are as well.

Vison #1:

The first time I logged on to Second Life with my new avatar, my computer froze.  The second time I logged on, same thing.  The third time (call me a dum-dum for even trying three times), it finally worked.  Then my avatar found her way to the bottom of the ocean and couldn't get up.  I finally turned off my computer again and decided to return to the project a few weeks later (this was last semester).  I can name several other disorienting experiences (a parrot who tried to kiss me, some genie guy who threatened to kill me, and so forth), but by the end of the

I thought you all might enjoy this.  There is a conference this month on exactly what we have been talking about.

http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/