LIBR 246-11 Web 2.0 (Summer 2011)

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1.  How do you plan to keep up with the profession after this class? What tools will you use?

Over the course of the past nine weeks, I have subscribed to, friended, or followed literally hundreds of libraries and librarians.  This provides an excellent way to keep up with the profession through ideas.  Postings on social networking platforms provide a cornucopia of ideas that can be applied to each of our own professional situations.  A blog posting on  the facebook application Selective Tweets gave me a tool that I applied to the tools we created in our group project, as well as to the social networking platforms at the library where I work.  As well as a topic about which to create my screencast!  Needless to say, RSS feeds offer quick and easy ways to see what's happening out in the profession.  Librarians aren't shy about telling everyone their own success stories.  These stories can provide kernels that cultivate similar success stories elsewhere.

2.  What resources (blogs, tools, etc.) have you found the most useful in this class that you will continue to use/follow?

I was familiar with most of the Web 2.0 technologies prior to taking this class.  I guess the operative word here is "familiar".  I was pretty good using facebook and twitter and RSS, and on a rare occasion edited a wiki.  I've made a few screencasts, and blogged on blogs.  But, online communities were foreign to me and I learned the utility of this resource, especially as it pertains to the technologies themselves.  I especially liked TechSoup as a resource that provides free software and shareware to libraries and non-profits.  It has a great shopping list of tools and whatnot that is useful to information professionals.  I plan on keeping up with this community so as to enhance our Library's Web 2.0 presence.

3.  What do you think about using social technologies for professional networking? Are you planning on developing a professional presence in any social networks?

I think social technologies are extremely valuable for professional networking.  I guess one could ask: "If you don't have a presence on any social networks, what are you hiding?"  As our group discovered, facebook and twitter are important tools to disseminate information.  We found that as august entities as Presidential Libraries are wired to these two major social networking platforms.  Professionally, these tools offer ways to keep up with LIS easily, in addition to blogs and wikis.  I have a facebook page.  It is a personal page, but as I am now graduating and expect that future employers will search and find this page, I am making sure that what appears on that page is not something that would give an employer second thoughts.

And so it goes ...