http://library2.0

Edward M. Corrado, The College of New Jersey, http://www.tcnj.edu/~corrado/

(good website for those interested in open source, and library 2.0 technologies)

Abstract:

Corrado began with an introduction of web2.0 then walked participants through the transformation of a Library 1.0 page to a Library 2.0 page, all by using freely available, low IT involvement, and commonly accepted web tools.
Why Web 2.0?

The talk began with a brief introduction on The College of New Jersey, and its Library. The Library has a very large big presence and is an important player on the campus that serves a ‘Millenial’ – those who have grown up online population. Corrado reminded participants that an other important reason to serve and involve the Millenials is that they will soon be professors and leaders of our culture and they want to create.

A review of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 supports group interaction, collaborative, leverages wisdom of the crowds through various tools, mediums, and ecology

Must:

• Get the user involved
• have a low barrier to adoption
• be mashable
• be fun

Transforming from 1.0 to 2.0

Corrado then began the transformation. Beginning with a Library 1.0 webpage and typical OPAC record display screen. He explained that static web pages do not encourage people to keep visiting. Why visit a page when you know what will be there? On the other hand continually updating pages or getting your already overloaded IT department to build and maintain systems that would automate the process can be hard.

To answer these issues Corrado then discussed various off-site, web 2.0 apps that can easily be integrated into the Library homepage.

• Flickr’s badge feeds allow Library’s to post images, coincidentally allows users to comment on them.
• Del.icio.us is a great tool to ‘store’ your bookmarks anywhere and also share them with others. Libraries, after setting up accounts, can create tag rolls and clouds and post them on library pages. Del.icio.us is only one of many useful tagging sites.
• LibraryThing was also mentioned as a good social software tool for building new book lists on the Library homepage. Implements tagging, list of other people who have the book and what they like, user supplied cover images, users can write reviews.
• WordPress or other blogging software is useful for announcements. Start a blog and then embed its RSS feed into your library page. You might need to use Feed2JS to convert feed into page.

And that’s it! Your Library 1.0 can go 2.0 and your users can get more involved in your collections with little or no additional technical knowledge.