Libraries and Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?

Web 1.0 Web 2.0DoubleClick Google AdSenseOfoto FlickrAkamai BitTorrentmp3.com NapsterBritannica Online Wikipediapersonal websites bloggingEvite upcoming.org and EVDBdomain name speculation search engine optimizationpage views cost per clickscreen scraping web servicesPublishing participationcontent management systems wikisdirectories (taxonomy) tagging ("folksonomy")Stickiness syndication

Libraries as participatory institutions

Libraries rely on donations of patrons (books, money, time)

Patron driven acquisition models

Community meeting spaces/ forums for public discussions

Librarians as educators

Web 2.0 OPAC

Includes features users may be used to in social media or other web 2.0 applications Tag clouds Faceted and focus searches Tagging Rating Book review Did you mean…? Enriched meta data content- even first chapters Recently added field My cart Integration with digital collections

MORRIS Encore

The Blog (web log)

Over 156 million blogs in existence across a range of topics and interests

Easily updated and presented in reverse chronological order to highlight most up to date information

Can share text, video, and images

Quality blogs are interactive- allow for comments and ratings

Blog as online advertisement. May provide links to other pages and services

Blogoshpere- connected community blogs cataloged by topic- blog search engines

Twitter

Text-based social networking site launched in 2006

User can post up to 140 characters at once

User also can group or trend posts with a ‘hash tag’-- #

Twitter- Demographic

Twitter’s demographic is largely female, ranging from 25-54 in the majority Libraries can reach a large number of their own demographic at no cost

Twitter- Usage by Organizations

Twitter can be used to update ‘followers’, or those who subscribe to a particular Twitter, on sales, promotions, and events The more ‘followers’, or subscribers, the more reach your posts/organization has

Twitter- Benefits to Libraries

Twitter uses the API Interface, which allows users to build upon the structure of the site, and is easy to use

Includes incorporation of picture, video, audio and internet link sharing

Allows followers to extract older posts, so they can collect data from recent past

Barriers between librarian and library user are broken down; a “conversation” is taking place

Twitter: Benefits (Continued)

Twitter allows libraries to connect with patrons

Creates a social library, where patrons can learn/share news and updates the library has; also makes it easer to connect to librarian as person

More and more libraries are embracing Twitter as a way to connect with patrons in the ‘Millenial’ generation

facebook

Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world.

It allows users to set up a public (or semi-public) profile and connect with other members on facebook.

Organizations, companies, or entities (such as libraries) can also set up facebook pages to connect with people interested in the services they provide.

Why should libraries use facebook?

Facebook allows libraries to interact with patrons on a daily basis

It’s a free method of publicizing the library, its collections and events

Users can easily comment on posts and provide valuable feedback

facebook users can find information about the library (or links to resources) in one convenient place

Advice:

Make your page easy to search for and find

Use pages, not groups

Frequently update your page’s content

Ask your staff and patrons to ‘like’ your page

Use a good profile picture and maintain photo albums

Use the ‘info page’ to share details

The Research:

The results of a 2010 survey published by the ALA claims that almost 48% of college students would like their university library to offer more library services on social networking sites like facebook and Myspace

A report on a study conducted by social media management company Syncapse Corp shows that for every 47 cents that a company spends to acquire a fan on facebook, that fan earns the company $135.91, suggesting the relationship libraries can create with fans on facebook might worth the cost of maintaining facebook pages.

Conclusions

Web 2.0 is based on constant, purposeful, collaborative change.

Libraries have a responsibility to actively engage with their patrons online and frequently evaluate the services they provide.

Web 2.0 is an excellent way to reach out to new patrons and enrich relationships with people already familiar with the library.

Works Cited

Casey, M.E., & Savastinuk, L.C. (2006, September 1). Library 2.0: service for the next generation library. Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html

Cassidy, E.D., & Britsch, J., & Griffen, G., & Manolovitz, T., & Shen, M., & Turney, L. (2010) Higher Education and Emerging Technologies: student usage, preferences, and lessons for library services. Reference and User Services Quarterl, 50(4), 380-91.

Mulvihill, A. (2011, July 18). Measuring the Value of a ‘Like’. EContent Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=76422

Barack, Lauren. With A Little Help From Twitter. School Library Journal; Nov2011, Vol. 57 Issue 11, p12-15, 2p, 2 Color Photographs

O’Reilly, Tim. (2005) Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html