Some responses to the Web 2.0 section of OCLC’s NextSpace


This is a multipart section, so I will only be responding to individual ideas that struck me.

1. Rick Anderson was the first commentator. In his piece he argues:

But if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed — not our patrons. One-button commands, such as Flickr’s “Blog This”, and easy-to-use programs like Google Page Creator, offer promising models for this kind of user-centric service.

While I whole-heartedly agree that our web services need to be functionally intuitive, in its entirety this section of Rick’s argument seems to bash user education. As I have argued before, I think that education is even more important in a Web 2.0 world. I believe we need to teach users to think critically about how to evaluate and contribute to Web 2.0 conversations and resources. I do agree with Anderson that libraries are ill-equipped to educate all of our users in the classroom. I see this as a call to build new online resources and services that help our patrons learn the skills needed to survive in a Web 2.0 information landscape.

2. In the second section, Michael Stephens’s discusses core attributes of Librarian 2.0. In contrast to Anderson, he states:

Users will create their own mash ups, remixes and original expressions and should be able to do so at the library or via the library’s resources. This librarian will help users become their own programming director for all of the content available to them.

If not through education, how will librarians guide their patrons in this process of discovery and creation?

3. In the third section Chip Nilges discusses how OCLC is building off the principles of Web 2.0. He states the following:

O’Reilly’s notion of  harnessing collective intelligence, for instance, is at the heart of OCLC’s cataloging cooperative, resource sharing network, and virtual reference cooperative.

He later explains,

Services under consideration include including tagging, list creation and sharing, citation management, personal cataloging, and the like.

I see the move from the first of these stages to the second as the true transition to Web 2.0. It shows a move to recognizing library patrons as the true end users of our services and collections. Furthermore, it represents a more explicit trust in the collective intelligence of our users.

4. I love some of the practical suggestions posed by John Riemer. I will highlight my favorites, but will refrain from discussing them in great detail because I am already exploring them in my Master’s paper. A couple of ideas are the following:

Relevance ranking techniques should be driven by much more than the mere prevalence of keywords in the bibliographic record and be fed by a wider range of metadata, such as circulation activity, placement of materials on class reserve lists, sales data, and clicks to download, print, and capture citations.

User-initiated services like renewal, recalls, and interlibrary loan requests should be complemented by views into the campus bookstore’s inventory, options to purchase from an online bookseller, displays of availability in any geographically proximate library, opportunities to see and select terms for expedited delivery, etc.

If you want to learn more about how I envision the above services, or why they fall into core Web 2.0 values, please check back to read my Master’s paper.

5. The final commentator, Dr. Wendy Shultz is a futurist. In her section, she attempts to describe both current and distant trends. In fact she makes it all the way through Library 4.0. I am going to wait a little before I start worrying this far into the future.

Academic Library 2.0 Wiki/Blog and Master’s paper

As I work on my Master’s paper over the next 2-3 weeks my posts will be less frequent. My Master’s paper will focus on my Academic L2 concept model. Once I get that wrapped up, I promise to add significant amounts of original content.

I am going to revise the model significantly. As I am finishing up with the paper, I plan to post the updated model to solicit feedback from the L2 community. It is my hope that I will be able to link to the discussion as an appendix to my paper. Of course, the conversation will continue once the paper is finished.

I am still figuring out how to integrate these conversations into my paper/project. I am tossing the idea around of setting up a wiki or blog devoted to Academic Library 2.0 and posting the model and my paper to get the discussion started. Would anyone be interested in such a project? If so let me know and I will see if I can work on setting up the site as part of my project.

I know a few bloggers have been posting about Academic Library 2.0. Would anyone be interested in contributing to a community project? What other resources might be useful instead of a blogs and wikis? Squidoo? Let me know your ideas.

I know there is already a Library 2.0 wiki. Would it be better if I started adding articles to that one? Is there some other format that would be easier for people. I am thinking a communal blog might be better for fostering discussion. Given the nature of the model, I am focusing on getting academic librarians more actively involved in the L2 discussion.

If you like this idea, please help me publicize it. Thank you for your support.

library 2.0 academiclibrary20

TechCrunch » Blog Archive » Swaptree Update, First Screen Shots


The site discussed in this post on TechCrunch seems to be one of the more innovate services devoted to trading media.

Swaptree will allow users to swap media items (books, CDs, DVDs and video games) with other users without the use of cash. Swaptree will not charge a transaction fee, relying instead on contextual advertising revenue that will be placed on the site. For a new user, the idea is that you type in a few items that you own and are willing to trade (using the UPC or ISBN code) and you’ll see thousands or tens of thousands of items that people are willing to trade for your stuff.

Have any libraries or library contortia tried to host anything like this on a local level? Have any college or university libraries tried to host something like this for textbooks?

The power of images


I originally created the Academic Library 2.0 Concept Model for a presentation because I was having trouble expressing the idea verbally. I hadn’t completely understood the explanatory power of diagrams until the great response I received both from my class and now here on the web. I am glad I took Systems Analysis. I got a solid background in how to display ideas through diagrams. They are definitely a great way to translate concepts between groups. I just noticed another post focusing on how the model can be used for explaining the concept.

I have found that the visual image of Web 2.0 – the extended mindcloud – has been a great visual starter at sessions I have run. ‘Participation’ and ‘Remix’ provide two good concepts to open up the discussion with people, before actually going into showing and discussing social software. I am also adding Michael’s Academic 2.0 concept model to my discussion pool.

The Library’s Role in the Creative Economy

Best Buy’Â’s Anderson understands that harnessing the full power of the Creativity Economy means more that implementing new technology and designing captivating new products. He likes to say that the great promise of the creative era is that, for the first time in our history, the further development of our economic competitiveness hinges on the fuller development of human creative capabilities. In other words, our economic success increasingly turns on harnessing the creative talents of each and every human being, regardless of sex, age, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

The above quote is taken from “The Future of the American Workforce in the Global Creative Economy” by Richard Florida (From the June 4th issue of Cato Unbound via Arts & Letters Daily).

The article discusses how the greatest job growth is in the creative and service sectors. The creative sector includes such fields as science and technology, design and entertainment, and knowledge work; while the service sector includes such fields as customer service, retail, and food services. Unfortunately, the creative sector is much better paid. The excerpt above describes one of the solutions to this problem that feels right to me. All employees should be given the opportunity to apply creative solutions to their work.

I also think that libraries of all sorts can play a key role as the workforce continues its transition. It has always been the goal to serve all users no matter what their job. While many workers in creative fields have received excellent educations and have ample intellectual resources available, service workers are often left wanting for resources. It is important that libraries strive to make materials available that will assist service workers in their creative endeavors. As more of these materials become available on the web, librarians also need to train users in how to discover the appropriate resources for themselves.