Maruja De Villa Lorica
Paper written in June 2010
Blogs
Martin and Zannier (2007, pp. 90-92) mention that blogs are diaries or journals on varying topics posted online so that others can read and reply to them. Librarians can use blogs to share thoughts and ideas in the library community and to get feedback from library users. Librarians can blog about library events and activities, or write book reviews. Higginbottom (2008, p. 271) said that “blogs are useful for marketing”. Several libraries use blogs to disseminate information about their library news, new book lists, new resources and others. The librarians however should ensure that posts are kept on topic and relevant to the blogs scope.
Xu, et al. (2009) found that blogs' popularity as a Web 2.0 application in academic libraries is only second to IM. Some institutions they surveyed build their own blogs while some integrate blogs with other Web 2.0 applications, such as RSS and tagging. . RSS is a popular Web 2.0 tool to provide up-to-date news or current information to library users. The library community receives RSS feeds to stay informed of current events, happenings, new products and other news information that are of interest to them.
Meanwhile, Chen (2009, pp. 257-258) used blog for efficient and prompt project documentation. According to Chen, workflow slowdown because of student worker turn-over was minimized since newly-hired student employees can be easily guided to the appropriate procedures available on the blog. Guidelines and instructions through categorized and keyword-tagged blog entries were provided. This approach made the specific cataloging procedures available in times of need and helpful guidelines and instructions ready at hand (p. 258).
Instant messaging (IM)
Xu, et al. (2009) revealed in their study that IM seems to have been adopted most frequently by academic libraries that participated in their survey. IM is popular because libraries use the chat to offer online reference assistance, similar to phone reference help.
With IM, librarians and users communicate with each other and are able to keep a script of their chat.
Wikis
According to Boeninger (2007, p. 25), a wiki which means quick in the Hawaiian language is a website that a community of users can create and edit. Users can update wikis without the need for “web authoring software or advanced HTML coding skills”. In wikis, community participation in creating and maintaining the website is strongly encouraged. Boeninger indicates that wikis can be used for internal communication, institutional collaboration, and as a research guide.
In their study, Xu, et al. (2009) found that wikis provide “mechanism that supports participatory librarianship as it enables users to make original and genuine contributions to subject contents a library aims to cover” (p. 327). Some academic libraries integrate wikis with the blog at its student learning platform.
Podcasts
As defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary (as cited by Kretz, 2007, p. 36), a podcast is “ a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.” According to Seago (2008, p. 408), the term podcast is derived from Apple’s iPod portable media player together with the word “broadcast”. Kretz (p. 36) enumerated three steps in the podcasting syndication: a) an audio file is uploaded to the Web; b) an RSS feed is associated with the file and also uploaded to the Web; and c) the feed is read by a podcaster application which then downloads the audio file.
Kretz (2007) mentioned several applications and uses of podcasts in libraries such as booktalks, in displays and exhibits, library education, library instruction, library news, story time, live programs, and institutional podcasts, among others. In health sciences libraries, podcasting is used to publish and distribute health care education, patient care information, and professional development materials to members of the health care community promptly and at very low cost (Seago, 2008, p. 409).
Based from the findings of Xu, et al. (2009), podcasting was the least adopted Web 2.0 tool by academic libraries in their survey. They revealed that Web 2.0 feature of podcasts was not fully harnessed in academic libraries since neither supports any mechanism for the users to upload anything to the library website for sharing and other purposes. They reported that podcasts seemed to have limited functionality in academic libraries.
Some challenges and issues related to Web 2.0
The decision to use any (or all) of the Web 2.0 applications in libraries should be given proper consideration. There are legal, privacy, technical and other issues to be anticipated in their use (Kretz, 2007, p. 43). Cromity (2008, p. 19) mentioned privacy concerns in the use of Web 2.0 tools. He advises users to use an enterprise tool that can be controlled behind the company’s firewall. He adds that when using free services, it is important to read content policy regarding policy and confidentiality. In addition, blogs, wikis, and Face book pages have to be maintained, and kept up-to-date and fresh (Higginbottom, 2008). Further, if the libraries allow fans/users to make comments, staff member must be assigned to reply to them all.
References
Black, E. L. (2007). Web 2.0 and library 2.0: What librarians need to know. In N. Courtney (Ed.), Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user (pp. 1-14). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Boeninger, C. F. (2007). Wonderful world of wikis: Applications for libraries. In N. Courtney (Ed.), Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user (pp. 25-33). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Chen, S. (2009, October). Can blogging help cataloging? Using a blog and other Web 2.0 tools to enhance cataloging section activities. Library Resources & Technical Services, 53(4), 251-260. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from University of North Texas, Library Literature & Information Science Full text database.
Cromity, J. (2008, August). Hot new Web 2.0 tools. Information Outlook, 12(8), 17-19.
Higginbottom, P. C., & Ennis, L. A. (2008). Marketing, public relations, and communication. In S. M. Wood (Ed.), Introduction to health sciences librarianship (pp. 201-216). New York: The Haworth Press.
Kretz, C. (2007). Podcasting in libraries. In N. Courtney (Ed.), Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user (pp.36-47). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Martin, B. S., & Zannier, M. (2009). Fundamentals of school library media management: A how-to-do-it manual. New York: Neal-Schuman.
Seago, B. L. (2008). Special services provided by health sciences libraries. In S. M. Wood (Ed.), Introduction to health sciences librarianship (pp. 397-412). New York: The Haworth Press.
Xu, C., Ouyang, F., & Chu, H. (2009, July). The Academic library meets Web 2.0: Applications and implications. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35(4), 324-31. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from University of North Texas, Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database
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