Thing #19

LibraryThing is a lot of fun! I first heard about it a year or so ago in a librarian-related blog, and I know it's just the type of web 2.0 tool that us library folks love to play with, although I can see now that plenty of other people are playing with it too. Tools like these make it easy for people to share their opinions about books and find recommendations. It's like browsing through your friend's bookshelf, but now you can do it from across the globe, and with anyone willing to share. This should clue us in libraries in that people want more than just a catalog. People want tags, ratings, reviews, images,, recommendations, etc. along with just the MARC info. I like the way that libraries are using it to highlight books on their webpages. A very cool idea! We could do this on our main page or for our individual branch blogs, Myspaces, etc.

I added several books to my LibraryThing. I also added a neat widget to my sidebar that shows the random covers of some of the books in my catalog.

Thing #15

I enjoyed reading different perspectives about all of the positive potential that Web 2.0 tools have to offer the global community and the ways that libraries can provide and help people use these tools. The article "To More Powerful Way to Cooperate" in particular got me excited, particularly when I read: "Our next major effort in this area will be the release, this spring, of a search box that will allow anyone with a Web browser to search all of WorldCat, no authentication required." Awesome! I love collaboration between libraries, and this is an excellent example of libraries all over the world sharing their resources on the web for free so that people can find materials. WorldCat.org is still in beta, but it is a pretty amazing tool. It uses the vast OCLC global catalog of materials and then searches nearby libraries for the item in question. We already offer great interlibrary loan services, but this is an additional resource to help people find materials, such as when a patron can't wait for an item and is willing to drive to a neighboring library to get it. Often websites will provide links to Amazon when talking about a book, movie, CD, etc so that people can see the Amazon summary and buy the item themselves. Wouldn't it be cool if everyone started linking to WorldCat too so that you could immediately see if your local library also has the item?

So what does Library 2.0 mean to me? In short, it's all about collaboration, creativity, and innovation. It's about re-inventing library services while at the same time doing what we do best, which is adeptly connecting people with information. While we must still focus on improving services and technology for our local communities, whether its improving our OPAC, adding helpful links and web tools to our website, installing wi-fi in all branches, etc., we can now also do our part to contribute and collaborate in a global community of libraries, working to improve library service as a whole, by sharing our resources online for all to use.