Library 2.0

There is an opinion piece in the current issue of D-Lib Magazine, 'Coming together around Library 2.0: a focus for discussion and a call to arms'. In it, we explore disruption in the library domain with particular reference to the education sector, and we welcome your comments on the issues raised.

In this paper from October 2005, we first began to publicly associate the Library 2.0 term with the work we were doing around Web 2.0, and with our broader ideas about change in the library domain.

We welcome your thoughts in this forum.

In his Midwinter 2006 special issue of Cites & Insights, Walt Crawford took a look at the online discussion around Library 2.0. This paper includes snippets of some of that discussion, and sees Walt reaching some conclusions of his own.

Have a read, look at the discussion since then, and share your own thoughts here.

This entry on panlibus picks up some thoughts from Dion Hinchcliffe, and asks how much of a relationship there needs to be between 'participants' (willing or otherwise) in a mashup. Read Dion's post, my thoughts around it, cast a vote, and share your own ideas on any steps that may be needed as mashups move from cool to business critical...

Regular readers of library-related blogs will have detected a degree of scepticism as to whether many vendors will engage effectively with the challenges and opportunities posed by Library 2.0. Have your say on the involvement of your vendor in moving things forward, and explore some of the real or perceived barriers.

Back in the good old days of green-screens with a limit of 80 characters by 24 rows to work with, the question for the OPAC screen designer was “What can I drop to make this fit on the display?”. In today’s Web 2.0/Library 2.0 world, where the designers have a whole AJAX-enhanced Web Browser playground, the question seems to have morphed in to “What else can I squeeze on to the screen to ‘add value to the user experience’?”.

John Blyberg, Network Administrator and Lead Developer at Ann Arbor District Library, has been recognised as a 2006 Mover and Shaker by Library Journal.

Casey Bisson at Plymouth State University has been doing some interesting work looking at alternative ways to offer OPAC-like functionality. He recently adapted the WordPress blogging tool to demonstrate how it might replace some aspects of the traditional public access catalogue. Read on to find out more about this intriguing experiment, and share your own thoughts about where all this could lead.

The University of Sunderland is one of many institutions exploring the use of a Google Search Appliance. They are interested in how this might be used to enhance searches of their library catalogue, or offer the ability to search library holdings along with other institutional resources on the web.

Back in November, we released a white paper called Do Libraries Matter? [PDF]. This paper shared Talis' views around some of the ways in which provision of library services is changing, could change, and needs to change. Last month, we released a follow up paper, Library 2.0: the challenge of disruptive innovation [PDF], and invite you to take a look.