InfoScope

Social software: What’s in it for the community? December 2, 2006

Can libraries make use of social software?  Should they?  I’ve been giving some thought to the vision of Library 2.0  as outlined in Wikipedia:

The active and empowered library user is a significant component of Library 2.0. With information and ideas flowing in both directions – from the library to the user and from the user to the library – library services have the ability to evolve and improve on a constant and rapid basis. The user is participant, co-creator, builder and consultant – whether the product is virtual or physical.

Whether you agree with the Library 2.0 label or not, if this is the goal, then social software provides some excellent ways to work towards it.  The key components include:  two-way flow of information, rapid response to change, and user as participant and co-creator.    In particular, the use of blogs, wikis and instant messaging seem to be well-suited to meeting these requirements.   

But the real key is that each library community is different, and what makes one community tick is different from another.  The Library 2.0 vision does not explicitly state that one must use a bunch of cutting edge technologies in order to belong to the L2 club (although  some, like John Blyberg, would argue that it is an implicit assumption).  As librarians and information professionals, part of our role then, may be to determine how best to facilitate community information use and sharing.  This may involve the use of a lot of social software technologies or… not.