Week 13 ~ Best Practices

Social software seems like it has a chance of reviving the library's presence (as much as librarians/library students hate to hear this concept uttered, I think it's important) because above all else, it's fun to use. When people find out that they can use something that is fun in addition to being productive and even educational, there's a much greater chance that they'll stay interested, tell others about it, and return to try it again. The interactivity of web 2.0 seems to go hand-in-hand with a main staple of what the library aims to do, which is encouraging a sense of community by sharing ideas and experiences. Thinking about everything we learned in this course, I've made a few conclusions that I feel are important to keep in mind while using social software tools:

* Try everything that's out there - why not? You'll never be sure what works and what doesn't if you don't. And you might be surprised by the results. For example, I could see a situation where exposing fellow colleagues to RSS feed may help them with keeping up to date as well as saving time in a busy special library, the average public library patron may only check a few websites and prefer this method of reading.

* Know your library: those who help run it, and those who come to use it. I think there are social software options that could better serve one group or the other, as well as those that could benefit both, and carefully considering how different groups can use particular tools is crucial. For instance, I see wikis being helpful to both, as library workers can collaborate and brainstorm for short-term projects/ideas/events going on in the library (I really enjoyed using this to work on my group project), as well as using them on a continuous basis to document random ideas that could possibly be used in the future. On the other hand, library patrons belonging to an interest group, such as a book club, might find that a wiki is a great way for group members to post book recommendations or reviews for each other to read.

* Be creative: I noticed that many of the social softwares allow you to combine them together, such as adding the YouTube video application to a Facebook Page, or embedding it within a blog. Putting things in a centralized location could help to keep the patron from straying away from the library's page, and it gives them a variety of formats to explore without getting bored.

Personally, I enjoyed learning about wikis and media sharing the most. The former I had little knowledge of or experience with, and the latter I was clueless about how they could be implemented into the library. Learning all about the various ways people can share information makes me feel that I'm better armed with practical ways to improve a library, and I'm excited to see how I can apply these in my upcoming co-op position!