Blogs, Wikis, and IM: Communication Tools for Subject Specialists
Chad Boeninger
Ohio University

An Online Research Toolkit - Exploring Web 2.0 for Library Research
Rebecca Hedreen
Southern Connecticut State University

Using RSS to Increase User Awareness of E-resources in Academic Libraries
Jay Bhatt
Drexel University

Web 2.0 was a big buzzword this year and librarians certainly were listening to the buzz. One big idea espoused by Web 2.0 proponents is the idea of the Web as platform, and the notion that Web applications will take the place of desktop software. This can be seen in the increasing availability of applications that allow individuals to organize their research, write, and develop presentations online. In Web 2.0, the user experience online should be seamless, and content portability is a big part of that. RSS achieves this by allowing people to syndicate content onto any Web page. Social software is also a big part of Web 2.0. Social software can be used by institutions to disseminate information, educate students and build a sense of community online. Essentially, proponents of Web 2.0 envision a seamless, transparent, user-centered, interactive online universe.

The three librarians presenting today have all harnessed Web 2.0 technologies in order to provide better services to their patrons. Chad Boeninger is the Business Librarian at Ohio University. In order to better communicate with patrons, Chad has developed a Business Blog, a Biz Wiki, and has made himself available for reference questions via instant messaging. Subject librarians will learn a great deal from Chad’s experiences using social software to serve his patrons.

Jay Bhatt is the Information Services Librarian for Engineering at Drexel University. Jay will be discussing how librarians can make use of RSS to help their patrons keep up with developments in their field and how he has used the Engineering Resources Blog to disseminate information and useful resources to engineering students at Drexel.

Rebecca Hedreen is the Distance Education Librarian at Southern Connecticut State University and is the author of Frequently Asked Questions, a blog that highlights valuable online resources. In the course of her work to assist distance learners, Rebecca has come across many Web 2.0 applications that are useful for conducting online research and she describes them in her presentation on building an Online Research Toolkit.

Here are links to the topics from earlier this week:

April 10: Blogging In Libraries
April 11: Podcasting in Libraries

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Tags: Web 2.0, social software, RSS, library, libraries, higheredblogcon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 5:32 am and is filed under library & info resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.