5 Ways Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools Meet My Needs
I’m not ashamed to say it; I like Web 2.0 and social networking tools. There has been a lot of debate about Web/Library/Librarian 2.0 and whether it’s all just hype. But I find these tools helpful in my daily work life. Here are five reasons, I find 2.0 tools useful:
1) Lots to Learn. Lots to Say.
After 9 years, I can’t say that I’m new to medical librarianship anymore. But I still have a lot to learn. Several 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, online communities) give you the opportunity to learn and to share. I find myself having those weekly “aha!” moments reading blogs or participating in online communities where library science students, professors, academic librarians and hospital librarian come together to discuss. The best part is that I learn from so many people with whom I might not regularly interact.
2) Instant Gratification. Keeping Current at My Own Pace
I want it now. I don’t have time to read it all now. But I want it all now . . . or at least I want to save it for reading later, when I have time.
I enjoy reading MLA News, MLA-FOCUS and JMLA. I love going to the annual meeting to hear what libraries have been up to for the last year. But I want to be on top of what’s going on more regularly. Feed readers (e.g., Bloglines, Google Reader) and social bookmarking tools (e.g., del.icio.us, Digg) let me keep up at my own pace. My favorite feeds are added to my homepage and I check them daily, usually as I’m sipping my morning coffee. The others I have in a reader so I can still keep up with what’s being discussed even if I dare to take a week or two off from reading.
3) Immediacy of Feedback and Global Peer Review
Not only do I want to read it now, but I want to get feedback. I am only one person with one idea. Many people in our profession have more experience than I and have been thinking about my topic of the week (libraries, librarianship, information literacy, EBM, etc.). The beauty of this “series of tubes” that make up the Web is that they are filled with people all over the world who are willing to offer their expertise. I’ve seen many blog entries that have become articles and comments posted to an entry which help shape the final product. Essentially, it’s peer review on a global scale and in a timely fashion.
4) Effective Collaboration
Before immediacy, collaboration is really ranked as my favorite part about 2.0. Email is great, but who hasn’t had a bounced message because your attached document was too big or the recipient’s inbox was full? And if I have the audacity to email a working document to more than one person, I end up struggling with multiple copies of the same documents passing all over the place. Wikis and Google Docs have cut down that overhead in my collaborations. For example, I started chatting with another SNSTF colleague over Meebo (an instant messaging website) to work on an outline for a document we needed. I copied the major points from the log of our chat into a new Google document and gave the other collaborator access. Together, we fleshed out the first draft then gave the entire taskforce permissions to view and edit without having to clutter up inboxes or hard drives. This is just one example. Look at what others are doing:
5) Building Informal (and Informational) Networks
One of MLA’s great strengths is its network of colleagues and collective wisdom. During the flurry of my first conference, the truth of that statement was quite evident. Yet as a new person, how was I to go about making those connections? And now, as a not-so-new member, how do I branch out beyond my circle of colleagues? Volunteering at local chapter and national levels helps a lot (MLA committee applications are now being accepted!). Tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and IM also assist me in this endeavor. Whether I need someone on the opposite of the country, another part of the state or just across town, I have access to colleagues for professional or personal networking. Those bonds that have been traditionally established after years of conference attendance or committee service can begin to form in a virtual world. Yes, I’ve used these tools to trade recommendations for great places to eat and chat about personal lives. But I’ve also used these tools to discuss things like chapter business, best practices for library instruction and curriculum integration.
There is a whole world out there to read and to filter through. I don’t have infinite amounts of time to spend. I’m trying to get to what I need and get it in manageable quantities, one social networking tool at a time.