Week 12 - NSW Public Libraries Web 2.0

It was interesting to see that each country predominantly used the one brand of social networking. I thought that there would be much more of a mix of services used within each country. It was interesting to note that My Space was popular in Australia, America and Europe.

The My Space page by Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) has 11690 friends which is an impressive size group to be interacting with continually. It is very true that all these Web 2.0 technologies give us new ways to not just interact but listen, converse and promote to our customers. They also assist us to promote to some target groups that don’t make us of our libraries currently but that could. It is an innovative idea to have patrons of all ages to speak about why they like the library to assist as a promotional tool for the library where it is a podcast, vodcast or just a simple sound file we could use on our website.

Coshocton Public Library Animanga Club's is a wonderful example of connecting with kids with anime and manga which are currently very popular with kids. If we can entice kids into the library for any reason they will then have a chance to see & use the other services we offer.

Communities of Practice was an interesting site which I believe Local Government or the State Library should emulate to harness the collaborative efforts of the libraries community. I am sure each library has something new, interesting, and different that they do well and could share these ideas. It is a great way to stop local libraries having to reinvent the wheel. If someone else is doing it well why not base yours around that model.

When looking at some of the examples of councils and libraries using social networks to promote themselves it is important to remember that these sites take time to develop a style and value to potential clients. It should always be looked upon as a long-term project, not one that will give huge instant results. When developing Social Network pages I feel it is very important to do your homework and make sure you start out by using the service, which is the most popular in your part of the world.