Building participative library services: how social software is being used in public libraries

Abstract

Public libraries are evolving, in both form and function. Far from being purely repositories for hard copy collections, public libraries these days are centres of information and communication in all media. The growth of online information sources has challenged public libraries to demonstrate and publicise the ways they can add value to the user experience. Public library staff are interested in how the latest technology could be used to deliver an enhanced user experience and keep public libraries relevant to their users in an ever changing world. Therefore it was not surprising that public library staff were interested when people started talking about a new generation of web technologies that would allow users to contribute content, develop communities and share knowledge. Public librarians have always worked to encourage more people to use the library and to make library services relevant and interactive, and these new technologies seemed like a good way to continue the good work in the online world. Discussion of this new group of technologies is happening under several different names; "Web 2.0", "Library 2.0", "social software" and "social networking software". This research will refer to these technologies using the term social software. Under the umbrella of this term come tools like blogs, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, wikis, photo-sharing applications and discussion forums.