#23 What I have learned and where to from here

Well, if this was a sample of what "lifelong learning" can be, I think I'm hooked! Not only did I learn about numerous potential tools for the future, I saw great networking develop, not only within my own library but with colleagues in other libraries as well. One of my first impressions was to do with the benefits of attending conferences and it feels now like I have just returned from one of the most successful ones ever!
Of the 23 things the ones I enjoyed the most and will certainly look into further were:

• Blogs & Wikis - I want to find out how to create sub-blogs for different topics within my blog, and I want to explore other blogs and wikis to see where the action is. At the micro-level, a reference wiki will certainly aid in communicating information between members of my team and to the rest of the library staff. A few of my colleagues are already getting some up and running;
  
• Rollyo search engines - this was such a neat way to pull together a number of related sites. I can see using these for delivering current awareness information on a number of subjects to our council research officers;
• RSS feeds - I still have to do a bit of brain re-wiring to change my methods of receiving news, ditto for social bookmarking which also has exciting possibilities for not only providing information to our users but for them to provide information to us and others. This is a much more effective approach than we have used until now.
• LibraryThing - isn't it a magnificent site! It's wonderful to see so many people drawn together to exchange ideas using the love of books as the good oil. I will enjoy searching for other dedicated sites like this where people's enthusiasm keeps everyone on the ball.

But now it's time to take a break and catch up on some lost sleep!
Congratulations to everyone who made this course possible. What a leap into learning it has been. Very 21st Century, too!
Thank You!!

#15 Libraries & users in the future

One of the most exciting things for me about the Web 2.0 features we've been exploring is the collaborative aspect which encourages library users to contribute their expertise to enhance the services on offer. Librarians have traditionally been seen as the authorities who present carefully selected materials to their users. This role has been changing for some time now to one that is more directional and enabling for users. The ubiquity of the internet has made it imperative that librarians be involve in the creation of internet content, too, not just navigators of it. Del.icio.us and LibraryThing are brilliant examples of how knowledge can be distributed among users rather than to users. The challenge is to find mechanisms for encouraging and enabling users to share their knowledge as a part of what they are already doing. Applying the idea of del.icio.us bookmarking in a targetted way - different buttons for specific resources (wikis?) - within an organisational intranet perhaps, could be a useful knowledge management tool.

But it is important to keep in mind that not everyone will be directly "connected". And there will always be those who want to use libraries only to find good books to take away and read on their own. Also, we are an ageing population and many will never be users of technology. I can envisage expanded mobile and home library services with more librarians visiting users (not just delivering books) equipped with laptop computers, library newsletters, transcripts of discussion group meetings and personalised reading selection lists. These lists could be created from services such as LibraryThing and Whichbook customised to the library's IPAC to enable housebound library users to have greater interaction with their library services even if they aren't able to use the technological tools. Together with their visiting librarian/s they can have a personalised library service equal to other more mobile and connected users.

Now that scenario may be useful for the next 30 years, but after that, as one of my colleagues has suggested, everyone will be chip-implanted and "wired" to everyone else. I think I would prefer to have a librarian visit me!