W12 Wrap up, Social Networks and Catch up

Wow it's the final lesson already! I'm really glad to have participated in this program! Also a bit panicked to hear other colleagues finished it months ago. Although this has also really motivated me to try and catch up with them.

I like The article, "Spotted" by Seb Chan from the linked Powerhouse Museum webpage mentions a chart compiled by Josh Bernoff at Forrester which analyses how libraries use social media to support five key functions research, marketing, sales, support and development.

We have to follow the new trends and adapt to new age online applications to reach out to a broader community. According to Wikipedia, "the traditional way to interact is face-to-face, but nowadays interactive technology make it possible for people to network with their peers from anywhere, at anytime in an online environment".

"communities of practice for local government" use Wiki as a forum which can allow patrons to get involved and help other patrons and also to improve their services throughout the comments.

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are a good way of bringing people with the same interests together.
Libraries can use sites such as MySpace for promotion to young people who would be interested in clubs such as the Animanga club which acts like a magnet, pulling in young people with those interests. It would make the present library web page more attractive and fun. As a result they would be promoting the library. Young people are our future patrons, so they are very important to us.

Learning 2.0 has shown me valuable ways in which online tools can be exploited to further promote our library services.

I will go back to learn more from the past 12 weeks of lessons to get an insight and better understanding of how to apply it to my library, but at the moment I have learnt about exciting new ideas such as online story telling using podcasts and vodcasts, using Google maps as a source to help patrons with directions. I've been introduced to sites and tools such Flickr, Youtube, podcasts for promotion, advertising, highlight events etc...

Finishing the program I have more time to explore other blogs to learn from them. I will register for the NSW Reference and Information Services group forum, as recommended. I am researching more about "second life", which is unfamiliar to me, but from what I've read "second life" is the new way to do business, where people plan what they want to do in a real life but experiment with the concepts first in the virtual online environment. They then wait and see how residents in second life respond and decide if it's worth doing in real life or not. This is a very cost efficient way to test the success of future businesses in comparison to doing it straight away in real life. Second life includes many real life features such as the option to buy land, build business for example libraries, and creation of all kinds of services.

Here is a link from Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg Country: teen library in second life with include the video tour of virtual library in teen second life.

http://www.plcmc.org/teens/secondlife.asp