Information Blogs by Information Professionals:
how acquisitions, cataloguing & subject librarianship are good blog-fodder
Anne Welsh
Information Officer
Thursday, 7 June 2007
Content Over Format
(Photo by kj. - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitsrejk/126982680/) We read journals and books for their content - not their printing, however much we value it.
In Web 2.0, the same applies.
Cataloguing 1.0
Skills include:
- Analysis
- Structuring and entering information
- Understanding of materials & subject(s)
- Understanding of information retrieval
Products often include:
- Catalogue records
- Catalogue databases
- Current awareness lists
Cataloguing 2.0
1.0 Skills and products can translate to:
- Creating RSS feeds (structuring / entering data)
- Blog entries from the catalogue
- Current awareness products on blogs and social bookmarking sites
Acquisitions 1.0
Skills include:
- Understanding user group's information needs
- Knowledge of where to obtain materials
- Up-to-date information on forthcoming publications
Product:
- Well-stocked library / information service / organisational resource
Acquisitions 2.0
1.0 skills may translate to:
- On order current awareness feeds / blog entries (cf. Cataloguing 2.0)
- Blog posts about forthcoming publications / from print and electronic vendors
- Acquiring web docs and web refs - creating social bookmarking sets
Subject Knowledge 1.0
Skills include:
- Familiarity with sources (print & online)
- Acquaintance with specialists / experts / colleagues in other institutions
- Ability to orientate users in research methods and materials
Products include:
- Reading lists
- Subject guides
- Information literacy training
Subject Knowledge 2.0
1.0 skills may translate to:
- Blog articles
- Blog-based / screencast- / vodcast- / podcast- subject guides
- Reading list-style social bookmark sets
- "Snippets" from ongoing research / project work
- Contacts for guest posters
Management 1.0
Skills include:
- Strategic planning
- Collection management
- Writing policy / procedures
- Administration
- Service promotion
Products include:
- Policies / procedures
- Well-trained staff
- High-profile / well-regarded service
Management 2.0
1.0 skills may translate to:
- Web 2.0 strategy
- Wiki-based procedure / policy manuals
- Managing a virtual (or partially virtual) collection
Indexing, Taxonomies, Tags
Structural Issues
- Lots of feeds syndicated to web-pages?
- One blog / set of bookmarks with a feed per tag?
- Wiki pages, sidebar, etc. - mini-web-page taxonomy?
Labels / Tags
- To tag or not to tag?
- Tag clouds or tag lists?
- What about synonyms?
- Losing control / spreading the load?
The Personal Touch?
"Describe works of art in your own words" ( http://steve.thinkdesign.com/steve.php, accessed 7 June 2007).Seth Van Hoolland's presentation at CIG Conference 2006 drew together research and practice from the cultural sector. The title From Spectator to Annotator is moot.
In his research, comments were sometimes personal, bringing a different quality.
What They Want, What They Really, Really Want
The most popular tags cloud on flickr (as at 8 June 2007):
... or think they want.
Surely we can create meaningful terms?
Combining tagging with traditional indexing could provide a whole new search (and search again) experience.
Whether we become Web 2.0 or not, there's something we can learn about our users' experience.
... or think they want.
Surely we can create meaningful terms?
Combining tagging with traditional indexing could provide a whole new search (and search again) experience.
Whether we become Web 2.0 or not, there's something we can learn about our users' experience.
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