Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0

Citation

Satyanarayana, K.V. (2009), "Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0", Library Management, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 218-219. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120910937447

Web 2.0 technologies are slowly becoming an important and integral part of library services. With users and library staff using these applications, we can announce that Library 2.0 has emerged and is gaining importance in several countries. Peter Godwon and Jo Parker's edited book addresses this emerging Library 2.0 with a particular emphasis on information literacy. There are a little over ten books on the market dealing with Web 2.0 and libraries.

The book is divided into four parts and 16 chapters. Part 1 includes the basics or an introduction about Library 2.0, part 2 focuses on Library 2.0 and information literacy, part 3 discusses case studies – a major part of this book – and part 4 is about the future of information literacy.

The book begins with an introductory chapter on the reasons for this book and what Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 are. This is followed by a chapter on the tools of Web 2.0. Chapter 3 discusses what information literacy is and why LIS students should learn Web 2.0. The next two chapters cover information literacy in the context of school and public libraries. Chapters 6‐14 contain case studies on various Web 2.0 tool applications in the academic world. The first case study is the use of a blog as an assessment tool for students at the University of Northampton. The second case study discusses Oregon State University using Wikipedia to teach students the process of academic research. The next case study is the London School of Economics's use of RSS feeds for communicating training programs from different groups. Other case studies include:

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  podcasting for library instruction at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan;

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  the use of a social bookmarking tool, PennTags, at the University of Pennsylvania; and

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  the use of Flickr to explain the benefits of controlled vocabulary and subject searching to students.

The last four cases discuss YouTube for instructional purposes at the University of South Florida; the creation of new course on Web 2.0 at the Open University; and using Web 2.0 to support the undergraduate student assignment process at Staffordshire University.

In the concluding chapter, Peter Godin presents an overall summary of how Web 2.0's major tools are impacting information literacy and hints at moving towards Semantic Web and mobile technologies in the future.

In general, the case studies are interesting and can be tried in academic and corporate libraries. There are two case studies that use Flickr and Wikipedia to teach information literacy innovatively. This book could be further improved by removing the occasional introductory notes on either Web 2.0 or Web 2.0 technologies that are found as part of case studies. Such an introduction takes the reader slightly away from the case study. If you are a novice to Web 2.0, the introductory chapters will provide you with basic information about Library/Web 2.0 but may fail to make Web 2.0 as interesting and appealing. The majority of the case studies do not carry enough pictures or screenshots of examples, which posed difficulty in visualising the case study for some users, to appreciate it and experiment further in their library.

Given the nature of the topic of Web 2.0, you might have already heard or read some of these examples or similar examples on some blogs. The Association of College & Research Libraries published a similar title, Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries, in December 2007. This book discusses Facebook and Instant Messenger in addition to other technologies mentioned in Information Literacy meets Library 2.0. It also has wiki to update case studies mentioned in the book.

The good news is that http://infolitlib20.blogspot.com/ blog updates the book Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 and you can keep yourself aware of the latest developments.

As the title mentions, the book represents information literacy applications of Web 2.0 and contains case studies which can be tried in academic and other library environments. I recommend the book as useful resource for researchers, students and practitioners of library and information science who have a basic understanding of Web 2.0.