Do you Web 2.0? : public libraries and social networking

Web 2.0 technology is a hot topic at the moment, and public librarians in particular are beginning to feel the pressure to apply these tools. Indeed, Web 2.0 has the potential to transform library services, but only if the policy and strategy for those services are ready to be transformed. The author not only reviews these tools and provides practical advice and case studies on how they can be applied in the public library setting, but also recommends the policies and business cases that begin to create a new strategy for public libraries.

• List of figures p. ix
• List of acronyms p. xi
• About the author p. xiii
• Acknowledgements p. xv
• Prologue p. 1
• Do you Web 2.0? A confession p. 1
• About the book p. 3
• About the readers of this book p. 6
• Notes p. 7
• Part I Public libraries and social networking: can we Web 2.0?
• 1 Public libraries and digital climate change p. 11
• A sign of the times p. 11
• We've been here before p. 15
• 'By increment or revolution' p. 17
• Notes p. 20
• 2 Web 2.0 ethos: hive mind and the wisdom of the crowd p. 21
• Do you Web 1.0? p. 24
• Or do you Web 2.0? The sliding scale of implementation p. 26
• To Web 2.0 or Library 2.0? p. 29
• Notes p. 31
• Part II Web 2.0 tools and the librarians who love them: an overview
• 3 Do you Web 2.0? A round-up of Web 2.0 in public libraries p. 35
• All the news that's fit to stream: RSS, blogs and podcasts p. 37
• It pays to share: photos, video, music, social networking p. 46
• Putting it all together: start pages and mash-ups p. 57
• Somewhere in the middle: wikis p. 58
• Do librarians really trust the wisdom of the crowd? Folksonomies, social bookmarking, tagging, social catalogues p. 61
• Conclusion p. 72
• Notes p. 72
• Part III By increment and revolution: libraries getting to Web 2.0
• 4 A tale of one country p. 75
• The challenge to libraries p. 76
• Why British public libraries? p. 77
• A bit of UK public library pre-history p. 78
• A hierarchy of library online implementation p. 79
• Conclusion p. 99
• Notes p. 101
• Part IV 'Tilling the soil, seeding the ideas': the Web 2.0 business case
• 5 Introducing Web 2.0 p. 105
• The experiment level p. 105
• Proof of concept or pilot level p. 106
• Live service level p. 107
• Business case and participation framework p. 107
• Building the (business) case p. 108
• Business case best practice as exemplified in the case studies p. 122
• Notes p. 122
• 6 Exceeding your stretch: a conclusion p. 123
• In the beginning, the future p. 124
• A stretch too far? p. 128
• References and resources p. 129
• References p. 129
• Further reading p. 135
• Libraries (corporate and/or related Web 2.0 sites) p. 135
• Web 2.0 tools p. 137
• Other websites and resources p. 138
• Index p. 141