“Are we there yet?”

What a wonderful way to learn about ‘Web 2.0’! May I thank those who suggested the idea to Bodley’s Cabinet, and the ‘23 Things Oxford’ Team for organising it all. ‘We’ve been on a journey,’ as the youngsters say these days. Now if I want to get my Amazon voucher, I had better get busy recording my reflections on each ‘Thing’.

I confess I remain to be convinced about ‘Blogs’ in general, and their use by libraries in particular. They are very labour-intensive to maintain relevance and retain readers, and ‘Blogger’ is extremely irritating: “Error on page”, “Your H.T.M.L. cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: META”, how I will miss thee! Has anyone been able to print a copy of their pages successfully in anything other than Internet Explorer? It is so tempting to ramble on, as I am doing, about one’s loves and hates of the moment, drifting away from the Blog’s purpose. Like television, it is a great time-waster, and still one never gets to read everyone else’s! However, if one can write something daily for readers curious about their library, I can see the ‘Blog’ has a place in communicating with a library’s patrons.

Perhaps the iGoogle page could be set up on library machines as a standard ‘home page’? I am sorry to say I will not be using mine, because I try to keep ‘leisure’ internet use to a minimum. If one must use different machines, perhaps in jobs outside reading rooms, then this, like the ‘Delicious’ web-site book-marks, would be of great help. But, based at one P.C. in a Reading Room, it is not for me. The same with ‘Flickr’ and ‘Picnic’: very useful if one has time to play around, tweaking one’s photographs for use in publicity, but for the average reader enquiry, it is of little relevance.

Pod-Casts and ‘You Tube’ could have a major rôle in user education. Why can we not have videos and audio descriptions of how the library works (who knows what a “Reserve” is before coming to Oxford?!?), photo-copying/scanning systems, how to place a Stack Request, etc., linked from the Home Page, so readers know what to do before their first visit, and do not wander about lost, helpless, and intimidated? We have an A.S.R. system that allows one to place a request from anywhere in the universe, but instructions on how it works impossible to find! I know several bunnies happy to explain, and we would not demand our own caravans for make-up, etc.,...

If social-network web-sites continue to grow as methods of communication, libraries should add their two penn’orth. However, I have heard interesting rumours of a ‘back-lash’. Like a Bodleian stall at ‘Fresher’s Fair’, there are grumblings by some about ‘intrusion’ into a leisure/social space. Let us see how this develops, but in the mean-time, it is another method of reaching our readers. And I shall leave ‘Linked In’ to those earning more than the average wage; we bunnies have our own social networks.

After cousin Madhuri’s over-indulgence, I do not doubt the popularity of Twitter, and would love to see it combined successfully in a ‘Blog’ or library’s home-page, like the B.B.C.’s ‘ticker-tape’ news service. I think it could be used very successfully to convey urgent and important information to readers, especially in times of emergency. But I would rather see links to web-sites discovered by a librarian written into a Blog entry, with some thought and context.

Finally to Google Docs, Wiki pages, and Open Offices. I put them together, as all are ‘collaborative’. Again, whilst not working like this myself, I can see how useful they would be, for example amending draft minutes that must be circulated for consideration, and a group working on composing a web-page together. If the Bodleian introduces ‘Cloud Computing’ with ‘Slave Terminals’ and programmes available via a central machine, so one does not have a different ‘Desktop’ wherever one sits, I shall be first in the queue!

Well, this entry is evidence itself of the very flaws and benefits of such ‘Web 2.0’ internet technology: rushed, ill-considered, and immediate, but also a collaborative work, and available for all to read who wish so to do. Even those ‘Things’ not thought relevant now might reveal themselves to be of great use should times change, so nothing was wasted. Can’t wait for the next course! Thank you all again.