#7 Post about anything technology related – Web 2.0 subject guides

In preparing to write this post, I found lots of little gems.

Creating Web 2.0 subject guides is an interesting idea, that first came to my attention a while ago through a post on Stephen’s Lighthouse. In this post, Stephen Abram pointed to a post by iLibrarian, who writes about some of the new ways to create library subject guides and provides some examples. So now I have the chance to blog a few lines about it myself.

Libraries create subject guides or pathfinders as a starting point to help their community find resources on particular topics of interest to them. So it is not surprising that we should be starting to look at ways to embed/include Web 2.0 tools to improve them, because these too also have ‘community’ behind them. I think having community elements within guides, gives those interested in the particular subject a sense of ownership, that they are helping those with similar interests by voting, tagging, commenting on resources that benefited them, a real sense of collegiality. Subject guides that include Web 2.0 ideas would be very worthwhile for academic libraries.

Also, Web 2.0 has given us YouTube, flickr, blogs… so we can use these as other resources point for finding relevant resources, not just what is in print, or on websites. It also means that by including RSS technology, tagging or voting features, guides become more relevant, because they would be updated more regularly. And this is not a bad thing.

Of the new subject guide tools suggested, I really liked Squidoo (although each guide does have some ads included, based on the content – I’m noticing that there is a commercial element to Web 2.0 tools). The example guides provided by iLibrarian relate to getting started with Web/Library 2.0, so there is a benefit of exploring this that I wasn’t expecting!

LibGuides is also good. I was actually going to say how good this was to some colleagues a while back, and found that my Library is actually going to trial it with some of their guides this year! I think the way you can organise information on the page is very clear. Tabs across the top allow you to navigate to different parts of a guide. The subject librarian’s contact information can be included (not just e-mail, IM too if applicable). It will be interesting to see how we use it.

Koonji didn’t seem to work for me when I clicked on the link this time around. I have played with it briefly before and from what I remember I didn’t think this would easily be transferable to a library context. iLibrarian says it is a “…how-to or resource guide for a particular subject which is broken down into steps. Each step describes a process and can include narrative, recommended links lists, tips, videos, and images. Users can add and recommend links, vote for and add tips, discuss guides in forums, and rate koonji guides’.

I also had my first real introduction to del.icio.us. RSS feeds and linkrolls can be added into existing subject guides to add another dimension. I can see how del.icio.us may be useful in helping me keep track of interesting links related to my work, and I can’t wait to explore it more later in 23 things.

Something else I explored thanks to Helene Blowers’ post on thing #7 was SitePal. She had created an avatar to introduce the requirements for this thing, rather than a podcast, but it is no longer active. So I thought, why not try and create one myself, to see how it works. SitePals can be placed on websites and blogs, used as marketing tools, ways to attract traffic to websites. I used the demo to create a rather suave guy (!!), but when I tried to enable the free 15-day-trial to show you my result, I had to include all my details, including credit card to do so (in readiness for later purchase if I wanted). I wasn’t comfortable with this, so I abandoned it. But I can see a benefit in using this or something similar for libraries. The face of a virtual reference service, anyone?