Web 2.0 & Relationship Building

 I came across this old blog post I wrote for a LIBR 203 assignment back in my early days in the SLIS program (i.e. February 2009).

It's a brief little blurb about how libraries meet people where they are at and connect them to the larger world through relationships & technology. 

Library for travellers @ Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.  Photo by Amy Genesis © 2011

Libraries tend to meet people where they are at.  A person can walk into a local library and come out feeling informed, equipped, engaged.  But this best happens when the patron has participated in the social aspect of the library--that is, s/he has interacted with library staff whose job it is to connect people to their desired information, even if the patron doesn't know what they want!  Without staff contact, a patron can find a book on the shelf or a webpage on a workstation and feel satisfied.  But when patron and library staff person connect, the patron can learn a lot more about where s/he's at and what s/he needs.

Michael Stephens' article discusses how Web 2.0 innovations like Facebook, del.icio.us, Meebo and Flickr--when adopted by a library--can foster relationships, discussion, info-sharing, and team building between staff and patrons, patrons and patrons, and even connect to those who don't venture into the library world (people who, I dare say, don't know--but would soon learn of--the library's worth!).  Trust, or, the ability for transparency, is key in this endeavor of groups and institutions getting to know each other and learn the worth of such connectivity.

Steven Yankee, in his article on social networking, outlines that, in terms of doing business, sites like LinkedIn and Twitter are more for "branding" yourself and your organization than as a direct business tool meant for generating clientele.  But engaging in sites like Facebook is part connecting to potential users, getting to know them, and letting them get to know you.  For non-profit organizations like libraries, this is a great marketing tool!  Web 2.0 is a dream for "building a reputation," not as a stand-alone tool, but as part of a successful strategy for connecting people to their world--through libraries! 

References

Stephens, M.  (2007). The ongoing web revolution.  Library Technology Reports, September-October 2007, p. 10-14.

Yankee, S.  (2009). Social networking in the 21st century (strictly business).  EventDV.
22 (2) (Feb 2009),  p. 8.