The Queen Margaret University (QMU) librarians have been active in the integration of Web2.0 technologies with their service. This has included the following:
We discussed the reasons behind them starting to use Web2.0 and the benefits that it gives
A compelling reason is simply that you are going where your users are. If you are to effectively market your services to users then it is sensible to take that message to them rather than expect that they will come to you.
The librarians at the QMU liked that, in general, Web2.0 tools are free to use. This means that there is little risk in trying them out. If something doesn’t work, it can simply be discarded. They had been using Pageflakes as a start-up page, but found it to be unreliable, so they simply switched to Netvibes. Furthermore, the use of blogging tools allows librarians to quickly and easily publish new information. It is a good way of ensuring that information given to users is current.
Web2.0 allows the librarians to provide a service to people who they may not usually be able to. At QMU, they have found that the use of instant messaging allows them to provide a fuller service to students who don't often get to the campus.
When implementing Web2.0 tools you require support from management. As Web2.0 tools tend to invite interaction from users (and also bypass editorial control when content is published) there is an issue as regards trust of both staff and users. The perception from management may be a negative one. Fortunately the librarians at QMU have not found this to be an issue and they have been allowed to develop their service as they see fit.
As regards the future of the service, there has been thought given to the idea of using wikis for collaborative online working, however this hasn’t been extended too far at this stage simply because they already have SharePoint and felt there is little point in duplicating services.