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Web 2.0 and social networking in libraries
1. Introduction
LASSIE (Libraries and Social Software in Education) was a nine-month project, starting in March 2007, funded by the University of London Centre for Distance Education Teaching and Research Awards. The project explored new developments in web technology commonly referred to as social software (or Web 2.0) and how these might be used to enhance library provision for distance learners.
This article summarises findings from part of the project literature review ([32] Secker, 2008) which provides an overview of social software and how this is impacting on the library community. The review also examined current issues in distance learning and libraries as a social space, however these topics are not covered in this paper. The review was undertaken at the outset of the project to inform the project team and provide context, definitions and a clearer understanding of previous research in this field. A draft report was published on the project web site (http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Projects/LASSIE.php) in July 2007 and this has been updated to take into account literature published between July and December 2007. The review highlights some examples of how different types of social software are being used in the library community, recognising that much of this work is currently experimental. The review is also written at a time when the pace of change is very rapid, therefore it can only hope to provide a snapshot of what is occurring up until December 2007. The literature review informed the development of the project and the selection of pilot technologies which were explored further in five case studies.
In the context of this project, the process of undertaking a literature review was itself a valuable research exercise, as it demonstrated the challenges faced when doing research in a Web 2.0 world. Gilster highlighted this challenge in a publication arguing that:
Until the tools become available, the thorough scholar will supplement conventional library research with the search engines that mine the intersection of content and communication ([14] Gilster, 2006, p. 49).
By this Gilster arguably meant tools such as news readers (such as Google Reader - www.google.com/reader/) and internet search engines, which help us to gather together the literature and supplement the references found in traditional bibliographic databases such...