23 Web 2.0 Things for Librarians

Del.icio.us, podcasts, folksonomies, Technorati, RSS, Flickr, blogs, wikis…. Are you curious about these web tools? Want to learn more about them, but don’t have a clue where to start? Then check out Learning 2.0, “an online self-discovery program that encourages the exploration of web 2.0 tools and new technologies”, developed by Helene Blowers, Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (North Carolina). Helene originally created the program to train her staff in the latest web technologies. Now it is available for free on the web for any libraries or organizations to use. Participants are guided through 23 Things – short exercises to help them explore Web 2.0, such as creating blogs, setting up RSS feeds, uploading videos to YouTube and adding pictures to Flickr. “The last thing we want is for people to come into our libraries and ask about Flickr or Second Life and be met with a blank look,” said Christine MacKensie, director of the Yarra Plenty Regional Library in Melbourne, Australia, quoted in a Wired magazine article about the program. This program is an easy way to bring these technologies into your library and to your patrons. And all of the 23 Things exercises use free, web-based tools – so there is no need to download and install any software! Helene said it best in her first blog post for the Learning 2.0 program. These 23 Things will help you “learn more about emerging technologies on the web that are changing the way people, society and libraries access information and communicate with each other.” Explore the 23 Things and expand your Web 2.0 knowledge! Then come back here and share what you’ve learned!