Going all 2.0 for 23 things

My previous web 2.0 experiences have almost entirely been based on the important business of chattering and generally keeping in touch with friends and family: on Facebook and blogs, following events as they happen and sharing the news on Twitter, exchanging photos with my extended family via Flikr and commenting on friends’ videos on Youtube.

As a current graduate trainee I’m really eager to see how some of these technologies might be usefully utilised in libraries – which 23 Things Cambridge will nudge me into thinking about.

I do think that web 2.0 has a role to play for modern libraries and modern librarians. This is partly because it has become such a big part of day to day life for me: I check Facebook more regularly than any other website, it acts as not only my main personal email account but also as an addition to my diary (helpfully reminding me of friends’ birthdays and events). I can’t see why Facebook and Twitter, or something as yet unimagined which may ultimately replace them, will ever stop being used when so entertaining and handy.

How and when these technologies can be valuably used in libraries is another question, and I’m hoping to develop my skills of judging whether the tools I’ve used already can be helpful in a professional context, as well as (hopefully) discovering some new ones.