Building the Social
Library Online
Meredith Farkas
OLA Superconference 2008

Web 1.0: Democratized
Access to Information

Web 2.0: Democratized
Participation

What is social software?

What is social software?
My definition: To be defined as social software, a
tool must meet at least two of the following
conditions:

What is social software?
My definition: To be defined as social software, a
tool must meet at least two of the following
conditions:
1. It allows people to communicate, collaborate and
build community online

What is social software?
My definition: To be defined as social software, a
tool must meet at least two of the following
conditions:
1. It allows people to communicate, collaborate and
build community online
2. It can be syndicated, shared, reused or remixed, or
it facilitates syndication

What is social software?
My definition: To be defined as social software, a
tool must meet at least two of the following
conditions:
1. It allows people to communicate, collaborate and
build community online
2. It can be syndicated, shared, reused or remixed, or
it facilitates syndication
3. It allows people to easily learn from and capitalize
on the behavior or knowledge of others

Examples
• Blogs • Instant messaging/VoIP/
Webconferencing
• RSS
• Podcasting
• Wikis
• Video blogging/screencasting
• Social networking sites
• Multi-user virtual
(MySpace/Facebook, etc.)
environments and games
• Social bookmarking sites
• Other online communities

Characteristics of Social
Software

Easy Content Creation
and Sharing

Online Collaboration

Conversations: Distributed

Conversations: Real Time

Capitalizing on the
Wisdom of Crowds

Capitalizing on the
Wisdom of Crowds

Transparency

Transparency

Personalization

Personalization

Portability

What Can Social
Software do for
Libraries?

Disseminate Information

Disseminate Information

Disseminate Information

Disseminate Information

Disseminate Information

Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

Highlight Collections

Highlight Collections

Highlight Collections

Highlight Collections

Highlight Collections

Highlight Collections

Give the Library a
Human Face!

Give the Library a
Human Face!

Provide Services to
Remote Users

Provide Services to
Remote Users

Go where your users are

Go where your users are

Go where your users are

Go where your users are

Provide Services Using
Tools Patrons Use

Provide Services Using
Tools Patrons Use

Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

Strategies for
Implementing Social
Software

Wikis Facebook
Blogs IM
RSS

Facebook
Wikis
Blogs IM
RSS

Avoid technolust

Know your users

Understand the culture
of social tools

Involve staff at all levels
in planning

Develop a learning
culture

Develop a risk-tolerant culture

Start small and keep it
simple

Capitalize on your network

Consider maintenance
and sustainability

Must be able to integrate
into staff workflow

Training for staff and
patrons

Create partnerships

In marketing focus on
the functionality

Be agile

Time must be devoted to all this

Questions?
Meredith Farkas
mgfarkas(at)gmail.com
AIM: librarianmer
meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress