ltr: Vol. 43 Issue 5: p. 7


Foreword: Presence in the 2.0 World
Michael Stephens

Abstract	Social software, more ubiquitous than ever, continues to have a profound impact on information and communication in the Information Age. From the American Library Association to social software news aggregation, it's clear the trend toward utilizing “Web 2.0” technologies for information and communication in the 21st century is growing stronger. In “Web 2.0 & Libraries, Part 2: Trends and Technologies,” librarian and educator Dr. Michael Stephens continues his 2.0 work and re-emphasizes the importance of libraries embracing this world of conversation, community, and collaboration. “In this issue [of Library Technology Reports],” he writes, “we'll revisit some of the social tools presented in ‘Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software,’ address some trends guiding social technology in libraries, take a look at some newer tools, and cover some best practices for using 2.0 tools in your library.” With the “Presence in the 2.0 World ” foreward by Jenny “The Shifted Librarian” Levine, this 80-page issue of Library Technology Reports covers a broad range of Web 2.0 topics, tools, and considerations, including: value-added blogging building a community Web site with a blog Ten Best Practices for Flickr & Libraries libraries and social sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube tagging and social bookmarking Messaging in a 2.0 World: Twitter & SMS podcasting The OPAC Rebooted how libraries such as the Hennepin County Library and the Arlington Heights Memorial Library are using 2.0 tools About the Author Michael Stephens, Ph.D, is an assistant professor at the Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science in River Forest, Illinois. A frequent speaker at library conferences around the world, he was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker in 2005. He has been the keynote speaker at many conferences, including the Iowa Library Association Conference, Ohio Tech Connections, the Rethinking Resource Sharing Conference, the Mississippi Library 2.0 Summit (Mississippi State University), and the Ohio Library Council. He also spoke at Internet Librarian International in London in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and at the August 2006 TICER Innovation Institute at the University of Tilburg, the Netherlands. He serves on the editorial boards of several major journals, including Internet Reference Services Quarterly and Reference & User Services Quarterly. A prolific author, Michael wrote “Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software,” the July/August 2006 issue of Library Technology Reports published by ALA TechSource (a unit in the publishing dept. of the ALA), and he writes a monthly column, “The Transparent Library,” in Library Journal with Michael Casey. His blog, Tame the Web, is read avidly by many librarians. Michael holds bachelor's and MLS degrees from Indiana University and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of North Texas. He divides his time among Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

As libraries synchronize their services to the Web 2.0 world, there are some issues we as a profession need to reconsider in light of changing user expectations. Librarians have traditionally held a gatekeeper role for information, which meant being gatekeepers for such things as authority and patron privacy. Since fall 2005, we've been re-examining what I've called “the four C's”—collaboration, community, commons, and conversation. The discussions have been fruitful, moving from theory to practice as evidenced by the many examples in this issue of Library Technology Reports and its predecessor, “Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software.”

Now that we can better understand the implications for these practices, where do we go next? To continue the alliterative theme, for libraries the last year has seen new issues and tools arise around participation, privacy, point of need, and most of all, presence (“the four P's”). These concepts form the foundation of the intersection of modern library services and Web 2.0, and they will force us to recast our services to be more like those in the rest of the online world.

Participation—As long-time Internet users expect to be able to contact a company's customer service via e-mail or even live chat, new (and especially younger) users' expectations are evolving to expect direct interaction with Web sites. Rather than just sending an e-mail off into the ether for a possible one-to-one exchange, users are coming to expect the ability to contribute feedback and comments directly on a site in order to engage in conversations. How will libraries respond, given their traditional gatekeeper role?
Privacy—In order to participate in various social sites, the emerging reality is that users have to give up some personal privacy to connect with others online and to participate in these interactive sites. Hundreds of millions of users regularly divulge information that they never would have in the physical world, just for the chance to find others with like interests. Regardless of whether librarians approve of this trend or not, the truth is that we will have to adjust the entry points we provide to patron information and interaction to allow individual users to make choices about their own privacy, rather than forcing our choices upon them. In fact, this might be a golden opportunity for libraries to teach patrons how to manage their online privacy and identities to be smart and productive digital citizens. This can happen, though, only if we acknowledge that patrons may actually want to make some of their library data public or use it in ways we may not expect or condone.
Point of need—As information overload continues to grow and users spend more time on social networks online, how libraries fit their services into our users' work flow—rather than forcing them to conform to ours—becomes a pressing question. More and more, we will need to consider how we can adapt our services to be at the user's point of need when they need us, where they already are.
Presence—Perhaps the most important issue of all, and certainly the one that ties all of these others together, is the concept of presence. Libraries traditionally excel at presence in the physical world, but have yet to implement it well online. In this context, presence has multiple meanings. The first is literally just having an online presence that allows for patron participation (e.g., blogs with open comments), choice for level of privacy (e.g., letting users display RSS feeds of their patron data), and being available at the point of need (e.g., via RSS, Google gadgets, etc.). Luckily, new tools, many of them free or low-cost, have appeared that help us rethink and adapt library services to these new expectations.

However, libraries are struggling with a second type of presence, namely how to provide online the humanity, vibrancy, and expertise that infuses our physical presence. Again, we've seen libraries exploit tools such as blogs and online video successfully to help with this.

As these tools go mainstream, the next challenge for libraries will be an entirely new type of presence online, that of actually being “there” in the moment, whether that moment is synchronous or asynchronous. Twitter is an excellent example of this concept, allowing multiple communication methods, which have traditionally been separate, to be mashed together into a stream of “presence” with and for one's designated circle of contacts. It's a combination of “I'm online now” information provided by instant messaging's status indicators and the intimacy of feeling a human being on the other end of the connection. It's not something libraries have addressed in the past, but the concept of presence is growing in the online world, and libraries will need to consider how to respond.