The first writings of Seshat Scribe

The creation of a blog and blogging for Cam23 things seems a very daunting prospect when you have no idea of what you’re doing and it’s a totally new technology. However the aim of participating in Cam23 things is to learn about Web 2.0 technologies and how they can best be used in a library environment.

Normally I have to say that I’m the first person to trial the use of new technologies, especially when it comes to user education and information literacy. In 2002, I created an online library information skills course via WebCT for geography and anthropology students, which involved evaluating existing training materials and adapting them for use online. In another job I used smart board technology in user education sessions to point out relevant icons on websites, explain the use of Boolean operators and how brackets work when searching, and to get feedback during training.



I have also trialled Optivote (Personal Response Voting Systems) to gain an understanding of student knowledge before and after library and information skills sessions. I also used Camtasia to produce information skills videos for distance learning students, for example, “how to use journals” and created quizzes via our own in house VLE to test student knowledge.

I have always felt it’s extremely important for Librarians to continually evaluate their services and the way in which we provide them, especially if that can help and encourage students in their learning. New technologies can help us engage more with our students and be a part of their learning, whilst allowing them to learn at their own pace.

Given this how can Web 2.0 technologies be utilised in the same way?

Strolling around various libraries over the last couple of years has allowed me discover what students actually do while using the computers we provide. Most I have to say seem to be chatting to friends via Facebook Chat, others are logged onto MySpace or Bebo, and some are viewing videos via You Tube. Not many actually seem to be working or using library resources, but sorting out their social lives. Or is that not actually the case?

I am a true believer that people learn in different ways and we should at least be aware of that fact. Is the person using Facebook Chat whilst in a library training session not paying you any attention? Or are they helping another friend in the room who is struggling to understanding what your saying and too shy to ask?

Students no longer seem to use the same methods of studying or communicating that I did; they seem to multi-task with various technologies and have lots of open windows. I have seen students frantically typing up assignments, researching for music and class division articles on Jstor and checking their email, whilst still arranging that night’s party on Facebook at the same time. I have also realised that watching You Tube videos were part of their studies, and in some cases lecturers had used podcasts to keep their classes fresh and interesting. Others had set up Facebook discussion groups for class assignments, again trying to integrate and engage students.

I have always wanted to use some Web 2.0 technologies as I feel they have a valuable role to play in passing on library information. Eventually in April this year, I set up a Facebook page for our library and have to say was surprised to find that within two days of its promotion we had 73 friends, despite having a small student population!



While this use of Web 2.0 has been successful, I’m not quite as convinced by Twitter, even though the training provided by the UL was good. Maybe this is because I use Facebook a lot myself and am more familiar with using it. I seem to be very slow at grasping what Twitter is all about. The wording even confuses me, i.e. “tweet”, what’s it all about? In the same way as Facebook status updates, tweeting seems to involve people telling you what their doing with their day. At the moment I’m finding it hard to see whether students would follow my library tweetings, but then surely its just another method of communication.

If students are changing the ways in which they learn and communicate, then Librarians perhaps need to evaluate and update the way in which we communicate with our students and be more open to providing services using these new technologies. Having said that I don’t believe we should use every single Web 2.0 technology if its not useful and we don’t really see how it can work in our library environment. Selectivity seems the best policy.

So with all that in mind, I shall try to be open to Web 2.0 technologies for the time being and work through the 23 things, whilst evaluating whether they can help improve library services to students.