1. Building the Social
Library Online
Meredith Farkas
OLA Superconference 2008

2. Web 1.0: Democratized
Access to Information

3. Web 2.0: Democratized
Participation

4. What is social software?

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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Characteristics of Social
Software

11. Easy Content Creation
and Sharing

12. Online Collaboration

13. Conversations: Distributed

14. Conversations: Real Time

15. Capitalizing on the
Wisdom of Crowds

16. Capitalizing on the
Wisdom of Crowds

17. Transparency

18. Transparency

19. Personalization

20. Personalization

21. Portability

22. What Can Social
Software do for
Libraries?

23. Disseminate Information

24. Disseminate Information

25. Disseminate Information

26. Disseminate Information

27. Disseminate Information

28. Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

29. Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

30. Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

31. Get Feedback! Start a
Conversation!

32. Highlight Collections

33. Highlight Collections

34. Highlight Collections

35. Highlight Collections

36. Highlight Collections

37. Highlight Collections

38. Give the Library a
Human Face!

39. Give the Library a
Human Face!

40. Provide Services to
Remote Users

41. Provide Services to
Remote Users

42. Go where your users are

43. Go where your users are

44. Go where your users are

45. Go where your users are

46. Provide Services Using
Tools Patrons Use

47. Provide Services Using
Tools Patrons Use

48. Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

49. Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

50. Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

51. Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

52. Capitalize on the Collective
Intelligence of our Users

53. Strategies for
Implementing Social
Software

54. Wikis Facebook
Blogs IM
RSS

55. Facebook
Wikis
Blogs IM
RSS

56. Avoid technolust

57. Know your users

58. Understand the culture
of social tools

59. Involve staff at all levels
in planning

60. Develop a learning
culture

61. Develop a risk-tolerant culture

62. Start small and keep it
simple

63. Capitalize on your network

64. Consider maintenance
and sustainability

65. Must be able to integrate
into staff workflow

66. Training for staff and
patrons

67. Create partnerships

68. In marketing focus on
the functionality

69. Be agile

70. Time must be devoted to all this

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