Category: Publications News

So things on the blog have been a bit slow because I have been pushing out a raft of articles related to participatory librarianship. Within the next few months the following articles should start changing from “forthcoming” to actual dates and issue numbers:

“Virtual Reference to Participatory Librarianship: Expanding the Conversation” Lankes, R. David (forthcoming). ASIS&T Bulletin

“Collecting Conversations in a Massive Scale World” Lankes, R. David (forthcoming). Library Resources & Technical Services

“The Ethics of Participatory Librarianship” Lankes, R. David (forthcoming). Journal of Library Administration

“Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” Lankes, R. David, Silverstein, J. L., Nicholson, S., Marshall, T. (forthcoming). Information Research

“Credibility on the Internet: Shifting From Authority to Reliability” Lankes, R. David (forthcoming). Journal of Documentation.

“Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation.” Lankes, R. David, Silverstein, J. L., Nicholson, S. (forthcoming). Information Technology and Libraries.

Also, the last VRD book should hit the presses very soon.

Not bad for two months into a sabbatical.

The final version of the ALA-OITP/IIS technology brief “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” has now been posted online at:
http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/

The site includes an executive summary, a PDF version of the final paper, and an experimental participatory interface to the document. Comments always welcome. From the document:

Knowledge is created through conversation. Conversations can take place between friends and colleagues in the â??here and now.â?? But, they can also take place over centuries, with the participants changing but the theme remaining the same, and the conversation being recorded in thousands of artifacts, like books, pictures, and digital files. In many conversations users need sophisticated processes to facilitate the conversation. Facilitation not only enriches conversations with diverse and deep information, it also serves as a memory keeper, documenting agreements and outcomes to facilitate future conversations. The library serves this vital role for many communities.

The implication of this rather abstract concept is that libraries are in the conversation business. This theoretical argument can be seen in traditional brick-and-mortar libraries as library speaker series, book groups, and even the collection development processes. Yet online, the library has fallen far short of this ideal of conversation facilitator. Key library systems, such as the catalog for example, are at best one-way conversations. Libraries have a great opportunity to provide invaluable conversational, participatory infrastructure to their communities online. By adopting concepts and technologies from Web 2.0 and tightly integrating them into their services, libraries can advance not just their communities but also their positions within them.

The opportunities inherent in participatory networks have not emerged because of current Internet developments such as Web 2.0, but, rather, these technologies make it easier to meet an identified and long-standing role of libraries. Wikis, blogs, and recommender systems replace dial-up bulletin boards and local databases as a means to empower our communities. Whatâ??s more, these technologies can bring the ideal of the participatory model to our most fundamental library systems. Libraries should adopt participatory network concepts and software not because they are new or sexy, but because they match our most fundamental mission: knowledge creation and dissemination.

This document describes the participatory model of libraries and provides an overview of current Web 2.0 technologies and a brief discussion of how current Library 2.0 efforts point the way to an even greater change in library as a facilitator of conversations. Specific challenges and opportunities of participatory networking are reviewed. Finally, the authors recommend the creation of a shared participatory test bed for libraries. This network would not only experiment with new collaborative Web technologies, but also work with library organizations and vendors to speed innovation in traditional library systems. Finally, the network test bed would create a shared infrastructure to provide participatory technologies â?? such as Wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds â?? to libraries for inclusion in their day-to-day services.