October 22, 2006

Library Journal on L!brary 2.0

Two good articles in the Oct. 15, 2006 issue of netConnect, Library Journal's quarterly technology supplement.

1. Design Speaks by Dorothea Salo. "These are the messages conveyed by the design of most library services and buildings: 'We are not you. We are not even like you. You have to think the way we do.' From the jargon on signs in our buildings to the unexplained options in our OPACs, libraries are indelibly stamped with librarian-think."

She refers to a conference called User Experience Week sponsored by Adaptive Path. Looks very interesting; sadly, it doesn't look like any libraries participated. (Then again, UEW 2007 is over $1500 to attend ...)

2. A nice response to the Design Speaks problem is Karen Coombs' article Planning for Now & Then; she argues that every library "should have its 2.0 degree by 2010."

see also Beth Evans' article Your Space of MySpace? which describes the Brooklyn College Library's myspace experience.

ps, if you're more aural, check out the LJ netConnect podcast. Haven't heard it myself, but it's interviews with the netConnect editor and the folks who wrote the articles.

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