Michael Stephens on the Hyperlinked Library

Last week I attended Michael Stephens’ Perth session of Hyperlinked Library, brought by CAVAL. He is the well know “web tamer” and Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.

Michael’s a dynamic presenter and packaged new and older ideas in a way that engaged the audience. I left with some practical tips and some inspiration to further implement Web 2.0 and really leverage the "library brand". Michael’s PowerPoint slides are on his "Tame the Web" blog

Michael’s key message was:

• Evolve
• Let go control
• Be visible

Michael’s news on some US developments included:

• Library brand is still “books” in our users’ eyes
• Citizen journalism is growing. The public can easily pick up and distribute bad news about the library, eg photos of your awful library signs could appear on Flickr
• Library jobs are being re-defined, requiring new Web 2.0 skills, so that some employers want to see your online presence.
• Emerging technology groups being formed in libraries
• We need a balance between innovation and ROI (return on investment)
• Users are setting up RSS feeds of favourite reads from their public libraries, using catalogue RSS capabilities
• Social networking is now a given and expected by users

5 things Michael says we should do now:

1. Be a trend spotter

2. Form an emerging technology group

3. Get library staff to do a Library 2.0 program

4. Start a “what’s new” blog

5. Explore “presence” and your library brand