The Academic Library Meets Web 2.0: Applications & Implications

Abstract

A survey was performed by visiting the websites of 82 academic libraries in New York State to find out what Web 2.0 applications (e.g., blogs, and wikis) have been actually used by those libraries. Results show that Web 2.0 applications have yet to be widely applied in academic libraries while many institutions mainly implement them as experimental tools for librarians. Although there is a lot of conceptual discussion in the literature on how Web 2.0 applications can be used in academic libraries, little research has been reported so far about actual practices of this nature. In addition, this poster presentation discusses the status quo of Web 2.0 applications in academic libraries. Based on the survey as well as the features of both Web 2.0 and academic libraries, a framework of Academic Library 2.0 is proposed. The framework consists of three components: Librarian 2.0, User 2.0 and Information 2.0. Other dimensions of Academic Library 2.0 are also explored.