Information Literacy meets Library 2.0
July 23, 2009
Two of my key interests, brought together in one book. Would it “do what it says on the tin”? My hopes were for an easily understood guide to blogs, wikis, tags, podcasts and all these other terms, some of which I maybe didn’t even know yet. To tie this up with the issue of Information Literacy (IL), such as sourcing, evaluating and applying information in response to a recognised need for that information would be a great achievement, and for me, a worthwhile and useful exercise.
The book is an edited collection of chapters about IL and Web 2.0. Both the editors have a background in Academic Librarianship. This perhaps gives them the advantage over many Health Librarians in that they have an accepted role to play in teaching IL. Many Health Librarians do indeed carry out this role, but it is less well established, with less of the helpful partnership working with IT departments established in universities. A broad generalisation perhaps, but true for some of us. In a similar vein, the attraction of much Web 2.0 software being freely available may not be much use in many of our health institutions, with access and download policies preventing us from utilising these tools. Don’t let these issues put you off reading the book.
Section 1 explains the basics of IL and Web 2.0. It points out the shift in the library world for our users, in effect learners even when not working for qualifications. Previously they were passive recipients of information, now they are thinkers in our ever evolving electronic world. Here there is a chapter dedicated to the Web 2.0 tools; those definitions and descriptions of Mashups, folksonomies, del.icio.us, Pageflakes, Second Life and many more appealing sounding terms and resources, all making the subject even more attractive.
Section 2 considers the topics in different settings. Higher education, specifically LIS students, schools and public libraries are looked at. Examples are described of IL using Web 2.0 with the different user groups of these different library environments.
The third section gives many inspiring examples of Web 2.0 in use in IL and learning in several settings across the globe. Many include urls to allow readers to look more closely at the examples. Anyone unsure of where to start with Web 2.0 in their library will surely come away from this with some good ideas. With others’ experiences detailing teething problems and how these were overcome, this section is extremely practical and useful.
The final section considers the future, with the main chapter here focussing on gaming in IL teaching. Recognising the spread of demographics and age groups making use of computer and video games, gaming is put forward as a new tool to investigate for our IL purpose. Three projects are evaluated, again giving useful information for those contemplating such a development. A natural progression to Web 3.0 is touched on. Some criticisms of Web 2.0, such as the loss of taxonomies due to tagging by all, and the neglect of intellectual property are raised here, but with an overall impression the benefits outweigh the negatives. Anticipating the fast developments in the subject of the book, which could render it obsolete, the editors promise a blog to allow for case studies, comments and updates to be publicised. Sadly my local web access policy has not allowed me to view this, but that’s another issue.
Verdict: a great book to add to your collection. It certainly does “do what it says on the tin”. It is easy and interesting to read through, but can be referred to as and when needed, dipping in and out with guidance from the index.
- Author
- Peter Godwin & Jo Parker (eds)
- ISBN
- 9781856046374
- Publisher
- Facet Publishing
- Publisher's website
- http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk