LIS 9763

Well, the end of the term is here! I’ve really enjoyed this course and I think that every LIS student should educate themselves about social software and its implications for libraries. This is one area that is going to boom over the next several years and it’s important for us to all be prepared.
 
1.       Has your view of social software changed since starting this course? If so, how?
 
Before taking this course, I hadn’t taken the time to explore many of the social software tools that are out there. This course gave me the opportunity to finally educate myself about what’s available and how libraries can use these tools. Also, before taking this course I had some doubts about how useful these tools could be for libraries. But now it’s clear that these tools can be quite beneficial if implemented with a clear purpose.
 
2.       Of all the social tools we've reviewed this term, what are your "favourite" tools for libraries and why? What would you consider to be the low-hanging fruit, i.e. the tools that could be implemented easily and with the greatest impact?
 
My new favourite tools for libraries would have to be gaming and blogs. I think that these tools have the ability to reach out to library users and that they have the ability to change the way the public views libraries and librarians. Do I think that they’re easy to implement? Not quite. Libraries need to put a lot of time and energy into selecting the right games and the right bloggers in order to have a great impact. The planning process needs to be extensive in order to make these tools successful but dedicating the time and resources to these types of projects would definitely be worthwhile for libraries.
 
3.       What social software tools (if any) do you consider to have the least potential for library service and why?
 
The social software tool that I’ve had some difficulties embracing is social bookmarking and tagging. I think that these tools can be beneficial to libraries and users to a degree, but I do not believe that these tools will help to engage users or help to facilitate their information consumption. Maybe it’s just the librarian in me, but I find many bookmarking sites to be time-consuming and disorganized. It’s also a constant guessing-game when it comes to search another user’s tags.
 
4.       Tell us about your personal experiences with the social software tools we’ve used & looked at this term. Which tools have worked for you, which haven’t?
 
I’ve really learned to embrace Wikis. My final project was an exploration of Wikipedia and I think that these types of tools can have a great degree of value in the workplace. I’ve been using WikiSpace at my job for quite some time now since many of the projects require employees from across Canada to work together. These tools can be very beneficial to any organizations that are working within a larger geographical area. Like I discussed in question (3), I believe that social bookmarking has the least potential in my view. They don’t have the ability to organize materials as well as I would have hoped. 
 
5.       How has the distance ed. experience been for you?
 
This distance course was quite different from many of the courses that I’ve taken in the past. I enjoyed that there was a great degree of flexibility in our group and final projects, and I enjoyed the use of a blog format for weekly postings. This made the experience much more enjoyable for me. I also truly appreciated all of the case studies that we looked at this term. It’s great to see that there are many libraries out there who are implementing these social networking tools with such success! Very encouraging!
 
 
6.       Do you have any suggestions for improving the learning experience of this course? (e.g. readings, weekly activities, assignments, etc.) (be honest, I can take it!)
 
One of the most useful parts of the course for me was the exploration of the case studies that were outlined each week. The readings are helpful, but the case studies really helped me to understand how these tools can be used by libraries. My only dislike about this course was the weekly deadline for blog posts. It would be much more convenient for the blog posts to be due on the weekend (Sundays would have been ideal).
 
7.       How would you sum up your experience over the past 13 weeks?
 
Overall, it was a good term! Thanks, everyone!