"The Library as Conversation" Moves into 21st Century

-- Library Journal, 10/16/2006

A draft paper, Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation, produced for the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy, is aimed to nudge the "conversation business" of libraries—e.g., library speaker series, book groups, and collection development processes—to a new life online. However, according to authors R. David Lankes and Joanne Silverstein, of the Information Institute of Syracuse, library catalogs fall short and libraries have yet to take full advantage of online opportunities. "Wikis, blogs and recommender systems replace dial up bulletin boards and local databases as a means to empower our communities," the authors write. "Libraries should adopt participatory network concepts and software not because they are new, or sexy, but because they match our most fundamental mission: knowledge creation and dissemination." The participatory notion extends to the paper itself; comments are welcomed, even via a wiki.