Professional Media

You may think Library 1.0 works just fine, thank you very much! However, if you want to put a name to a so-called paradigm shift in web technology and how society uses it, then "Web 2.0" and the piggybacking "Library 2.0" should work for you and at the same time keep Internet consultants and book publishers happy. Web 2.0, and by extension Library 2.0, refers to the web as a platform and is all about collaboration and user-created information spaces. In How To Use Web 2.0 in Your Library, London-based internet consultant Bradley (Internet Power Searching: The Advanced Manual. 2d ed.) presents an informal overview of Web 2.0 applications useful to librarians, including RSS feeds, web logs, podcasting, start pages, social bookmarking, web sites (including wikis), IM, and photo sharing. A final chapter discusses implementation. Social networking is included under a "miscellaneous" heading and is given brief treatment. The most useful parts of this book are the online resources. A companion web site is available.

In Library 2.0 and Beyond, editor Courtney (coordinator of outreach and learning, Ohio State) puts forth a more academic treatment of Web/Library 2.0 concepts with contributed chapters on library catalogs, wikis, podcasting, handhelds, mashups (combining two or more web services), social networking, folksonomies and user-based tagging, gaming concepts as learning tools, virtual worlds, and digital storytelling. Most contributors are from an academic setting (Steven J. Bell), but public librarians (Michael Casey) are also represented. As librarians and libraries continue to evolve and adapt along with the web and its users, categorizing and capturing the rapid change under a particular rubric such as Library 2.0 can be useful. Of these two guides, Library 2.0 and Beyond is the more serious effort and is useful to academic librarians and library students looking for more in-depth coverage. If you are just hoping to get started with Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 in any library, Bradley's book will introduce you to key resources. [See also Casey's Library 2.0: A Guide to Participatory Library Service.—Ed.]—Robert L. Battenfeld, B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Lib., Long Island Univ., Brookville, NY

This book, by the founder and coordinators of the Family Place Libraries™ (FPL) initiative, started in 1996 at the Middle Country Public Library in Centereach, NY, serves as the primary text for the project's training program. Librarians unable to attend the training will find this a terrific guide for redefining their library's role within the community as a provider of children's services. While most public libraries already include service to young children and their families as part of their overall mission, the strategies outlined here position the public library as a central resource for early childhood literacy and family development through partnerships with other local organizations. The authors begin with basic information about the program's philosophy, as well as providing tips on forming community coalitions and communicating with parents, and also include a very helpful tool for assessing staff competencies. Subsequent chapters address space considerations, programming, and collections, as well as outreach to specific user groups. With outreach and community partnerships so important to the future of public libraries, most children's librarians and library directors will find this volume to be a particularly useful planning and programming instrument, whether or not they have the resources to participate formally in the FPL network.—Rachel Q. Davis, Thomas Memorial Lib., Cape Elizabeth, ME

Matthews, an instructor at San José State University School of Library & Information Science, CA, and an assessment and strategic planning consultant, has written a theory-focused review of "assessment from the broad perspective." Critiquing mission statements of universities and academic libraries, Matthews also analyzes the Input-Environment-Output model of the 1980s for the student educational process and identifies the inadequacies and drawbacks of standard use analysis methodologies. His basic message stresses the shift in focus by the regional accreditation commissions to requiring evidence of how academic libraries impact students' learning outcomes and the faculty's teaching and research efforts. Matthews argues that the right questions for academic librarians to consider now are: "How can libraries influence faculty-student interactions? How can libraries contribute to improving students' interpersonal lives?" He discusses in one chapter how to develop a library assessment plan that strategically complements the parent university's assessment efforts; "Outcomes Questions for Practitioners" in the appendix is drawn from an article by Bruce Fraser, Charles McClure, and Emily Leahy. Academic libraries can supplement Matthews's theoretical analysis with his more practical The Bottom Line: Determining and Communicating the Value of the Special Library and Joan Durrance's How Libraries and Librarians Help: A Guide to User-Centered Outcomes.—Betty Glass, Univ. of Nevada at Reno Lib.