Libraries and the Communities that Sustain Them

October 4th, 2005

I read this article from the NYT about an hour ago on how “folksonomies” are changing the way people connect online, and thought nothing of blogging about it (although I linked to it on the linkblog). That is, until I read this post by Chrystie Hill over at BlogJunction. Chrystie writes:

“I hate to make my personal take on things universal, but my experience calls us to question: do libraries currently have enough going for them to stay open? Some of them may. Is there enough there to sustain this concept of libraries for the public good? I’m afraid we can’t sustain ourselves serving only the people in our communities who have no money; the benevolence of our government or other benefactors is far from guaranteed. Are there things that we should be doing and changing to stay relevant to our entire communities, making us sustainable in the process? Or, are we on the verge of another “hey! we should have done that - we’re librarians!” self-pity party? I hope not.”

This post brought my mind back to the NYT article on folksonomies, where the author writes:

“Connecting people online this way is not new. Dial-up bulletin boards in the 1980’s, Usenet discussion groups from the 80’s and 90’s and blogs today all allow users to connect with like-minded people over topics that interest them.”

“Until recently, however, groups needed a critical mass to have such a Web presence, and finding them could be difficult. Idea- and activity-oriented networking sites create ad hoc homes for many small groups and interests, and make them more easily accessible.”

Ah! A possible answer for Chrystie. When talking about connecting people and their ideas, libraries should be able to harness the communities around them and perform this task with ease. Virtual communities and social networks are a hot topic these days. I’ve had an idea brewing as to how libraries (and I’m not only talking about public libraries - I think Chrystie was, although I’m not 100% sure) can create and sustain a virtual communities.

Make online catalogs a “two way street”. We only push information on materials to our patrons. We should also gather and maintain information and provide an outlet for our users in the catalog, with patron reviews of books and (heck, why not!) personalized catalogs with tagging opportunities. Imagine a Library Thing interface for your library catalog, with patrons able to create their own mini-catalogs, based on their interests and customized classification. Of course, patrons can share this data as they see fit. We have “MyLibrary” already. Why not “MyCatalog”?

This will be the theme of my talk at the 21st Centuries Literacies Conference next month. I’ll share more about this topic as I prepare my notes (and blog presentation).

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