Paul Miller and Library 2.0


Paul Miller

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

Internet Librarian 2006 session 1

Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and more: Transforming Libraries the 2.0 Way
Dr. Paul Miller of Talis Fame who has the best job title ever, Technology Evangelist

Paul has a lovely accent to which I am a total sucker as my readers well know.

There were 1.5 million hits on Google last week for the search “library 2.0.”

L2 is about opening the library up, getting your knowledge and services out of your building and to your users, and shaping services to what the user wants and needs.

[The user is not broken]

Paul talks about the competition Talis held called Mashing Up the Library. The winner was, of course, John Blyberg with a mashup that put his library’s holdings on their users’ Google homepages. Second Life Library was the other winner, which offers library services, reference services, WorldCat, and databases to users of Second Life. This competition was focused on reaching people in the places which they already inhabit online. For the list of all the entries, visit: www.talis.com/tdn/innovationdir

What makes L2 possible?

  • Storage space is cheap
  • Falling cost of computer power
  • Growing connectivity
  • Camera 2.0 – camera phones give people a way to participate visually online
  • Commoditisation – all of the services available on a buy as you need it system (amazon.com web services)

The Three O’s

  • Open Source – new ways of getting what we need, still spending the money, but on staff and not services [I wish more libraries would realize this. You can spend the same money, but you get a level of customization which is just not available with a turn key product.]
  • Open Data
  • Open APIs – More companies should be opening their APIs [Good Morning, ILS and Database vendors! Wake up and smell the Web 2.0!]

Library 2.0 is about participation. Some libraries are using L2 technologies to deliver mission critical services and some libraries are having fun. [having fun is important!]

Paul asks us if our vendor is participating in the cluetrain. Do they allow participation between you and them? [Smirk. Um, no. My OPAC needs more cowbell.] Libraries are starting to spend their money on programmers instead of giving it to vendors. It is still the same money, some are just choosing to spend it differently. Talis is creating open source modules that fit onto an existing ILS to make it more integratable with other services.

Conclusions

  • [The first one I mistyped]
  • Get the data to the user, not the user to the data
  • Open, Open, Open [data, source, thinking]
  • Shared Innovation

My thoughts: Talis is creating some truly amazing things. I wish, in my little heart, that more vendors would put themselves out there in the way Talis has because this is the direction that data and libraries should be going.

–Jane, I heart Talis. I heart Paul Miller.