The Utopian Library

Charles Lyons, Business Librarian, University at Buffalo

Program description on the CIL2008 website.

• Charles Lyons blogs at deweyandmain.wordpress.com and BizBrary.

On the agenda:

• What is the “local web”?
• Examples of local 2.0
• Examples of local library 2.0
• Why libraries are primed for local

…organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful -Google mission statement

On the Internet, it’s easier to find world news than local information. Tools like social search engines and Google Maps are making it easier to create localized information. Google’s work on “local” apps is a growing and useful tool for libraries. But there are limitations and missing knowledge in these applications, such as info about specific neighborhoods, retailers, services

The real potential of the local web:

• The local web is diverse
  • Search engines, maps, media, data, photos, videos, blogs, social networks
  • The most important part is the local user. Us.
• The local web is social
  • User generated, participatory, amateur, civic, grassroots, citizen’s journalism
• The local web is localized
  • information about neighborhoods, communities, blocks, streets, buildings
• The local web is the joining of the real world and the virtual world
  • the two worlds are no longer separate, but complementary to each other
• The local web is bringing a sense of place to the Internet

How do libraries bring a “sense of place” to the Internet?

• As providers of local history, heritage, genealogy, community information
• With web pages of locally relevant links

Can libraries be participatory, hyperlocal, join the virtual and the real?

• An opportunity is emerging for libraries to get “local-er”
  • The internet is getting more local
  • Web 2.0 has many local applications
  • Libraries are community-focused institutions
  • Libraries have experience with local information
• Strategies for libraries to become more local
  • Become expert users of local resources and use them to identify locally relevant info
  • Raise awareness and assist the community in using online local resources
  • Broaden the scope of local data collection
  • Become active participants in community-focused resources
  • Create their own local content.

Local tools libraries can use:

• Local search
• Custom local search engines
  • mycommunityinfo.ca
• Local blogs: placeblogs, metroblogs, neighblogs– viable and reliable sources for local information
  • placeblogger
  • blogdigger (and blogdigger local)
  • metroblogging
• Local blog directory
• Libraries place blogging
  • sharing what’s going on in the community
    • Darien Community Matters
    • Fort Wayne Area Artists Blog
• Local news
  • incorporates new media and old media
  • maps the informaiton to its location
    • topix.net
    • outside.in
    • yourstreet
• Libraries creating online communities
  • SkokieTalk (hey! that’s MPOW!)
  • myhamilton.ca
• Local data
  • hellometro.com
  • EveryBlock
• Libraries local data integration
  • HartfordInfo.org
• Localpedia
  • LoudounPedia (Loudoun County Public Library)
  • WikiNorthia (Darebin Libraries, Moreland City Libraries, Yarra Plenty Regional Library– Australia)
  • SCRLD Wiki Project (Stevens County Rural Library District)
• Local photos/geotagging
  • Library of Congress photos
  • Allen County Community Album
• Maps
  • Platial
  • Google Maps

Why should libraries go local?

• It’s cheap! Many resources are free.
  • guidespot
  • i-neighbors
• Libraries are truly local
  • Most local websites are run by passionate locals who aren’t into it for the money or trying to generate revenue from their sites
  • Local web is still young
    • Identification of locally relevant info is not yet automatable
    • Determining localness requires human input
• Libraries are trusted on the local web
• Localization supports library goals and missions
• The library is a lens into the riches of local information
• The local web gives voice to very localized bits of information.

Where does the library want to fit in the local infosphere?

• The library wants to be right there with other local web sources… in the thick of it all.

Filed under: CIL2008, conference notes, libraries, library 2.0, marketing and outreach, social software, web resources