Libworld – an introduction

Wie bereits angekündigt, nimmt das Infobib-Team den Welttag des Buches zum Anlass, ein Experiment zu starten. Die Idee war, BloggerInnen weltweit aufzurufen, einen kurzen Abriss der Biblioblogosphere ihres Heimatlandes zu geben und diese Gastbeiträge in regelmäßigen Abständen auf Infobib zu veröffentlichen. So wollen wir herausfinden, wie einfach internationale Kooperation sein kann.
Erfreulicherweise haben wir bereits die ersten Rückmeldungen erhalten. Passend zum Ursprung der Tradition des Welttag des Buches möchten wir die Reihe mit einem Beitrag aus Katalonien eröffnen.

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As announced the Infobib team uses the World Book and Copyright Day as an opportunity to start an experiment. The idea was to call bloggers from all over the world to give a review about the biblioblogosphere in their country and to post these guest articles in regular intervals at Infobib. That way we want to find out, how easy international cooperation can be.
Fortunately we received first responses. According to the origin of the tradition of World Book Day we like to launch the series with a contribution from Catalonia.

Libworld – an introduction

Web 2.0 is on everyone’s lips. It isn’t really necessary anymore to explain it, there are a lot of more or less compact definitions.

This development redefines the position of libraries in the information society. Libraries are no longer just mediators of information literacy but also of media literacy. As a result they have to deal with technical innovations and their influences on the daily librarian affairs and they have to rise to the new challenges.

Librarians must be aware that their role changed from a keeper of knowledge to an information steward1. This architecture of participation ^[1] Tim O’Reilly, see Wikipeda: Architecture of Participation includes all library users in the process of information provision. The border between information professionals and their patrons blurs: Librarians are no longer just preparers of information consumed by patrons; their is a developent towards an exchange of information and a lively discussion. This process is also named Library 2.0. It’s a technical development marked by techniques and applications like blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, wikis, media sharing services, mashups, etc.

Let’s concentrate on one single instrument and it’s benefit for professional use: the blog.

Wikipedia says, that a blog (short for web log) is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Actually some libraries like the University Library of Munich and the State and University Library Hamburg are using blogs as a communication medium already. Furthermore there are some individual blogs, mostly from librarians, which inform about library and information science subjects.

In spite of the possibilities of web 2.0 this development has only just got under way. This fact may relate to the traditional occupational image of a librarian and the reservation of (technical) innovations which is still rife.

Some may wonder why they should spend extra time for reading blogs not to mention blogging actively in addition to consume and produce traditional resources like journals, mailinglists or newsletters. Stieger ^[2]Stieger, Heidi: Fachblogs von und für BibliothekarInnen – was nützen sie? In: arbido, (4, 2006). Original quote: Mit dem bibliothekarischen Fachblog als Publikationsinstrument können … Continue reading answers that a blog delivers a lot of advantages: news, articles and other details about librarianship, which might be to short for a printed edition, can be easily published and spread to a wide audience. Furthermore active engagement creates a win-win situation both for writers and for readers. Blogging can be taken as a form of professional development because it implies an examination of current questions. Besides the important technical exchange and the open discussion about certain topics can be simplified and encouraged. In fact not only at national level but also beyond.

This led us to ask for the possibilities of internationalization in library and information sciences. We want to find out, how easy international cooperation can be. And bloggers as early adoptors par excellence are predestined to conduct such an experiment. We thought about introducing the library and library related blogs of different (European) countries to our readers. And we are happy to say that we could win some bloggers from different countries over for our idea. In the following weeks Infobib will proudly present guest articles from library bloggers all over the world. You will find all articles on the LibWorld page. We look forward to look beyond our noses!

Yours,
Sarah Lohre, Nadine Ullmann & Christian Hauschke

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