Building your Library Career with Web 2.0

220 Pages·2012·3.773 MB·English

by  Julia Gross (Auth.)

Building Your Library
Career with Web 2.0
CHANDOS
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SERIES
Series Editor: Ruth Rikowski
(e-mail: [email protected])
Chandos’ new series of books is aimed at the busy information professional.
They have been specially commissioned to provide the reader with an
authoritative view of current thinking. They are designed to provide easy-
to-read and (most importantly) practical coverage of topics that are of
interest to librarians and other information professionals. If you would
like a full listing of current and forthcoming titles, please visit our website
www.chandospublishing.com or e-mail [email protected] or
telephone [phone].
New authors: we are always pleased to receive ideas for new titles; if you
would like to write a book for Chandos, please contact Dr Glyn Jones on
e-mail [email protected] or telephone number +44 (0) 1993
848726.
Bulk orders: some organisations buy a number of copies of our books. If you
are interested in doing this, we would be pleased to discuss a discount. Please
contact on e-mail [email protected] or telephone [phone]
499140.
Building Your Library
Career with Web 2.0
J G
UULLIIAA RROOSSSS
Chandos Publishing
Hexagon House
Avenue 4
Station Lane
Witney
Oxford OX28 4BN
UK
Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
www.chandospublishing.com
Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Woodhead Publishing Limited
Woodhead Publishing Limited
80 High Street
Sawston
Cambridge CB22 3HJ
UK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.woodheadpublishing.com
First published 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84334-651-7 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-78603-289-6 (online)
© J. Gross, 2012
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior
written permission of the Publisher. This publication may not be lent, resold, hired
out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other
than that in which it is published without the prior consent of the Publisher. Any
person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable
to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The Publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the
accuracy of the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any
legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions.
The material contained in this publication constitutes general guidelines only and
does not represent to be advice on any particular matter. No reader or purchaser
should act on the basis of material contained in this publication without fi rst
taking professional advice appropriate to their particular circumstances. Any
screenshots in this publication are the copyright of the website owner(s), unless
indicated otherwise.
Typeset by Refi neCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in the UK and USA.
List of fi gures and tables
Figures
2.1 Facebook growth from Hitwise 19
3.1 LinkedIn profi le 44
3.2 Tweetdeck, the Twitter client 50
4.1 Google Profi le 64
6.1 Google Reader 106
6.2 iGoogle with RSS feeds 110
6.3 iGoogle start page 111
6.4 Netvibes, individual page set up with RSS feeds 114
8.1 Google Groups sign in page 153
10.1 Example of a SlideShare page 182
10.2 Wordle.net tag cloud from Del.icio.us tags 189
Tables
1.1 C CH white paper on professionals and
Web 2.0 (2008) 7
1.2 Structure of the book 10
2.1 T he Nielsen Company statistics of global
social networking usage 20
2.2 T he Nielsen Company statistics of social
network traffi c February 2010 21
xiii
Building Your Library Career with Web 2.0
4.1 Personal brand building using the 4 Cs 61
4.2 Sample LinkedIn profi le: LIS student 66
4.3 Sample LinkedIn profi le: early-career professional 67
5.1 Percentage of Internet users who altered
privacy settings on social networking sites 81
5.2 Percentage of Internet users who took steps
to limit personal information available on
social networking sites 82
5.3 Percentage of Internet users who took
steps to monitor their digital footprint 89
7.1 Professional development: Web 1.0 way
vs. Web 2.0 way 122
9.1 My e-mentoring story (1) 167
9.2 My e-mentoring story (2) 170
9.3 Being mentored: my story 173
xiv
Preface
New LIS graduates, many of whom are of the so-called Net-
generation, are pursuing their careers in a twenty-fi rst-
century fi sh-bowl, where the line between personal and work
lives is starting to blur. I believe this book is timely, because
not a day goes by without there being another media story
about someone revealing too much personal information on
a social networking site.
With my experience in staff training and development,
and being a keen online social networker myself, I began to
investigate how librarians utilise social networking for their
careers. I was curious to fi nd out how we participate in social
networks and achieve a balance between our private and
professional lives. Web 2.0 does pose a privacy threat, but it
is not so great that it cannot be managed. And besides,
for every threat there is a counter-balancing opportunity –
Web 2.0 technologies can be used to build professional
knowledge, to enhance networks and to develop a positive
online presence.
This book is a result of my research into the use of Web 2.0
technologies by librarians as they pursue their career goals.
I have explored the emerging literature about social
networking and the library career and professional
development literature. I have also tapped into my online
personal learning networks to examine social networking
among librarian practitioners.
My personal learning journey through some of the Web
2.0 technologies started with my being the joint project
xv
Building Your Library Career with Web 2.0
director of the Learning 2.0 program at Edith Cowan
University Library in Perth, Western Australia. Learning
2.0 led me to starting blogging about emerging technologies
in libraries and I have continued to record my learning about
new Web 2.0 tools and to share my thoughts with colleagues
and others.
When starting out to write this book, I decided that writing
about the Web 2.0 technologies per se would be fraught with
diffi culties – it is a movable feast and the variety of tools
and their mobile versions is daunting. Instead, the book is
focused on the application of technologies to professional
development, networking and marketing – the cornerstones
of career development. The book includes chapters on
social networking, marketing, privacy, lifelong learning,
professional development, networking, mentoring and
keeping up to date. For each chapter I have described a range
of different technologies and applied them to each career
area, thus providing an overall Web 2.0 career toolkit.
I trust all library and information professionals at any
stage in their careers will fi nd something for them in
this book and that it will assist them to recognise and
embrace the career development opportunities of emerging
technologies in our increasingly networked world.
xvi
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the support
of a number of people and institutions.
I wish to gratefully acknowledge the support of the Faculty
of Education and Arts at Edith Cowan University in Perth,
Western Australia. In particular my sincere thanks go to
Professor Mark Hackling, Faculty Dean of Research, for
extending support in the form of editorial services and
participation in the faculty writing retreat. Some of the
writing was done during the Faculty of Education and Arts
Writing Retreat, facilitated by Dr Sally Knowles. My special
thanks go to Sally, and to my fellow writers and colleagues
at the retreat.
I also wish to sincerely thank Dr John Hall of Edith Cowan
University for his wise editorial advice and critical feedback
on the book.
And a special thanks to Mr Jonathan Davis, Dr Glyn Jones
and the team at Chandos Publishing in Oxford, for guiding
me through the book-writing process and helping to bring
my project to fruition.
I thankfully acknowledge all my inspirational library
colleagues and especially those on the online social networks
and on my personal learning network, who may not have
realised it, but their ideas contributed greatly.
And fi nally, my particular thanks go to Cathy and Peter
for offering their bush retreat where I completed some of
the writing. And thanks to all my family and especially
xvii
Building Your Library Career with Web 2.0
my husband Wolf for his wonderful support and home
cooking, and for helping me to fi nd the time to complete
the book.
March 2011
Building Your Library Career with Web 2.0
Julia Gross
xviii