NSW Public Sphere 2009Libraries and collaboration with local government

Mylee JosephPublic Library Services

Public Libraries in NSW

Public libraries are operated by local government.• 368 public libraries in NSW • 22 mobile libraries • 46% of the people who live in NSW are

members of their public library• Members of the NSW community made 36.4

million visits to public libraries last year

Source: NSW Public Library Statistics

Ways libraries are using web 2.0 tools

• information sourceeg. YouTube videos during election campaign, photos in Flickr, searching blogs for current information etc.

• assisting clients using web 2.0 tools eg. how to load photos to Flickr, set up a blog, limiting access to content on Facebook pages, information about kids safety on internet

• platform to deliver services eg. online communities like Ning @ Mosman library for their Mosman Readers book club, blogs, Flickr accounts, Twitter

Web 2.0 in the community

In 2008:• 2.3M Australians had created a blog• 7.1M Australians read one or more blogs• 84% of Australian internet users used Web 2.0

for sharing content such as photos, links and video

• 83% of Australian internet users consumed Consumer Generated Media content

Source: Nielsen Online Consumer Generated Media Report, Nielson Netratings and Universal McCann, 2008

Librarian = life coach for the digital age

Mark Pesce

Life coaches in the digital age

- Assisting people to use online information and services

- Internet tutorials (especially for seniors)- Imagine yourself out of the workforce for the last

10 years, Google was brand new, everyone was using Alta Vista and Yahoo…! Maybe you didn’t even have an email address.

- Accessing egovernment (eg. RTA, eTax, applying for jobs etc.)

NSW public library workforce

• 2,300 people working in NSW public libraries • Metropolitan, regional, rural and remote

locations • Many working in one person libraries so they

need to be pretty self sufficient.• But what do they know about web 2.0?

Self assessment prior to commencing the Learning 2.0 program

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http://nswpubliclibrarieslearning2.blogspot.com/

Using web 2.0 in libraries

As library staff became more skilled with these tools, there have been a number of new resources developed collaboratively exploiting the potential of web 2.0 tools for:

- Professional development- Service delivery- Knowledge sharing- Interacting with library clients

http://wiki.libraries.nsw.gov.au/index.php/Reference_excellence

http://twitter.com/NSWRISG

http://www.nsw-risg.org/weblog/

http://delicious.com/tags/suthlib

http://www.strlhistorymatters.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosmanlibrary/sets/

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/podcasts/index.html

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/publications/blogs.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/sets/

New skills put to use:

Public library staff are using web 2.0 skills to • Build new resources and services• Engage with new clients and communicate with

existing clients via new channels• Crowd source information to enhance their

collections• Help members of the community to use web 2.0

tools when they visit their local public library

Mylee Joseph

Consultant,

Public Library Services

State Library of NSW

mjoseph@sl.nsw.gov.au

02) 9273 1521

@myleejoseph

#nswsphere