Welcome to The Hyperlinked Library: Emerging Trends & Technologies
Greetings all. Welcome to #hyperlib! I am really excited about starting the semester!
Some thoughts before we begin…
Course Overview:
“The new tools provide powerful options for working with data, text, sound, and images. …. There is, predictably, an increasing departure in information handling from the simple pattern of read, think, then write. Computers are used for so much more than the traditional notion of “computing.’”
–Michael Buckland, Redesigning Library Services, 1992
What emerging trends are changing library services? What does a connected world of “continuous computing” mean for 21st Century libraries? This course provides a road map toward becoming the Hyperlinked Library (#hyperlib): transparent, participatory, playful, user-centered and human, while still grounded in our foundations and values.
The Hyperlinked Library is an open, participatory institution that welcomes user input and creativity. It is built on human connections and conversations. The organizational chart is flatter and team-based. The collections grow and thrive via user and staff involvement. Librarians are tapped into user spaces and places online to interact, have presence and point the way.
This course will examine various emerging theories of library service, the use of social networking and other technological tools, the creation of online collaboration and communities via those tools, and their adoption by libraries. We will discuss the definition of participatory service, explore some key trends that impact the model, and examine what this shift means for libraries and information work in the 21st Century. Students will experience an immersive learning environment via a wide range of tools.
Notes on on the course platform:
We will not be using Canvas this semester but a specially designed interactive blog site built with WordPress that allows you to gain valuable experience participating in an open online community space you may one day use in your professional positions.
This site allows online interaction via our blogs, news feed, status updates, and student profiles. NOTE: You can give as much or as little information as you’d like in the profiles section. If you choose to use a screen name or an alias, please let me know so I can track your grading and assignments.
A note from course requirements:
Students will be expected to use the course Web site multiple times a week to stay up to date with readings, assignments, and blogging. This is also a way for students to experience the emerging social nature of the web – similar systems are being used in library settings all over the world. Librarians are working, writing and sharing in open, online systems created for interaction with each other and with library users. The course site utilizes the WordPress software package to create an open, interactive environment for sharing and discourse. You must create an account on the site and publish an open blog but no one in class is required to share their full name, photo or any other details. The use of avatars and aliases is acceptable. Read about student privacy options here.
It is essential that you keep steady attention to the course, to the modules, to the readings, and to the blog postings from your classmates.
Welcome to #hyperlib!
Michael
Next: Getting Started