Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Week 8

Answer boards and social searching - I checked out the exemplary answers on the 'Answer Board Librarians Wiki', and can readily discern the quality responses one would expect from librarians eg they provide an authoritative source and its web address if appropriate; identify themselves as librarians; refer people to local libraries, and highlight the library's myriad services and resources (including online reference services). It's easy to see the importance of librarians being proactive and maintaining and developing a presence in the 2.0 environment.

I suppose 'slamming the boards' can be seen as an extension of modern reference services (as well as a promotional/awareness exercise). My library (Wollongong City) offers an email-based reference service, but it would be good to develop and/or participate in an answer board project, facilitating as it does the social dimension. Multiple users could benefit from an answer, and there is so much scope for further interactivity (eg comments, voting).

I posted an answer on 'Yahoo! 7 Answers', answering a question regarding finding a poem that demonstrated the quality of euphony. I found a good article and example (Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters') in Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (in a library database) - and made sure I gave the source - and mentioned the library! - in my response.

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