Choose Just Five?

The most challenging aspect of this activity was to LIMIT the discussion to just 5 key pieces of advice.  Meredith Farkas was inspirational - her advice down-to-earth, practical and do-able. The library I work in, a TAFE library, could benefit from the following:


1. Know your users - TAFE students are very different to university students and public library clients.  They can comprise the most diverse range of students - in age, education and culture (Warren, 2006, p. 297.)  Likewise, we must know our teachers and their needs.  Since one of the characteristics of Web 2.0 technologies is collaboration, there is no point if we don't start with a strong customer focus - without them, there is no-one to collaborate with.


2. Don't focus just on technologies - This advice was perhaps the most surprising when discussing Web 2.0, however, it made perfect sense when linked with the advice: "avoid technolust."  My own library services a large number of refugees who have little technical knowledge.  We must maintain non-technological access to library services for these students - they of all the cohort, have the greatest need.


3. Build participation - giving our students the power to share and create knowledge will be a huge step for TAFE, because our network is part of the state government network.  We could perhaps start with staff - using wikis and social bookmarking for the various subject areas, and use this to evaluate how we can collaborate with students.


4. Build a learning culture - the library I work is generous in providing PD opportunities: conferences, seminars etc.  I would like to extend this learning culture to more internal sharing of knowledge: collecting internal knowledge via a staff wiki would be a valuable resource.  Valuing ongoing learning by making "keeping up" part of the job description would enable staff to educate themselves more without feeling guilty about spending time with new technologies to discover the benefits.


5. Create a risk-tolerant culture - perhaps the most difficult to achieve in a large government department where committee meetings are virtually needed to change the colour of the toilet paper.  Without taking risks, evaluating the outcomes, and accepting that sometimes we will fail, we will never be the first to try anything, and will be seen as the also-ran.  In the competitive world of education-delivery, this is not where the organisation should sit.


Warren, L.A. (2006). Information literacy in community colleges: Focussed on learning. Information literacy and instruction 45(4) 297-303. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from Ebscohost http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=8&sid=7977ed04-7df8-4700-8367-9c595b6ef876%40sessionmgr14