Advice from Meredith Farkas

Five key pieces of advice from Meredith Farkas on Library 2.0:

1. Planning - was one of the first points and one of the 3 p's of Library 2.0 (planning, partnership, privacy). We need to consider not just what we want but how it will be delivered and ensure that it focuses on the needs of the constituency.

2. Focus on the user and go where they are - ie use YouTube, Facebook, MySpace or whatever their using as social networks and integrate into their worlds, also the formation of partnerships with student groups, faculties etc.

3. Keep up - librarians must make time to keep up, it must be part of their job description and be considered important enough to segregate from other duties. This means that we are able to keep up with new technology plus create content to use on the technology and interaction with users who need these technologies and support through them from the library.

4. Let go of the perfectionist ideal - the new information world is fast paced, if we worry about the final product being perfect (especially on the technologies such as blogs, Facebook and twitter) we won't be using it as much and won't get the benefits from regular use.

5. Techno lust - This idea was interesting as I think this happens to everyone, that we just want the next shiny new thing without the planning its delivery to our users or how it will integrate into our systems. Its wise to be sure that it will be a useful tool in facilitating the resources or services of the library.

And - with advice of number 4 - that will have to do.