I have a report assignment coming up for INFO 525 (Information Technology in Library and Information Services) , a paper I am taking as part of my MLIS degree. There is a specific scenario for the assignment, and a list of technologies to focus on.

In this scenario you are a consultant who specialises in the application of new Information Technologies to information services.

You have been commissioned by a specific information service to write a report on one of the Information Technologies in List 1 below. You are to describe the technical aspects of the service as it applies to the chosen information service, and assess its potential value to the information service (chosen from List 2 below).

The report must end with a recommendation to either adopt or not adopt the chosen technology. Note that your report should be about the type of technology, and not a specific product.

From the first list (of available information services/technologies) I have chosen to focus on “Library 2.0“, however I think that this will almost certainly lead my research to cover other topics such as open source software (a category which a number of 2.0 applications seem to fall into), Weblogs and RSS (technologies potentially useful in a 2.0 environment), and XML (a technology which many 2.0 applications rely on).

From list two, I’ve chosen “The library of a small private university” as my focus point for exploring Library 2.0 technologies. In keeping with my normal research focus, I’m thinking specifically of (extremely media-savvy) small academic libraries that might exist (now, or in the future) such as:

the “Media Centre” at Full Sail (media and game design school)

a branch library to support the Center for Computer Games Research IT University of Copenhagen,

or perhaps a private, primarily digital, library for Auckland’s Media Design School.

While I do know a bit about Library/Web 2.0, and use 2.0 apps in my day-to-day life - I think it’s important that my first post towards this be “What is Library 2.0?”. Stay tuned, and don’t hesitate to give feedback!