By now, I’m sure you have heard the phrase web 2.0, but you may be asking yourself, what exactly does that mean? Web 2.0, a term that gained popularity at the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004, refers to a new(ish) generation of web-based tools that aim to facilitate creation of and collaboration with information. Web 2.0 tools allow anyone to be creators and publishers of content.

Libraries collect, organize, and disseminate information, so it is only appropriate that they too participate in web 2.0 activities. This blog focuses on the use of web 2.0 tools and technologies specifically in art libraries, my favorite kind of library. I have examined websites of art libraries in museums, art schools, and academic and public institutions in the United States, looking at their use of web 2.0 technologies including blogs, social networking (Facebook), social tagging (Library Thing), Flickr, and YouTube among others. As an aspiring art librarian, I wanted to know how art libraries create an online presence to attract and interact with users.

This blog was created by Bailey Diers as an assignment for LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology, a core course in the MLIS program at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Disclaimer: This blog was completed on December 7, 2009 and will not be updated. Links and information were current at the time of publication.

Header image Creative Commons, photo by See-ming Lee.