Wikis are a great way to capture local content and build community.

In the world of internet search engines what could possibly be bigger then Google? In the USA no one is bigger then Google and they are continuing to grow. According to an April 2007 comscore.com report Google is continuing to grow its market share and a accounts for 49.7 of US internet searches.

A more recent July 12, 2007 Market share report by Net Applications also point out that Google continues to be the dominate search engine and accounts for over 53% of all searches in the U.S.  Despite the conflicting data it is a generally accepted fact that Google is the top search engine in the US and the number one search engine in the world. Google has become so omni present in the internet world even the word Google has become a verb for many. 

Given the success of the companies ability to Googlize the earth and dominate the internet I was intrigued by an article that I read recently in the New York Times about a place where “Google isn’t king.”

According to the article Web uses in South Korea, one of the world’s most wired countries, seldom “Google” anything. They “Naver” it.  The article goes on to point out that “Naver.com” accounts for more that 77% of all Web searches in South Korea and that Google handles a mere 1.7% of South Korean Web searches. 

According to one source quoted in the article “the big problem with Google is that it does not have enough Korean-language data to trawl to satisfy South Korean customers.” It also states that to be successful in South Korea a search engine needs to create it own databases and content.

Reading more about Naver it seems to me like a cross between a Wiki and an online reference service.  With over 16 million visitors per day Naver relies on tens of thousands of volunteer respondents to answer questions and post responses. From these volunteers Naver has accumulated a user-generated database of over 70 million entries.

According to the article Naver.com feeds a sense of community and its success has largely been fueled by a South Korean inclination to help one another on the Web. 

I found the entire article fascinating and a great model for libraries to follow to further build a sense of community among the patrons that they serve.

On a local basis who knows more about a community then its members? What better place then the library to act as a community information portal?   Taking a lead from the Naver model all libraries should consider adding a local knowledge Wiki as a component of their service offerings. A local Wiki would provide libraries with a great way to connect their users and share knowledge. Wikis are also a great way to capture community content that may not otherwise be available on the internet.  They are also a great way to build communities. 

I was fortunate enough to attend ALA’s 2007 Annual Conference in Washington D.C. last week as a student volunteer. If you have never been to an ALA conference, as future librarians, you should definitely consider joining ALA and attend at least one conference in your career. It is a great way to stay current, learn about new trends, and connect with other librarians.  The best way to describe the conference is overwhelming.

When you register you are given two catalogues. One is a 222 page program guide that provides an overview of the conference, tips on getting around the host city as well as a detailed listing of all of the information sections on a day by day basis. The second book is a 136 page exhibit guide which provides a listing of all the authors speaking at the conference, a section on new library related products being demonstrated at the show and a map and a detailed exhibitor listing. 

These are not the only items in the conference bag you receive when you register. Also included are a ton of flyers and a few smaller guides that summarize the larger catalog;   including one titled “Into the Stacks: the Official Easy-to-Use Guide to the Exhibits”, that was published by ALA and co-sponsored by American Libraries Magazine. This book should not be confused with the other exhibit guide, which I assume is un-official, given that they were being handed-out on the street outside of the convention center. Both are very similar in size and content, however, this guide is published by Library Journal magazine a Reed Elsevier company publication.  

While at the conference I was able to attend several programs on a variety of different topics. There are programs on just about every area of librarianship and virtually ever library related topic you can think of. Given the focus of out class I was particularly interested in the use of technology in libraries.  One of my key take aways from the conference is that librarians a keenly interested in learning how integrate technologies into their libraries. 

Social networking technologies are HOT, and a major topic of discussion at this years conference. This point was driven home when I attended a program sponsored by YALSA titled “Using Technology to Market to Young Adults” the key speaker was our very own Michael Stephens. The program began at 8:30am on Sunday morning and was standing room only, counting the chairs and doing a little math I would estimate that there were over 400 people in the audience.  At the same time as this section was another program underway titled “10 Cool Technologies that Can Impact the Public Relations Plan @ Your Library”. This program featured Steven Abram and he talked about library 2.0 technologies.  I would highly recommend taking a look at his programs notes which are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/prforum/prforum.htm.

A program titled “Harnessing the Hive: Social Networks in Libraries” that discussed the rapidly growing phenomenon of social networking technologies. See http://www.hiddenpeanuts.com/archives/2007/06/24/ala-2007-harnessing-the-hive-social-networks-libraries/  for a summary of the program. I was also able to attend a portion of the program titled “To iPods & Beyond” where I learned about Pandora  and MOG  for more info see: the Yalsa blog for more information: http://blogs.ala.org/yalsa.php?title=toipodsandbeyond_1&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

These are just a few of the very interesting and informative programs that were offered at the conference.  There were also programs on Tagging, blogging, Video Games as a Service, and the Top Technology Trends (a podcast is available on the LITA blog:  http://litablog.org/category/top-technology-trends/.

Technology is here to stay. As one speaker at the conference pointed out there are more libraries in the USA then there are McDonald. Although there are some great examples of social software technologies be used in libraries across the country it would seem to me that there is a tremendous opportunities for more libraries to adopt and integrate these technologies as a way to better market their services and better serve their patrons.  I would encourage all librarians to learn more about these technologies and not be afraid to bring innovation into your library, you patrons will appreciate it.