Topics in Librarianship: Social Software Literacy Course and 'Top 25 Web 2.0 Search Engines'

Following up on our (Janie Herman and Robert Lackie) "The Latest and the Coolest--Technology Librarians Can Use" presentation and discussions at the Rutgers University MLIS Colloquium last night, I spoke with Assistant Professor Steve Garwood there about his upcoming course, "Topics in Librarianship: Social Software Literacy," starting this summer.

We are always trying to highlight what Web 2.0 enthusiasts and experts are doing to help teach librarians and other information professionals how they can take advantage of this "software and information/communication medium," and Steve's course certainly fits the bill!

Steve has graciously allowed us to link to his draft version of the syllabus, giving us an idea of what will be covered and leading us to some interesting reading resources and the required equipment/software.

I thought this information and resources might spur on those of us who are might be thinking of offering a similar course or a series of workshops on "how technology is used in society to communicate information, ideas, practices, thoughts, and opinions and how this creates new communities and learning environments," so I was glad that he was willing to share. Here are his objectives thus far:

* Identify and use popular social technologies for information collection, management, dissemination and collaboration.
* Discuss the historical and theoretical understanding of technologies of collaboration. * Demonstrate knowledge of the impact of technology on information services and instruction for diverse audiences.
* Explain what Web 2.0/Library 2.0 is – how it is different from the “regular” WWW, and why that shift is important to libraries & librarians;
* Generate ideas for the use of social software & programs at libraries and information agencies to improve services and to help staff work more effectively.

Sound interesting? Take a look at his entire draft syllabus here.

Also, one of his library school students emailed him very recently about the Web 2.0 topic that Steve and I think Library Garden readers will appreciate, too: The Online Education Databases' "Top 25 Web 2.0 Search Engines," published two days ago on their site. I really liked several of the mashup and Rich Internet Application Search Interfaces (RIAs) examples and descriptions, but visual search, social software, and audio/visual search examples are also provided.

Don't you just love how librarians and library school students are willing to share?! Enjoy!