Every Drexel student is aware of our university’s long tradition when it comes to encouraging its students to become early adopters of new technology. For example, Drexel was the first university to require freshman to have their own personal computers in 1983. We were on the forefront of offering students email, wiring the campus with internet. Then we were the first to make wireless internet available campus-wide in 2000. During these great leaps forward, Drexel Libraries has kept pace. We dumped the card catalog for an online version, were among the first to move from a print to electronic journal collection and have supplied loaner laptop and email reference services for years. (Email us at qmlib@drexel.edu)
Nowadays with the “Web 2.0″ trend in full swing, the Library is keeping pace as well. As tech guru Tim OReilley describes Web 2.0, the web is in transition “from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users.” (1)
Drexel Libraries is moving towards Web 2.0 in several ways. First and foremost is the Library’s continued commitment to online resources. For example, in our book catalog you can now find tens of thousands of “electronic books” and online encyclopedias viewable in your browser anytime. Secondly through the magic of the “SFX” buttons, all of our hundreds of journal databases are linked so that abstract-only results found in one database can quickly lead to full-text in another database with just a few clicks. This also means that starting out in an interdisciplinary citation-only database such as Web of Science you can search the majority of the Library’s databases in one place – then click SFX for full text. For those who prefer Google Scholar, setting your “preferences” to “Drexel” inside Google Scholar gives much the same effect. Here again, instead of a collection of websites, the Library is pushing its electronic content in the direction of behaving like a single platform.
As far as serving web applications to end users, several thousand Drexel students already use the web-based citation-management service called “RefWorks” made available by the Library. After finding desirable articles in a Library database, students can just export their citations to their free personal RefWorks account that then generates a formatted bibliography right in the body of an MSWord document! (Search the Library website for the details.) From shaping your first research ideas to delivering a final product, the Library’s resources have in many ways become one interwoven workbench, all from within the browser.
A second way that O’Reilley describes Web 2.0 applications is that they harness the “collective intelligence” and “get better the more that people use them.” Drexel Librarians have jumped onto this trend also known as “social networking” in a few significant ways.
First, the Librarians now share an instant messaging account during business hours to help students on the AOL, Yahoo and MSN systems. We were motivated by a continued commitment to “being where our patrons are.” We also heard anecdotal comments in our lower level Arcadia Lounge that “email is for old people.” The more students add us to their buddy lists, and the more questions we get, and the closer Library services can be positioned to the actual point of need – where and when students are doing research on the web. YOU TOO can connect with a Drexel Librarian operating at twitch-speed by adding ” “drexellibraryref” to your IM buddies list. Students without IM accounts can see my contact info at the end of this article for a link to chatting online without any IM service.
The Library’s other social networking effort can be found in the blogs several Librarians maintain. While we continue to maintain our static research guide and tutorial webpages, now several Librarians also offer subject-specific blogs where new resources and tips are regularly shared. Once in a while we hear back from students who can respond to blog postings with their own comments. That sort of dialogue is what Web 2.0 is all about – and it is only getting better!
If all this Web 2.0 stuff still sounds far out and futuristic I encourage you to check it out in small doses through a friendly source you have always known – your Library! And if it still seems too far out after that – don’t worry. The Library still offers face-to-face research help from its many professional Librarians at the very familiar Reference Desk. Call, email or visit from 8:30AM to 10PM weekdays, and noon to 6PM Saturday and noon to 10PM Sundays. This one aspect of our service will never change – we will be delighted to help you!
Best regards,
Tim Siftar
Goodwin, Education & IST Librarian
Drexel Libraries
siftar@drexel.edu
AIM: siftar1
YahooIM: tsiftar
No IM? Google “Tim Siftar’s Personal Web Page” to IM from browser.
Blog: http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/goodwinresearch/
