LEARNING ABOUT LEARNING 2.

0: EVALUATING THE NEW SOUTH

WALES PUBLIC LIBRARY LEARNING 2.0 PROGRAM

Ellen Forsyth, Mylee Joseph and Leanne Perry

Ellen Forsyth, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney 2000. E-mail:
eforsyth@sl.nsw.gov.au. Mylee Joseph, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
2000. E-mail: mjoseph@sl.nsw.gov.au. Leanne Perry, State Library of New South
Wales, Sydney 2000. E-mail: lperry@sl.nsw.gov.au.

Presented at Research Applications in Information and Library Studies

Conference 5 (RAILS5) University of Technology, Sydney 23 January, 2009.

Abstract
The New South Wales Learning 2.0 training program was made available to
the entire public library work force of over 2300 people in 2008 - 2009. This
paper is a snapshot of the impact the Learning 2.0 course at September 2008,
five months after the course was launched. The paper explores how the
training has impacted on the level of skill, knowledge, and confidence relating
to web 2.0 tools.

Aim

The aim of this evaluation of the New South Wales public library Learning 2.0
program is to measure the impact of self paced web 2.0 training on individuals
working in New South Wales (NSW) public libraries. In this paper the focus is
on how the training has impacted on the level of skill, knowledge, and
confidence relating to web 2.0 tools.

Background to the Learning 2.0 Program

2,344 staff are employed in 363 local government public libraries and on
board 22 mobile libraries throughout New South Wales1. From discussions
and anecdotal evidence, it became apparent to Public Library Services staff at
the State Library that a significant proportion of public library staff did not
possess the knowledge or technical skills required to fully participate in the
rapidly changing library service environment, including engagement with web
2.0 technologies, which is emerging to meet changing client expectations in
an increasingly interactive online environment.

The New South Wales public library Learning 2.0 program (Learning 2.0)2 is
an online self-paced training program to allow public library staff across New
South Wales to learn more about emerging technologies on the web. The
program was written by Ellen Forsyth and Mylee Joseph. They work in the
Public Library Services branch at the State Library of New South Wales. This
team is responsible for promotion and development of public library services
in New South Wales. The course was based on Learning 2.0 programs from
Orange County Library System in Florida3 and King County Library System in
Washington4. Learning 2.0 is a twelve week online self-discovery training

1
program designed to encourage library staff to explore new web-based
technologies like blogs, wikis and podcasts. Each week there is a module to
work through which introduces participants to new web 2.0 tools. There will
often be a video to explain the tool, participants will see examples of good
practice library and museum implementations, and there will be an exercise to
try tools for themselves. The course included setting up a blog, exploring
Flickr, tagging and Creative Commons; RSS and RSS aggregators, Wikipedia
and other wikis; online video including Youtube and Google video,
folksonomies, delicious and LibraryThing, answer boards, social searching,
podcasts and audio, mashups, online applications and social networks.

Each participant maintains a learning blog where they write about what they
have discovered each week. Participants are encouraged to comment on
each others blogs. The original program was designed by Helene Blowers for
the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County5. It has a creative
commons licence which has allowed other programs to be developed,
including the programs at Orange County Library System in Florida6 and King
County Library System in Washington and the State Library of New South
Wales. The training program is completely built on web 2.0 technologies that
are freely available on the Internet. These sites include: Blogger, Flickr,
YouTube, PBWiki & Bloglines.

The New South Wales public library Learning 2.0 program was publicised
extensively through e-mail and meetings. All public library staff were
encouraged to participate. It was presented as a course in which everyone
could participate. There were no barriers to participation from the State
Library. Barriers to participation occurred due to local council policies on
access to some sites (particularly YouTube and online e-mail), speed of
connections (broadband is not everywhere) and the level of interest of
participants.

Course material is accessed via the internet allowing staff in rural and regional
centres equal access to the program. As there is no prior knowledge
required, staff with any skill level can participate. The program is self paced,
allowing flexibility as to when and where it is undertaken, and how long a
person takes to complete the course. The program is built using the same
web 2.0 tools included in the course. It is published by the State Library of
New South Wales with a Creative Commons licence allowing it to be easily
shared with other agencies.

Background on the learning 2.0 evaluation – what is happening

elsewhere
While there are more than 250 individual “23 things” or “Learning 2.0”
programs7 either completed or currently underway in almost 500 participating
libraries worldwide, there is limited information available around the evaluation
and outcomes of these programs. Where information is available it is clear
that the evaluation of the success of programs has been largely measured via
numbers of completions and feedback received via participants through blog
entries.

2
Some programs have actively sought feedback via surveys at the end of the
program, typically an online evaluation in the last week of the program for
example the Minnesota Multitypes “23 Things on a Stick program”. 8 Generally
surveys have focussed on the participant assessment of the program,
including reactions to the program, both initially and at the end of the program,
favourite and least favourite parts of the program, what was most challenging
about the program, possible improvements for the program and ways web 2.0
applications could be used in the participant’s library service.

Recently there has been a move to establish clear evidence of the impact of
the Learning 2.0 programs on library services. Helene Blowers, the designer
of the original Learning 2.0 program, 23 things9 has initiated a survey for
Learning 2.0 program co-ordinators. The survey seeks to evaluate how
successful the program has been on a global level and what are the key
factors for success including issues such as organisational support and
incentives. The survey also attempts to measure some of the broad impacts
of the program rather than just the program itself, by including questions on
the outcomes for staff and the development of new services as a result of the
program. Blowers’ survey of more than 700 course coordinators around the
world was released in August 200810 and the survey results were released in
July 2009.11 This was a very high level survey which mainly asked about
motivation for participation, openness of participation, use of incentives and
management support

The NSW Public Library Services Learning 2.0 evaluation included a range of
strategies which sought to measure both satisfaction of participants with the
program and the impact of the program on knowledge and use of web 2.0
tools at an individual and library service level. As with other Learning 2.0
evaluations feedback received via program and participant blogs were a key
source of information for evaluating the success of the program. However,
unlike most other evaluations we undertook to measure the change in skill
level of participants in web 2.0 technologies over the course of the program
and at nine month post program completion. Although Mayo Clinic Libraries
Learning 2.0 program have also undertaken some evaluation of the impact of
their program on individual participants skill levels there is little evidence that
this level of evaluation has been undertaken in a public library Learning 2.0
program context.12

Research methodology
There are six components to the research methodology
Completion rates
Progress of participants through the program was monitored and recorded by
the project team leaders. This information included the number of people
starting, the number who reached mid point and the number who completed.

Self assessment of skills and knowledge

Each participant completed an anonymous self assessment survey at the
beginning of the training program. These were deliberately anonymous as it
was important for people to be able to answer honestly. The survey was
designed to give a realistic snapshot of participant skills and understanding. It

3
was considered more important to have a state wide overview rather than
tracking changes to individuals.

Mid point survey

The mid point survey was included in the activities for week six to check how
participants were managing online learning. The survey was designed to
identify issues with the program and online learning, what was working and
what wasn’t. It was also designed to find if the current level of support being
provided was effective.

Completion survey
The survey, at the end of the program, repeated the questions from the mid
point survey and the self assessment. The purpose of this survey was to
identify the changes in participant’s perceptions of their skills and knowledge
of web 2.0 tools, and to comment on the content of, and support for, the
program. This survey may be skewed by the high achievers completing and
others falling by the wayside and not completing the survey.

Nine month post completion survey

A nine month completion survey will be undertaken with all participants who
complete the program. This survey will explore the longer impact of the
Learning 2.0 program on library services. The survey will include looking at
the tools people are using in their libraries, what policies have changed and
how skill levels have been maintained or enhanced. This survey was
undertaken in March and the results are being analysed.

Feedback on blogs
The program was designed to elicit comments and feedback on both the
process and progress of learning about web 2.0 tools. All participants were
required to establish a learning diary blog which was publicly visible, linked to
the course blog roll but did not disclose their identity or library. The progress
of individuals was monitored by comments and feedback posted on their
learning blogs, and comments posted on the administrators blog.

Evaluation results

1. Program participants, progress and completion rates

More than 10% of the public library workforce in New South Wales have
successfully completed the program to date. While this is reasonable, initial
expectations of completion rates were much higher. Over one third of the
New South Wales public library workforce started this program. This was the
largest number of people to ever to participate in training provided by the
State Library. A snapshot of the variety of roles is useful in assessing
participation across the profile of the NSW public library workforce.

Table 1 Role of people undertaking the program

Roles No. enrolled

Library Manager 52
Team leader / coordinator 91

4
Branch librarian / Branch 96
library officer
Specialist [eg. children's, 176
reference, local studies
etc.]
Customer service officer 17
Mobile library driver 4
Library officer / technician 165
Library assistant 240
Other 76
Total 917

The following table shows the numbers of people undertaking the program, by
type of public library at the start, midpoint and completion of the program.

Table 2 Completion rates

Start Mid point Completion

Branch Library 331 107 87
Central Library 446 149 110
Regional headquarters 67 29 18
Mobile library 6 4 2
Joint use library 7 1 3
Other 36 6 6
Total 893 296 226
Note the different totals in the tables are because not everyone chose to
provide information about the kind of library they work in.

The mix of library workplaces was useful in assessing the accessibility of the
course and any barriers to participation and completion. The results indicated
that staff working at a branch library were just as likely to complete the course
as those working in central and headquarters locations, ie. there were no
relevant geographical barriers and staff at branch locations were equally self
motivated to complete the course. This is useful information for planning
future professional development activities for the NSW public library network.

2. Self assessment of skills and knowledge

The self assessment undertaken by participants at the mid point and

completion of the program provides a clear indication of an increase in
participant skill and knowledge level of the web 2.0 tools. As illustrated in
Tables 3 and 4, a clear shift in skill level was indicated in all web 2.0 tools.
The shift followed a consistent pattern of moving up one stage in terms of the
majority of participants’ skill levels. In all cases where the majority of
participants indicated that they were unfamiliar with a web 2.0 tool prior to the
commencement of the course the majority of participants moved to the new
user skill and knowledge levels. Similarly where the majority of participants
indicated that they were new users prior to the commencement of the course
at the completion of the course the majority of these participants had moved

5
up one level to user skill and knowledge levels. By the completion of the
course at least 82% of participants indicated they were at new user level or
above for all web 2.0 tools.

Table 3.Self assessment prior to commencing the Learning 2.0 program

100%
90%
80%
70%
60% Power User
User
50%
New User
40% Unfamiliar
30%
20%
10%
0%
Online video
software [eg.
Tagging [eg.
Collaboration

Digital online
networking

messaging
organizer

pictures [eg.

Internet
boards [eg.
Podcasts

Mashups
Wikis and
Wikipedia
project
Online

RSS
Blogs

del.icio.us,

safety
Graphic

music [eg.

Answer
Instant
Social
and

Digital
[eg.

Table 4. Self assessment at completion of the Library 2.0 program

100%
90%
80%
70%
Power User
60%
User
50%
New User
40%
Unfamiliar
30%
20%
10%
0%
RSS

Internet
Blogs

project

Online video
Online

organizer

Podcasts

Mashups
networking

messaging
Tagging [eg.

Wikis and
Wikipedia
software [eg.

boards [eg.
Collaboration

Digital online

safety
pictures [eg.
Graphic
del.icio.us,

music [eg.

Answer
Instant
Social
and

Digital
[eg.

3. Midpoint survey and completion survey comparisons

6
a. Program experience and satisfaction
The midpoint and completion surveys were designed to identify issues and
outcomes with the program and online learning more generally; what was
working and what wasn’t. Overall, issues and motivation appeared to be
similar at the midpoint and completion of the program. At both stages
participants identified a high level of agreement that the format of the
program, a mix of video and text and the capacity to schedule their own
learning were important motivators to their learning.

The midpoint and completion survey also highlighted the importance of

interactivity in the program, including the critical importance of State Library
staff commenting on the public participants’ blogs. People wanted to know
they were writing for a reader rather than writing on a blog that no one was
reading; this remained constant throughout the program

There was one significant difference identified at the midpoint of the program
and at the end of the program. At the midpoint of the program the areas of
most concern for participants was finding the time to complete the program.
More than 54% of participants agreeing or strongly agreeing that finding 15
minutes a day was their biggest challenge. Interestingly only 38% of
participants who completed the program indicated that they agreed or strongly
agreed that finding 15 minutes a day was the biggest challenge. This
apparent decrease is not surprising considering that participants who
completed the final survey were generally earlier finishers of the program and
did not appear to have significant issues with the time required to participate
in the program.

b. Levels of support for the program participants

The level of satisfaction with support provided throughout the program
remained constant. Participants particularly valued the support from the
State Library both in terms of responding to inquiries and providing updates. It
appeared that the preferred context for learning was a local issue. There was
no clear evidence to support the idea of learning in groups or pairs or as
individuals was the most appropriate context for learning with participants
fairly evenly split between agreeing and not agreeing that it would be easier to
work with others. However there was a strong indication that colleague
support was important with more than 60% agreeing or strongly agreeing that
work colleagues were their main source of support.

7
Table 5. Midpoint survey: program support

M idp o in t su rvey: p rog ram su pp o rt

10 0%
90%
80%
Level of Agreement

70% Stro ngly agree

60% Agree
50%
40% Disagree
30% Stro ngly disagree
20%
10%
0% I have contacted the State

The State Library support

contact the State Library if I

My work colleagues are my

It would be easier to work

source of information while

with someone else or in a

responsive and timely.

main source of support for

need help or support with

Library for support and

help with the program

group when doing the

I am aware that I can

Learning 2.0 weekly

Learning 2.0 course
the Public Libraries

updates are a useful

for the course is

The Public Library

doing the course.

the course

course
Typ e o f su p p o rt

Table 6. Completion survey: program support

C o mp letion survey-prog ram support

100%
90%
80%
Level of agreement

70% S trongly agreee

60% A gree
50%
40% Dis agree
30% S trongly dis agree
20%
10%
0%
I have contacted the State
the Public Libraries Learning

The Public Library Learning

Library for help or support
contact the State Library if I

The State Library support for

needed help or support with

useful source of information

My work colleagues were my

work with someone else or in

the course was responsive

2.0 weekly updates were a

It would have been easier to

main source of support for
I was aware that I could

while doing the course.

a group when doing the

with the course
2.0 course

and timely.

the course

course

Type of support

c. Application of Web 2.0 tools

The midpoint and completion surveys also explored how participants thought
they may use the knowledge and skills they had gained through participation
in the program. This data will be used as a basis for comparison with the data
collected in the 9 month post completion survey to explore how intentions
following the course are translated into real library services and programs.
This analysis will be published at a later date.

Again responses were fairly consistent across the midpoint and completions
survey with almost 90% of participants indicating they could see applications
for web 2.0 tools in their work area. As participants progressed from the
midpoint of the program there was an increase in the percentage of

8
participants who had actually implemented web 2.0 tools. There was also a
high level of agreement that participants would continue to use web 2.0 tools
within their work at both the mid and completion point of the program.

Table 5. Midpoint survey –web 2.0 applications

Midp oint survey-w eb 2.0 application

100%
90%
80%
70%
Level of agreement

S trongly agree
60%
A gree
50%
Dis agree
40%
S trongly disagree
30%
20%
10%
0%
I have already
applications

work once the

for Web 2.0

web 2.0 tools

tools in my

implemented

I am likely to

use Web 2.0

work area

result of this
in my work
I can see

continue to

tools in my

program is
complete
area asa

course

Applica tion

Table 6. Completion survey –web 2.0 applications

Completion survey: web 2.0 applications

100%
90%
Level of agreement

80%
70% Strongly agree
60% Agree
50%
40% Disgaree
30% Strongly disgaree
20%
10%
0%
I have already implemented

I am likely to continue to use

online training opportunities in

I can see applications for
Web 2.0 tools in my work

Web 2.0 tools in my work

web 2.0 tools in my work

I would like to have more

area as a result of this
course

the future
area

Web 2.0 applications

9
Qualitative comments from the mid point and completion surveys
Comments from both the mid point and final surveys for the course indicate
that there was a broad range of experiences for participants. Some really
enjoyed the online learning and being able to work at their own pace, some
wanted learning communities structured for them while others structured their
own online learning community. For some the course was clear and easy to
follow, while others wanted more step by step instructions. There was little
consistent pattern about what would help people with their learning
experience.

In the mid point survey 42.6% of the comments were positive or very positive
about the course and about what people were learning.

Examples of these comments are:

The course is excellent as it is available 24/7 online

I am really enjoying the Learning 2.0

57.4% of the comments were about problems experienced while working on

the course. The problems mentioned focused on technology infrastructure
and policies as well as the time available to do the course. Comments include
It’s just hard to find the time to do it, working part time, plus finding a pc
that hasn’t blocked YouTube and other sites!

Unfortunately my branch computer isn’t fast enough to run the

applications.

In the end point survey 17% of the comments were negative or neutral, which
was a significant decrease from the mid point survey. The comments were
mostly about the time required to do the course, technology infrastructure and
policies and support within the work place. Comments from this section
included:
I think the target 15 minutes a day was too ambitious for most library
staff members, especially when one has so many other duties to
perform. This is especially so for part-time staff and casuals.

The training explained concepts well but was lacking when it came to
providing examples of how to.

75.4% of the comments were very positive. The other 7.6 comments were
postive, These included
this is a life changing course. I’m so glad I did it.

Your support and response made me complete the course in the time
frame successfully.

Thank you for this great opportunity

10
In the completion survey there was an additional question asking for “any
other comments or suggestions about the Public Library Leaning 2.0 course”.
Of these comments 27.2% would have liked more help from the State Library,
more detailed instructions or more support (or help) within their workplace.
It would have been more ‘fun’ and less stressful to have been able to
work in groups.

At times I think some of the content was a little confusing and it needed
to be explained more clearly.

72.8% were very positive with people writing about their enjoyment of the
course and about what they had learned. These comments sometimes
showed a low level of support in the work place, but that these individuals
were focused on completing the course regardless of this.
A thrilling experience. Looking forward to more courses in future

It was an excellent program; please offer more online training like this!

This was a brilliant way to learn to so that all people could be involved.
I enjoyed being able to do my course from home as I am only a part
time worker. It is great to be able to work at your own pace yet have
the support of your fellow staff and the State Library if you need help.

Feedback on blogs
Comments on blogs
Comments on the course blog were moderated as a way of protecting against
nuisance or offensive comments. All the comments were published as there
was no spam, no offensive language and no one being overtly critical of their
organisation or their peers. The comments were made using the names under
which people were blogging.

The online learning community developed with active participation from staff
at the State Library. This was mainly through comments on blogs, replies to
e-mails and telephone assistance. The participants were also helping each
other, some being very active in providing help even when they had finished
the program themselves.

Comments and feedback within blog postings provided insight into

participants’ experiences, issues and skill level. A comparison of two
participant blog entries is an example of this (see Appendix 1). The level of
skill and confidence of participants commencing the course varied widely.
Many participants used their learning diary blogs to express their lack of
confidence and excitement about commencing the course and their
frustrations when exercises proved more challenging or time was short.

References to learning new skills at the mid or late points in their career were
common amongst participants, many of whom worked in isolation and may
not have any formal library qualifications. In other cases, participants had a
high level of skill and confidence using the technology and expressed interest

11
in the course and library applications of tools to which they had already been
exposed. The structure of the course guided these individuals through
examples of best practice and the learning diary provided a forum to express
their own preferences, opinions and additional discoveries.

The use of learning diary blogs was designed to encourage participants to

demonstrate their learning and experiment with the web 2.0 tools. However,
an unexpected outcome was the level that participants reflected and analysed
the way they were learning. This course was the first time, in a program
offered to the public library network, that a learning diary has been used by
participants to reflect on their learning in a structured and public way. This is
useful information in planning future self paced professional development
programs for the public library network.

There were a few instances during the course where other participants
received comments on their postings from other agencies, for example staff
from Zoho Docs, an online applications site, commented on a posting about
difficulties using Zoho products13 and a staff member from the Powerhouse
Museum provided helpful information via a blog comment when a course
participant had written about difficulties they were having viewing a
Powerhouse Museum blog14. This startled participants as the public nature
and interactive communication possible with blogs was new for many. Some
participants had not realised how easily the information they were writing on
their blogs was to track.

Lessons learned
The most significant lesson that was learned is that tracking individual
progress rather than simply tracking group progress would have provided
clearer insights into the issues and motivators within the program. It would
have been helpful to know how the completion rates for different types of
positions compared and contrasted. We can do this kind of analysis by type
of library being worked in (central library, branch library and so on) but not by
library assistant, librarian or other position type. It would have also been
helpful to know the ages of the people starting and completing the program, to
identify any correlation between age and progress through the program. It
would have informed us about completion rates based on age and whether or
not this has an impact (which is what the authors would assume) or not.

Longer term evaluation of the impact on library services

A nine and eighteen month post completion survey are planned to gain an
understanding of the longer term impacts of the learning 2.0 program. The
post completion surveys will explore how or if, skills with web 2.0 tools have
been maintained; what web 2.0 tools are now being used or are planned for
use in public libraries and how the effectiveness of the tools are being
evaluated. The surveys will also explore how public libraries are delivering
services to their clients using the tools, as well as how processes within the
library may have changed because of these tools. The post completion
surveys will identify outcomes from a library managers’ and course
participants’ perspective.

12
Some early outcomes
It is anticipated that a similar online format can be used by the State Library of
NSW to extend existing consultation, specialist support and other professional
development opportunities across the public library network in NSW.

Since the training has been implemented there have been a number of job
advertisements requiring the skill set or specifically completion of the Learning
2.0 course. Some library staff are editing their communities’ entries on
Wikipedia, and one course participant used LiveJournal (a blogging tool) to
report on an international conference they attended. Various other web 2.0
tools have been used by New South Wales public library staff. A number of
library working groups have established wikis to share and publish information
about their specialist area. Google docs is being used widely and frequently
by members of the public library network to develop collaborative documents,
resolve network wide strategic issues and undertake planning across a
geographically dispersed group of libraries.

At the time of writing it was too early in the research identify long term
outcomes and trends. The post completion survey will provide more detail on
initiatives and ongoing development of skill levels following the completion of
the program.

Conclusions and implications for the profession

The evaluation of the Learning 2.0 program highlighted the need for public
library staff to continue to develop and maintain a skill set which is relevant
and useful in a continually changing context.

In many ways the basic skill set for libraries and the library profession remains
the same; however the range of tools used continues to expand. Public library
staff need to keep informed and active in areas of new developments so that
they know when they need to develop a new skill and when they need to learn
a new tool but use existing skills.

The self assessment surveys at the beginning and the end of the course
demonstrated that there was generally a lack of awareness and
understanding of web 2.0 tools in NSW public libraries. The need to be alert
and aware of developments15 with implications for libraries was highlighted as
many library staff were introduced to tools that their clients had been using for
a while.

During the program, issues related to continuous learning and learning to

learn were also raised as some people struggled with the online training
format while others enjoyed this style. This highlighted learning style issues
for online, self directed training. Web 2.0 technologies provide an opportunity
to present training in an online environment which caters to a variety of
learning styles and preferences. Tools such as Flickr, Slideshare.net and
YouTube mean that increasingly we are able to create learning programs

13
online that are closer to those available in a face to face context. Further
analysis would be required to gain a better understanding of the barriers
relating to online learning and completion.

Twelve months on from the original completion date of the course,

participants continue to work through activities, many continue to complete
the course and new participants enrol in the course weekly. While this has
implications for maintaining the course and supporting participants it is strong
evidence that the self-paced nature of the course continues to be relevant for
the target audience. It is acknowledged that a significant proportion of
participants do not complete every activity. However, anecdotally, the
awareness of web 2.0 tools across the network appears to be heightened. It
is anticipated that the later follow up surveys will provide more data to support
this finding.

The focus of this evaluation was to elicit data on what was useful within the
course and what outcomes were achieved by individuals who completed the
course. Participants who did not complete the course have not been
interrogated to discover the reasons they dropped out of the program.
However it is likely that the key issues for public libraries include learning
styles and preferences with issues such as individual motivation, time,
organisational support for training and development, capacity for the
organisation to adapt to an online training environment and commitment to life
long learning needing resolution before successful online training can be
implemented. The Learning 2.0 course demonstrated that public library staff
in remote and regional areas could participate as easily in professional
training programs as libraries in metropolitan areas as geography is a less
relevant factor in terms of access to online training programs.

Factors such as bandwidth, filtering software and firewalls replaced

geographic isolation as key factors influencing the capacity of library staff to
participate in training and skills development. Although most public libraries
have broadband access there were issues of connectivity speed for course
participants. Some people were unable to complete the course at home
because broadband access is not available in all rural communities. Some
councils blocked many of the sites used for the course, often including blanket
bans on Youtube access. Other councils blocked access to web based e-mail
and other sites including those for blogging software and online productivity
tools such as Google docs. These issues made it very hard for some people
to participate as they did not have access to key tools required or their
connectivity was frustratingly slow. Some people were able to develop
solutions for these barriers, but for others it was too hard.

Information gained through the evaluation of the Learning 2.0 course

highlighted the need for libraries and library staff to be flexible if they are to
remain relevant. The popularity and usage of web 2.0 tools explored in the
Learning 2.0 program will change in relatively short timeframes. The Learning
2.0 program was designed to provide libraries with a framework for continuing
to develop knowledge and awareness of changing trends in the way our
clients access information rather than be the definitive tool for libraries in web

14
2.0 technologies. To remain relevant, libraries and library staff will have to
keep learning, adapting and changing as services, policies and procedures
need to keep pace with the new technologies. Organisations will need to
engage proactively with change rather than ignoring it. The Learning 2.0
training highlighted these issues for participants and has- implications for their
councils who will need to be similarly prepared with social media policies and
changes to ICT policies.

The importance of a global perspective in learning was also highlighted during

the course. It was possible for people in New South Wales to see good
practice in the use of web 2.0 tools across NSW and around the world. Some
participants received comments and feedback on their blogs from people
outside the New South Wales public library network which enhanced their
learning experience and emphasised the capacity of web 2.0 tools to provide
a global learning context.

The New South Wales public library Learning 2.0 program facilitated public
library staff acquiring new skills in using blogs, wikis, online file sharing,
podcasting and rss feeds. It is also clear that online training is an effective
mechanism for more general state wide professional development.

There are examples of new services and activities implemented in NSW

public libraries as a direct result of learning these new skills including library
use of Flickr, blogs, social networking tools and twitter. Library staff can
provide direct assistance to library clients using these tools with these new
skills. Further research and evaluation is required to ascertain how these
skills and knowledge have been translated into ongoing services for, and
collaborations with, public library clients. Future evaluation should also
explore how people are maintaining and developing their web 2.0 skills as
these tools evolve and develop. These points will be addressed in the next
phase of evaluation of the Learning 2.0 program which will seek to find out
how people are using and maintaining their skills nine months after they
completed the course.

15
Web 2.0 tool Participant A – librarian, solo operator, country
library, nearing retirement
I feel that this is an historic moment - the very first blog
blogs posting of an IT nitwit. I'm not sure whether to thank the State
Library's Web.2 training programme or not .... No, seriously,
thank you (or should that be thanx?) for clear instructions that
even I could follow. ... I suspect first and foremost doing
(attempting?) the course involves for me satisfying personal
curiosity and confronting a challenge - after all I'm someone
who doesn't own a mobile phone and has never played a
CD!!!... Without ever having actually seen a blog before I had
a preconceived attitude based on the personal blog concept
which to me is narcissism gone mad. But now I recognize
that a blog as an online forum or discussion zone like the
Alternative Teen Services example or regular information
service like the Southern Tablelands History Matters site has
considerable professional potential.
Good luck to anyone else who is finding this exercise 'sticky' -
flickr the local CTC manager had never uploaded from Flickr so
there wasn't much help available!
I must confess that when I read of some of the problems
rss people had with RSS feeds I put Week 4 in the 'too hard'
basket and moved on to Week 5 and wikis. I hope to come
back to Week 4 later ...
(Returned to the rss feeds activities weeks later and
successfully completed them.)
Participant B – librarian, experienced senior team
member, metropolitan library, mid career
Like the format of the course. Simple, easy to follow,
interesting. I thought the blog examples provided were very
useful. Loved the blog for the WW1 soldier with posts
matching the dates of his letters from the front. What a great
idea! Blogs could be huuuuuge for local studies....
I'm a bit concerned about the privacy issue. I am now
checking all the permissions pages on these accounts that
I'm setting up, i.e. Google (for Blogger), Yahoo (for Flickr).
Caveat emptor I suppose. The ramifications of the privacy
issue on these types of websites and its relation to identity
theft is covered in an article in MASHUP, With online friends
like these and In your Facebook
Tried bloglines. OK site. I've been using IE7 for my feeds but
having them available anywhere thru a web based account is
better than only having them available at one desktop or
having to set them up on every desktop or laptop that I use.
16
 I can see that wikis are a very democratic form of information
wikis sharing and in line with current social attitudes of equality of
rights, freedom of expression, etc, etc. And I must confess
that despite my reservations as to the quality of the
information I do use Wikipedia as an information source to
answer client enquiries.... I commend the two video tutorials
too - particularly the Wikis in Plain English may be very basic
but that is just what an IT Nitwit needs!
If you want to collaborate (with the public or colleagues or
both), then a wiki looks like the way to go. If you want to do it
cheaply, then a wiki is also the way to go. Website
management software is not cheap. If you want to do it and
bypass your Council IT people, then a wikispace could also
be the way to go.

My, my, an IT Nitwit pasting a YouTube video in a blog!!!!!!!! I must admit, I do love YouTube.
Youtube Thank goodness for a helpful CTC assistant who said Don't
click on Insert Video but Do click on Edit HTML. Which (several examples embedded successfully)
seems Irish to me but it worked! (example embedded
successfully)
Putting in "Mosman Library" brought up nothing on YouTube
and a series of "{Media personality or author} at Mosman
Library" videos of 40 mins to 1 hour duration on Google. (Too
long for YouTube.) In theory these videos would be a very
attractve addition to a blogged Library Newsletter.

I think that social bookmarking such as del.icio.us offers I love del.icio.us.

Tagging could be a great resource for libraries and their clients. As the
delicious "Social Bookmarking in Plain English" video says adding to a
Favourites list soon makes that so large as to be unusable
whereas the grouping/bundling of the tags is a logical and All the bookmarks that I want to use everywhere are now in
easy way of managing links to multiple sites. The fact that the one place categorized in the way that I think. Simple and
bookmarks are public means that a del.icio.us account easy to use.
becomes an online virtual-world equivalent to the old subject
card catalogue. Library members can access a range of sites
which come with the library's implicit recommendation as a
reliable site sorted according to broad subject labels.

17
 My reaction to LibraryThing is that it is amazing, a cross
Librarything between Libraries Australia and an infinitely large reading
club. But I get this picture of people sitting in front of a
computer screen typing away instead of actually reading
books -surely you would need a lot of time to do both .... On
the other hand, the reader assistance potential is huge. I
think I will alert library patrons to its existence through the
Library Lines column and leave them to to pursue it if they
wish.... I also wrote up LibraryThing in last week's Library
Lines column in the local newspaper.
"Slamming the boards" certainly showcases the quality of
Answerboards library reference services - the quality of the answers stood
out like a beacon and no wonder they regularly received 'best
answer' accolades - much more detailed, referenced, with
referrals to further information sources whereas many of the
other answers were only a sentence based on the
respondent's 'knowledge'. The little asides like "your library is
a great resource for all" and (my favourite) "we {i.e. librarians}
eat questions for breakfast" are a good marketing ploy in
reminding viewers of the existence and relevance to them of
libraries.
However I won't be out 'slamming the boards' because I
simply don't have time - need to answer local reference
questions first.
It seemed to me that apart from a general resource in
Podcasts reference work (equal in value to any other information
source) and library news/marketing contexts, podcasts have
two main uses:
Checked out the Kingston Library site (Thanks Bambino for
the tip). Integrated LibraryThing into the catalogue. Neat. Tag
clouds, lists of similar works from LibraryThing, etc. can't wait
to get it into our catalogue.
Even created my own LibraryThing account. I'm getting a bit
attached to it, adding a few items each day. It's strange
looking at the things that I read grouped on a computer
screen. On the bookshelves at home they are part of the
furniture and I tend to take them for granted. Now that I'm
adding them to my LibraryThing account, I'm going over them
and starting to reread some.
Gee, I don't know about "slammin the boards". Sounds a bit
too try hard to me. A touch of the "let's sound like cool and
groovy librarians". Is it just me or do librarians trying to sound
cool always sound lame? I think I'd rather watch paint dry.
Could be OK for training I suppose, or if you haven't got a
life. Could be good if set up locally, or cooperatively. Ask a
Librarian type thing. I can't see my Council wanting me to
spend work time on Yahoo answers, as rivetting as that may
be.
I realise now that all the people with wires hanging out of
their heads are part of the advance force of the pod people.
The ABC and Library Success Wiki are merely instruments of
their grand design....... What? Oh. Sorry, I've been listening
18
 - summary information on resources (inhouse and to too many sci fi podcasts, I think.
Podcasts other)produced for single/narrow-interest users by a
cont... specialist library on a regular basis - weekly? monthly?. The Podcasts on the ABC are great. Love going back to them for
podcasts provided by the National Library of Medicine in the stuff that I've missed or just to find something interesting to
U.S. are akin to this - a weekly update by the Director listen to.... Obvious application for podcasts and vodcasts is
highlighting health issues and accompanying information local studies oral history projects and library events
from Medline Plus, lasting c.5 minutes. generally, e.g. author visits etc.
- book reviews and reader assistance. The example I liked
best was "Bookstacks Quick and Simple" from the Library I think we will need to get some training on using the video
Success Wiki. Very colourful site, well set-out with short book and audio equipment for them to look and sound
reviews (c.3 minutes), a new one posted each day but all professional. Unless we get a grant to do it.......
indexed and accessible by genre. There are also book talks
written by students which should appeal to the younger
brigade. It would not take too much time to podcast such a
review regularly within a library website, say three times a
week, and although not being able to see the book cover is a
disadvantage, it would require less input than a video (and
once you've seen the cover what else is there to show on a
videoed book review anyway!).
Mashups are fun! Being more creatorati than technorati Checked out the big huge labs stuff. It's OK. Reminds me a
Mashups downloading the photo was an issue but using the bit of Publisher style stuff. Created the billboard there. Got
Bighugelabs to create a poster was easy. A little more the photo from Flickr . Has possibilities for promotional stuff
flexibility in positioning the lettering would be nice .... Now, and fooling around with staff photos on the intranet. Free is
will I be able to download it to the blog .... For the techno- free, I suppose, but I still prefer some good software on my
savvy librarian running small-group courses in something like desktop rather than the web based stuff. And I don't mind
using mash-ups would be a very popular initiative, particularly paying for it if its good and it does what I want, especially if I
in school vacations -a useful service and also an effective can get it cheap on a computer magazine disc.
marketing strategy, demonstrating the library as relevant, up-
to-date and generally 'cool'. Even the CTC manager here had
never heard of mashups.

19
 This sort of document preparation or at least document
Online drafting would be effective meeting preparation, requiring
productivity participants to really think about the issues involved and
software (eg. come with thoughtful reactions to share. I would see
concurrent document editing and associated communication
Google docs)
explaining why changes were made.
Overall, I'm experimenting with these free productivity tools,
but they still have some way to go before they are really
compelling to use. Having said that, they certainly have some
potential to become compelling. In the workplace, I think the
security factor may work against them. Setting up similar file
sharing on an intranet using something like MS Sharepoint
may appeal more to the Council IT dept. For sharing non
sensitive and non confidential stuff, especially over many
sites using virtual teams, these tools will be fine.

I have looked at each of the examples of social networking in Social networking sites can certainly be useful for promotion
Social action and I can see that these institutions are using and any sort of communication, feedback, interaction,
networking MySpace etc to great effect. Their sites are eye-catching, engagement with customers. As long as, like any other
informative and provide lots of opportunities for members to strategy, you're sure about the objective that you want to
interact with the site which is so much the expectation of achieve by using it and you commit enough resources to do it
contemporary culture, or at least youth culture. well rather than doing it half arsed. Certainly myspace has
I was particularly interested with the local Government been used by libraries, especially US ones, to reach youth
Communities of Practice example which is much 'bigger' than segments.
libraries but could offer great potential for enhancing the
social fabric. The East Renfrewshire Council example was
also interesting because it was simpler and therefore more
accessible to me than some of the others, impressive though
they are. I could see something like it as being only just out of
reach of this library.
It could be just that I have been toiling over this course for
five hours today but the different applications - blogs, wikis,
social networks - are starting to merge together in my mind.
They all seem to involve networking in the sense of sharing
ideas and inviting interaction and where does one out-
perform another?

20
 I tried very hard to set up a news feed to this post. There are
In conclusion items showing up but I don't know whether it will
automatically update as I would have thought it should ..
Anyway I tried!! (the story of my involvement in this
course ..!!!)
Sources: “Pete’s Learning 2.0 Blog” and “Confessions of an IT nitwit”
Well, finished the course. Had a great time exploring this
stuff. Now participating in some LibraryThing discussions,
setting up another blog, fiddling with code in blog templates,
and other neat things.
(Added a wide variety of widgets to the learning diary blog,
continues to use the blog after the course was completed.)
21
22
1
New South Wales Public Library Statistics 2007/08 from Bibliostat
2
NSW Public Libraries Learning 2.0 http://nswpubliclibrarieslearning2.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 17 September 2008]
3
Orange County Library System, OCLS learn 2.0 http://oclsl20home.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 23 April 2009]
4
King County Library System, KCLS learning 2.0 http://kcls27things-list.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 23 April 2009]
5
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County,, Learning 2.0 http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/ [accessed 23
April 2009]
6
Orange County Library System, OCLS learn 2.0 http://oclsl20home.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 23 April 2009]
7
Blowers, Helene, Learning 2.0 Survey: Calling all program coodinators .. http://www.librarybytes.com/2008/08/learning-
20-survey-calling-all-program.html [Accessed 17 September 2008
8
Minnesota’s seven multicounty multitype library systems 23 Things on a stick
http://23thingsonastick.blogspot.com/2007/11/thing-23-final-thoughts_09.html
9
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County Learning 2.0 “23 things” program http://plcmcl2-
about.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 17 September 2008]
10
Blowers, H. Learning 2.0 Survey: Calling all program coodinators ... in Librarybytes blog 5 August 2008
http://www.librarybytes.com/2008/08/learning-20-survey-calling-all-program.html [Accessed 26 May 2009]
11
Blowers, Helene Learning 2.0: 23 Things Survey Findings http://www.slideshare.net/hblowers/learning-20-23-things-
survey-findings [accessed 9 July 2009]
12
Reflethsen, M. and Farrell A.Cross-Country Connections: Implementing Learning 2.0 in a Multistate Medical Library
System in Medical Library Association Annual Meeting and Exhibition 2008
http://www.mlanet.org/am/am2008/index.html [Accessed 26 May 2009]
13
Zoho http://www.zoho.com/ [Accessed 17 September 2008]
14
Powerhouse Museum Fresh + New(er) http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/ [Accessed 17 September 2008]
15
Schonfield, Erick Where are we in the hype cycle? Tech crunch 18 August 2008
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/18/where-are-we-in-the-hype-cycle/ [Accessed 3 April 2009]