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Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Book Review: Social Software in Libraries

Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication, and Community Online
By Meredith G. Farkas
2007

I follow Meredith's blog, Information Wants to Be Free and also her Twitter feed. She always has something interesting to say, and when I realized her book has been staring me in the face in my office all this time, I needed to read it.

Of course, a lot has changed in social software since this book was written. Facebook was not yet the beast it has become, and Google Plus didn't exist. I didn't find a mention of Twitter, either. You know what, though? This is still a useful book.

It covers relevant social software like wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking, IM, mobile access, and a whole host of other topics. Each section talks about what it is, and how libraries can use it. There are lots of real life examples throughout, too.

My favorite sections are on podcasts, screencasts, and vodcasts. I love the "practical considerations" portion of these chapters. Everything from file formats to file sizes and using a service vs. hosting the files yourself is covered.

I hope Meredith will write an updated edition to this book. I would buy it!

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