The American Library Association has contracted the Information Institute of Syracuse to develop a white paper about recent developments in Web-based innovations and their relationship to, and potential for use in libraries.

“The brief will put an emphasis on interactive and social web applications such as blogs, social networks, and include a survey of the general “Web 2.0″ and “Library 2.0″ development world. The idea is to present a comprehensive document library decision makers can use to understand the new wave of social Internet applications, and devise strategies to respond to potential opportunities and threats.” — http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/About.html

A draft is available and there is an open invitation for feedback to be provided, either via email, an online forum or by editing a wiki.

Participatory networks : the library as conversation

• Discovered via The LITA (Library and Information Technology Association) Blog post outlining some of the points in the paper.