I was debating with myself and the Thali whether or not to post something about the Ning Library 2.0 network here. If you’ve been reading library blogs this past week you won’t have missed it – it seems like everyone’s at least aware of this exciting new space, if not actively exploring it. Still, because it’s become so popular I thought it might be worth mentioning here. (If you already know about Library 2.0, do share your page details with us!)

If you haven’t already taken a look at it, do – basically, the Library 2.0 network is a web-based social networking space “for librarians and others interested in Library 2.0.” The network is the brainchild of Bill Drew, who blogs as Baby Boomer Librarian. When you join you create a page which allows you to share information about yourself, your Web 2.0/Library 2.0 interests, and most importantly allows you to participate in any discussions you might be interested in, via the Library 2.0 forum. You can also blog there, chat, and share photos or videos.

The network is hosted by Ning. The people behind Ning (one of whom is Marc Andreessen, one of the developers of Netscape – thanks Snail for the pointer) say that

“Ning is a platform for creating your own social networks. Our passion is putting new social networks in the hands of anyone with a good idea. With Ning, your social network can be anything and anyone you want it to be.

“You choose a combination of features (videos, blogs, photos, forums, etc.) from an ever growing list of options, you choose how it looks, you decide if it is public or private, you add your brand if you have one, and you enable the people on your network to create their own custom personal profile pages all in one great social network.”

If you’ve been watching (or participating on) social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, you may be wondering why you’d want to join yet another site. Well, the beauty of the Library 2.0 network on Ning is that it has been created by a librarian for library folks. So, where the users on MySpace or Facebook are from all walks of life, on Library 2.0 everyone is either a librarian (or involved with libraries in some way – there are library volunteers and IT people there, which adds to the flavour of the space, I think) or interested in Web 2.0 and libraries. There are currently over 500 members! And, if you find your particular interests are not fully met by this forum, well, you can create your very own space – in terms of library-related spaces on Ning, I know of a network dedicated to librarian bloggers, as well as national or language-based networks for librarians: one for Portuguese speakers, and another for Chinese speakers.

Many of the Thali have been exploring the Library 2.0 network this week: check out techxplorer’s page, Snail’s, tango’s, Kathryn’s, Peta’s, and mine (CW). Our friends Tom Goodfellow, Johnny Chis, Kit, Maeve Everest, and Dee are there too (have I missed any Australians out?).