Freebase, a structured wiki-like database, should be of interest to anyone with an interest in web architecture and the quest for a semantic digital order. It uses a system of user-extensible types that allow contributors to build logical relations between topics rather than just linking and tagging them. Sounds simple? Freebase’s structure seems to introduce some pretty powerful descriptive possibilities. Freebase has just reached ‘alpha’ (open to public view, but not freely editable). I think it’s one to watch.

Here’s a reference for a good old-fashioned print resource that I urge librarians to get hold of. Buschman comes from a ‘critical theory’ perspective, so is putting libraries in the context of:

• ‘information capitalism’
• New Managerialism/New Public Management/the New Public Philosophy
• the commodification of information
• private-sector models of public service provision
• encroachments on the progressive, social democratic role of libraries
• factors limiting libraries’ capacity to facilitate public communication

Buschman, John E. (2003) Dismantling the Public Sphere: Situating and Sustaining Librarianship in the Age of the New Public Philosophy. Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited

I haven’t had a chance to look at this more recent article. It would be interesting to see what Buschman makes of Library 2.0 developments:

Buschman, John E. (2005) ‘Libraries and the decline of public purpose’. Public Library Quarterly, 24:1 pp. 1-12

Apologies to those who linked and networked to http://del.icio.us/actplreference. It’s now been taken down, as administrators in my library were concerned about things being put up in its name without departmental approval. Most of the same links are available on http://del.icio.us/frightfullynew.

This got me thinking about all of the trust issues for librarians in Library2.0. It seems like blogs, wikis and social networking go against the grain of information possession and control. I’d love to hear from anyone who is wrestling with ‘radical trust’, and rethinking relationships across the desk while implementing Library2.0.

http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/14789/1/Web2.0.pdf

My sense of popular mood about global warming is that the mass of private citizens is desperate for any organisation or individual to speak up and lead in some way. Librarians are used to being a source, not a voice. Any policy statement directed at governments, whether from ALIA or libraries, would have little impact if it wasn’t accompanied by public pronouncement and demonstration of that policy. I’m picturing libraries auditing their environmental impact (as Michael suggested inc comments), making changes, and then promoting their environmental stance and the measures they are implementing. See, for example, the Green Office Guide.  
Our patrons take part of their identity from their membership of a library-using community – just as people do for any brand, activity they engage with. If libraries model environmental behaviour as well as pronouncing our policy positions, we will:
 

• attract new users
• affirm the values of many existing patrons
• revitalise the place of libraries in the public sphere and as a resource for social movements
• increase access to information on environmental topics

Further to this, I’ve recently posted on a New Matilda article by Janet Hartz-Karp.
So creating an impact and taking a lead requires the coordination of advocacy, policy, promotion and engagement. Not to mention individual bravery! I’d really like to hear how your colleagues and superiors respond to environmental issues raised at staff meetings. I had a bit of a cricket-chirping, tumbleweed-blowing-past moment at a recent staff meeting when I did this, before looking to the biblioblogosphere.

I wanted to expand on Peta Hopkins’ post about the dependence of Librarians on power and telecoms infrastructure. Not many people realise how much power computers require, and how much of a strain the internet puts on real-world resources. I recently heard a lecture series (podcast from UC Berkeley) called ‘Foundations of American Cyberculture’, where the lecturer said something along these lines: that if the ‘powers that be’ want to push information culture [and presumably economy] along, the first thing they should do is build another electricity plant…

I’m urgently concerned about carbon emissions and global warming. I’m also conscious that, in our excitement about Library2.0, despite widespread personal concern, it seems few librarians are making connections between professional issues and ecological responsibilities. We need to consider, in particular, the vulnerability of information systems and possible flow-on effects to libraries of potentially radical, deleterious social and economic changes. For example, ALIA doesn’t have an environmental policy. These are small but necessary steps for society-wide action.

http://librarianofthepossible.blogspot.com/