Libraries are changing

Libraries are changing

Libraries are changing. The user’s demands are converting the levels of the staffing, the services that it provides and the access of the resources.Libraries have become central to our communities, serves as the meeting places and social interactions with others.
Libraries play significant role in the society. Library created to maintain and provide services to the users, whether it is a school library, special library, public library and academic library. Libraries help people become aware about the new trends in the society. As long as people read, it will live on the culture of the community. The purpose of libraries is to help people informed in their choices of reading and better able to manage their lives.
Moreover, academic library is a type of library. It known as “place-based” service providing the institutions and users who visited the library to consult and use the physical collection of books, journals, CD’s, reference materials, etc. Lately, there is a rapid change in the field of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), libraries have completely transformed. Libraries moved from the handwritten manuscripts to printing, from private libraries to open access or free access libraries, face to face reference service to virtual reference service. Technology is enabling us to do so much more. Technology plays important role in these changes, but it is not the only means of this change. Changes in the population, environmental changes, and the economic cycle of the society, all contribute to the change, which libraries must deal.
Library 2.0 is one of the changes and services in the academic libraries. It is a change in which the librarians interact to the users. According to Casey and Savastinuk (2010), the purpose of Library 2.0 is center in the user change. It represents for library services that encourages constant change, inviting the user participation in the formation of both the physical and the virtual services they want, supported by consistently evaluating services. It also aims to reach new users and better serve current ones through improved customer-driven offerings. Each component by itself is a level toward better serving of our users through the combined implementation of all of these that we can reach Library 2.0. Libraries are no longer about books. Instead, libraries are about encouraging people to participate, communicate and generate, to provide ways for that to happen. Similarly, Michael Stephens, the U.S. LIS educator, noted that Library 2.0 is break the barriers in the placed of service, barriers of time, and barriers innate in what we do (Stephens & Collins, 2007).
Maness (2006) summarized Library 2.0 as the application of responsive, cooperative, and interactive media in electronic learning to interactive media library collections and services. Library users are more attract to use library services as Library 2.0 empowered them through active participation and communication with the library personnel. Library 2.0 services include 2.0 tools such as instant messaging, podcasting, blogging, social networking, and web OPAC.
Instant messaging (IM) allows online communication between two or more people using text based short messages via the web in real time. Academic libraries use IM to provide virtual reference services, improve access of other services and provide the latest information to students (Stephens, 2006).Instant messaging also acts as an additional medium to facilitate interactions with patrons. IM allows not only sending text messages, but also multimedia and links. Academic libraries use IM to provide virtual reference services and answer student questions (Stephens and Collins, 2007). Using IM, students are able to ask questions and receive answers directly from librarians during specified library hours. According to Tripathi and Kumar (2010), IM provides an effective medium to interact with patrons.
According to Stephens and Collins (2007), Podcasting is a form of audio blogging. An audio file, such as an interview, short presentation, or speech, attach as an audio file to a blog post and syndicated out via RSS. Some libraries offer podcasts as educational recordings about the library programs. Academic library podcasts focuses on the new resources in the library and giving information to the students through recording. Podcast is a beneficial and excellent learning tool for the slightly deaf, blind and have low vision. The users receive the new items automatically or manually by checking the new updates. Libraries might promote their important audio/video collections, speeches of worthy and important personalities, classroom lectures, multimedia presentations to its user community via podcasting. Podcasting will be used in academic libraries as audio books, tutorials, new bulletins, lectures, interviews, etc. The use of podcasting in the library is to create a virtual library guide or orientation or library guides that provides library services more effective.
A blog is a simple content management system that can create and maintain by users to publish easily updatable web content (Boulos and Wheelert, 2007). It contains regularly added article entries called posts, which arranged chronologically, generally with the most recent posts displayed first. Using blogs there are some educational benefits. For instance, blogging can enhance critical, analytical and creative thinking. Blogs have used as an effective method in publishing information in a reachable and productive way. Information presented in creative ways that allows libraries to communicate with their users and keep them informed about the library services and events. Blogs encourages user’s reaction and comments to posts as they carry comment feature where users can post their feedback messages. Blogs encourage communication and interaction between the library staff and patrons.
Social networking sites is an online platform designed to facilitate the building of social networks or social relationships among people, make real-life connections, create and share content, and engage in conversations (Stephens and Collins, 2007). Social networking provides a chance to users to interact, share and create content. Sites such as yahoo mail, gmail, twitter, and facebook, will allow the user to create interactions to others, it will establish friendships or can connect to others and they can engage in conversations, or sharing ideas. Social networking also creates connections to the patrons, to allow communication and service distribution online.
Online public access catalogue (OPAC) is form of library catalog, whereby the bibliographic records of all the documents in a collection are keep in the computer memory disk (Aina, 2004). It allows users to find the books, journals, conference proceedings, reports, and other resources that they want. It helps the users to find book easily. OPAC offers limitless size and ability in searching like Boolean search, Keyword Search, Visual search compared to the traditional card catalog search options.
Hence, academic libraries use the Library 2.0 services because it will help the users to interact to the librarian through online without going to the library. The 2.0 tools in the academic library increase its role in assisting and facilitating the users by giving relevant information. Library 2.0 tools give library users a role, which need their participation in the services that is offer and the way they use this services. The Library 2.0 seeks to break down the barriers such as the barriers in place, the barriers in time, and the barriers in what they do. In this, libraries can get knowledge and information to the users wherever the users, the place where they are and whatever they are doing.
Unfortunately, not all academic libraries adopt the Library 2.0. The concept of the Library 2.0 is still new to other academic libraries. Tripathi and Kumar (2010) stated that there has however, been a lack of literature concerning Library 2.0 utilization by libraries in developing countries.
With all the points show, this study will be conducted to determine the usage of the Library 2.0 services to the students of the academic libraries in Ozamiz City.

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