Library 2.0 for Public Librarians in North Western Province in Sri Lanka: with special reference to...

Library 2.0 for Public Librarians in North Western Province in Sri Lanka: with special reference to Kurunegala

District

J.A. AmaraweeraVisiting Lecturer,

Dept. of Library and Information Science University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

+94 714457254Jayatungaa3@gmail.com

S.A.D.H.Namali SuraweeraLecturer

Dept. of Library and Information Science University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

+94 716894652namalisura@yahoo.com

Outline

Public Library A public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources (such as tax money) and may be operated by government servants (Encyclopedia of Library and information Science, 2008).

Today we live in Information Age

IT becomes

a part of everyday lives

Library 2.0 is a loosely defined model for a modernized form of library service that reflects a transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users.

Library 2.0

Literature Review

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=222296001&size=o

Objectives

• To identify library 2.0 applications which are more significant for public librarians in North Western province in Sri Lanka

• To identify the current situation of public library system in North Western province in Sri Lanka in order to move towards a technological based service environment.

Design / Methodology

District Selected Response Percentage

Kurunegala 96 62 65%

0

20

40

60

80

100

Gender

Male

Female

Findings The data analysis revealed that library 2.0 applications such as Weblogs, Wikis, RSS and Podcasts are totally able to enhance interactive, user centered public library services.

Especially for public librarians with little to no knowledge of HTML, a hosted online blog is the perfect solution for keep updated information of public libraries for their user community.

Wikis help to users as well as library staff to add their own content or edit the content added by others through a web browser.

news outlet, current awareness/ SDI tool and subject guide feed can be available RSS feed.

Podcasting applications ()iPod=broadcast=Podcast) help to create audio or video tours of the library, reinforce searching techniques. Then users can get help on searching even when the library is closed.

Conclusion

Through Library 2.0 applications, public librarians in North Western Province in Sri Lanka gain new opportunities to understand their users information needs, interact with in new ways and demonstrate the value of public library resources and services.