New roles of librarians in web 2.0
environment
Fouzia Shafique
Manager Library, Lahore Gymkhana
&
Naimat Ullah Shah
Asst Librarian, SCEE Library NUST H-12
Islamabad
Introduction:
Traditionally librarians have been performing
roles like
 Custodian- selects, organizes Print & other
media
 Guide- assists user in searching relevant
information
 Preserver-the books and printed documents
 Public Relations Officer- maintains good
relationships with management, users, other
libraries and organizations
The New Global Library &
Information Environment
Geometric increase in quantity of
Information.
 Greater and faster access to wider range
of information sources via WWW.
 Increased speed in acquiring and
disseminating information.
 Constantly evolving ITs(Hardware &
Software)

The Information World is going
through transition
From Library centered to Information
centered
 From paper based environment to digital
interface e.g. search engines, online
databases, data mining etc.
 From Library as an institution to the
Library as an information provider with IT
skilled specialists

Introduction:
The information revolution and internet
based information has made it difficult to
select relevant information in no time, the
role of the librarian is not to wait for the
client to reach him/ her, but instead he
should himself extend his help apart from
constraints of time, place and format.
Web 2.0
Tim O’ Reilly in 2004 invented and defined:
“Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the
computer industry caused by the move to the
internet as platform, and an attempt to
understand the rules for success on that new
platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build
applications that harness network effects to get
better the more people use them”.
Library 2.0
Library 2.0 is a “very different library
service that operates according to the
expectations of today's users. In this
vision, the library makes information
available wherever and whenever the user
requires it”
 Realizing this vision requires change
across a wide range of systems, processes
and attitudes.

Principles of Library 2.0
Library is everywhere
 Library had no barriers
 Library invites participation

New Role of Librarian in Web 2.0 environment
The main roles of librarian in new era which is
mainly a digital era are as: search intermediary knowledge Manager
 Educator- (End user trainer)
 Researcher  Website builder/ publisher - (designs &
evaluate)
 Facilitator- (makes access easier )
 Interface Designer
 Knowledge sifter / selector/ evaluator
Objectives
To fine out: The importance of features/ characteristics of
Web 2.0 in the view of professionals.
 The new roles of the librarian in Web 2.0
environment.
 To what extent are Web 2.0 technologies
prevalent in University libraries
 Explore the attitude of professionals towards
the use of Web 2.0
Statement of the problem

In Pakistan this tendency is bit new but still
encouraging because many libraries are
adopting these technological trends. This
study points out, how much important is Web
2.0 among the information professionals?
Has the librarian got new roles along with
the traditional ones? What is the significance
of using Web 2.0 tools?
Research Design and Methodology

The study was quantitative

A questionnaire was developed, for data collection

Thirty university libraries professionals using ICT and
web 2.0 technologies were surveyed. (15 from Islamabad
and 15 from Lahore)

SPSS 19.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)
was used to carry out the results of the collected data.
Results and Analysis of data
The results are as under:Gender:

According to the data collected, out of 27 participants 18
(70%) were male and 9 (30%) were female.
Job Experience:

Most of the participants were very experienced having
experience of more than 9 years which is 52%, having
more than 4 years and less than 8 years are 30% and
only 18 % of the participants have experience of 1- 3
years
Results cont……..


How important is web 2.0
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Very important
20
74.1
74.1
74.1
Important
7
25.9
25.9
100.0
Total
27
100.0
100.0
How important is Library 2.0
When asked about the importance of Library 2.0, 18
participants ticked the very important option and
other 9 selected important, but nobody denied its
importance
Results cont…..

Questions relating to importance of several
tools of Web 2.0 like:

Content sharing
Blogs
Wikis
RSS
Social networks
Tagging






55% of total participants marked that these
tools very important, 18 % marked these as
important.
Results cont……..


Questions relating to some characteristics of Web 2.0 are answered as:
Library is every where:
strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Total
•
Frequency
Percent
13
9
5
27
48.1
33.3
18.5
100.0
Library invites sharing and interaction:
Frequency
Percent
strongly agree
Agree
14
11
51.9
40.7
Neutral
2
7.4
Total
27
100.0

Like web 2.0 there is also library 2.0
Frequency
strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Total

9
12
6
27
Percent
33.3
44.4
22.2
100.0
Digital collections are shared
strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Total
Frequency
11
10
3
3
27
Percent
40.7
37.0
11.1
11.1
100.0
Cont…..

Librarians are information broker (Print & digital Media)
strongly agree
Agree
Neutral)
Total

Frequency
Percent
33.3
59.3
7.4
100.0
9
16
2
27
Librarians are interactive & collaborate
Frequency
strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Total
9
12
6
27
Percent
33.3
44.4
22.2
100.0
Cont…..

Librarians are facilitators
strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Total

Frequency Percent
17
63.0
7
25.9
3
11.1
27
100.0
Librarians are educators and trainers
strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Total
Frequency Percent
3
11.1
22
81.5
2
7.4
27
100.0
Conclusion.









With these drastic developments in ICT and in large use of Web 2.0, the
role of the librarian does not remain as simple as it used to be, for
example custodian of books and book keeper, as he now performs
different roles and is known with these new titles:
information specialist,
information navigator,
information professional
global information provider,
Innovators,
websites designers,
educators, trainers,
information broker (Print & digital Media),
the concept of library without walls is truly and completely adopted
due to web 2.0, and libraries have become library 2.0.
References
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Thank You