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Welcome to 23 Things, the course which introduces library staff to Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and new technologies. It is a partnership project of four public library authorities in the UK: Aberdeen, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Surrey, and is endorsed by the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL). It's being used by Aberdeen, Newcastle, North Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Renfrewshire, Suffolk, Surrey, and West Berkshire, as well as by a number of other library organisations.

It's free to do - just work through it in your own time. At the end of each Thing, you'll find some activities, which you HAVE to do if you want to claim to have done the course, and some recommended followups which are simply to allow you to explore further if you want to. Record your progress and your activities on your blog, which you'll create in the second module.

If you're short of time, we've identified the seven core Things that we think are absolutely fundamental. You'll find them by following the links on the left hand side of this screen.

• Introduction
• Blogging
• Flickr, photos and images
• Facebook and social networking
• Twitter and microblogging
• Tagging and social bookmarking
• The legal Bit

Each Thing will take roughly an hour. To help you, we've put a guide time at the top of each one. Don't worry if it takes you longer (or shorter) - some people will know more than others, and some will be more confident.

Information for UK public library services
If you'd like to roll this out to your staff, feel free. If you contact us using the email address below, we'll supply you with the SCL-endorsed certificate, to which you can add your authority's logo, and a guide to help you to structure your rollout.

Latest news:
A different set of authorities are working on an e-books module, which you can find at the end of the course. Please feel free to leave comments - we'd love to hear about your experiences if you're using an e-book or e-audio book player.

Credits and rights
The course is, of course, based on Helene Blowers' original which you can still see at http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/. We'd also like to thank Kirklees and Devon library services for their help when we started out.

In the spirit of Helene's original, please feel free to borrow or use or change any information, exercises or content found on this site. Just remember to provide proper credit according to Creative Commons.


Contact
Please email virtuallibrary@surreycc.gov.uk.

FebruaryDecember 2011