I went into ROFLCon interested in how communities form online, how they regulate themselves, and how they thrive. Here’s what I saw at ROFLCon with this goal in mind.
1. Community members need to be involved. In most online communities the majority of users are passive; they read, they generate hits on a page, but they aren’t contributing content. People who comment on posts, rate items, post on forums, etc.; these folks contribute content. Communities survive just fine with a mostly passive user base; without the active users, however, it’s a one man show and not a community.
2. Each community is unique. There’s no secret formula for success or some must-have app that is necessary for a community to succeed.
3. Being on MySpace and Facebook is good, but it doesn’t mean you have a community! Sure, it’s possible to build your community entirely within one of these, but what often happens is that pages become broadcast channels rather than back and forth communication tools. As a library system, having the ability to post a MySpace bulletin is great; it lets people know about your programs that may not know otherwise. That’s one way, though.
Libraries have to find what makes them special if they want to continue on and mean something to their constituency (I’ve no doubt libraries will survive in some form, but it’s that last part that should hit home.) What makes a public library special is the community that surrounds it. As librarians, engaging the local community can only help us; the community is more energized in us and we are more aware of the wants and needs of our patrons. Libraries can and should provide opportunities for their communities to participate; an online community is just one way to do so.
