The Use of Online Tools by Information Professionals in Medical Libraries in Oman

Rapid development of the Internet and the emergence of a new generation of the Internet within different social software offer advantages to medical libraries in terms of their services and marketing. Medical libraries need to change the ways they provide their services based on changes in users’ needs in the digital world. The main purpose of this study is to explore the perception/attitude of information professionals in Medical libraries in Oman towards use of various online tools or so-called Web2.0. The study also intends to highlight the main challenges that prevent libraries from using these tools and applications in providing services. An online survey was used as a data collection method. Survey Monkey software was used to design the questionnaire. The survey included all medical libraries (16) in Oman. The study found that the majority of information professionals in medical libraries in Oman are aware of Web 2.0 and the majority of them use its tools within library services. The majority of information professionals reported positively regarding the use of these tools in library services. However, several challenges were identified regarding using and adopting online tools within library services. This study tried to provide a clear understanding of the ways that online tools are used and adopted by information professionals in medical libraries. It is hoped that it will make a contribution to the future development of this subject area. Keywords: Oman, Online Tools, Information Professionals, Medical Libraries, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Librarian 2.

Application of Web 2.0 Tools in Medical Librarianship to Support Medicine 2.0

It is almost a decade that social networking technology along with its tools such as blogs, wikis, slidesharing/videosharing and photosharing softwares, podcasts, RSS feeds, mashups, folksonomies, and bookmarks has developed its influence on all human fields of study/activity. It is obvious that these tools are increasingly growing, in different languages, regions and fields, due to social dynamic and liberal characteristic of Web 2.0 technologies. Medical sciences and library science also are not exception to this influence. Consequently, library 2.0 and newly coined concepts of Medicine 2.0, and Health 2.0 have become the buzzwords in the Internet culture. In spite of proliferation of such social tools listed above, there is no aggregation and harmony for the utilization of the potential of these technologies in specific subject areas and the sources of information on the Web is almost proliferating and uncontrolled. This gives rise to the problem of webliographic control due to which the information seekers find difficulties in information retrieval. The paper presents application of Web 2.0 in medical libraries to support Medicine 2.0 emphasizing the above-mentioned problems. Considering the nature of an original article the experience of the authors, as a medical librarian and a faculty member in Library and Information Science, through observation of the needs, problems and prospects, played an important role in forming the idea and presentation. The study also used secondary data collected from related literatures. Standardization and webliographic control would solve the problem. In addition, governmental support and creating awareness at the management level in the organizations is also crucial

Online tools in teaching and learning and the problem of ‘Web 2.0’: a case study of an Information Studies Department, Oman

This study addresses the role of various online tools, collectively known as ‘Web 2.0’ tools, in university education within the Gulf Cooperation Council and investigation the problem of ‘Web 2.0’, using as a case study the ‘Web 2.0’ teaching and learning practices of Information Studies Department (ISD) in Oman. The data was collected using a mixed-method approach consisting of three steps: semi- structured face to face interviews, online survey and two case studies