When WebJunction launched in 2003, it was before the participatory web had really taken flight. We imagined, in theoretical terms, a place on the internet “by and for the library staff who spent their time there.” We valued creative commons licensing, though it was not in mainstream use, and instigated the significance of “authority by community” vs. “authority by expertise” related to library staff resources. Still, the tools that we had access to for managing content, learning, discussions, and the like were not entirely “user-centric” in the way we see proliferating on the web in present times. It was simply not possible to manage course content, track enrollments, and report on CE certification requirements in the same space as the managed yet open, user-generated content contribution model we aspired to. Message boards? They were are free-for-all space; our answer to the systems that kept us oriented towards administrative management; fettered against some times of social engagement, not to mention the long-tail of library practice.

In those early days, we managed to piece together a variety of tools to provide a somewhat limited experience, but still in keeping with those principles of user-contribution, authority, and ownership. We solicited moderators and editors, but they had to gain special privileges to access the system and participate. The controlled vocabulary, and thus the experience of browsing or navigating the site, was still wholly owned and managed by WebJunction administrators. At every turn we encouraged and engaged, asking for contributions, reiterating the community ownership and participations, and we were moderately successful in facilitating community for library staff in spite of the different ways that the tools of the time created obstacles against our original vision. And when I say moderately successful, it’s against what we could be. 30,000 members and 90,000 visitors a month is not bad, but think of what, and who, we could be if we were all of us.

Last year, we received additional investment from the library community to take advantage of the advances in participatory web-based publishing, contribution, participation, and networking that’s now so prevalent with our users that it’s almost mainstream. We’ve worked, sometime feverishly, over the past 12 months to design, solicit feedback, iterate, prioritize, and redesign, a site that more fully realizes the original vision we set out to achieve: a place on the internet that was “by and for” library staff.

The new site, which launches today, primarily improves on your WebJunction experience by allowing the following:

-in-line contribution, after login, to any existing topic area. if you have documents, content, worksheets, presentations, videos, or images that may be helpful to your colleagues in Libraryland, you can join us and share them here.

-on-site, personalized representation of your professional interests and activities through your public profile) that you can use to track and communicate your professional achievements to colleagues and the library field.

-personalized “My WebJunction” page that allows you to easily get to the areas of the service that are most relevant to you, based on your role, your interests, or your participation around the space.

-realizing that sometimes people are the most efficient way to solve problems, answer question, or generate innovations – in the new site it’s easier than ever to see, connect, and communicate with people *as well as* access documents, articles, courses, and other resources.

There’s more, but I’ll let you explore for yourselves.

WebJunction, I must say in conclusion, is not the Panacea. It is not perfect. It will not meet all of our challenges as individual library staff members, or as a professional force. And, needless to say, “there will be bugs.” There will also be things that certain ones of us will think ‘Hmm. Why is this like that?’ But let me also say that WebJunction, more than ever, is “by and for” the library staff who spend their time there. We’ve designed and delivered a new platform based on our collective needs, our combined interests, and what we’ve envisioned from the beginning as a powerful force for peer-to-peer sharing, resourcing, and learning.

We simply cannot wait to hear from you, or shall I say more of you, about what you think about our new start. I’d like to think we can lead our libraries into the future from here.