Facebook Apps Meet the Library

We (me, Binky, Emily) are working hard to make library-based widgets that can be integrated into any environment---iGoogle, NetVibes, but most especially Facebook.

With the launch of Facebook Apps over the past week or two, Facebook has entered a whole new realm. I agree with what Cole and the others said on last week's ETS Talk about FB becoming a 'Social OS.' Everything that I once thought (and only a few weeks ago) about the role of the library in FB is being thrown out the window.

We have real estate here in the library--search tools that our students need. And to make those tools own-able pieces that they can integrate into their own social / learning environment is pretty exciting. The added bonus is that it begins to make all of my concerns about the library web interface (vendors notwithstanding) pretty null and void.