Social learning and the information professionals

Abstract

Social media have enhanced the innate human capacity for knowledge sharing. The so-called social media have emphasized the "˜social´ aspect, i.e., the collaborative and cooperative qualities, and social learning is one of the results. Information professionals, who have always been inclined to share information and innovations related to their discipline, have taken advantage of the possibilities that social learning offers. Strengthened by solid networking that has been fostered by years of initiatives like EXIT or E-LIS, librarians and information scientists improve their daily practice by learning collaboratively. From ground-breaking lists like IweTel or Públicas  to blogs like Biblogtecarios or Dokumentalistas , each professional has been able to build her or his own personal learning environment. Various professional networking online environments are described, and special attention is given to the recent Social Biblio project and its active learning network.