News
Lecture for Library Week Celebrations at OBM
“Virtual Libraries and the Net Generation: What Future for Institutions Providing Educational Resources?”

Friday, April 3, 2009, at 3:00 p.m

In contribution to the 45th anniversary celebrations of Library Week, the Ottoman Bank Museum is hosting Prof. Yaşar Tonta from the Department of Information Management at Hacettepe University with a presentation entitled “Virtual Libraries and the Net Generation: What Future for Institutions Providing Educational Resources?” The lecture, which is scheduled for Friday, April 3, 2009, at 3:00 p.m., will provide a brief outline of the circumstances affecting educational institutions and examine the difficulties and opportunities that said educational institutions face in the digital environment.

Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are among the most popular websites today. Members do not only use them for social interaction but for research, educational purposes and professional networking. These sites possess Web 2.0 characteristics that allow users to create the content of their own online space and customize, define, order and share it with others. They also raise people’s expectations concerning other educational institutions since internet users want the websites of libraries, archives and museums to be at least as accessible, flexible, user-friendly and open to sharing as social networking sites.

Prof. Yaşar Tonta

Tonta obtained a BA in librarianship and an MA in library and information studies from Hacettepe University and followed this up with master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wales and the University of California- Berkeley. Between 1989 and1993, he taught in the Department of Library & Information Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1996 to 1998, he helped set up TÜBİTAK’s nation-wide academic network (ULAKNET) in Turkey and served as its founding director. Tonta is currently chair of the Department of Information Management at Hacettepe University where he also teaches. He is a member of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), the Turkish Librarians Association (TKD) and the University and Research Librarians Association (ÜNAK).