How and Why Should Libraries Do Crowdsourcing.

ICT has revolutionized the way we create, share, and promote content. From crowd-sourcing to crowd-funding, ICT has made it easier than ever, including libraries and their users, to share, share, and promote library resources, services, and products. As a result, libraries are in a better position to leverage the power of ICT for the benefit of their resources and services. For centuries, information has played an important role in our lives. Librarians and information centers have always been seen as the custodians of information. However, with the ever-increasing amount of information available in the digital age, it's become increasingly challenging for libraries to provide the right information at the right time. Despite countless attempts to deliver the right information in the right place at the right time, there are moments when the necessity of libraries is questioned. This is where Crowdsourcing comes into play. Nowadays, with more and more catalogs and information being available online, users can perform various activities. For example, they can fine-tune the metadata of records. They can add new subject headers to records that library staff has missed. All of these activities revitalize the existing library services. As libraries continue to grow and add more services, they need an audience that can support them as they do so. With the development of technology and Web 2.0 ideas, Web users are increasingly supporting the concept of openness and knowledge sharing, as well as global collaboration. The concept of crowdsourcing was first introduced by Jeff Howe (2006), as 'the process of taking tasks traditionally performed by an agent and outsourcing them to an indeterminate, mostly large, group of people in the community through an open call.' Crowdsourcing itself is a combination of two words: crowd, which refers to a large group or community, and outsourcing, which refers to obtaining goods or services through a contract from an outsider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]