Thing #14 Read some perspectives on Web 2.0 and the future of libraries

There were 2 articles that I found that simple enough for this "simple mind" to grab hold of that I enjoyed reading. In University of Colorado librarian, Jack Maness's article Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries, he mentioned four essential elements:

1. It is user-centered
2. It provides a multi-media experience
3. It is socially rich
4. It is communally innovative
He stated that "Library 2.0 is not about searching, but finding; not about access, but sharing".

John Blyberg, Head of Technology & Digital Initiatives at Darion Library in Connecticut has an article titled 11 Reasons Why Library 2.0 Exists and Matters. In his opening he quoted Sarah Houghton, Digital Futures Manager for San Jose Public Library in California. "Library 2.0 simply means making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. . . to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives . . . to make the library a destination and not an afterthought". The main points in his article were:

Library 2.0 is:

1. Partially a response to a Post-Google world
2. Requires internal reorganization
3. Requires a fundamental change in a library's mission
4. Requires a fundamental change in how we handle "authority"
5. Requires technological agility
6. Challenges library orthodoxy on almost every level
7. Requires a radical change in the libraries and vendors work
8. Both enables and requires libraries to work together
9. Is actually happening
10. Is revolutionary
11. Is essential for survival/pertinence

Based on what I've read so far, to me Library 2.0 means changing the way way we do things, not only professionally, but in our personal lives as well.

From E-mails -> Chatting or IM
From Lectures / Demonstrations -> Streaming media
From e-mail groups -> Blogs, Wikis, RSS feeds
From Classification -> Tagging
From Catalogs of reliable print & electronic resources -> Catalogs of both reliable possibly not-so-reliable Web-pages, Blogs & Wikis

In spite of any draw-backs that might be pointed out about Library 2.0, as librarians we can't draw a line in the sand or dig our heels in or we will be left behind, as well as the libraries we are responsible for. We must accept change because change is good.

Who would want to go back to the old library days of thumbing through a cabinet of drawers full of cards in order to find a book I needed? Not me. Who would want to go back to the days of doing a library inventory with a list of 17,000 books that have to physically be found, hopefully in the correct number or alphabetical order, in order to document that the book is on the shelf? Not me.

I know of a librarian who retired because she didn't feel comfortable trying to implement a student computer where the students had to insert 3 1/2 floppy discs in order to play "educational games". We have come so far since those days. Thank goodness!

As librarians and libraries, we must adapt to rapid changes in the way information is accessed, used and produced. I know of churches that have resisted to changes in the styles of worship, preferring traditional over contemporary. Because it was different from the "way things have always been", their rigidity and lack of flexibility caused numbers of young people to leave their ranks and their membership to decline. Some churches have essentially "died" as a result.

The same thing can happen to libraries if we as librians don't embrace change and accept it as the world of the present and for sure, the future.