Thursday, February 8, 2007

Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is an open and programmable web. It's leading towards a change in lifestyle where all mobile and non-mobile electronic devices are connected to the web at all times.

Iceberg Article by Rick Anderson: He warns about "icebergs" to library service and the library profession. 1. "Just in Case" Collection. His thoughts on eliminating costly book collections for more up to date materials is a relevant concern for all reference and non-fiction items. Which way do we spend the money? Of course, the Univ of Reno library where he works has seen a huge decrease 55 % in circulation. I'm not sure that's true of most public libraries overall circulation. 2. Reliance on user education. He believes that technology needs to change and be more user-friendly instead of having more training for users. While, this would be great, we still have to meet our users where they are and provide them access to the information they need. 3. "Come to us" model of library service refers to having to come to a physical location rather than meeting users online. While I understand his point and agree that we need to prepare for the technosavy among us, I still think there's a lot to be said for physical structures and face-to-face social interaction no matter how high-tech the overall population becomes.

Into a New World of Librarianship by Michael Stephens: I would like to just copy all of his fine points and goals and philosophies into my blog (and my memory) but instead here is a link http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm

To better bibliographic services by John Jay Reimer: I hadn't looked at World Cat as Web 2.0 before, but since the idea of file sharing and open access is the basis of Web 2.0 librarians were creating useful ways to better serve their patrons. His theories are definitely patron-oriented. I'm not sure how these goals would be practically worked out and financed, but for the user who does everything online his goals would be great. For some of our current patrons libraries would still need to provide traditional services and I think a lot of patron training would also have to happen for the majority of patrons to use the tools well.

To a temporary place in time... by Dr. Wendy Schultz: Whew, does she have vision or what! Who does what kind of brainstorming ideas she could come up with for any department - years into the future.

Library 2.0 is term used to describe a new set of concepts for developing and delivering library services. The name is an extension of Web2.0 and shares many of its same philosophies and concepts including harnessing the user in both design and implementation of services, embracing constant change as a development cycle over the traditional notion of upgrades, and reworking library services to meet the users in their space, as opposed to ours (libraries).Many have argued that the notion of Library 2.0 is more than just a term used to describe concepts that merely revolve around the use of technology, it also a term that can be used to describe both physical and mindset changes that are occurring within libraries to make our spaces and services more user-centric and inviting. Others within the profession have asserted that libraries have always been 2.0; collaborative, customer friendly and welcoming. But no matter which side of the debate proponents fall, both sides agree that libraries of tomorrow, even five or ten years from now, will look substantially different from libraries today.
To me this means that library staff must continue to educate themselves with the new technology, the new ways of gathering, storing and interpreting data so we can continue a key portion of our jobs and that is to provide access to and assistance in locating knowledge of all kinds to our patrons.

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