Library 2.0

The wide range of new ways to find and share knowledge is wonderful, and no one can argue that it is changing the library. It affects us as librarians and as library users, and that can be one of the best ways to learn to serve our customers well: grasping how we, as users, would like to be served.

One of the resources for this lesson referred to the need to remove barriers. Technology is often mysterious, and the ones who understand how to use it sometimes don't understand how to help others use it. Our job as Librarian 2.0 must be to learn to use the tools to provide resources without barriers. This Library 2.0 program is a good start.

The next step will be for the Librarian 2.0 to be encouraged to do that job. The library needs a blog, it needs text messaging for reference, it needs to be unafraid of using technology. Access to the library's resources must be made easier. Why do customers prefer Google to the catalog? Because they don't feel like they have to know the "correct" terms - who talks about "cookery," anyway?

All the talk about the new directions for libraries is exciting, but also a little saddening. I don't want to lose a quiet place where I can handle books and choose some good reading to take home. I don't want to lose the place where I can ask a question and receive a personalized response. With these concerns running through my mind, I was pleased to read the Library 4.0 prediction that the value of libraries will be in the experience. If libraries survive, it will be by being something we can't get anywhere else, not just the print and e-resources or computers and the latest technology, but an experience that is unique.