I've read and read about Library 2.0, and still can't quite figure out what is being talked about, or more specifically, why it's so different from the way libraries have always been. Haven't we always responded to what the patrons wanted/needed, using whatever tools were out there? That's how school libraries are, but maybe public libraries are different. It just seems to me the tools are what are different--now there are blogs, Flickr, MySpace and Facebook, but even years ago, we were using what was new then to encourage students to become readers and literate citizens of the world.
Now, that's not to say that I'm totally up-to-speed on all this. But I think the attitude of "Let's try that" has always been there.
The best reading (in my opinion) was the article in School Library Journal from May 2006 (that long ago??) called "School Library 2.0" by Christopher Harris. It gave some concrete, real-life applications of the use of Web 2.0 in the school library setting. Very practical and useful, for school librarians. I also liked Dr. Wendy Schultz' section of the OCLC newsletter, titled "To a Temporary Place in Time..." In it, she described the new Library 2.0 as just a step in a continuum of library servies that have been offered in the past and those that will be offered in the future. Interesting to think of it all that way...
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I agree with your concept of the library we have always wanted to help our patrons get whatever it is they are need or want. Technology has given us new tools to do our job and I think that the journey is more exciting for us and the patrons.
ReplyDeleteToo true. As librarians, we are forever molding ourselves & our libraries to the current trends & trying to keep up with the changing times. At least in theory that is what all librarians do. :) I think without online classes such as 23 Things... available for free, we would become "old" in our way of thinking!
ReplyDeleteOn a side note- I am soooo impressed by your summer reading list. I didn't read nearly that many titles. Guess I took a vacation from reading, too! :)
You're right, libraryjul, that knowledge of the new stuff keeps us fresh...and, of course, we all need that from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI usually read quite a bit more over the summer. I'm a K-12 librarian, so I try to read all the Bluebonnets, and lots of the Tayshas and the Lone Star books. This year I think I read more "grown-up" books than usual. I'm reading a good one right now--The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's about an unlikely book club that formed during the German occupation of the English Channel islands in WWII. It's told all in the form of letters between an author and the members of the society. Lively, witty and lots of fun to read, as well as sobering views of the hardships during the occupation.
Guernsey sounds like a very interesting book.
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