Thing #15 Library 2.0

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...