Library 2.0

I read a bunch of the articles about Library 2.0, and it seems so focused on adult needs. Research, etc. I didn't see much about how things would change in youth services (well, teens, maybe, but what about preschoolers?). Anyway, so much of it is so theoretical that it's a bit hard to grasp. I like the ideas--encouraging user participation, providing access to people wherever they are, changing library service to adapt, making online connections with people, listening to staff and library users when planning (amen! I know as staff, we do not feel "listened-to" a lot of the time). On the other hand, there have been times we've made major changes based on one customer's complaint, which I don't agree with, so how do we decide what input to listen to? Anyway, practically, how much can we really adapt to what users want us to be?

We can make wikis and blogs, have e-books and databases to try to provide as much as we can to people, but the people have to change too, to be more accepting of these formats. There are people out there who are comfortable with all that stuff, but a TON of people are not. Teachers still require that kids have actual books (a biography of at least 150 pages, for example, when there are very few children's biographies published that have that many pages--but that's another topic altogether), not online resources. And kids, teachers, and parents don't understand (no matter what we say) that info from our databases isn't "the internet," so they think they can't use it. People are resistant to e-books. (I am too, who wants to sit around clicking from page to page? I'd rather have a real book.) Not to mention the people who still don't have decent internet access or computers (me included). It's going to be awhile before people adapt to getting their information online instead of through books. Most of the customers I see still want something concrete in their hands when they leave.

I'd like to see more info on what Library 2.0 would look like in the children's dept. Storytimes online? But then you have copyright issues, plus the interaction with other families is part of what storytime is about. Children's books online? It's just not the same as cuddling up with a real book, people still have to come here to pick up the books, and we can help people find good ones. Seems like a lot of what we offer to children will largely stay the same.

I hate to sound so negative, because I don't think of myself as a person who is resistant to change or anything. But I am a person who needs things to be more concrete--actual practical ideas for how things will change, rather than theoretical ideas about what new libraries will be like. So much of this Web 2.0 stuff looks to me like people sitting at their computers all day long, connecting with online people they don't really know (who might not be who they say they are), having these virtual experiences and not doing stuff in real life. I'm not sure that's the way I want to go, honestly. Real face-to-face human contact and physical experiences are what life is about, not absorbing everything through a screen. I know it's not going to go that far, and there's a lot we can do to keep up with the times that won't even come close to going that far, but still...