Thing 14: Library 2.0 (beta)

I enjoyed reading all of the perspectives presented in the OCLC Nextspace Newsletter. One of the really astute things that most, if not all of the authors observed was that Library 2.0 is really about providing good customer service. Rick Anderson's piece, "Away From the Icebergs" pointed out the importance of recognizing ways of doing things that have become obsolete. In the case of libraries, we have to recognize that the flow of information has changed pretty radically over the past 15 years.

Libraries, which used to be a depository for knowledge and information, have quickly become an access point, one of many resources. Customers have made corresponding changes in their expectations of libraries. We need to be willing to make similar changes, and be insightful about everything those changes will entail. We need to regularly revisit our assumptions about how our resources -- financial, human, physical, and electronic -- can best be used, keeping in mind that they are all means to the end of customer service, not ends in themselves.

Michael Stephens' article, Into a New World of Librarianship, outlines what these changes can mean for the people who work at the Library 2.0, where content is user-driven and change happens quickly. Successfully operating a library like this will require transparency and flexibility, among other things.

Since flexibility will be at a premium, I'd like to think of us as a Library 2.0 (beta) -- constantly testing, improving, trying new things. Think Google, if Google were a brick-and-mortar library. [I'd like to take credit for the coinage, but I see that it was in use as long ago as 2005. Oh well, I still like it]