Impressions of Library 2.0 and Web 2.0, Ice Cream or Shepherd's Pie

There was a moment in my life when I realized I was an adult. That moment came one day in college when I didn’t like what was being served in the cafeteria. As I stared down in the unappetizing pan of shepherd’s pie, I thought, “I wish I could have ice cream for dinner.” The light bulb appeared over my head and I realized with total awe and elation that I could have ice cream for dinner. It was a revolutionizing moment. The world opened up to me and I realized I was now sitting in the driver’s seat and could steer my life down the road or into a ditch, but I was in control.

I had a similar feeling as if the world was opening up to me as I watched Michael Wesch’s video on YouTube, The Machine is Us/ing Us. I felt amazed at the connectivity of the ideas and the way in which technology is still evolving. It is amazing how the internet has gone from a dusty electronic form of an encyclopedia to a video of an actor dressed like Charles Darwin explaining evolution. Libraries have the capacity to embrace this new manner of gleaning information. Some learners will always opt for a more conventional material, but the potential for reaching out and aiding in the development and accessibility of dynamic, personal forms of information is mind boggling.

I felt that both suggested articles had very good information in them as well. I liked the concrete examples of how a radio station and museum have embraced incorporating their consumers into their product. The question is what is a library’s product? I thought both article and YouTube interview by Stephen Abram helped to clarify this and keep my wild wandering mind focused on how new technologies can be utilized to better serve the clients of libraries.

As with any business, and a library is a business, it is important that each institution look at their current customer base as well as where the gaps are in that population. In other words, who do we have and who are we missing. Once that is established the question arises as to what barriers exist in order to help customers engage in accessing this technology when added to the services that the Library provides. Will there be a need for training? How can computer and technology anxiety be minimized and overcome? Where is a good place to start and allow the personal applications to grow out from? What will it cost? How do we protect personal privacy? With individual input how do we manage content while also respecting censorship concerns?

As with all new journeys there will always be barriers and obstacles. It is important to look at what services are currently being provided while building a new understanding of the Web 2.0 technology. Once the technology literacy of the population of the customer base is established then the institution can launch one application then grow from there learning by trial and error what works and what doesn’t.

• Book Reviews seem a great place to start. I know in our library we have a great deal of avid readers who could easily compare their impressions of one author’s works to another. A bookstore in Austin, Book People, actually posts personal reviews with their books so that an average person, such as me, can benefit from an opinion other than that of a literal critic.
• An online book club would also be far more accommodating to individuals who work and don’t have the energy or perhaps the time to attend a club meeting during the week.
• A weekly podcast of new arrivals or authors who will be in the area would peak some customers’ interests.
• A Welcome to the Library information video on YouTube that explains the various features and policies of the library would no doubt provide more consistent and thorough inform to new patrons.
• A pod cast about new features being added to the library would keep people informed and give them the option to jump in from the start.
• The library has a huge influx of children during the summer, so perhaps working with the school system students could work on their summer reading projects over the summer with additional instructional materials, so that they could benefit while reading the material instead of reading it and then having to re-read it in order to pass a test the first week of class.
• Perhaps the schools could also work with the library about upcoming student projects so that special databases could be established for students to use.
• There are also a lot of questions that come up concerning the history of our library’s location, perhaps it might be a good idea to have a database where historical information could be maintained including stories from long time residents and personal interviews, in order to keep that valuable information intact and available for generations to come.

All of these ideas, both good and bad, are dependent on many factors and money is not the least of these. Money is no doubt one of the obstacles, but it is important to see the big picture and do what we can to insure that the view of all libraries evolves from THE Library to MY Library.

I’m excited to explore the various technologies and see where libraries are headed down this social, interactive highway. Web 2.0 to me is the ice cream and not the shepherd’s pie.