Week 6, Thing 15

Thoughts on Library 2.0 readings.
As I read the articles, I took note of ideas that particularly struck me.

1. "simplicity, rich interactivity, user participation, collective intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed content" This is a great, simple overview of what Library 2.0 is about. This really helped me to take a huge concept and narrow it down to something approachable.

2. "as Web 2.0 reality continues to emerge and develop, our patrons will expect access to everything – digital collections of journals, books, blogs, podcasts, etc. You think they can’t have everything? Think again. This may be our great opportunity." This is a big challenge for traditional librarians who have focused on the issue of authority and collection development. How do we deal in a world where students can have access to everything? We need to help students develop "information, visual, and technological literacy". We can't "give" them the information anymore. We can only teach them how to get the information and assess it.

3. "Perpetual beta" Great concept! Coming from a programming background, this one is tough for me to swallow but I think it's oh so true. Things just move too quickly anymore to expect that we'll have time to perfect offerings. And... I think kids are more willing to accept things that are in a state of flux. They're used to things moving quickly.

4. "users add value" - This is a tough one for people who have been trained for many years to be the providers of information and added value. But even as I grapple with a bit of reluctance to accept this, I read reviews of products and hotels and other items by "regular people" in order to decide what to purchase.

5. "The features of Amazon and Google of interest to students and scholars ought to be incorporated into the services libraries make available. Libraries should welcome the submission of reviews, assignment of keywords (“tagging”), addition of scholarly commentary, and other forms of user participation." Users add value. Although I always look at the "scholarly reviews" of books on Amazon, I also frequently look at the user reviews to see what "regular people" think. After all, it's regular students who will be using these sources.

6. "user tagging" Now. To figure out how to make this happen and see if it works. I think it would be a great thing to have students tag books and electronic resources for curriculum related projects that would help other students (and me) find out what has been the most useful.

7. "Storage (archives, treasures); data retrieval (networks—reference rooms); and commentary and annotation (salon)" I loved this summation of what libraries are all about and the way it reaches back to collect the "old" image of a library with the new ones. After all, human beings are still human beings no matter how they access their information.

8. "Grassroots video, collaboration webs, mobile broadband, data mashups, collective intelligence, social operating systems (network organization based around people rather than content)" Five trends. Great summation again of what's happening in 2.0.

Very helpful reading on Library 2.0 and good placement in this course. I like the idea of giving participants experience in some of the tools then taking a step back to put it all in perspective.