Web 2.0

Thing 2. What is Library 2.0?

I been working in libraries for over 35 years and times they are a changing. Librarians over the years have always been in the forefront of using technology and helping others discover how technology can help them in their daily lives.

As Stephen Abram said sometime it is hard to find the time. But if it is important to us we can find the time. I come early in the morning and work on new skills I have learned and tell staff and patrons how they can be used. Technology seems to be a double edge sword sometimes you feel like it is taking over your life and other times what did I do without it. I especially feel this when the computers go down and all of my work is on it. That means I have to wait for a specialist to fix it. I have never felt particularly threatened by Google or the internet in general because I am pretty busy helping people all day long in my library as it is. The difference is that I help them do different things than I did five to ten years ago.

I have been reaching out to clubs and businesses in my community and the result has been wonderful. The response we get from people when we help then actually deliver the items they wanted has ranged from surprise to jaw dropping amazement. “I had no idea you could do that” is a common response, yet what they don’t know is that the project may have only taken ten or fifteen minutes. To me, this is the kind of thing that creates relevance- delivering the items that our clients want, whether that is with flickr , your blog or with a telephone. And those clients aren’t just millenials, they are anyone and everyone.

The internet and all of the wonderful sites are great to explore and tell others about your finds.
I am pretty proficient at some of the Web 2.0 tools and I am looking forward to learning about more of them through the 23 things on a stick program.