Week 6, Thing #15: Our Future Libraries and Selves

I read these three perspectives on Library 2.0: Rick Anderson's Away from the "icebergs", Michael Stephens' Into a new world of librarianship and Dr. Wendy Schultz's To a temporary place in time...

These three perspectives illustrate important stances in the Library 2.0 conversation. All three wrestled with the old and the new, and proposed a resolution. Anderson believes in abandoning traditional library practices (i.e. possessing a vast print collection) for the sake of successfully functioning in the user-centric world of Web 2.0. Stephens is a big believer in the role of the new librarian--the "Librarian 2.0"--to deliver quality service in Library 2.0. Schultz envisions a "Library 4.0" where traditional libraries as well as the libraries 2.0 converge, a place where print and digital collections co-exist in harmony.

I was most interested in what these people had to say about the relationship between librarians and patrons and how it is transforming. I agreed with Schultz's comment that "tagclouds offer diverse connections, not focussed expertise" in my previous post about the disadvantages of tagging. She asserts that with Library 2.0, patrons will continue to require "experienced tour guides" to steer them in the right direction. I agree that with the current information density of the Internet, media, and print, patrons will require another human being to help them. Even though library patrons today are intelligent information finders in their own right, their information needs will call for a professional. Schultz is correct in stating that future librarians “will put a premium on service, on tailoring information to needs, and on developing participatory relationships with customers." I appreciated Stephens’ definition of quality library 2.0 service and how librarians can cultivate a collaborative relationship with patrons.

I was also awed by Schultz’s futuristic, yet nostalgic, vision of libraries. She detailed the evolution of libraries from commodity, product, service and finally to experience. It appears that coffee is an analogue for information; for coffee that once merely served a function is now an experience. Why not say the same for information? I could even argue that reading within our present libraries is a fulfilling experience—at least for me. It is interesting to dream of libraries as “knowledge spas.” And if the libraries of the future will be luxuries, I want to be the type of librarian who helps people see that they are luxuries that *should* be indulged in and are affordable to all. I believe that libraries are not merely a place to “experience” information but are instruments of social mobility and self-realization.

Library 2.0 for me is to fulfill the roles of a teacher-librarian utilizing new technologies. It is to harness new web technologies to inspire a time-honored skill: a love of reading and learning. This goal, to inspire a love of reading and learning, can only be attained when librarians and students have a reciprocal and collaborative relationship. It just so happens that the success of Library 2.0 is contingent upon it.

I see School Library 2.0 as a place where teachers and librarians help students recognize their digital information finding skills, and develop them via teaching web 2.0 tools and experimenting with them. As we are experimenting with web 2.0 tools here. School Library 2.0 is a place where students can find the information they seek, the information that helps them define who they are as a person and discover who they want to become. It is a place where they can express themselves creatively, asserting themselves in self-created images that can be re-written and re-fashioned as they see fit.

School Library 2.0 is not just a place where technology and education merge, but it is a place where minds young and old converse and discover themselves.