Library 2.0 summary

This has been a nice project (although I have one entry left) and an excellent idea. Unfortunately the circulation staff here at Morrison didn't have easy access to the internet and I know they were struggling down there to get this done. I hope someday soon circulation staffs will have internet access in their workrooms and at the front desk. I do not see any reason to handicap them so with all this talk of web and library 2.0.

I think the one of the 'things' that really surprised me was the wiki we put together. That was just like a bulletin board (or sandbox as some put it) that we could all play with. I find wikis very intriguing and I think the sky is the limit with them.

I guess what I like most about this project was that many of the websites out there that many people use and enjoy are now being embraced by libraries and businesses. There is more of an acceptance, it seems to me, of the internet. It's been demystified rapidly and projects like this will help library employees to stay, if not on the edge, then at least near the front with their internet know-how.

#15, the reading I saved for last

I hate to admit it but professional reading puts me to sleep. Mostly because %75 of it is filler and you have to slog through all that to get to point the writer is trying to make. Micael Stephens "Into a new world of librarianship" has a better ratio of content to fluff. I like that he maintains that technology for the sake of technology is a bad approach. He knows that the essential face to face interaction of our profession is one of the things people enjoy. That's why they come into the library, we just use our new tools to help them find more of what they need. Online resources are a good example. I can offer a user so much more information now than I could a few years ago. I can say here's a book, here's a magazine database and here's Wikipedia. Go crazy, kid.

Reimer's "To Better Bibliographic Services" has a great point about adding web features to catalogs. It seems that PLCMC is going in this direction and I hope our new catalog gives users all the options they desire. I think our catalog should someday allow the user to choose his own color scheme and text font and anything he or she chooses to customize. It's what people want and, from what I understand, is what made Myspace the success it is.