#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

I chose to look at “Into a new world of librarianship”, “To more powerful ways to cooperate” and “To better bibliographic services” to get different perspectives on Library 2.0. Michael Stephens in his “Into a new world of librarianship” talks about how librarians need to use Librarian 2.0 to plan for their users by finding new technologies or new materials their users need. They need to embrace Web 2.0 tools to reach their users wherever they are and they need to understand that the future of libraries will be guided by how users access, consume and create content. I think he sums it up best when he says, “Librarian 2.0 also listens to staff and users when planning, tells the stories of successes and failures, learns from both, celebrates those successes, allows staff time to play and learn, and never stops dreaming about the best library services.”

In “To more powerful ways to cooperate” Chip Nilges, Vice President of OCLC, states that Web 2.0 really confirms OCLC’s mission and vision of cataloging cooperative, resource sharing network, and virtual reference cooperative. By providing services such as tagging, list creation and sharing, citation management and personal cataloging libraries can collaborate in new and powerful ways.

John J. Riemer (UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center) in his article, “To better bibliographic services,” discusses a number of ways library services can and should change. By using various web tools, libraries can broaden relevance ranking, adopt Web features by using Amazon and Google features, expand delivery by incorporating User-initiated services like renewal, recalls, and interlibrary loan requests, and streamline metadata creation by collaborating on cataloging. These tools give libraries a competitive advantage and will support the bibliographic services of the future.

It’s an exciting time for libraries, but I think we need to be cautious in using these new tools by doing our homework. We need to take into consideration the stability, dependability and reputation of these new resources as with any website.