LIBRARY 2.0

I watched the PowerPoint by David Rothman called Medical Library 2.0. One of his PowerPoints said that "Library 2.0 service is service that physically reaches users, is evaluated frequently and makes use of customer input." The only element of that statement that might be different from library 1.0 might be the part about frequent evaluation of services and customer input. I did have to chuckle at the Scot Plutchak quote in David's PowerPoint, "As a detonation of something specific, Library 2.0 is logically vacant". I think Scot may have a point based on the two articles I read.

The second Library 2.0 item I read was by John Blyberg, "11 Reasons why library 2.0 exists and matters". The two points I took away from that article are a definition of Library 2.0 as a means of making library spaces more interactive, collaborative and driven by community needs. And the other point was that Library 2.0 requires libraries to pool their resources.

I do agree with the concept of making library spaces more interactive and collaborative. I am told that the new generation of young adults are much more collaborative than the generations that came before them. This younger generation also grew up with computers and playstations. I doubt that they would be happy with anything less than a collaborative, interactive atmosphere. So I like those features of library 2.0.

I have seen educational spaces and libraries which have been designed with collaboration in mind. My only concern with libraries being collaborative is whether administrators in a hospital setting might pass through this wonderfully designed collaborative, interactive library and decide they needed that collaboration space for other hospital priorities.

To me Library 2.0 means that you learn about all of these new sharing and collaborative capabilites now available on the internet and adapt those that make sense in your individual library setting.

As to what Library 2.0 means to my library, it means that if I stay on top of these new technologies there will be a number of them that will be easily applied in our environment. However, the VA and many other institutions are currently blocking access to some really great Library 2.0 tools. So implementation of some of the items I learned about in this course on the job may be delayed for quite a long period of time.

Podcasts

I did check several of the links to podcast directories including iTunes and Podcastalley. It might be more appropriate to say I stumbled around in them. I found them a little difficult to use. This was probably due to my inexperience searching for podcasts. I had the most success with iTunes. I'm not exactly sure how I got to their podcast search interface but eventually I did. I'm very impressed with the libraries who have embraced this technology and figured out how to apply it for web savy patrons.

I added the Library of Congress book festival podcast to my RSS Reader. It's URL is www.loc.gov/bookfest. I'm not sure how to insert a live link here so the URL is likely not a live link.

My learning goal at the beginning of this course after viewing the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners was to figure out how to get a podcast to my iPod. Since I must admit I am still trying to figure out how to get my own CD's from my computer to my iPod, I have a ways to go with this goal.

I was thinking last night that Podcasts and YouTube have opened up the world of broadcasting to just about everyone in a very democratic way. It used to be that just a few rich families and corporations had control of most of the media and its content. Now anyone savvy enough can produce a podcast or YouTube video. Truly media for the people. It's interesting what ethical dilemmas this new freedom can create. Should there be someone riding herd on what is broadcast (ie hate speech, inaccurate information, etc.?) And who's to decide?