Today's post is meant to focus on the concept of Library 2.0 - the Library re-envisioned through the lens of Web 2.0 type functionality. (You know, those things I've been posting about of late.) We looked at a brief series of articles as well as the Wikipedia entry, which I've linked to for simplicity's sake.
For the most part I agree that a lot of the Web 2.0 functionality isn't really a new idea for libraries. It may involve a new way of doing something (hey, rotate those crops instead of planting the same thing year after year, it works better!), but the ultimate goals are still the same. Connecting with the community you're a part of. Serving the public and providing access to all sorts of information. The web presence of a Library will (and should) grow thus enabling people to access things on their own schedules. Use of tools like wikis and RSS to push information or aggregate content. It's certainly an interesting new place.
Which doesn't mean that the physical Library will go anywhere. I still don't see books and movies going anywhere soon. I know companies like Microsoft would love for digital distribution to be the norm and the accepted way of doing things, but there's a lot that would have to happen first and you'd need a pretty big generational shift. Music is certainly a look at where things might go. Digital music is a pretty strong force, but it hasn't completely killed off the CD yet. And that's to say nothing of things people create as far as mixes and so on. It's not all swapped electronically. People will still want a place they can go. A place where information can be used and collected.
It's an interesting question. And one that can only be answered through time. But here's to keeping up and seeing what new ways we can interact with the people we serve.
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