Thing #2. What is Library 2.0?

When encouraged to "check out" 23 Things on a Stick by my colleague, a K-12 Media Specialist, I was intrigued. I am constantly looking for ways to incorporate technology (and our ever-shrinking library resources - my colleague included!) and use it to enhance my students' learning experiences. I had no idea the depth Library 2.0 is running at - or Web 2.0 for that matter (or Education 2.0, perhaps?)

Here's where I have to admit I thought I had a leg up on everyone else when it came to 23 Things on a Stick: I am Web 2.0 proficient...or so I thought. I feel just like I did when I took my first history classes in college: overwhelmed. I thought I knew a lot! It only took two weeks (and my first quiz) for me to realize how I had barely scratched the surface of knowledge. I am learning though - and this time it only took me two days to discover how little I know. =)

It is strange to think of something like Library 2.0 as radical, yet, the problems that arise with the need to revolutionize our libraries are completely new. The ideas we use to solve them will, indeed, be radical. This is tough to wrap my head around!

At the same time, though, I know it is not the information that is radical - I think it is the format in which the information is presented. If I were browsing my library's online database for a favorite author, the database might recommend other books I might like (same author, subject) in the system as well. But why limit this database in this manner: what about books in other libraries, published reviews on this book, readers' reviews typed in the database entries, or even readers' blogs - and authors' blogs? Or if I wanted any "How To..." information (videos/blogs). This is information I could obtain by other means - it is not new information. But having this readily available from my small-town library and all in one place - wow! (And I do not simply mean a new database system!) It sounds like libraries, or rather, the people working in the libraries, are finding new ways of presenting this information to the public, while still preserving The Library itself.