Thing #15 Web 2.0

Rick Anderson Director of Resource Acquisition,University of Nevada, Reno Libraries has some great points in his article Away from the Icebergs .
1. Do we still need all those books "just in case" or can we find the information through different sources? I believe there will always be a place for books and but they are not going to be the main source of where our students will find information in the future. Part of me wants to students to find at least on source in a book as they research because I know all the good sources that are on the shelves. ( I purchased them when opening the library four years ago) I also know that very soon those books will be out of date and I will be directly students to online souces, that are more current, easier to access, and cheaper to keep current. These same books are also what makes my library look so good as they are aesthetically pleasing to the eye but soon may be gathering dust on the shelves. So in the future how much do I weed?
2. Can we exist as the library that offer services only to those who walk through the doors? The Web 2.0 makes us look at how we present information to our patrons. We can not just sit back and wait from them to walk through the doors but provide access at the very place that high school students spend time--on the Internet.
3. Can we do this without the training necessary to make us the teachers and instructors that help our patrons find the information they need? Because our profession deals directly with information, we need to be a life long learner. We need to continually learn the new skills that are necessary to teach and instruct our patrons and students on how to find information through the many different resources available through the internet.


Michael Stephens discusses the roles of a Librarian in his article Sharpen these Skills for Librarian 2.0 As I learn more about Web2.0 this summer, I am beginning to understand how different my role as a librarian is changing from when I started 10 years ago. We need to embrace the changes in technology so we can connect with our users. In this article Michael challenges us to set a good foundation and mission for our libraries and not get side tracked by all the different technologies available. Choose what will work for our library and work quickly to put it into play. We can't take months to decide what we want to do or let road blocks deter us from completely our mission. I like how Michael describes a Librarian 2.o as a librarian that "understands that the future of libraries will be guided by how users access, consume and create content." and "will help users become their own programming director for all of the content available to them"