Even though I consider myself a librarian who's really interested in technology and innovation, I wasn't that convinced about the usefulness of Library 2.0 until I went to the Internet Librarian conference. I was so motivated and encouraged by people who seemed to love technology and innovation and who had actually made use of it in very interesting ways. But then, like many librarians, I returned home and met reality of having to get people interested in the ideas and to get approval to work on something. And all of it takes a lot of time to work on.
I appreciate this 23 Things programs--it allows me to try out technology with a flexible investment in time (I'm doing the project at home) and no expense.
I do have some concerns about Library 2.0, though:
- Our libraries' physical spaces seem designed for a traditional library clientele, not 2.0 users. There seem to be two distinct groups wanting to use our spaces: people that want to read, work, study, research, or just browse the web with a great degree of quiet and peace surrounding them; and the other group, primarily middle school kids from a neighboring school that rush over after school for a few hours each afternoon, wanting to use our library not as a traditional library, but as a meeting place and social center. They want to be on the web with their friends, often as a large group, and want to be loud and have fun. Besides the noise, we deal with trash left around; the occasional fight that breaks out; groups gathered around one PC that intrude on others' spaces; and sometimes vandalism. What my generation used for social interactions was after-school groups, sports events and hanging out on the small-town streets; what the current school generation uses is MySpace and YouTube, and they want to share their latest "friend" or funny video with their friends in a very vocal way. Loud and messy students meet adults who need quiet. Much of the librarian time is spent trying to come to a workable compromise, but to the kids, we're mean; to the adults, we don't do enough to ensure absolute quiet. Some days, we think we don't serve either group satisfactorily. More time is spent on patrolling and behavior control than on customers who need our help or on work we need to get to.
- Librarians are pulled in all directions these days. We work the reference desk; keep current collections, with lots of weeding; teach computer classes, involving writing curriculum and handouts; plan programs; and outreach in the community. All of this takes time, more than many people realize.
- Our collections always need improving and in my building, the open hours are unsatisfactory to many customers. The money spent on technology could be used to improve these two items and would probably please more of the public than, say, Podcasting or IMing (not that these are expensive items, but staff time involved with these could be). It's a real trade-off with budgets that get pulled in two or more directions at once. Do you put it into collections and staff (with more open hours) or technology?
- I'm not totally sure of how many people we'd reach yet by putting forth a lot of effort into some of the technologies. How many people would listen to a Podcast? Use RSS?
I think it's worth at least talking about some of the technologies and trying some out. Sometimes in our libraries, I feel that change comes too slowly. I often think we should just give some things a try without months or even years of study and fix problems as they come along--IF they come along. That seems to be where true innovation comes in: not expecting perfection, but creating an immediate presence and learning as you go.
Even with the problems I listed above, I'm still ready to try many things out. You'll never know what you're missing or what could be successful unless you try! And learning new skills and technologies just makes you better at everything else you do.
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