Thing 2 - Perspectives on Library 2.0

I've already felt the frustration of lacking a connection to many of the teens in my high school library. I'm a book lover, but they could care less about reading a book. At the least they peruse magazines. For research, they grab the bibliographic information from a book without ever reading a page. For them, Google is all you need to research a topic. It seems like I'm swimming against the current in trying to get them to use databases and "old-fashioned" books. Maybe I am a dinosaur.

I've seen libraries already using some of these exciting tools, whether to make themselves relevant, or simply as a applicable way to achieve a time-honored function. Virtual reference is one good example I can think of. When I first read about it, I recognized its usefulness, but could not see it within my high school culture, because of a lack of personnel and time. Public libraries or a college setting seem more likely to be able to handle it. Web 2.0 may offer all kinds of "toys," but librarians need to take an honest look at those "toys." Some may be a better way to deliver services they always have, but some may not be feasible either.

Schools in general are lagging in policies for allowing library 2.0 tools to be used. Our internet acceptable use policy prohibits any two-way communication tools for students. Being afraid of controlling such communication, we block it altogether. I've seen some discussion on the topic in professional journals and on list-servs. Many feel we are doing students and ourselves a disservice to totally block social networking sites and IM. We ignore the reality of the lifestyles students lead and how they are getting their information. School library media specialists will have to be at the forefront in leading change in this arena. The trust issue brought up in "The Ongoing Web Revolution" resonates with me. It is at the heart of schools' reluctance to allow such uses of the Web.

I applaud the multitypes for this 23 things on a stick program to help us all take the first step in experiencing some of these tools. It will be up to us to decide which ones make sense to use in our settings. It's all exiting, challenging, and terribly frightening.