#15 Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

This has made me think of all those conversations I have had with people at social gatherings saying that the internet is killing libraries and books. Well fooey to all them, the internet is creating challenges that most of us had not known existed before starting this training package, I for one was one of them!

We have just added an extra 4 internet PC's at my branch this week, to a total of 9, and to my amazement, as the technician was literally plugging them in, we were booking them out. I had never realised just how many people we were turning away from using our resources as there were an inadequate amount available. An here is some of our bookstock on the shelves, with only 9% of the collection being used.

Some challenges that we as libraries will be possibly trying to overcome is training our users. In this web 2.0 world, we should not just be creating meeting rooms, we need learning rooms with banks of PC's and whiteboards at the ready for sessions on how to create blogs both for the public and individuals, using RSS feeds for both study and recreation etc.

These tools are not just for recreation, but they are integral business and study resources, and we should be sharing this knowledge now and in the future, not how to understand dated Dewey!.

Maybe this is what we will be doing with our remaining books in the future? Who really knows...