Thing 2.0

It took me awhile to even decide on my opening sentence for this post. There are a lot of interesting ways that "library 2.0" can be used in libraries, but really, what is "Library 2.0?" It's hard to even really define "Library 1.0." I think each library needs to define what it means to THEM, and go with that. Not all libraries need a blog. I don't seen any need for Second Life in libraries, except of course if people use library computers to get there. I really like Facebook - I use it every day. I use Library Thing, also, although I tend to use IRead more frequently. Flickr, etc is great to share photos easily with family and friends.
Many of the proponents of Library 2.0 make it sound as if it's a "Do or die" situation for libraries. Blyberg said that "it's obvious millennials have little interest" in libraries. Except- oops- another recent study entirely contradicts that. In my experience you can find research to back up nearly any point you wish to make, so perhaps we need to take some of this with a grain of salt. San Francisco's new "state of the art" library has been redesigned twice in twelve years because, in spite of their former director's opinion, books aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Meredith Farkas believes that Library 2.0 caused some librarians to lose their way. I think in a sense that's correct - it's a lot of fun to play around with much of this technology, but trying to make it work for your library may not be as much fun. Blyberg himself just recently posted that L2 has been co-opted to some extent by those who want change merely for change's sake, rather than looking at problems that may exist and working to solve them. Voila - a wiki will solve everything!
What is fun, I think, is getting involved with how customers are using technology and building on the strengths we already have, then, incorporating what we can use into what we already do so well.