On Library 2.0

The OCLC Next Space newsletter was interesting. I liked the analogy of the library as a boat. The article by the OCLC person seemed more like a commercial for OCLC than a discussion of Library 2.0. I thought the idea of including a quick link to an online bookstore for certain items to be worth considering. This might be helpful on items that are on reading lists (for those that procrastinate) or high demand items. I do have a slight issue with the notion that our customers need to be meet where they are - on the internet. We still have many customers who either can not afford computers or are computer illiterate. Perhaps in 15 years the statement will reflect on 90+% of our customers, but now at this time. The wikipedia article was a concise explanation of 2.0.

To me, Library 2.0 is just a term that is being used to showcase changes in libraries. While libraries do cling to the past, we do change and adapt to customer needs. Did we not start offering specific types of programs due to customer needs? Did we not start offering video, music and books on cd due to customer needs? Did we not bring in computers and internet access? We didn't have a label for those changes. We just knew that it had to happen to assist and meet the needs of our customers.