Today's lesson in my snail-paced intro to technology is that I have to remember to bring earphones to use on my chosen computer set up not to have sound go to speakers. So I will have to come back to watching/listening to the "launch of 23 things" video. Today was only a beginning on Thing 2, reading the intro comments and the 2006 blog post by John Blyberg. And I think I will take the rest of today's time to write some comments, even though I want to read more.
I think libraries have always been evolving; it is only the pace of change that is different now. And libraries have been moving in the direction of being user-centered for a long time, too. (Remember Ranganathan and the concept of saving the time of the user?) Library 2.0 does not seem to me to be a complete change, just a speeding up.
In the early 90's I was the assistant in a two-person special library. The librarian I worked with was taking calls from a soon-to-retire librarian in one of the allied small libraries. She was having some difficulties running searches in a format that was new to her, but with some phone coaching she was managing OK so she could get what her patrons needed. I commented that it was brave of her to be trying out something so different for her; my boss responded, "Of course. She is a librarian." That has stuck with me. To be a librarian means to be brave about heading into uncharted territory of making connections between people and information. I am going a lot more slowly than a lot of folks around me, but I am willing to come along.
Another line of thought that occurs to me is the differences in how Library 2.0 plays out in a large library, especially one with good funding, and in a small library. Most libraries are strapped for money and staff hours. Allowing someone to take time to develop technology experiments is a luxury not available in many libraries--but we can take little pieces of what has been developed elsewhere. And we can find more ways of working together, like this effort across Minnesota. That collaboration with each other, as well as with our patrons, has great potential.
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Speed isn't everything; thought and reflection before jumping in is a GOOD THING. Willingness is the most important attribute to bring along; we can't all do the same things because of many constraints, but we can all collaborate and share what we learn as we explore. We'll take away what we can use and know what else is there for some other possiblity.
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