Library 2.0?

Hmm...
I like the idea. I am enjoying this "blogging", and I like the concepts I have seen from Hennipin County Library on Facebook and Auckland City Libraries on Bebo, that libraries can use.

For public libraries? In reading the OCLC newsletter articles, I am happy with quite a bit of what they suggest. I think that we can do great things with Library 2.0. I don't think we can afford to let it go by without adopting many of the techniques and patterns for our own use. I like the idea of wikis run by libraries, for example, and even a kind of interactive catalogue. We have a start with that at the moment - "ratings". (Out of interest, just how much is this used, I wonder?)

So, I have a few reservations, which could be dealt with by being particularly careful in our utilisation of the wonders of Web 2.0.

1. I don't know how our website 'hits' compare with our through-the-door figures. It would be good to have an idea. And I am not talking about all the libraries, but about our library in particular. A "destination of choice". People happily use the web to help them find what they want, but they still come to the library for the "serendipity", the perchance discovery of a tactile book. Something that feels smooth and just the right kind of weight for a late night read, or a summer beach book. Something that has the right size print.... Amazon tries to do this with its "search insides"...but there are still people who would rather escape the rest of the cyberworld and return to "ye olde ways" of picking up a book and looking at it at times. Libraries have a place here too. Interesting to see that Dr Wendy Schultz seems to feel that we will get there again one day in Library 4.0.
   
2. Beware the time factor. We may be 'free-ing' up staff to get out into the library to work with the people, but they may just have to pop back to the workstation to work on the wiki/myspace and respond to all those comments... 2.0 interface is a great thing, but to produce quality stuff will take a bit of time. I presume that it goes without saying that we want quality?
3. And I think we need to know a whole lot more about our customers before we devote too much precious time and energy to this. The ratings? The website hits? What happened to Airpac? Do customers want 'more' or do they want 'different'? Must we "tell" them what they want? We're going to have to get Big Brotherly in order to find out. Are they ready for that too?