#15 Library 2.0 Thoughts

We've heard and talked Library 2.0 for a while. After reading four posts on it recommended by QL L2.0, Where will the Next Generation Web Take Libraries? By Tom Storey, Away from Icebergs by Rich Anderson, Into a New world of Librarianship by Michael Stephens, and AL's Annoyed Librarian Anti-2.0 Manifesto, my idea on what is Lib 2.0 is now taking shape. The "principles of simplicity, rich interactivity, user participation, collective intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed contents" (Tom Storey) should be equally applicable to Library 2.0. This is just what Rich Anderson and Michael Stephens tried to explain, interpreter, and apply to the library environments.

Rich Anderson says, "In fact, it may no longer make sense to 'collect' in the traditional sense at all". His arguments is based on the changing behavior and ways of serving library patrons/customers and his experience in the university and advanced learning environment where he works. There are several factors that make his arguments not universally applicable. In colleges/universities the patrons/customers are averagely younger than their counterparts in public libraries; they are more educated, have easier access to computers and other high tech means of learning; and what they need from the library is more advanced and more current information. That's why the circulation of the printed materials at Anderson's university dropped 55% over the past 12 years. While in the public libraries we serve everybody, but the main body of our customers are very different from those in universities in terms of age, education, and actual needs from the community libraries. They ask for questions like the best doctors in medical practice in NYC, how to become a US citizen, biographies of the Saints, what are the prices of certain old coins or stamps, etc; we fulfill their more basic life and work needs and their entertainment necessities. Bestseller fictions and nonfictions are our custome' favorites. This is why the circulation of the Queens Public Library increased 30% in the same 12 years period as Rich Anderson used to calculate his university circulation.

Twelve years ago in 1995 the first HTML browsers, the Mosaic, then the Netscape, and fianlly the IE, came into being. That marked the beginning of massive transformation as to the ways and means by which knowledge and information are conveyed and accessed. In the past 12 years this has happened mainly in the academic world, among the younger generations and more educated people. For the older and less educated generations and communities, they have also benefited from this tech explosion, but more indirectly through the library and other information services, or from government and commercial services. In our daily service sometimes both the librarian and customers were thrilled by their miraculous findings through the Internet. For instance, in the recent months I found several medical articles by Google search quickly and accurately, they appeared on the very top (because of "popularity" in the Technorati's term.). In searching this kind of highly-demanded popular medical articles (with exact title and author) nowadays Google search is often more efficient in terms of searching time and accuracy than the traditional databases and databases are expensive; we may consider reduce the number of database subscriptions. When I told my experience to a new librarian who just came out of library school, she/he was surprised and puzzled because in her/his library school, they were taught how to use the more "academic" databases; while the popular web search engines were hinted as not for serious work. New techs gives us pleasure and convenience indeed. we all have seen the surprised and happy faces when we printed out driving directions and maps for our customers with mapquest or google maps or yahoo maps.

New techs are not "icebergs", they are better tools to access information and to get knowledge. It is common sense that different people use different tools. Professors, students, young guys with good eye sight, all love computers. Computers and programs for the blind are widely available now. But do you think a lady or gentleman of 60 or 70 years old would enjoy reading James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, or Nicholas Sparks, Khaled Hosseini, on the computer screen? No way. It would not be a comfort nor a joy to stair at the screen for so long as to finish a novel within a few days. However, It is indeed a pleasure to read those lovely authors lying on a couch or lazy-boy beside the fireplace, or on the beach under the Florida sun in winter, or in the shade of Howard Beach trees in summer. Do they care about computers, google or yahoo, myspace or facebook, del.icio.us or wikipedia? Yes, but not as much as the professors or students. They may heard of them, but they do not like being forced to learn something that are not absolutely indispensable to them. Comfort and convenience are more important to this group of customers. "Simple" and "easy" are part of the Library 2.0 characteristics, these two qualities are also traditional features of Library 1.0. For the future as far as we can see, libraries of printed materials will not distinguish at all; they are not and will not be endangered species or careers in the 21st or 22nd century. Just imagine when both printed and electronic versions of the same contents are available for reading only, which version would you choose? The answer is obvious: the printed one for sure because it is convenient and easy to read. Collections of printed materials will still make sense in the future, no matter whether it is library 2.0 or 3.0.

Library 2.0 or Library 1.0? Which side are you one? My answer is they are both libraries, they are both essential and important now and in the future for serving varied community needs and both will continue growing, developing and expanding in their respective ways for different customers and to satisfy diversified demands from our valued customers/patrons. "Library is human", as Michael Stephens puts it, it serves individual human beings. The ways and formats of library services should be as varied as human beings are.

What we should avoid during the transformation processes is the final warning given by Al, the Annoyed Librarian, "Always change. Never think." Thank you, Al, but we will change and always think.