Thursday, August 2, 2007

Week 6 Thing 15 The Future of Libraries through Library 2.0

As with everything else in this world, technology is always changing and evolving. With Library 2.0 from the Library 2.0 meaning from the lovely, sometimes non-reliable source of Wikipedia.com, libraries, especially PUBLIC libraries are constantly changing and updating there set up to better assist the library user. It seems that there is a constant debating going on in which some librarians feel that this tactic has been taking place for years, while others see that, in gernal, librarians have always tried to keep up with the Jones, but now they are inviting technology as a constant source.

From reading this and the "Away from the Icebergs" articles, I get an impression that we are living in the day and age where books are not as important as other forms of receiving information. Let me reinterate, books are great, don't get me wrong...if people gave up on them, I wouldn't have a job; however, "collections" as in paper and documentation are becoming old news. Granted, I do believe that librarians have evolved with the changes over the years, but I think many too often refer to books for the answer when they need to upgrade to the Internet for more up-to-date information.

Library 2.0 is something that will continue to evolve over the years. What we find new and hip today may be old news by tomorrow or next week. Since technology is constantly changing, it is easy to see how people can become frustrated and get irritated with all the new changes, but with everything else in life, you must be patience and put one foot in front of the other. Over time, you will get better and slowly grow to understand all the changes, updates, and who knows whatever else is going to be thrown all way. You never know...one day, libraries may be nothing more than a shell with no books but thousands of computer pods in which patrons can gather information or read a fiction book in their free time. Who knows...we just have to wait and see what occurs..

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