#15 Library 2.0

I'm one of the many people in the "Sandwich Generation". That is, (broad generalization coming up, here) people older than me don't know and don't want to know anything about computers, and people younger than me were "born digital". I remember the days before computers. I took a programming class in college and made punch-cards for my program. And, this was really cool...I went to the campus library and played computer games with someone on a computer at a whole different school! HA! I bought a TI 64. I played Atari. I learned WordPerfect, and all the PF functions. Then along came the World Wide Web. We got an AOL account, and we loaded it to our huge new computer (132 mg hard drive storage)from a big 5 1/2 inch floppy. Can you all relate to this?! Fast forward 20 years to today. I'm wanting a new computer because ours is five years old and its 160 gb hard drive is almost full, and the 512 RAM speed tends to choke and cough if I open too many windows too fast....

I'm OK with 2.0, though. I'm keeping up with friends and family more than I have in 20 years (I'm not much of a phone or letter person!) I'm learning how to use 2.0 tools to keep up with the deluge of information. In the five years that I've been in the MLS program, the way Missouri offers classes has kept on evolving. They are using podcasts, videocasts, Wimba and more to enhance and deliver course content. I've read the Tame the Web blog by Michael Stephens before, and he's usually got some very common sense thoughts about whatever is making news on that day.

I'm impressed with libraries that have kept up with the 2.0 in a public way - not only visible to customers, but interacting with them via social tools. I think that libraries need to keep up with all the new Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 tools, and use them, because our patrons (not all, but more and more of them) are using them. We have to at least keep up - or even be in the forefront - and go where our customers are: online.