Basic Concept 2: Library 2.0

Needless to say, Library 2.0 is an extension of Web 2.0. To adapt Web 2.0 into the library world, library professionals use this term to describe a new-fangled set of concepts for developing and delivering library services.

I find Dr. Wendy Schultz's descriptions of library evolution fascinating. In her To a temporary place in time ... she has outlined 4 versions of library. Namely, 1) Library 1.0: Commodity. Books were commodities, traced back from the first library in Alexandra to the industrial era; 2) Library 2.0: Product. Library collections, books or media/digital files, are products. They are everywhere, barrier-free and participatory; 3) Library 3.0: Library 3.0--Web 3D to Library 3D: Services like SecondLife for users to subscribe, where library customers use virtual collections, but with personal introductions; 4) Library 4.0 Library as aesthetic experience. Libraries will be at once spacious and mobile, both virtual and augmented 3D reality, with a brand-new model added: knowledge spa. In a word, it is a utopia of library that librarians have dreamed for numerous generations.

After a brief examination of the above concepts and models, I had one realization gradually dawned on me. No matter how different time and technology is, the library exists to serve users at a particular moment in history, with a particular type of service. Since we are now in the era of Library 2.0, we need to meet our customers' basic expectation to have access to every product. Again how much have we accomplished? The program of 23things is a good start. To help our users with their needs and problems, we need to learn and be trained ourselves first.