An Introduction to Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. A clinci presented to SOLS libraires in the Fall of 2007

Summary of Walt Crawford’s Article Library 2.0 and “Library 2.0”

Key Points

• When WC wanted to understand what was meant by the term Library 2.0
• He analyzed the discussion that librarian’s were having but couldn’t synthesize it into a single view and concluded that it was a discussion of a set of ideas.
• WC critics the debate on What is Library 2.0 from his the perspective that libraries are not the heart of the public’s everyday information usage nor should they be.
• He contends that the name is new but the ideas and concepts are not. Some of the tools are new but can be applied to traditional library roles like preserving local history and culture
• He contends that there is a difference between library 2.0 and “library 2.0” and the later he describes as “a bandwagon” a ‘movement” a “manifesto. He reviews the literature and concludes there is no coherent meaning for “Library 2.0”
• The “library 2.0” movement feels confrontational – deriding today’s libraries and librarians as irrelevant. Includes such concepts as a new model of service that will replace outdated, one-directional service offerings and a Paradigm shift in the way we view libraries
• On the other hand, Library 2.0 is the discussion, exploration and implementation of concepts and tools. Experimenting with new initiatives within the framework of successful existing services to both attract new users and retain current users.
• Library 2 methodologies may bring in new audiences, improve services, may go unused or wont’ be feasible. Initiatives based on newer web technologies should serve the public library’s mission
• Initiatives based on newer web technologies should serve the public library’s mission
• Initiatives with Library 2.0 are about evolution not revolution. No need to overstate the importance or urgency of Library 2.0
   

Walt Crawford goes on to take issue with the builders of the “library 2.0” bandwagon Michael Casey, Michael Stephens,

• He finds their ideas inconsistent with his concept of what libraries and librarians are and should be. Ideas such as libraries on the verge of failure, libraries are rigid, there needs to be disruption.
• He also challenges what some claim to be the expectations of the modern user, who appear to be a different bred from current library users who find the library relevant - their’s is a vision of “Library 2” for the permaconnected (technogeeks)

“Library 2.0 movement is driven by “a couple of dozen bloggers and an UK ILS company