I have been amazed by the societal changes brought by web 2.0 phenomena. Anybody can be a journalist, an author, a singer, or an actor. A boy wielding a golf-stick mimicking a Jedi knight can be viewed by more than four million people. Anybody can become famous. More people can make their voices heard, and it contributes to bring more equalized and democratized society.
When it comes to library 2.0, I have only superficial knowledge about it. For now, I am not really convinced how it can really enhance library services, or how it can support library’s mission and goal. Maybe more extensive reading and surfing could help.
I have one question I want to ask somebody. In many articles, people express their concerns about diminishing role of the library. They lament that people don’t rely on the library any more to find the information they need. I didn’t grow up in this country. When I was living in my country, we had very poor library services. My question is, were there good old days of the library when the library was the first place people turn to in their information seeking? Is the role of library really “diminishing”? What are the differences in the role of library between now and about 10 or 20 years ago? I just want to understand what the real concerns are.
You tap into a good question. Libraries have a long history, and probably for many years in the last century were the go to place. But is it all a bit idealized as well?
Twelve years ago, in 1996, the Internet was commonplace. Throughout the 1990s, the Internet grew 100%. When people could get answers to their questions without leaving their homes in the evening or weekend, the need to walk through the doors of the library diminished greatly.
The number of serviceable hours posted by reference librarians has been steadily decreasing over the years. Teaching bibliographic instruction has increased which is a good thing. Eighty years ago or so, whenever it was that Carnegie gave money to have libraries built across the United States, the top authority was a librarian who became revered for being the “secret master of the universe” because of his/her reference skills. Since it takes forever to change, and some people thrive in positions of power, some librarians are still waiting for patrons to come to them. In the 1990s, people were beginning to perform their own research using the Internet.
Today’s technology lets us get the information on our own. We use the Internet with high reliability, good connectivity, virus menaces kept at bay (cross my fingers), and with very fast speeds. We can do it ourselves, on our own time, in our own space, whenever we please. We don’t have to disturb the librarian behind that big, dark desk where whisper has a history.
When your store gets out-of-date, you need to remodel,keep up with the current clientelle or you will have to turn out the lights, close the door.