Week 6 - Thing 15

I spent last evening and this afternoon reading through the articles on Library 2.0. Once again, I found myself clicking on links within the links and finding lots of articles that sparked my interest. I have bookmarked many on my del.icio.us account to refer to later. I am on the Strategic Planning Committee at our school, serving on the Technology subcommittee so I am very interested to read about the future of technology in schools. I have printed out the 2008 Horizon Report and the Pew Report on Teens, Technology, and School to share with my committee.

Rick Anderson's article made me think about the ways in which I need to change my thinking in regards to how a library "works". How do I best serve my patrons in the next 5 years? What do I need to change? I like how Michael Stephens called Library 2.0 a "strategy guide" to help users find information. Isn't that what our job really is - helping people locate the information they need? How can we do that effectively if we don't keep up with the changing ways of using technology? I also liked what he said about not implementing technology for the sake of coolness and status but to stick to your mission and goals. He said that the future of libraries should be guided by how users access, consume and create content. We as librarians must stay current so we can serve our teachers and students in meaningful ways. Dr. Wendy Schultz says that libraries are not merely in communities - they are communities! Am I ready?