Thing 18

After reading a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the future of libraries, I think Paul Miller, writing in Ariadne Issue 45, has a great take on this. He states:

"Libraries were once the guardians of knowledge, and the point at which those seeking knowledge would engage with it. With the rise of Google, Amazon, Wikipedia and more, there is an oft-stated fear that many users, much of the time, will bypass processes and institutions that they perceive to be slow, unresponsive, unappealing and irrelevant in favour of a more direct approach to services offered by others that just might be 'good enough' for what they need to do."

This being the case, libraries need to challenge these perceptions and reach out to these users in ways that will engage them. According to Miller, libraries should "push their genuinely valuable content, services and expertise out to places where people might stand to benefit from them; places where a user would rarely consider drawing upon a library for support."

I couldn't agree more: As library workers -- the Bastions of Knowledge -- we have to take the leap of learning and incorporating Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 into our repertoire or suffer the consequences. In short, evolve or die.