23. 23 Dingen is voor mij ...

Following the 23 Things has been for me a very enriching experience. I've enjoyed reading all the information about Library 2.0, something which I confess I would never have done on my own.

I think that the course has had, on the whole, a positive effect on our organisation. It has brought colleagues closer together and I have really enjoyed learning more about the people with whom I work. It has been a pleasure to receive so much support and encouragement from my coach and from other colleagues.

Something which surprised me and which has been an unexpected benefit for me from this course is the self confidence it has given me to express my own opinions (much helped by the fact that I was allowed to write my blog in English).

In answer to the question, 'What can be done to improve the 23 Things?' perhaps it would encourage people to read more if more of the core information was translated into Dutch.

My favourite things on the course were Library Thing and my Netvibes page with RSS feeds and podcasts which I would now not be without! I'm sure that many of my colleagues will continue to use the social networking aspects of the course privately and I hope that it will be possible in the future for us to use our new found skills in the workplace.

22. Library 2.0

I have been reading the background information which is mainly written in English so I've no excuse not to read it. The general message seems to be that libraries must be open to all the technological changes going on in the information world and they must allow the library users to determine how information is to be relayed to them, not necessarily by physically coming to the library but rather via the web. I thought what Rick Anderson had to say in Nextspace, the OCLC newsletter most effectively summed up all the reservations and difficulties which I have with Library 2.0. He calls them "Icebergs." The idea that the library does not have a "just in case" collection of books is scary for me but I can see the logic, particularly with the informative and educational non-fiction work, in providing the users with the most up to date material.





I think a lot of librarians find it difficult to relinquish their position as sole provider of information and as teacher. Library 2.0 seems to lobby for more user friendly methods of information retrieval so that information flows more freely."from library to user, user to library, library to library and user to user."
I also found what I think it was David Lee King had to say about library blogs interesting too, that in order for the library to meet changing customer needs and to stay culturally relevant it has to keep it's digital space up to date.
Finally, what I found reassuring was the message, "Throw out the culture of Perfect" which I understood to mean that if we allow users more say in how information is accessed and it becomes a collaborative exercise between library staff and user then the user can not hold the library entirely responsible for providing information.Both library and user can learn from each other's mistakes and build on each other's successes
I was invited by a colleague to join Bibliotheek 2.0 Ning which I have done but I must explore it more thoroughly.
Whilst 'trawling' through the net I found some interesting information about virtual books (I hope this link works). This is , I think, the Library 3.0 which Dr Wendy Schultz describes in her article.
To sum up this post I would like to say that a lot of Library 2.0 still daunts me and some still verges on Science Fiction but I'm amazed how much I've learned over the past few weeks and it's all making much more sense to me as a way forward for libraries.