Interesting, interesting, interesting commentaries! I'm low-mid on my personal knowledge of Web 2.0/Library 2.0 -- familiarity with the concepts, but not much into the practice of many of them. Abram's point about only understanding them if you've used them is so true. Until I started Im'ing, I didn't understand how easy it is, how convenient, how addicting, and how much it could become a time-sucker! I'm sure many more of the tools could have the same impact on me...if/when I take the time to explore them. Being online and connected is key for me at home and at work.
I'm looking forward to exploring the different tools and working to define which ones might be suit our patron's needs, time, and skill level. I do think there is a need to infuse some of this into each type of library -- to reach some users that otherwise may be turned off by the "typical library" -- if there is still such a place!
I have to chuckle at the first posed question about how to find the time to engage in this learning activity since I already blogged earlier today that it's taking a snow day to get me back on track! I am a believer in taking/making time for the important things -- some important life things have kept me away from this, but I'm back on track now and look forward to continuing to learn and explore.
My participation is to broaden my own awareness and to see what possibilities there are for the libraries I work in to get moving on. Some of this may be happening in our consortium as we look to pull away from the traditional ILS and move into more open-source options. I'm excited for those possibilities and the opportunities related to L2 that may come along with it.
Blyberg's post about the need for internal reorganizations is sure to scare many...change is hard, especially when you're getting down to people and positions and affecting budgets. Tough stuff. I'm a BIG fan of his comments about the need for more library collaboration -- across types of libraries is where I'd like to see more emphasis, especially K-12 to college libraries, but those are my interest areas as well. Just seems to me that the L2 movement could help us make some of those transitions.
The OCLC article on "Icebergs" struck me with the comments about our reliance on user education...we need to make it easier so as much UE isn't as necessary. Hurts to hear from a librarian interested in the teaching aspect, but I do see the point about working to have more intuitive products and tools so patrons can find what they want and use library resources rather than all internet, i.e., Google searches.
I Love the idea of expanding metadata - the example was linking geographic name heading with longitude and latitude coordinates. Cool stuff!!
Let's see what's next...
