Rant 2.0

I am a firm believer in harnessing new technology to enhance our services, but I also don't see the 2.0 movement as new revelation in librarianship. It is time to lose the 2.0 moniker. Come on Michael Stephens (and all others using 2.0 slang), the traits you talk about are ones that Librarians need period. These are not new ideas or changes in the paradigm. 2.0 is in vogue and, of course, without the 2.0 moniker your piece may not get the attention in deserves (and it does deserve it).

Things may move a little (ok, a lot) faster now, but, in it's purest form, change is change and technology is technology. Whether it is moving from card catalog to ILS, creating wikis, adding enhanced services online or at the library, or changing the physical library environment, what we are seeing now with the 2.0 vernacular is not really new. We've been doing this stuff for years. New skills may need to be learned, but this has been a constant in librarianship over time. Libraries, in general, are progressive environments that focus on the users, as well as, the future. Sure we are not known as early adopters when a technology becomes available, but one thing that libraries have done well is provide consistent, stable, and reliable service.

Sounds boring, but reliability is often underrated. Yes, we should embrace new technology. But, we should only commit if it is right for our patrons needs, is sustainable, and is relevant to our mission. This may mean that not everyone embraces the new social technologies the same way, at the same time, or at all. It just depends. Just as Stephens says "the Library is human," the library is also "social technology." We are constantly evolving. Even if this is just from interacting with our patrons every day.

Innovation comes in many different forms. The 2.0 moniker will be gone soon and replaced with a new term for innovation in the library. My suggestion for this new term would be Librarian.

Ok, time to get back into my straight jacket.

Technorati

Probably makes as much sense out of the socialweb as anything. If nothing else, it can suck your time away. Do a search and see where you end up. Probably not where you expected.

Thing 13: Tagging schmagging

Yeah, tagging is kind of neat. But, it really can create a mess. At least in some practical applications.

For instance, I use (well, used. It has been down for a month) a website that houses open source images. It has changed from, categorically, defining images to a tagging system. So, when looking for an image, you have to navigate a huge tag cloud. Plus it doesnt have a good search engine. Part of the problem may be their site and how they have decided to implement tagging, but it is much more unweildy than before. There doesn't appear to be any type of authority (which is the point of tagging,I guess) Things that you would think should appear under the same heading don't. My guess is that Dewey aint got nothing to worry about.

Haiku for Chuck

Tough Texas Ranger

In his boots and cowboy hat

Thugs fall tout de suite

Rollyo! Yeah Baby!

I created a search that, specifically, searches the LCPL website. Give it a try, it should be to the right of the page. It works well. It does stumble with ebooks, however. Much better than the county's search engine on the website.

Library Web Thing

Library Thing will never replace the ILS (well never may be a little too strong). However, it will be neat to see how the plan goes to integrate it with library ILS systems. Here is a link to Tim's blog about the future integration of Library Thing into library catalogs. Jie and I talk a lot about enhancing content within our catalog. Our system does provide some enhanced content via SirsiDynix's partnership with Syndetic Solutions, but it's coverage is spotty and much less ambitious than what Library Thing proposes to do.

And now for the obligatory plug of my Library Thing web page.
If you are interested, here is a link to my short list. OK, I have more books than this and I have even a read a few.