Monday, May 14, 2007

Library 2.0

"Never stops dreaming about the best library services." I like this slogan - very positive for our community. By adopting library or librarian 2.0, a library can expect itself as a leader within community. However, Web 2.0 is considered a new concept online. Not many people are aware of this although some people believe that lots of people are using it. Fifteen years ago, people started to enjoy browsing WWW, but not until five years later, people were truly crazy about the Internet. The fact should be this. They may know one or two, or some even know more about it, but it still has not come to the whole picture of it. Take MySpace as an example. Some libraries have created a profile to seek more patrons online or to connect more young patrons there. Honestly, I doubt the library really could build connections online where their users' live. They might add the library as their friends, but do they really want to spend time on library's MySpace? Speaking of "the library is human, because it makes the library a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience." Well, very true. Yesterday -- a Mother's Day in the library, a Russian-speaker patron got very angry and yelled at staff, only because she could not get a book right away. Then, she kept yelling at staff for not understanding English. No respect for a human and herself as well. One of the articles mentioned "We've seen a 55 percent drop in circulation rates over the past twelve years, making it harder and harder to justify the continued buildup of a large 'just in case' print collection." Luckily, this is not the case for the KCLS.

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