Roy Tennant, Moderator
Description of the analogy of the elephant – People grab onto different parts and form an opinion based
Q – What does library 2.0 mean to you?
Cindi – It’s not just a set of tools and technologies. It’s a philosophy. It’s about creating services and spaces for users that invite them.
Michael – What libraries do to fulfill their roles as community anchors has to change. There are new tools tht make us more vibrant and more relevant than ever before.
Meredith – Creation of services as an iterative process. You’re constantly fixing and assessing. It’s about putting our money where our mouth is and being really user focused.
David – Wikipedia as a tool – It’s a new way to present information and to let everyone contribute their knowledge. It’s a new philosophy about how to do things.
Michael – I’m more interested in what works. I don’t care about Twitter or Gmail or Facebook. Focus on why the tools do or do not meet our needs.
Cindi – It’s useful to think of Library 2.0 as a derivative of Web 2.0. Distinguish new types of companies from dotcom bubble companies. It enables software as a platform. There are applications on the web (not just on the desktop).
Meredith – Technologies that allow us to build communities and communicate with one another. People form relationships with others who are only electronic blips.
David – Making tech tools easy for non-tech audience to use. 2.0 technologies are made to connect people. If it is succeeding, the technology is out of the way.
Michael – 2.0 technologies can be distracting. It’s hard to know what to use as brands change (so pay attention to functionality). It’s very difficult to track the success (or lack thereof) of your institution’s use of these tools. It’s all anecdotal.
David – It’s sad that we’re still trying to figure these tools out because some of them are 15 years old. Disagree with Michael on tracking success. You can find blog stats. If users are commenting, then they are reading and engaged. Facebook gives some basic statistics and demographics.
Cindi – Just because someone had a page open for 10 minutes, how do you know they were actually reading it and not talking with friends?
Meredith – It’s scary that so little assessment is being done. We’re spending time on these services. Why not assess them?
Michael – If you use the reporting tools from these various sites, they don’t always sync up on the same timeline. When the way you report is numbers-numbers-numbers, that doesn’t account for social connections and interactions and how people’s lives are impacted.
Cindi – Tools like WordPress, Blogger, PBWiki, and Flickr gives libraries the power to reach out to audiences in new ways.
David – In a normal library, how do you capture this anecdotal evidence? It’s recorded in these social tools.
Q – What are some of the barriers you see to libraries adopting and using these new tools?
Meredith – We’re entrusting our knowledge and hard work to third party sites that may or may not be there in the future. Twitter is a good example of a highly popular service that is constantly losing money. People aren’t planning for web 2.0 tools the same way they’re planning for others with regard to backups, etc.
Cindi – Any time you want to do something new or create a new service, don’t be afraid of failing. Take a risk management approach. What are the terms of service?
David – What are the barriers? Technology. The bigger barriers are our own. If you want to really "get" a technology, you have to immerse yourself in it.
Michael – Years ago, there was a debate in public libraries about whether to circulate fiction. In the 1970s the companies that produced VHS and Betamax tapes went to court to prevent libraries from circulating them. Do we circulate digital movies in our libraries? Very few. Go to Netflix. THEY circulate digital movies. These companies are usurping our content distribution. If we don’t figure out a better way to circulate digital content, we’re in deep trouble. Setting up a blog or a Flickr stream are first steps in doing something about it.
Meredith – Time is a barrier. People say that they don’t have time to learn or do a new thing. People are asked to do new things, but no responsibilities are being taken away from their jobs. This has to change at the organizational level. People have to be given the time and resources to do this.
Michael – Use the tools to get more effort out of what you’re doing.
Meredith – We spend a lot of time outside of work learning to do these things. If our administrators don’t give us time and resources to do these things, then they don’t value them.
David – Some people are better at managing their time than others. Reference librarians do 20 hours n the reference desk and 20 off. What are they doing with the unscheduled time?
Q – What libraries are good examples of using 2.0 technologies and principles?
Michael – Lester Public Library in Wisconsin.
Q – What is the one thing you want to say to the audience?
David – Administrators and managers – let your staff go with it. The worst thing that can happen is that you have a filed project and learn something from it. That’s a positive outcome.
Meredith – These technologies are not a magic wand. We shouldn’t use a tool just because someone else is. Think about what is appropriate to your audience.
Michael – If you focus on your role and mission in your community, you’ll be fine.
Cindi – It’s a matter of having someone in your library who understands the role of these tools in the community.
Q – How can library 2.0 tools be supported in brick and mortar libraries?
David – We had a tweetup with free food sponsored by a local tv station. The library will be hosting a conference on 2.0 tools for the community.
Q – What are ways to help people who are intimidated by computers, let alone 2.0 technologies?
David – If you have staff who are still intimidated by computers, why did you hire them, and why do you still have them? Why have you not fired those people if they are not fulfilling their roles?
Michael – I’m a big advocate of partnering people. Pair someone with greater technology skills with someone with lesser skills.
Meredith – Technology petting zoos. I like the idea of having a place where people can play with technology in a non-threatening environment. Host a training session where people can just play around.
Cindi – Subject guide boot camp. People will spend all day together working on subject guides and reinforcing their skills.
Q – It sounds like a lot of library 2.0 is marketing. Would you say that that sums it up or is there something that goes against that?
David – That’s only part of the picture. Marketing is part of it because it’s a broadcast medium. It’s also a collaboration platform for connecting and sharing. It’s more about using pooled knowledge to come up with a better idea.
Cindi – It’s also a tool that lets users give feedback to us. It’s not just a wooden suggestion box in the corner.
Q – If you’re going to have a technology petting zoo, what tools would you show them?
Meredith – It depends on your population, what they need, and what will be appropriate to them.
Michael – Kindle, iPhone, Palm Pre, Flip camera, Livescribe Pulse
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David – Set your priorities and focus on them. Don’t focus on what will take the most or least amount of time.
Michael – If you’re going to do something like a blog, you have to have the plan, commitment, and follow-through to keep it updated.
Q – What some of the privacy pitfalls that we need to be aware of and let our patrons know about?
Michael – Every company doing these social tools is a for-profit enterprise. We care about privacy, but these companies don’t. I think there should be a non-profit connected to libraries that develops tools like this.
David – The bigger privacy concern is just a lack of understanding about what these tools do, where they go, and who follows them. People THINK they’re being anonymous. Some people don’t quite understand the tools well enough to know who can read them.
Q – There are people with legitimate arguments and complaints that Facebook and Twitter are a waste of time. These users may be feeling left behind in face of 2.0 initiatives.
David – The largest growing segment of Facebook users is the over-50 group.
Michael – We don’t have any trouble doing what we’ve always done.
David – My job is digital branch manager. My patrons ARE these users of digital tools.
Additional Reading
The Great Debate – Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled Its Promise? – at Librarian by Day
Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled Its Promise? at LITA Blog
Starter Questions for Ultimate Debate 2009 by David Lee King
Surf's Up 
Is anyone else ready for us librarians to move from the term 2.0 to new media…or something? I feel like it makes us sound *slightly* out of touch. http://yolaleah.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/ala-2009-a-perspective/
I feel your pain! 🙂 Actually there was at least one program at ALA that referred to Web 3.0! (I wasn’t able to attend that one.) And LITA’s BIGWIG group hosted the Social Software Showcase – I think that name works a little better than 2.0. Like you, I’m still waiting for the next trendy new name to stick – for a year or so anyway.