Recently i noted on LibrarianInBlack.net that a new tool has emerged known as Evoca (link borrowed from LibrarianInBlack.net) which enables bloggers to place a widget on their blog to record voice data for the purpose of leaving blog comments...
This is exactly why Library 2.0 is a joke. Don't get me wrong, i am a ALA subscriber (much to my pocketbook's chagrin) and read my monthly Digital Libraries email to stay up to date on current practices and happenings in the field... but this stuff is not in the field. Librarians are not programmers, nor are we paid to sit around and try out new tech tools like some uber-lame Slashdot junky. Librarians--that is, the ones that i look up to--assist users in locating materials, coordinate library programming, work with other organizations in the community to better our living conditions and often take a role in reviewing newly published literature. What does any of that have to do with some new widget for blogging?
As stated on wikiepedia's Library 2.0 definition @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0, (link borrowed from Catherine's blog) Library 2.0 has this as it's underlying principal: "library services have the ability to evolve and improve on a constant and rapid basis."
No they don't. Asking the user to participate in improving the library is all well and good, but the truth is, most District Libraries are run by a Library Board who calls the shots, and probably doesn't have time to take into account every user's commentary on how things should be run. The very fact that we're in graduate school to learn how a library should be run proves that there are undeniable universalities to how services function. I don't know about you but i wonder about the practiciality of enabling voice recordings on someone's blog as being crucial to improving library service...
Ever since i was in junior high i knew i wanted to be librarian and work with people and books. That was my career goal, and amazingly, it still is. If i am to take that goal seriously, i cannot in good conscience condone Library 2.0 as legitimate. The only instances in which net communication tools come into play in the library world involve email and instant message reference and common place office queries. Anything beyond that feels more like indulging a internet addiction, and less like work. i would say you may quote me on that, but given the stomach-churning political positivism that infests our profession, no one is likely to give credence to my backward conservative ways.
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1 comment:
I appreciate your commentary on libraries and technology. This is the first I have heard of Library 2.0 as a concept and am curious to see how our local library system has addressed it. Right now the library board and staff are focused on getting the millage passed in August so the 5 closed branches can be opened and to be able to reinstate full time hours at the 3 that remained opened.
Carol
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