Figuring out how to make it work...

Having a chance to explore these web 2.0 tools has been great. I've found some I will definitely return to, as well as a few I will likely forget about by Christmas. The challenging part is sorting through all these apps, and figuring out which ones would be beneficial to our patrons, and how to go about implementing them. There are a number of really cool apps, but many users, especially our older users, are not going to want to take the time to learn them.

For many of our patrons, the library is, and will always be a place to take out books. Dr. Wendy Schultz, in her article To a temporary place in time... comments on Library 4.0 as being "a WiFREE space, a retreat from technohustle, with comfortable chairs, quiet, good light, coffee and single malt. You know, the library." In our desire to institute these technologies, we must not lose sight of the patrons who come to the library just to relax, browse, and find a good read. (St. Jacobs is the quintessential library for many of these patrons... there's just something about those wooden shelves!)

In juxtaposition to Dr. Schultz's Library 4.0 is Michael Stephens' article Into a new world of librarianship. Stephens charges the librarian with the task of listening to their patron's needs, and then implementing the technology to fulfill these needs. This librarian needs to be on top of trends in library and outside technology. In a perfect world we would all be this librarian, but most of us find it challenging to get our day to day tasks done, forget about having the time to spend hours researching the newest thing.

Hopefully this course, and the subsequent committee will be able to determine what applications our patrons would use and find beneficial, without going overboard. We need to make sure, however, that we are listening to our patrons, and not just implementing something because we think it is great. I do, however, like Meredith Farkas' comment in her article The essence of Library 2.0? that "Mistakes will always be made. If a library doesn’t have any failures, then they’re probably not doing enough to change." We need to take some chances, and then we need to step back and see if we've done the right thing. We need to make sure our patrons are being served.