Library 2.0-Resistance is Futile

From reading some of the perspectives, both listed and from the Wikipedia article, its seems that individuals who "oppose" the Library 2.0 concept are exactly the ones who might be, or perhaps need to be, left behind. It has always been argued that libraries cannot be all things to all people. This attitude is reflected in the Wikipedia entry by the views of Walt Crawford, who argues that Library 2.0 is old ideas and and "incorrectly places libraries as the appropriate source for all users to gather all information"[1].

I prefer the view of Dr. Wendy Schultz and her growth of libraries into an experience. Traditional libraries, you know--the kind with books--will always have a place in the libraryland of the future, it will simply be absorbed into something new. Great, so now libraries are amoebas! The future library being more and more experiential, she describes physical libraries as storefronts, kind of a starting place, that will be one aspect of libraries, in combinations with virtual retrieval of virtual information formats. This helps to make libraries suitable for, and accessible to, more and more people for more reasons--closer and closer to being all things for all people. I particularly like her concept of the knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought. We seem to rush so now, putting out fires and moving onto the next, the idea of relaxing with information is inspiring. Maybe as people adjust to limiting and refining the growing amount of info we need to sconstantly sort through, there will actually be less information overload even with more information.

Whether you consider Library 2.0 new or old, libraries are changing rapidly and dramatically. Resistance is futile.