Thing #16: Library 2.0

I read all the articles on the list for Thing #16: On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0. (They were short, anyway.) While I particularly enjoyed Away from the "icebergs" and Library 2.0 Debased, the one which really resonated with me most was To a temporary place in time by Dr. Wendy Schultz.

Dr. Schultz leads with, "The ongoing Library 2.0 debate frames library renewal within the current trends transforming our information infrastructure. But those trends themselves will evolve, even mutate, under pressure from emerging change." In other words, we won't suddenly "reach" Library 2.0 and then be done. Library 2.0 isn't even a fixed point on a line leading to the future, but rather a broad band that overlaps with everything that came before and everything that will come after. In fact, we shouldn't even be thinking of 2.0 as the future anymore, but the present. It's time to start moving toward 3.0.

I love her continuum. I love the Library 3.0 vision of people collecting librarians rather than books. Her portrait of Library 4.0 is even more beautiful: ". . . libraries as mind gyms; libraries as idea labs; libraries as art salons. But let’s be clear: Library 4.0 will not replace Libraries 1.0 through 3.0; it will absorb them." The past will not be discarded, but integrated. Her vision of the future is a best-case scenario, and we could easily miss it by lagging behind or charging off in a wrong direction. However, having a vision of the destination in mind will guide our path. And by the time Library 4.0 is becoming the norm, we could be talking about Library 5.0. More likely, we'll have long since thrown away those silly numbers, and we'll be talking about metamorphoses in new terms that may or may not exist yet.

At the end of her article, she comes around to, Library 4.0 as "a retreat, a sanctuary, a pampered experience with information . . . comfortable chairs, quiet, good light, coffee and single malt." This echoes an idea I'm fond of, the library as Third Space--the place you choose to spend your time when you are not at home or at work. Library 2.0 is about being wherever our users are, meeting them in the virtual spaces. And that supports, rather than supplants, the tradition of welcoming our users to join us where we are. Some people come (physically) to the library to use our virtual space and our technology (i.e., to take advantage of our free Wi-Fi and our awesome equipment), and some people come to the library to decompress and have a brief respite from the omnipresent technology that saturates their lives. And both kinds of users--and everyone in between--are welcome. The library should be a social destination.