Web 2.0 & Library 2.0

This is a very exciting time to be in the library business. I was an IT person for 20 years and am now becoming a librarian. I can see many ways for libraries to change.

There are several problems for small rural libraries however. One is lack of high speed access for patrons at home, many elderly do not have or have difficulty learning to use computers and last lack of staff time to develop web access.As Anderson mentions in "Away from Icebergs" there will be a reliance on user education. We do not have the staff to train all users. Neither do we have the staff with the knowledge to use and or setup Instant Messaging, build Weblogs or wikis which Stephens mentions in "Into a new world of librarianship.

None of these problems are insurmountable but will slow the pace of progress.