Thursday, December 20, 2007

Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Imagine a library with no books on paper but on a digital medium.

Imagine instead of checking out a book, you instead checkout a CD, DVD, a Holographic Displayer for your information.

Imagine the future library as a place where people can go and instead of it just a place that have people quieting you it is a place where people share their ideas.

Instead of you running to the library the digital content can and will be accessed at home for your pleasure.

This is the idea behind Library 2.0 and Web 2.0.

It seems that the arguments are for a more liberated library system that gives you information in digital content but all in one place or website.

Imagine this scenario. You walk into the library system in the future. You ask the librarian a question on world economics. She looks the information on her LCD screen and it pops up all the books on that subject. But wait.. not only that but other books that compliment that subject.

It is given to you in a small, unintrusive cd jewel case with all the information you asked for. You go home, sit down and read it on your Ebook reader. At the bottom there are links to the referenced material that are also on that CD.

The library seems to be changing to cater to the customer. The library can be a place where people come in.. read information and share their thoughts with one another. A Socrates gathering, Plato and so on.

There are still plenty of hurdles to overcome for this to be achieved. Training for one may leave old librarians behind in the future. Updating information and correlating it to one another for reference. Huge databanks and software/hardware to give materials to patrons.

I do believe though that this is the correct step towards a better library system.

Read up and Enjoy:

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