Item #15 - Library 2.0, Web 2.0

It was 1997 and I went for my first Train the Trainer course to introduce Internet classes into our library service. I did not know the difference between the 'Internet browser' and the "World Wide Web". 10 years later and after teaching numerous classes I found myself at the next level of ignorance. I practically had no knowledge about the new open-platform, social, interactive, mobile network named Web 2.0. Is it my personal disaster or I am one of many in my profession who discovered that what was straightforward and structured became fluid and multifaceted? Do you know that "... blogging burnout can be a more serious problem than having blogger' s block" or soon "...you can carry a library in your pocket". How tech-savvy do I need to be to cope with all of it? What could I learn from my son and what I can teach him myself, where is my limit or does it all depend on my intellectual curiosity? There is such a variety in the integration of Library 2.0 services into different libraries. Some libraries already offer RSS as the real-time, cheaper way to communicate, many others have a number of blogs on their web site, where customers can comment, participate, write reviews about books they borrowed. There are bloggers' book clubs, pod casts on libraries websites, some libraries incorporate instant messaging to communicate with the customers. And what's about these on-line discussions about the future of the industry on the amazing library-related blogs like Shifted librarian or Librarian.net? It is all very interesting, exciting and confusing. We are definitely in a time of transition and we are all together shaping and changing and moving into the future. What is important for me personally is not to be intimidated, to find what will work for me and what not and to be ready to learn more.