Library 2.0 Discussion Continues

The Library 2.0 discussion continues.  Walt Crawford has a wonderful lengthy special issue of Cites & Insights completely devoted to exploring and explaining Library 2.0.  Many bloggers are responding to Walt's discussion and adding their own perspectives.  Even though my brief definition of Libray 2.0 has been bandied about quite a bit, I think it is lacking.  I don't think that Library 2.0 can be described in one paragraph or by one person.  The best thing I can offer is a recommendation to read some other people's perspectives: Jenny Levine's What is New about Library 2.0; John Blyberg's 11 Reasons Why Library 2.0 Exists and Matters; Michael Stephens's summary of Stephen Abram's Web 2.0 - Huh?! Library 2.0, Librarian 2.0; and Meredith Farkas's Let's make libraries better, ok? 

I agree with a lot of what has been written, and I disagree with a lot of it too.  I'm not going to get into particulars; I don't see the point.  What I will do is throw my hat in the ring with Meredith, who says: "I really hope that Library 2.0 isn’t a polarizing force in the blogosphere because we all need to continue sharing our good ideas and success stories." 

I think that there are a lot of good ideas coming out of the Library 2.0 proponents' discussions.  In fact, I have goals for the next year or two that have largely come out of Library 2.0 discussions.  I also think there is some negativity coming out of these discussions (unintentionally): promoting services to youth while ignoring other service areas; making libraries who can't do these wonderful things right this second feel irrelevant; promoting technology over all else. 

I think there are happy mediums to be found here--things to take away from the Library 2.0 discussions to improve existing services and create new ones.  I do sincerely hope that everyone can agree (and I think that most of us can) that there are things to take away from Library 2.0 as well as some things to leave.  As Meredith points out, it's all about improving services for our users--that's it.  That's our goal.  Let's all work together to achieve that.