Vanishing in a puffof logic Or why Library 2.0 doesn’t really exist.Nick Woolley,

Information Specialist for Biomedical & Health Sciences,

King’s College London.

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AACR2 bibliometrics cataloguing citation

classification communication

dewey decimal labels information architecture

maps MeSH marc21

metadata ontology OPAC referencing signage subject headings

taxonomy thesaurus user guides web

ironic tag cloud #1

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Library 2. what?

Does it actually mean something or not?

If it does, what is it?

If it doesn’t – or it’s down to the individual – then there’s not much point is there?

And don’t we (librarians and assorted information professionals) have an ongoing vested interest in choosing the right words?

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Looking at Library 2.0

Voice of doom? Or voice of reason?

Be critical Good ideas will survive and flourish

We have NOT been critical

Reflect What do you do already?

Look for evidence Does it really exist? What do we do already?What have we done?

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01/09/2006 Library Journal“Library 2.0 : service for the next-generation library”

“The heart of Library 2.0 is user-centered change.”

“While not required, technology can help libraries create a customer-driven, 2.0 environment.”

“.. the Library 2.0 model gives library users a participatory role in the services libraries offer and the way they are used..”

“The Library 2.0 model seeks to harness our customer's knowledge to supplement and improve library services.”

“What makes a service Library 2.0? Any service, physical or virtual, that successfully reaches users, is evaluated frequently, and makes use of customer input is a Library 2.0 service. Even older, traditional services can be Library 2.0 if criteria are met. Similarly, being new is not enough to make a service Library 2.0.http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html

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2007 re-evaluation

“Library 2.0 is user-centric. It is a shift in our focus from having libraries decide what is best for users to letting users decide what they want, how they want to get it, and how we can best serve them.

Library 2.0 is constant change and evaluation.

Library 2.0 is not just about technology.

Library 2.0 is political.”

http://www.librarycrunch.com/2007/10/we_know_what_library_20_is_and.html

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A synthesis

Library 2.0 is about..

..Web 2.0 / User participation / Constant change

..wisdom of crowds

..perpetual beta

..let the users decide

It is represented as a paradigm shift to the next-generation of library services

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Library 1.0?

The Library 2.0 corollary is inescapable.

It is an implicit de facto damning critique of Library (1.0)

This critique is rarely articulated in any detail.

When it is (peripherally) mentioned no evidence is provided.

Is your Library 1.0 really so broken it needs ‘2.0’?

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Library 1.0?“..a strict definition of Library 1.0 would be counterproductive. ..

Library 1.0 really is whatever point you are at now.

I think that what we need to remember is that Library 1.0 is a restrictive place, governed by strict hierarchies, rigid boundaries, and underpinned by change-avoidance.”

Michael Casey (2005)

http://www.librarycrunch.com/2005/10/is_there_a_library_10_does_it.html

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“Even older, traditional services can be Library 2.0 if criteria are met.”

“Your library may already offer some services that can be considered Library 2.0. If your organization combines these Library 2.0 options with a framework for continual change and customer input integrated into other operations within your library, it will be well on its way to becoming Library 2.0.”

Michael Casey (2005)http://www.librarycrunch.com/2005/10/is_there_a_library_10_does_it.html

What does this mean? How exactly is this helpful? Doublespeak?

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Dave Pattern’s Library 2.0 generator

http://www.daveyp.com/cgi-bin/l2/ideas.pl

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http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html

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Sunglasses and moonlightDawkins quoting Medawar in a Nature review of Sokal and Bricmont’s “Intellectual imposters” Nature 1998 394 141-143

“I could quote evidence of the beginnings of a whispering campaign against the virtues of clarity.

A writer on structuralism in the Times Literary Supplement has suggested that thoughts which

are confused and tortuous by reason of their profundity are most appropriately expressed in

prose that is deliberately unclear. What a preposterously silly idea! I am reminded of an air-raid warden in wartime Oxford who, when bright

moonlight seemed to be defeating the spirit of the blackout, exhorted us to wear dark glasses. He,

however, was being funny on purpose.”

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Technology and the libraryText

Sumerians 3000 BCClay tablets, papyrus, scrollsAlexandria (300 BC)Parchment, rolls, codexThe printed bookClassificationCard IndexMicroformComputersBarcodesOPACsInternet and the WWWOnline databasesDigitisation, Ejournals, EbooksRFIDWeb 2.0

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The adoption of new technologies to improve

the services we offer is characteristic of libraries in historic

and contemporary settings.

Web 2.0 may be another milestonealong the way. But don’t confuse a

comma for the start of a new chapter.

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Library 2.0 does not replaceBibliographic databases OR Google Scholar

RefWorks OR Connotea

E journals, reference works ORWikipedia

Experts OR Users

IT literacy OR Digital natives

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pre-Library 2.0 change

library card index OPAC

paper abstracts online databases

print electronic

photocopier pdf’s memory stick

personal card index ref. man. software

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Nothing I do is Library 2.0 #1But what I do at work includes…

…promoting Web 2.0 tools like Delicious and Connotea

…creating / participating in / advising on wikis

…teaching RSS

…continual response to user feedback

…continual development of services and change

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Nothing I do is Library 2.0 #2

But what I do (not) at work includes…

…playing on facebook

…tagging my books on LibraryThing

…contributing to Wikipedia when I can bear it

…using Bloglines to subscribe to my own increasingly bizarre Yahoo pipes mashed feeds…

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Going to the users?h

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Library 2.0 says go to the users

But we already are ‘everywhere’

And do the users want us in their space?

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http://education.guardian.co.uk/link/story/0,,2202291,00.html

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The OPAC is broken?

“I’ve visited Kings in Australia, and their library is absolutely massive. They’ve got a new computer

system, and if you’re looking for a certain book, you just type in the book, and it comes up with the code, the

floor, and where you can find it on that floor. It’s really cool.” (p.18)

JISC Student Expectations Study July 2007http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/studentexpectations

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JISC Student Expectations Study July 2007 [Comment on Second Life] “That’s a bit weird, to be honest. You

would be quite sad to do that” (p.13)

I don’t know if I would particularly like getting texts from the university. Because your phone is your private, social thing.

(p.28)

“..they do not want technology to encroach on their learning or social experiences. (p.29)

“Fundamentally, this age group suspects that if all learning is mediated through technology, this will diminish the value of the

learning.” (p.30)

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/studentexpectations

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Digital natives?h

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Want to learn from experts

Want VFM

Competitive

Busy enough

Want more ‘Library 1.0’!

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So…

…Library 2.0 does not describe anything new

…in fact it doesn’t really exist

…this doesn’t mean we haven’t got a lot of work to do

…this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t embrace the best of Web 2.0

…let’s keep on changing, improving, and ignoring any…

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ironic tag cloud #2

bandwagons buzzwords

doublespeak extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds

fads groupthink hype imposters

mumbo-jumbo oxymorons

plus ça change self-referential slipperyvanguardism weasel words