My feelings about Web 2.0 and libraries are pretty much the same as my feelings about advancing technology in general. I certainly don't think libraries (or people) should be afraid of new and different ways of doing things, but neither do I think that something is better simply because it's new.
There are always going to be people who want the newest, the fastest, the shiniest, etc. of everything. And there are always going to be people who want nothing whatsoever to do with anything of the sort. Should libraries cater to one of the extremes to the exclusion of the other? Not by my advice. Libraries provide a service and they fill a need. They should do what allows them to provide the best service and most completely fill the need (it's also worth pointing out that what people need isn't always the same as what they want). In my opinion, it would be just as big a mistake to precipitously discard the older (and thus established and reliable) ways of doing things as it would be to completely ignore new possibilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment