#15.1 I read all the articles listed so I'm not sure I'm commenting on one or several but I did like the Icebergs article for its overview; but when I finished it it seemed the future of libraries was very bleak. As laid out there, why have libraries at all? Some organization of programmers can make giant info banks for people to access from wherever.

The author says educating library users is no longer practical, but he doesn't say how people are going to learn to use all the available resources. I do not believe they will be born knowing how to find things just because most or all information will be available from home. It isn't just a matter of putting a lot of information in one huge database. Access to exactly what people want will still be a problem unless we come up with much better indexing than we have so far. And, even if we do, with the amount of information that will be indexed in one place, I doubt it will be intuitive enough to be used efficiently without some education. Perhaps this might lead to a bigger role for school libraries with the teaching done there. But even so, there will need to be some way to help adults who no longer have access to schools, and there will likely be a huge need among people whose first language is not English.

I wonder whether, if there are no physical library buildings, people will think of accessing a virtual library for help. Why would they--what would make them think to do it? Maybe libraries will have to advertise on the web to get customers (maybe they should be doing that already.)

If there are no library buildings maybe all information will be consolidated into just one database and there will be no need for local libraries at all. Perhaps "the library" will be represented on the web by a picture of a building and people will link there and ask their questions. And it they ask, will they just be given the answer, or will they be told how to do it for themselves the next time? If they are just told and not educated, perhaps some kind of library will once again become the keeper of knowledge. Or, perhaps many people just won't care what is good information and what is not.

That's enough thinking about the possible future of libraries. But I still think that if some kind of library continues to exist, education for users will have to be a part of it.


#15.2 What does Library 2.0 mean to me? It means a kick in the head. It means be aware that the way we do many things is changing and will continue to change. It means that I will always have to work to stay current.