Library 2.0

I found this article to be simultaneously informative and a little frightening. All year we have talked about librarians having to market ourselves and prove to others how valuable we are in the school community. I agreed passionately in all of the discussions. But seeing the vulnerability of our positions spelled out in an "official" document really brought the discussion home to me!! It's funny how logically knowing something isn't enough sometimes--you have to see it.

However, we must trudge on! I think that could be the tagline for the whole article. The world is moving along at an alarming pace, and we absolutely have to run along to keep up (and to keep our positions!) I simply love the possibilities that having a tech-heavy "Library 2.0" program would create. I especially love all of these new technologies that I am learning because I know that incorporating them into the school system will revitalize and energize students. They want to learn about and use these things, so if we use them in our classrooms, our students will be more likely to want to learn.

There was one new idea, in particular, that jumped out at me from the article. It mentioned that it is now possible for students to submit book talks via voicemail that then convert into MP3 files that are sent to an email address! Is this Back to the Future or what? I'm definitely going to look into this possibility further. It sounds like a fun way that students would get excited about doing book talks with.

I must say that there is one aspect of having a Library 2.0 environment that causes me worry, and I don't think the article addressed it. I always worry when technology is involved in education about what will happen to the students whose families can't afford the technology. I know that this learning is crucial for our students, but I worry that incorporating even more technology into schools will create an even wider divide between the haves and the have-nots. That's just my two cents!