Web 2.0 Library 2.0

In the beginning of the 23 Things saga I viewed a short video extolling the virtues of Web 2.0 technologies where scenes and characters from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland featured prominently. I wondered what was the point this marketing exercise was trying to make.

Now after 6 weeks in the 23 Things wonderland I think I have some small understanding and will try to apply this analogy in this post about what Library 2.0 means to me. (If it's ok for Rick Anderson to have his 'icebergs' and 'paddles' comparison, then it's open slather as far as I'm concerned).

Alice in Wonderland begins with Alice nervous about the recital of 'Cherry Ripe' she will be performing for her parents' guests later in the day. So if I use Alice as an analogy for libraries then the song 'Cherry Ripe' is the services libraries provide that meets our clients' needs today. Like Alice libraries need to follow the Web 2.0 White Rabbit down the Web 2.0 rabbit hole, to adapt and stretch themselves encountering, experiencing, discovering, and developing new hybrid technologies to eventually provide the services (aka the 'Will you Wont you join the dance' song) that match the needs of libraries' clients in the 21st century and beyond.

This post is probably as clear as the smokey atmosphere created by the Caterpillar's hookah but imagining the future can be like that.

Attached is a portion of one of Charles Blackman's Alice pictures.

Del.icio.us Tagging and Discovery

Any doubters click here for proof that I've discovered the joys of Del.icio.us tagging.

I'm possibly not quite as enthusiastic about Del.icio.us as some 23 Things participants seem to be. Maybe this is due to the fact that I have only around 10 different tag categories in Del.icio.us at the moment. I've come to the realisation that I don't have that diverse a range of interests; books, design (see Philippe Starck's juicer above), sport, current affairs and gardening about sums it up (something to do with my obsessive personality perhaps?). Nevertheless I can see that over time my range of tag categories could increase substantially.

I initially thought just adding 'favourite' sites to my internet bookmarks was sufficient to my needs rather than laboriously adding and tagging each entry into Del.icio.us. Using Del.icio.us does enable me to access my Del.icio.us bookmarks from any computer with internet access; no need for my favourite bookmarks to be replicated on every computer that I use. The "RSS feeds for these bookmarks" option is also a very handy little tool providing the latest updates of all sites in any selected tag category.

OK, this cynic has been won over.