When the Internet first appeared in the mainstream of public life, I recall the near-panic that we in the library profession felt about the need to stay relevant amidst the dire predictions of the death of the library. How amazing then that our public libraries have in fact become even busier, more vibrant social places. Instead of the predicted death of libraries, what we are now facing is the challenge of finding enough new blood to follow us into the profession.
And new blood indeed is what we seek. "People people" who relish change and challenge, who embrace new technologies and who understand the changing needs and expectations of our community. We're up for a challenge alright! Not only to recruit these people, but even more importantly, to help and nurture our existing staff to develop and grow to meet these changing needs.
That's where this Learning 2.0 program is so terrific. It's been really mind opening and enlightening. It makes the future of libraries and 2.0 something that is exciting rather than terrifying (well ok, it's still pretty terrifying...). The possibilities for reaching out to the user, in their space not ours, seem so much more attainable now. It's something we've known for a long time that needs to be aimed for, that we've talked about for years... will it actually start to happen?
Wow! What an opportunity - how many other jobs offer "old fogies" like us the chance to learn, catch up and be involved with social networking like this? We just have to feel the fear and do it anyway.
(PS, I don't think my last pinging attempt with Technorati did a thing. Sigh)
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