Among the readings for this sessions, I particularly liked the article by Michael Stephens. His first point - that Librarian 2.0 plans for their users - is a crucial one. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that "old fashioned" libraries were stuffy and too inward looking and that the new breed of 2.0 librarians are outward focused because we are on facebook, youtube, flickr and blogspot.
The danger is that we start using these technologies simply because they are there, or fashionable, or because someone else is using them. Michael Stephens points out that we need to start with our users. What do they need? How can they best be served? Then we look for the technologies that can meet that need. It's not just about using all the available technologies. It is about using the technoogies that best meet our users' needs.
At the same time, we need to be up to date with the latest technologies so that we know what is available when we see a need. That is where programs like this Learning 2.0 course come in handy. The other aspect of this awareness is that like it or not, people ask us for help on public internet terminals. It's all very well to have a policy that they are self help and we can't always provide assistance, but surely we can aim to provide better service that that?
Librarians who are more comfortable with the online world will be better able to help users find their way around. We don't need to be intimate with every website, every web 2.0 tool, every email app. The more we use these types of things, the more comfortable we will be with them generally. Having used various applications in the course, we should be in a position to provide at least some guidance to a user struggling through a similar application that we have never seen. This is what I feel anyway.
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