Week 6 thing 15

The following paragraphs stood out for me in the reading for Library 2.0:

The term "Library 2.0" was coined by Michael Casey on his blog LibraryCrunch as a direct spin-off of the terms Business 2.0 and Web 2.0. Casey suggested that libraries, especially public libraries, are at a crossroads where many of the elements of Web 2.0 have applicable value within the library community, both in technology-driven services and in non-technology based services. In particular, he described the need for libraries to adopt a strategy for constant change while promoting a participatory role for library users.

Also: collections based on popularity and demand vs not so popular:

This keeps some traditional customers satisfied, but non-users might be better served if librarians consider what's called the long tail. Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, who coined the phrase “long tail” in an article of the same name in 2004, argues that the demand for movies or books that are not hits far outnumbers the demand for those that are hits. Match those nonhits with the people who are interested in seeing them, and suddenly you have a group of constituents equal to or greater than those who want to see and read the hits.

And from Tame the Web:

Anytown PL’s mission is to promote access to information of all kinds, to anticipate the future needs of our patrons for library services and to give access to ideas in various media. This means we must be looking for new ways to serve our patrons. One way we’ll be doing this is devoting a bit of staff time and library resources to experimenting and trying new things.

I think OPL is certainly trying to meet the needs and desires of the Omaha people. We provide a wide variety of entertainment and informational material, and are very responsive to requests ( as funds allow.) We do innovative programming for Youth with the Homework Hotspots and Lock-ins. We should be proud of what is being offered here.