On Library 2.0 and generations...

Today I attended a one-day seminar on Libraries, Web 2.0 and other Internet stuff. It was a well-organised and well-presented staff development day. However, I have to admit that I felt severely ill-at-ease about the whole thing, especially in the morning.

The introduction to the day talked about "responding to trends", "grappling" (x2) with ideas, taking "initiatives", and about these things that we need to "start thinking about". What ensued was a series of presentations of success stories, where library professionals were revolutionising the industry by embracing Web 2.0.

What particularly bothered me was the overarching theme that a lot of these ideas are "new". Sure, the actions that were made, and the learning has been new, but speaking personally, these ideas aren't new at all. And the ongoing question in my mind was, "Why has it taken so long for libraries to catch on? What have they been doing for the last ten years?????"

Because really, collaborative learning has been central to the online environment, ever since BBS's and Usenet came into existence back in the 80s. As long as the internet has been around, there have been online forums. Weblogging, Instant Messaging and home-made websites have been around for almost 10 years now, and, whilst back then you needed to know an inkling of HTML, they were still as emo and narcissistic as any MySpace these days. Long before Second Life came around, there was EverQuest, which emerged in 1999, and long before that, there were MUDs (multi-user dungeons).

And guess what? There has been a whole generation growing up with this knowledge and understanding of technology. It's just that the Baby Boomers, and many Gen X'ers have been unaware of this, as they already apparently knew everything that there was to know in order to get on with their careers and lives.

Except that they didn't. And now they have to catch up.

Enter "Learning 2.0".

But as wonderful and successful as Helene's "23 things" has been, I really don't like the idea of setting limits. Saying that there are 23 things you need to know gives the impression that once you've learnt the 23 things, then you've caught up.

Cue music: Vanessa Amorossi's "Shine".

Now, I know I'm being really harsh here by being snarky about other people's success. Because really, to motivate somebody who doesn't like change to change is really a monumental achievement, so kudos to them, and I'm not being sarcastic.

However, we are library professionals! We are the experts in the information industry! We are specialists in managing knowledge and information in our community! And the reality is that if our kids know more about the value in emerging technology, and know how to use it better than we do, that we're really not doing a good enough job, people!

How can we gain professional esteem from our peers in the community, if we do not provide services that are less than impressive?

For starters, let's take our cue from what our american counterparts are doing with public libraries. Truly, truly awesome stuff. Yet as I saw these presentations on what they're doing overseas, I had the sinking realisation that we have so so very far to go before we can catch up, and we're not moving nearly fast enough in that direction.

And whilst young professionals are keen to enter the industry, and help bring on some momentum in progressing public libraries in that direction, we're constantly confronted by hurdles and barriers of "No, we don't have the resources." "No, it's too hard to train our staff." "No, our patrons don't want that."

And want to say in reply is, "No, you're wrong. This is too important to put off until next year. You're going to have to exercise some change management with your staff. You're going to have to give us your vision of libraries, so that we can work toward it together. And as for our patrons, well, we're not here to make them happy - we're here to motivate them into lifelong learning so that they can be participative citizens in a progressive and innovative information society (which, consequently, WILL make them happy). That's what libraries are for, and should NOT be compromised."

And we can do it. We have the resources. We have a whole generation that is adept with this stuff, but get stuck in an entry-level position, or, worse, a non-professional position, waiting patiently over the years for an opportunity to gain a professional position, slowly being worn down by a system that doesn't want to change, despite being behind the times, because the industry hasn't needed to change this quickly before.

So, library managers, I say this: Listen to your young professionals. We are fast learners and already know and understand where it's at. We don't have the skills or experience to effect change, but we know that you do, and we want you to show us how to make our ideas work. We understand the information community - especially the online environment - better than you. We are the best people for connecting with our entire community - not just parents, children, and elderly people with special needs (who make up a minority of the community, but take up a big chunk of resources).

More to the point - it's our generation that *aren't* using libraries any more, but we have a few ideas on how to bring them back.