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Library 2.0: The new e-world order
Wan Wee Pin
As trends go in the library world, the sceptics amongst us would consider all the talk about Library 2.0 and this thing called New Media as just another fad. After all, despite the doomsday scenarios of the death of books, aren’t libraries still standing strong?
Libraries must give up control and make use of collaborative tools and technology to engage and share information rather than just provide it.
In a way such thinking is valid; technologies like video, mobile technology and even broadcasting over the Internet have been with us for a while. Closer inspection however would indicate that things are a lot different. For one, Web 2.0 not only means new technologies, it also brings about a fundamental change in how libraries operate.
I will attempt to highlight the key change in principles that form the context of libraries in this “E-World” order.
Everyone is in charge; no one is in control
The main characteristic of this new order is that information management and provision are no longer under the purview of the librarian. For example, cataloging may be a fundamental skill of librarianship but the art of social tagging on the Net turns that upside down because it is the reader who is now categorizing and defining information based on her or his own terms. And the best thing about social tagging is that everyone is allowed to categorize the information the way they want to.
The phenomenon of Wikipedia breaks yet another golden rule of librarianship: that of content validation. We tend to believe that information is useful only if it is authenticated. However on the Net, everyone is in a position to provide and to collaborate on information. Not only are these platforms very popular, they are where people go to look for information!
Thus libraries must give up control and make use of collaborative tools and technology to engage and share information rather than just provide it. Are we ready to build a reader advisory document based on links provided by different parties?
Access, and not validity, is the key
As a result of changes in user behavior, libraries today should be more concerned about the question of access rather than validity. The new user wants answers and he wants them now, in the most convenient manner to him. Thus being the trusted source is no longer enough.
In Singapore, the National Library Board has responded to this by introducing an SMS inquiry service, allowing patrons to use their mobile phones to text their inquiries to the library. They receive immediate answers or links to more in-depth answers, which they can access by logging on. Because of the pervasiveness of mobile phone ownership, this inquiry service has proved very popular.
The new marketplace: Don’t wait for them, go to them
One would probably remember not too long ago the drive to make the Library the Third Place — after the home and the workplace. We must have been too successful because crowds in libraries are a common sight. Yet ask yourself this question: Are they using the library?
Unfortunately the reality is that more than 90% of any survey would indicate that whenever the public wants to find out about something, the first thing they would do would be to “Google” it. No one would think about asking a reference librarian or even logging onto a library website to use the inquiry service.
We must recognize that the Internet and search engines are now the main ways in which people look for information.
This is the new marketplace; this is where most people live and work. Thus as libraries, we must recognize that the Internet and search engines are now the main ways in which people look for information. Rather than try to change users’ habits, the library can change its approach and meet users where they are — on the Web, using the tools they enjoy using.
Part of the NLB strategy has been to use blogs to reach our clientele and it doesn’t stop there. The Singaporean population is fond of accessing information using a wide variety of media such as video, podcasts and vodcasts, rather than reading — and is definitely not just using the traditional print sources. NLB recognizes this and is moving away from the written word and is looking at ways of providing information in as many formats as possible.
Knowing the propensity to use the search engines, NLB has also tried to make our Web pages and content “GYM-enabled” — that is, optimized so they are findable by Google, Yahoo and MSN. That way the library can continue to maintain its relevance to the general public.
In summary, to libraries, Web 2.0 may be nothing more than just new tools of technology. However, how we use these tools and what we use them for will determine whether libraries can survive this new E-volution. 
