Thing 23 - Some final thoughts
In the beginning of this exercise, I held the view that all libraries could benefit from a little 2.0 infusion. At the time it was more of a generalized and disengaged statement without many specifics. (I’ve said it before and will say it again, I am no librarian.) However, having gone through the 23Things I must admit that I am now more particular and interested in seeing this come about. There really are some Web 2.0 innovations that could do great things for servicing your community. For the average patron like myself, I think the library experience could be made richer with a blending of services such as LibraryThing, Ning, and YouTube (to name a few).
Speaking of these services, I’ll also admit that as an IT professional I was skeptical about this exercise in the beginning. After all, technology is my business, and this exercise was about exposing librarians to technology. So I was quite surprised at how many novel Web 2.0 technologies I was exposed to. There were some items, such as Ning and Del.icio.us, that were completely new to me. I knew about other services such as Flickr and YouTube, but had never actually explored them in-depth. 23Things did this for me. (Shows what I know!) Indeed, 23Things was worthwhile.
On that note, I will mention that 23Things was very librarian-centric… and why shouldn’t it be? It is a professional development exercise for librarians. Nevertheless, this would be my advice: Consider a patron-version. I’m not entirely sure how it would look, much less fit into the mission of 23Things. However, a patron version with less of a librarian point-of-view could help foster interest, understanding, and engagement with your communities. Just a thought.
And now, my one sentence summary:
“23 Things has assembled the best that Web 2.0 has to offer, and it’s done so in a way that makes us think about what today’s library experience can and should be.”
Thanks, 23ThingsonaStick!
