I highly recommend that you read Michael Casey’s blog posting on Library 2.0.  He points out that a successful L2 experience starts when we think of the user experience.

From his posting:

What does Library 2.0 mean to you and your organization? What is it that you want Library 2.0 to do for your users? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you must figure them out before you begin implementing new services and programs …

Energy focused on implementing new tools and programs is wasted if we don’t know what our users really want. Without knowing that, we create more work for ourselves with hit or miss initiatives.

In the past two years much of the discussion of Library 2.0 has been focused on little things we can do to better serve our users. We try to “get them where they are” by implementing IM reference and creating a presence on social networks such as Flickr, MySpace and Facebook. We attempt to lure them in with gaming nights and rock concerts. These can all be great tools to better serve our users. It is inspiring to see so many libraries creating new ways to reach their users.

However, we have to be careful to not flood ourselves with new projects until we have a clear understanding of what it is we’re trying to do and where we want to go. And in the spirit of Library 2.0, that means first figuring out what our users want and need.

Maybe it is time we all take a step back and have a mini re-evaluation of Library 2.0, what it is, and how it can help us better serve our users.

Library 2.0 is user-centric … constant change and evaluation … not just about technology … political …

As has been said from the beginning, the spirit and driving force of Library 2.0 is the same tenant that has been a fundamental part of library service for decades – providing our users with access to information. Library 2.0 strives to reach this goal in part through customer-driven services … If we focus too much on the details and specific programs before we can explain what it is our users want, then our communities, administrators, library boards, and staff may well rebel against Library 2.0 without ever truly understanding what it is about.

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What are your users yearning for?

Image: Zeb Andrews, Flickr

Doug Johnson’s excellent Blue Skunk Blog pointed me earlier this month to a Dallas Morning News editorial by high school student Andrea Drusch. Omar Wasow, in his closing keynote at AASL on Saturday, also discussed this editorial. (More on that keynote coming soon.)

Drusch wrote arguing that her high school library was not welcoming, whereas her local Barnes & Noble was.

She writes:

A library is a place where you have to be quiet. All the time. You can’t have things like gum or water or anything made of metal on your person in order to enter … If this is going to continue, libraries need to make changes to stay relevant to the needs of 21st-century students. Schools provide computer labs for daily use in classrooms with open doors, but the book collection in the library is guarded like Fort Knox. Credentials for entry include, but are not limited to: photo identification, library card and a signed, dated, timed note from your homeroom teacher. Retina scans and criminal background checks can’t be far behind.

The overall atmosphere inside is akin to being told “make yourself at home” in a stranger’s exquisitely decorated living room. Mistrustful librarians peer from behind the checkout stand, clearing their throat uncomfortably as they watch books being removed from their homes … the walls aren’t exactly lined with Oprah’s Book Club selections …

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble and Starbucks have students lined up out the doors, and it ain’t just for the coffee. At Starbucks, students can pile a table sky high with books and conduct study groups, or just decompress and chat. Barnes & Noble chooses the books it provides to its customers through something called the New York Times best-seller list, not through what 10th-grade English teachers think is appropriate.

Make school libraries more like these places … Faced with becoming relics, libraries can change. A 21st century library could truly lead schools into the future.

Wow … we don’t often get this level of detail from our patrons. This editorial is going to get a lot of discussion in my neck of the woods.
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OK … here’s a scenario … you’ve just been hired to run this library. Your enlightened principal wants to see a change in the library, so he/she has offered $5000 from the school improvement fund. Your principal is so enlightened that the money is budgeted to you without restriction — you can use it however you see fit to improve the students’ experience in the school library media center.

After buying a digital camera to capture your school library media center’s transformation, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?