Library 2.0 (Thing #18)

So, Rick Anderson says: "We need to focus our efforts not on teaching research skills but on eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need, so they can spend as little time as possible wrestling with lousy search interfaces and as much time as possible actually reading and learning" and "[I]f our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons."

This makes so much sense, but it's not happening. Every day, I explain how to use the Internet sign-up and that we have online resources. Part of it, I think, is that technology in any form is still a challenge for many of our patrons--we spend a lot of time troubleshooting email, word processing, and filling out forms. If 2.0 technology can make our services more transparent, I'm all for it. (And maybe it will make our tech-savvy, ebook reading, online bill-paying patrons happy, too.)