#15 Once Upon a Library 2.0

The perspective on library 2.0 that resonated the most with me was "A Temporary Place in Time," by Dr. Wendy Schultz. She recognizes library 2.0 as one stage in a continuum of libraries serving their communities. This continuum emphasized the role of libraries as repositories in its earliest stages. Then, libraries began to offer data retrieval. With library 2.0, we're seeing libraries blossom in the areas of commentary and annotation. What I love most about Shultz's perspective is the acknowledgment that no function of the library will necessarily go away. We may decrease our participation as repositories, but there will always be rare materials or censored materials or out of print materials we'll want to hold on to. We'll always want to collect the histories of our local communities. So, we keep adding on, without losing sight of any of the services we're relied on to provide. What we may end up with, in Shultz's words, is a "knowledge spa," (in both a physical and virtual sense) with libraries providing a retreat and space to contemplate or meditate. She describes libraries as a place for everyone and anyone to go to be pampered and "immersed in a luxury of ideas and thought." Library as sanctuary--I hope library 2.0 will lead to that, without losing anything that makes libraries so valuable.