Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0

It seems like you can't go anywhere these days without someone throwing the 2.0 moniker around. Some argue it's the future of libraries and others maintain it's hype. The truth is, it's somewhere in between the two. Library 2.0 was significant enough to merit a multiple-week staff training course for ALA leaders, but what does it mean for everyone else? How does 2.0 apply to those working in YA services and why does it matter? And, more specifically, how does 2.0 apply to the teenagers in our schools and communities? In simplest terms, 2.0 is a new way of thinking about libraries. First and foremost, it follows one underlying golden rule: to dynamically interact with and listen to your users to create more user-centered services, both physical and technology-related. Fundamentally, 2.0 is the willingness to enhance library services through user collaboration. What is Web 2.0? Even though Library 2.0 isn't solely about technology, it's useful to know how the 2.0 concept evolved. The phenomenon began outside the library world with the moniker Web 2.0. In simplified terms, Web 2.0 is the next generation of the Internet. It is not so much defined by speed or infrastructure, but how content is created, distributed, and disseminated, and how people interact with that content and each other through a whole new generation of Web platforms and tools. Wikipedia (a Web 2.0 concept in itself) says that the term Web 2.0 is attributed to Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media and refers to a second generation of Internet-based services such as social networking sites (MySpace, Friendster), wikis (collaborative, shared-content sites), communication tools, and folksonomies (shared tagging and labeling, short for "folks" and "taxonomy"). (1) These tools let people collaborate and share information online in previously unavailable ways. Everything to date has been Web 1.0, which consists of static Web sites containing graphics, or perhaps multimedia, and links to other static Web sites. According to Stephen Abram, Web 2.0 is about "conversations, interpersonal networking, personalization, and individualism. " (2) One early adapter to Web 2.0 was Amazon.com. Amazon opened its e-commerce site to allow users (not necessarily customers) to add comments about books and products. Amazon allows its users to catalog or add tags to their inventory, making it easier to search. Users can also make lists to combine interests or compile favorites. See the Web 2.0 sidebar for more examples. What is Library 2.0? The leap from Web 2.0 to Library 2.0 was the brainchild of Michael Casey, who first used the term on his blog, Library Crunch. Casey asserts that Library 2.0 will "embrace disruptive ideas. " (3) At its heart, this means that in order to embrace Library 2.0, those who manage and work in libraries must be willing to make significant changes in the way they think and conduct business. This shift will result in taking the traditional library of sterile spaces, static collections, and vanilla catalogs to the next level in a variety of areas. Library 2.0 may initially seem painful for libraries as it requires radical trust, a concept highlighted by Darlene Fichter, data library coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan Library in Canada. Radical trust encompasses the community, library staff, and leadership; radical trust is about trusting the community; it means allowing and encouraging customers and patrons to participate in shaping and creating the library. (4) This calls for library administrators and frontline staff to let go of some of their control; it also means building something without setting the end result in stone. Perhaps librarian Michael Stephens of the Tame the Web blog has the most unambiguous definition of how this comes together. He writes, "Library 2.0 simply means making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. " (5) Essentially librarians have to listen more, trust more, and be willing to relinquish some control to allow customers of all ages and backgrounds to have the best library experience possible. …