Thing 15

When I was in Library School, early 90's, I had many assignments to predict what was going to become of libraries in the future. All of us predicted great changes would come with computers. At the time ability to search DIALOG was limited because the University had to pay for the minutes we were searching. You had to plan each search in great detail and follow set formulas to search. There were computerized catalogs in the libraries but not accessible from home. I certainly didn't anticipate the changes that would come with the internet, with wireless, with social networking, the addition of wikis, etc. etc. I am sure that someone anticipated ebooks but it was not I. When I think of Web 2.0, I am more than overwhelmed. This whole 23 Things experience has been an adventure for me. What encourages me is that change really has made access to information easier for all of us: librarians and customers alike. And more change apparently is coming: change that will welcome input from users, change that is delivering information to users instead of making users come to the information. In these lean times, we will have to use our money and resources wisely just as the school in the "ripple effect" article did if we are to keep up with the "times".