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Friday, February 22, 2008

Thing 2--Library 2.0

I think that there are a lot of great possibilities for my school library with Library 2.0 tools. But some building blocks need to be put in place first--my school is quite a few years behind where I think we should be, technologically. First we'd need enough computers to handle a class of 25 students. Taking baby steps, we could activate the part of our circulation system that allows students to view their accounts, place holds, renew books on their own. Then allow students access to Web sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Second Life, which are all currently blocked.

I know that my school library needs to be more user-centric. Right now, the administrators and some teachers emphasize the difference between school computer use and home computer use. I think that this is important, but we need to make our students comfortable with the resources we have in the media center. That could start with computer use. If students know that they can come to the media center to check in with friends in a different school through MySpace or FaceBook, they might be more comfortable staying to read a book or magazine, and eventually working on a research project--because they've taken the small steps necessary to become comfortable in the media center.