did I miss task 18?

I think I posted about Library 2.0, but just in case, here's some of my thoughts:

There's a lot of discussion about outreach from libraries to students, but not a lot that has become practically applicable from my perspective. I attended a reference librarians staff development session in the city last year, and it was said by several of the attendees that the library staff might be able to use the new technologies to reach out to students (FaceBook, Second Life, news feeders, YouTube), but the question was: do our clients want us to do so? Or are we seen as intruding into their social setting?

The service philosophy of integrating clients into the design and delivery of library services isn't new. The technology for providing such integrating is ever-changing. But I keep coming back to the issue that many of our clients don't care how we provide the service - they just want what they want, when they want it. How much feedback and input they're willing to provide in aid of that... is a whole other issue. We do get some feedback via the notice board and the occasional request for comment, but both of those offer a tangible reward... the notice board hopefully gets you a positive answer, the request for feedback is often accompanied by a bribe (maybe win a prize, or get a food voucher.)

I wonder how many people bother to read our library blog?
Tony has mentioned that we may try library tours via MP3, much like many tourist sites and museums. I'll be interested to see what the take-up is on that service.

All we can do is try new options, advertise them and see if the patrons choose to participate.

Sorry if I sound bah-humbug.