#19 - Library 2.0

Libraries on the Web have a fantastic future.
Stopping to recall all of the wonderful resources on the Internet has been a wonderful experience. Materials are avalable that never would have come to light on my own.
Whole books are now available for people to read such as Inglorious Columbus by Vining and Revolt of the Masses by Jose Oretega y Gassett. The entire Summa Theologica can be easily researched as well as T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets.
But more important are the wonderful networking that I have found through this extercise to contact others on a variety of research topics.
There really is a Library Community, but perhaps it is best to think of it as a Research Community too.

Although we do not need to keep the "Just-in-Case" collection, librarians need to be more knowledgeable about their field to keep what will be most useful to our public.
Libraries may not have a monopoly on the resources of the world, but we have the opportunity to help our patrons to find materials that would not otherwise be readily available.

The above is the new world of librarianship. Librarians are here to assist our patrons in finding materials and learning how to utilize the resources on the Internet. Still, it remains the patron's responsibility to put these resource to work for them. Hence, the doors of creativity and knowledge of the world continues to expand. Libraries, and the Librarians that help them, are becoming the great equalizing force for the common man by making the world's resources and communities available to even the humblest person.