In "The Essence of Library 2.0" Meredith Farkas states that this group of social technologies has led to a lot of libraries losing their way. It has become more about learning and implementing these new cool tools in our libraries than it has about assessing the needs of our patrons and deciding whether these tools are necessarily wanted or needed. I agree with her point of view...to an extent. While I believe it is true that sometimes we are more eager to show how up-to-date and forward-thinking we are that we neglect what it is that we are really doing for our patrons, I also think that the assumption that libraries are jumping on the "2.0 bandwagon" just because it's new, is a misleading statement. I think libraries are trying it because they recognize that there is a lot of change happening in our social environment and that it is prudent to want to be prepared for where we're headed in providing good service to our communities.

Here is an assessment of the other 3 artciles that I read which gave differing perspectives on Web 2.0:

AWAY FROM THE ICEBERGS - The author sees three "icebergs" that pose significant threat to our future success as libraries. They are 1) focusing on trying to build up our print collection of materials rather than trying to build up digital access to such things as books, journals, blogs, podcasts, etc. 2) trying to teach our patrons how to work with our systems rather than making our systems easiy enough that they don't need our training and 3) expecting our patrons to come to us the old fashioned way rather than us finding new ways to bring our services to patrons in such a way that it works with their daily patterns of work, study and play.

INTO A NEW WORLD OF LIBRARIANSHIP - This article suggests that Librarian 2.0 is the strategy guide for helping users find information, gather knowledge and create content. They plan for their users, embrace Web 2.0 tools, control technolust, makes good decisions fast, is a trendspotter and gets content.

POWER FROM THE PEOPLE - Colin Delany makes the case that Web 2.0 tools can be powerful and valuable to libraries if they suit our goals. There are always costs associated with the benefits of service and his article does a good job of helping you assess which tools and strategies are likely to be worth the cost and effort. His review of blogs, online video, RSS feeds, social networking, social media and viral marketing shows just how many online communications options are open to us and explains that we have to choose amoung them carefully in order to reap maximum reward.