• So far, the authors seem to be addressing the needs of academic & public libraries.
How is 2.0 changing the way that school library media centers do business?
•
I can see several applications for school library media centers. First, we need to have a definite
presence on social network sites. For high schools, Facebook has become more popular than
mySpace. Before jumping in, however, school media specialists should check examples of academic & public libraries.
Rick Anderson's comments on collection building is true at the school level as well. While our databases, eBooks and Internet content are used constantly, book usage continues to decline.
An exception would be circulation for fiction books (including graphic novels) which continues to increase.
Regarding IM reference service, a school media center would likely encounter challenges finding good times and staffing to cover IM service. Perhaps an alternative would be to pool the reference services of several schools, staggering the hours when each school would cover
reference work. We would need to check first with our users to see just when our IM hours
should occur.
One last comment -- our students today expect a quick turnaround time for media services.
The new technologies featured in Web 2.0 should help to make that rapid turnaround time
a reality.
