Perspectives on Web 2.0

I read the piece from OCLC "Web 2.0: Where will it take us?" and then several of the attached commentaries, Rich Anderson, Michael Stephens and Wendy Schultz. Actually this piece really belongs at the end of 23 Things with our final thoughts since everything I read led me to a "what next?" frame of mind. All the comments reinforce my thinking that it is past time for us to seriously reconsider how library staff spend much of their time. The days (well, actually evenings) of people being six deep at a reference desk waiting for help with print materials or maybe microforms are long gone. Yet we still act as if the reference desk is the mainstay of our existence. If we are going to incorporate 23 Things and whatever the next 23 Things might be into our work, we need to restructure job descriptions and expectations so that staff have the time to not only learn Web 2.0 (and then 3.0 and 4.0), but actually have time to use it in their work day. Wendy Schultz talks about library services that will emphasize the virtual over the physical where customers rate the best librarian avatar who creates buzz on the newest books in whatever format is preferred. You, too, can be Nancy Pearl in SecondLife, but exactly when is this going to happen in the work day? 23 Things can't just be about adding things on; it has to bolster the discussion of dropping things off.