Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Michael Stephens says:
Librarian 2.0 embraces Web 2.0 tools This librarian recognizes how services might be enhanced by the Read/Write web and how new services might be born in a climate of collaboration. This librarian uses Instant Messaging to meet users in their space online, builds Weblogs and wikis as resources to further the mission of the library, and mashes up content via API (Application Program Interface) to build useful Web sites. A Google map mash up of local libraries created by Chicago librarians is one such instance of building tools via new resources. Other librarians creating MySpace profiles and participating in other thriving communities build connections online where their users live. (my emphasis)

But, at the moment, libraries have to deal with two diverse groups of customers - older people who have had little or no exposure to information technology, and 'digital natives' who have grown up surfing the net, texting, gaming and whose brains are apparently wired differently because of their constant use of technology. For about the next thirty or forty years, until the digital natives are the majority of library customers, we will have to continue to offer services to both groups. So don't throw out the books yet!
The major change that libraries need to embrace is that of the interactivity of Web 2.0. We need wikis and blogs that customers can access and contribute to from their own homes. We need to provide reliable information online - such as Ebsco and encyclopedias - which we already do in Manukau. I see the changes as incremental and developmental while we still have the two diverse groups of customers to deal with. And of course, as older staff members retire, the 'wired' generation will in any case be providing the services. But, for the time being, we must still provide for our 'non-technological' customers. And even the digital natives like to curl up with a book, not a laptop. Is Michael perhaps neglecting a large number of his customers with his enthusiasm for Web2.0? We are not only about information - we provide recreational reading, a place to meet, to chat, to read newspapers and magazines, to bring the children to storytime or Tusitara Club. Technology must be our servant not our master.
But as far as library management is concerned I cannot argue with Chip Nilges and John J. Riemer - cooperative cataloguing and resource sharing are definitely the way to go. WorldCat is a wonderful resource. And to finish, I had to chuckle at Wendy Schulz's idea of Library 4.0 - as a luxurious Library 1.0!