Musings on Web/Library 2.0 Reluctance

Recently I received an email from a student librarian asking for my thoughts on why folks are reluctant to use Web 2.0/Library 2.0 technologies. I hadn't thought conciously on this much, but my subsconscious must have, because I was able to distill several ideas into some coherent points. Here's what I came up with, from an academic library perspective:

• A feeling that it pulls us away from what’s been important in our profession: the personal contact with patrons, diminishing the human touch.
• The thinking that our patrons aren’t there yet. I’ve heard from some colleagues that students (particularly graduate students, but not limited to them) aren’t aware of these technologies, and students want things to be as simple as possible. And many faculty aren’t there either.
• The belief that making things too simple is not good pedagogy. Research is a process, and it’s work, which isn’t necessarily easy (at least at the college level.)
• An impression that faculty make assumptions about student use of technologies, that students know more than they do; this idea is in tension with library staff perceiving that students know less than they used to, and/or have more to deal with than they used to.
• It’s a fad, another “trend” that will be replaced with something else.
• Lack of time to learn new technologies.
• Lack of support, in training and in ability to acquire and use new tools, both hardware and software.

She also asked about how we might overcome these obstacles. I didn't have many ideas there: frankly, we haven't made a lot of progress at my institution. But here are my thoughts:

• 23 Things programs of various types are helping library staff get on board with new technologies. Here in Minnesota, we’ve had two rounds of 23 Things on a Stick, with new Things promised for 2009. (The joke is that at our Minnesota State Fair, which is one of the biggest in the country, you can buy almost anything on a stick, including turkey, ostrich, and alligator.
• Incentives, even small ones, can be helpful. The original 23 Things program, as you may have seen, offered a prize for completion, as well as a chance to win a laptop computer and other prizes.
• I think any kind of partnering, or teamwork, or mentoring can help. Working with someone else, or a group, can give you encouragement and someone to ask if you run into problems.

I hope we can make some progess in 2009!