A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto

You are so totally my hero that I don't even have the words.

Don't even get me started about what constitutes scholarship in a post-copyright environment. Don't even get me started about the monopolies of the universities and the textbook publishing industries. We'll be here all week.

March forth, comrade. March forth. And if I die in battle, may my fallen body be your stepping stone to victory.

This is something that librarians should pass around amongst themselves via email....but WHY was there a link to it on my college library's webpage? So glad the college's librarians spend their paychecks surfing and linking to YouTube vids.

The librarian is Us/ing us.

My advice? Do less and do it well and stop trying to be "relevant".

It's an institutional focus, but the institution was originally a vehicle for community aspirations around reading and empowerment. I'm reminded of the appearance 20 years ago of videos in the library. A lot of effort and attention, and worse, budget. What did it achieve? Techno-du-jour. The "librarian 2.0" crowd is the same crowd that likes "film" I think, rather than "movies". Film is the medium, movies are the result. Film is for the commentariat; movies are for the masses.

The truly compelling reasons to associate with a library in the past have been lost. And there is nothing particularly distinctive in the Libarian 2.0 mania for change that cannot be achieved elsewhere. What are the absolutely unique contributions of locally funded libraries, 100 years ago, today and tomorrow? Is there something about "reading" perhaps? The manifesto has a lot about "libraries", but not much about reading.

This comment is the one that makes sense, over all the uncritical celebrations of the cult of the guild. The result of Librarian 2.0 thinking is the trashing of local Toronto libraries that serve an "increasingly" miniscule segment of the population -- a segment that is only served because of a random/accidental connection.

Valid points Scout--
I love the idea of creating this kind of video, and the song is cool.
However, from a library standpoint I just can't help myself--every time I watch this I want to edit, edit, and change it, to make it what this vid SHOULD be.
I've done the CEO Public Library gig and now work in School Board libraries--have also done Corporate crap. Tell me, WHAT does Burning Man have to do with Libraries? Like, REALLY?!!

I don't understand, are you for or against "librarianism 2.0"? Where specificlaly is the agism and sexism in librarianship today?

Where can I go to download the song in this video