Work&Play@CML: Web/Library 2.0, or Who's using Who?

Allowing users to create and post content in meaningful ways for the purpose of enhancing information and creating a digital community (a brief and hardly profound definition of Library 2.0) is likely to be a substantial challenge for public libraries. It will offer rewards but we will have to overcome some serious obstacles, including the inability to compete with other Web 2.0 entities due to lack of funding, user base, and "cool factor." How will libraries become the go-to place for creating content? Are we going to create a community of users with librarians only? Seems unlikley. Even web 2.0 sounds attractive, however, in comparison to some futurist scenerios, such as Library 4.0. By principle, we seek accurate, authoritative sources; in a time when studies do indicate that, say, Wikipedia is less accurate than some traditional library sources (details provided upon request), we might well wonder about the wisdom of fostering access to 2.0 content, much less trying to create our own. Surely this is especially so if providing content means joining with other "private partners" (a term from Dr. Wendy Schultz). Our strength, other than knowledge (a strength surely not restricted to libraries), has long been the ability to combine the resources of the public in a responsible way to offer sources that few individuals can afford individually and to promote an ethic of using those sources with balance and accuracy. What happens to our ethics if we need private partners to provide Schultz's virtual "knowledge spa"? What happens when one of those private partners comes forward to demand we tacitly approve their content, even if it happens to be erroneous, or else they turn off the tap? And in a time when public discourse seems to be increasingly venomous, how much of a spa will Library 4.0 be in any case? That we need to adjust our behaviors and adapt, I do not doubt. But let's think about how we do so and be guided by the values and ethics of our enterprise. If something like Library 4.o requires giving up our profession, is it worth it?