Edging Ahead…

Our collections in Main Library at International School Bangkok have undergone dramatic change in the more than 20 years that I’ve been involved with them. Our online catalog has ballooned to 70,000 records - but this is likely to be the year when the number of electronic books exceeds those items of pulp, paper & plastic. Our ebrary subscription (non-fiction ebooks) is now over 30,000, and joining our RC, Maps & Charts & Flatfile collections in library catalog heaven will be most of our legacy VHS collection - 4500 titles lovingly assembled over 15 years to represent the best of educational media available - in the 20th century. It’s a new world this, and while I may not be leading the charge in school libraries to abandon the printed word and its av counterparts, I AM ”edging ahead” toward the inevitable day when my “print & plastic” collections will be little more than a footnote to the vast and virtual collection available online.

 And how does that make me feel? Mmmmm…. 

Recent posts in one of my colleagues blogs (http://talkingtech.edublogs.org) has me thinking again about just how we can find the right balance between traditional library services and the emerging information-gathering and idea-generating power of Web2.0. The bottom line for me, still is the title of this post.  Even Libraries 2.0 Need Collections