The Summer of 2.0
Charlotte Mecklenburg fills dog days with tech
By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 8/1/2007
A gaming lab. “Mini-Fulbrights” for tech projects. A new series following up a successful program for learning Web-based tools. It’s just another day at the office for Helene Blowers, public services technology director at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) in North Carolina. The mastermind behind the library’s much copied Learning 2.0 workshop (September 2006 “Come Blog With Me,” pp. 22–23), Blowers is busy with a new set of plans that helps make technology fun—and not so intimidating—for staffers and patrons alike.
The Technology Scholars program, for starters, is akin to a “mini-Fulbright scholarship,” open to all 560 PLCMC employees, according to Blowers. Launched May 15, Scholars not only offers staffers time and resources to develop projects of their own design—but also enables the library to take advantage of the talent they have right in-house. Applications flooded in, with two staffers chosen thus far; one who will spend the next six months, starting this month, developing a Web-conferencing project for the 24-branch library system, while the other plans on setting up an educational series on technology tools for students. Blowers says the next two scholars will be selected in February 2008.
While Blowers is unwilling to admit that her idea is likely to be copied by other library systems, we wouldn’t bet against it. After all, Learning 2.0—a program where library staff were encouraged to try 23 new “things,” such as creating their own blogs—has been duplicated in more than 100 libraries worldwide, says Blowers. “The National Library of Norway sent me an email last week that they’re launching it,” she says, laughing in amazement.
Due to popular demand by enthusiastic colleagues, Blowers and Matt Gullett, PLCMC’s emerging technology manager, followed up with Learning 2.1, a new set of Web-based activities that debuted May 15. “I want them to take the time to learn something new,” says Blowers.
Every month, the Learning 2.1 blog will introduce a new volunteer guide (a librarian from Guam, for example, is slotted for October) who will lead participants to several online resources. “Some [resources] will be relevant to information technology, but we want to stick one or two out there that are pure fun,” she says. Postings for June and July have examined Plaxo, an online organization tool, slideshow site Scrapblog, and one wacky site dedicated to ridiculous photos of cats.
While Learning 2.0 attracted 500 to 700 hits a day at its peak, Learning 2.1 is averaging about 120 so far. Could that be due to the lack of an incentive? Learning 2.0 participants received an MP3 player for completing their 23 things, but Blowers held off on tangible rewards for 2.1. “This time they said learning was its own reward,” she says. “So we took them up on that!”
As if it all weren’t enough to keep idle minds busy during summer’s dog days, Blowers and her crew added another project to the lineup—an experimental gaming lab. Led by Gullett, the lab will act as an umbrella for related library-sponsored programs, such as teen gaming tournaments.
Residing in a 100-PC lab located in the main library, the program will also involve university students who are creating video games, with library patrons functioning as testers on new programs. “We wanted to have a real-world lab to take a look at how people interact with games,” says Blowers.
