Rural Librarians Can 2.0?

Can today's small town libraries keep up to date with today's increasingly tech savvy patrons? Bill Gates seems to think so. I recently had the opportunity to attend the Gates foundation funded Rural Librarians Conference in the beautifully cherry-blossomed town of Traverse City, Michigan. This was the final conference among the 50 states that brought together hundreds of rural librarians to share, brainstorm, discuss and workshop there way into updating their libraries to version 2.0.

This first post in a continuing series kicks of an introduction and exploration of a smattering of free web 2.0 tools introduced at the RLC that libraries, schools and non-profits can use to enhance their web based services and provide communities with opportunities for discussion and sharing of information and resources. This Wordpress blog is just one example of the many free tools and services such as blogs, wikis, RSS, web tops, social software and more available for public use. In the meantime, enjoy the slideshow of RLC 2007 courtesy of flickr.com, yet another free online web service great for sharing photos with the community.