Participation is not just for individuals

Regular readers of library-related blogs will have detected a degree of scepticism as to whether many vendors will engage effectively with the challenges and opportunities posed by Library 2.0. Have your say on the involvement of your vendor in moving things forward, and explore some of the real or perceived barriers.

If we are to see widespread deployment of the Library 2.0 services that are generating so much interest right now, we need to move beyond the work of talented and innovative individuals, and see real engagement from the companies that supply library systems out to the Long Tail of libraries. Recent comments would suggest that people believe vendors will not take the necessary steps and, even when they do, their motives are called into question.

See, for example, my recent post to panlibus, and a posting by Tom Peters on ALA TechSource. What do you think? Are you/ is your vendor engaging? Where are the barriers, and what can be done about them? How do we overcome the apparent mistrust, whether justified by past actions or not?