Paul Miller, the author of Talis' report on Library 2.0, gave a session entitled "The Web 2.0 Challenges to Libraries." One of the points he made is that libraries are trusted, but that they are bypassed online. In other words, even though people trust libraries to deliver needed information, they choose to use other resources when they are online, and do not -- at first -- turn to the library.
Miller has pointers to his actual presentation here and have follow-up content here. I would encourage you to look at his presentation because he had very good visuals (and better to look at them than for me to try to describe them).
He made a point that was also made in the session given by Andrew Pace and Roy Tennant -- we need to build "systems" that make sense to our users. We have been building systems based on what the vendors would create, not based on our needs (or those of our users).
One analogy Miller used was about Legos. When a child gets Legos, he builds the creations that are pictured on the box. Later the child builds what he envisions. We must do the same with library systems. We've gotten software "out of the box" and now need to use it to create what we really want. Perhaps that means using totally different software tools or doing a mashup.
As for Talis, a recent press release says, "Talis unveils new technology platform and new business model for Union Catalogues, Resource Discovery and Resource Sharing." From what Paul Miller said, Talis is creating a platform that will allow for interoperability and sharing between systems (getting us away from the silo mentality we have now).
BTW Paul Miller has a blog as does Talis. They might be worth adding to your blog reader.
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