Users want to be free

Ich habe ja noch nie besonders viel von dem bekannten Slogan „Information wants to be free“ gehalten, wenn auch hauptsächlich aus grammatikalischen Gründen. Mein alter Deutschlehrer hätte sich im Grabe umgedreht. Heute kam mir aber in den Sinn, wie es richtiger heissen müsste: Users want to be free.

• They want free access to world wide information
• They want free access to the literature
• They want free access to libraries

and – most important –

• They want freedom of choice how to interact with information and literature

And last not least they want freedom of choice how to interact with librarians. On principle that means we as librarians should make use of as many communication channels as possible, make use of as many tools as possible, serve as many gadgets as possible, be present on as many social networks as possible.