LIS 701 Spring 2008 Discussion Blog

I think libraries are currently responding, within the constraints of their budgets, to the evolution of information with technology available to all patrons. Let’s not forget that libraries were created for everyone to enjoy and utilize; it is part of our democratic culture. Therefore, anything new, while making some patrons wary, will reach out to people seeking information in any format possible.

As far as enhancing our definition of the core values of librarianship, I would think that the technology available in libraries could be used to enhance the lives of under-educated and/or illiterate people, those at risk of failure in their endeavors through lack of educational opportunities. Libraries could and should reach out to the public and offer literacy training using volunteers willing to teach basic reading skills and tutoring technology skills, thus helping those less fortunate in job searches or other quests.

I truly enjoyed that video….not only did it show the multitude of ways that information is seeked and received, but it also showed how far technology and information have come. It is almost as if technology and information were on their own planes and in the past 50 years have started to grow towards each other and I don’t think we are at the point of convergence just yet. I definitely believe there will be further additions and manipulations in merging the two together. But I do wonder what will happen with all this available information. Who is monitoring the quality of this information, is that our job as librarians?
I definitely think that there is a perfect balance between the technology and the library, we just haven’t found it yet. There seems to be a bit of catch up taking place, almost as if when technology came out that most libraries shied away and now they are racing to catch up to even the most basic technological gadgets. Granted there are many libraries that are on the forefront of all things techie…but how is that some can keep up and others can not.
I think the libraries best solution is to use good judgment in figuring out the best devices and gadgets to implement into their system without going overboard and clustering the user or making them feel overwhelmed.

This is a really cool video. The only scary part where I almost dropped my bucket of popcorn was when they got to the microfiche. Seriously, even if you’ve used it a million times there’s always a glitch.
Moving along (or zooming backward, no forward again, Did I miss it?)…I think librarians should embrace the information revolution as an exciting new day with new possiblities that don’t include having to hang a “needs repair” sign on machines (yeah, microfiche, I’m talking to you!). Clumsy patroms can still get info. because there will be many different, increasingly less cumbersome ways to get facts, including historical information.
The future of librarianship is bright, I’d say because we have so many resources to turn to, we just have to be able to distinguish who has the best, more reliable and relevant information. It means less paper jams and eye rolling and blame between the accusing, overwrought librarian, the nervous, sometimes clumsy library card holder, and the difficult, unforgiving machine.