The Logical Operator

In the Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 34, no. 2, Lyman Ross and Pongracz Sennyey write an article on the future of libraries in a changing technological milieu.

This is not a surprising topic - in fact, it’s a perennial topic in the library literature, to the extent that the first line of the article reflects that you can’t mention new or changing technology and libraries together without running afoul of somebody’s cliché. Still, this sort of article fascinates me as it falls in the realm of speaking the doom of libraries (doom here being “fate,” rather than “horrifying, fiery end” - that was handled in the last post I wrote about doomsaying).

Ross and Sennyey’s premise is to analyze libraries and their technological aspects through the lens of Richard Foster’s S-curve model (used to indicate the growth profile of new technologies, from early adoption to plateau and ultimately replacement by another “discontinuous” or disruptive technology). Foster’s theory suggests that in the face of a technology that is new and disruptive, most businesses will at first attempt to simply refine existing (and proven) methods. However, this sort of polishing only carries an organization so far, because while for a time, refined methods outperform new technologies, it’s like outrunning a toddler. Eventually, the new technology will get its feet under it and take off.

Ross and Sennyey argue that libraries are right now experiencing “diminishing returns as it continues totinker with its traditional protocols and services, while emerging technologies are improving at an exponential rate” (p. 145). I would argue that they don’t go far enough in their description of emerging technology: new technologies have surpassed traditional library methods in several areas of its mission, such as searching, resource discovery, and other areas.

Following are some of the notions in the article that I found interesting, and my thoughts. The relevant pages where these notions came from are listed as well.

1. People aren’t coming to the library to use it as a library anymore - they come for coffee, Facebook, and email. (p. 145)

I cannot argue with this; surveys here indicate that the primary reason someone crosses the gate is for the Java City coffee shop; second to that is (if I recall correctly) use of the computer labs. This may be an unavoidable consequence of offering such services, though. And, computer use for a relatively savvy user is often (from my limited, anecdotal observations) a rapid back-and-forth among multiple tools, web pages, and databases. You may Facebook or AIM, but in the moments between chat messages you’re hitting EBSCOHost or JSTOR to run a search. Read more…

Uncategorized competition, digital revolution, doom, future, library, marketing, technology, tradition

Over at the The Shifted Librarian, a blog about technology and libraries and all the delightful interactions betwixt same, Jenny (the author*) posted this post, about technology as a source of guilt, rather than a tool for life balance. I came across the entry by way of Walt Crawford at Walt at Random, and no I’m not actually trying to name-drop (but I’m doing a good job!).

The post at The Shifted Librarian hit on something that’s puzzled/bothered me for a while now. It used to be that I was well out on the “early adopter” leading edge - I was probably the first kid at my college to actually figure out how to get onto the newly installed network (and do so several weeks before they’d planned the rollout); I bought computer equipment, palmtops, and cell phones as quickly as I could; I was happily engaged in email correspondence and web fora as soon as I learned what they were.

But lately, I seem to be wishing more and more that some of the new technologies would just git offa my lawn. In all seriousness, I’ve made a point of avoiding a number of the new social networking tools available, because frankly I couldn’t actually see a reason for them - what, for instance, does Facebook do? Why would I Twitter? And if you try to run a seminar in Second Life, please don’t invite me.

Upon reflection, a lot of my latent resistance to new things started after I became a Iibrarian, and began seeing how Things Are Done(TM) in libraryland. There’s a sense of traditionalism that is instilled, and it seemed to obstruct my interest in new technology gizmos for a while. I’ve felt a tremendous amount of guilt about not being well-versed in these tools, and a definite sense that I was therefore being a bad librarian.** I will also say that part of my resistance probably comes from no longer being the cool guy (or techno-nerd) with an inside line on how things work. Now that Twitter is for grandmas and housecats have blogs it’s hard to maintain my elite status.

Fixing it is easy, of course - just try them out. I’m using Facebook (as soon as the University approves the move, at least) to open another online avenue to our library, as well as connect with fellow faculty and colleagues. I’ve got blogs and wikis and such firmly in hand, and I…

…well, okay, I still haven’t figured out Twitter. It’s like short-attention span theater, or something.

* She says her name is Jenny, right there on the blog!

** No cookie!

Uncategorized facebook, guilt, librarianship, library, second life, social networks, tech, twitter