Oregon position (again)

[Robert MacKimmie]

Begin forwarded message:
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 20:14:45 -0800
From: charkes at acm.org (Susan Charkes)
Subject: Re: Oregon position (again)

Susan Charkes Wrote :

"Computing technology is ubiquitous.  There is no reason that  
computers need
to be planned for, designed, used, programmed or exploited solely by
computer scientists.  Librarians need to think about technology as
something we possess and control, not something that we can use but  
know
nothing about...."

I would like to vent some frustration regarding this comment. My  
position has been to ambitiously engage technology and as often as I  
can, encouraging museum, archive, and library professional staff to  
assimilate the best technologies of each field. I also chirp quite  
often that "it is up to us to determine our information future."

While I expend great effort devising ways of transforming  
miscellaneous hard copy information into digitally available data, I  
often run into brick walls of scared, conservative thinking on the  
part of librarians. My tendency is to heartily agree with Susan's  
comment and hope that the very traditional library crowd can "loosen  
up" a bit and help to "birth" the information future by joining in as  
best they can. Being supportive of the "technology bridge  
visionaries" would go a long way towards making a better world. 


Now, I realize that the individuals who need to hear such comments  
are not reading this listserv...

Robert MacKimmie
California Historical Society, San Francisco
RM at calhist.org