Oregon position (again)

[Bill Crosbie]

At 06:36 AM 11/29/95 -0800, REMELT at LEGACY.CALVIN.EDU wrote:
>
>In response...
>When we ask "Who's going to be running the libraries of the 
>future," I would hope the answer is librarians. When we  ask 
>Who will implement the library of the future?" I would hope we would 
>answer computer specialists. 

I am very glad to see this post.  I, as a computer scientist, have become
very concerned about the "exclusionary tendencies" that I have witnessed
within the profession.  (DISCLAIMER:  This tendency is evident in _ALL_
professions, not just library professionals so please don't fill my e-mail
with burning embers and death threats.  ;-)  

The truth of the matter is that we need each other.  Computer scientists,
such as myself, need to be involved in making sure that the systems that are
designed are easy to use, robust, and meet the needs of patrons and
librarians.  Librarians need to be open to the notion that other disciplines
will be involved in creating the access tools in this new medium.  Both
groups need to realize that there are elements of these new libraries that
will benefit from skills in other fields (graphic designers for use in WWW
development come immediately to mind).  The future of successful information
access is in the hands of those who are able to bridge gaps and work across
disciplines.


>For the library of the future to be a 
>success, we must have more computer specialists DIRECTLY responsible 
>to librarians. We establish the vision and the goals and the 
>specialists carry them out. 

For the record - I am new to this listserv, and with good reason.  The Chang
Science Library at Rutgers University has just hired me (Yes, a Computer
Scientist!) to handle computer operations at the library.  I report directly
to the director of the Chang Library, and work side by side with him in
establishing the digital direction for the library.

[[SNIP]]

> I'm simply saying we should leave the nuts and bolts of 
>computer technology to people who specialize in that area. 

Although I agree with this, I must add this.  Computer scientists can
effectively act in more that a "nuts and bolts" role.  In some ways, they
will be able to guage the effect new technology can have on how libraries
perform their services before it becomes widely advertised in the ALA
exhibit room.  By including interested CS folks in the planning stages, you
can keep a leg up on the future.  (Caveat: you must have a CS person that is
willing to work on bridging the gap from his end to understand the library)

William Crosbie
MicroComputer/Network Support Analyst
Chang Science Library - Rutgers University
crosbie at aesop.rutgers.edu
crosbie at rci.rutgers.edu