Role of librarians

[Karl Beiser]

> Alan Kay of Apple Computer had some astonishing and interesting opinions. I
> felt these comments were given as his personal opinion and don't know how
> much weight to give them. Maybe someone can help me out with this.
> 
> He said that all the information of our civilized Western world was in the
> libraries, and in 4 years all the information would still be in the
> libraries. He said it would not be on the Internet. 

Sounds 99% right to me for 1995, and probably 95% right for 2000.  
Remember, Internet is distribution, not creation.  People still 
create most of the really interesting and useful information / 
knowledge and most of them still have to eat.  With the exception of 
government and non-profit entities that can pay for the "knowlege 
work" out of other pockets, the need for people to be able to make 
money from information work will leave wonderful new distribution 
possibilities underutilized for the near-term, IMHO.
> 
> He made the point that it would make little difference if the information
> was on the Internet and our country spent dollars to allow access to the
> Internet to our children in schools or homes.  He said that the information
> is already in libraries, and our school system teaches the students how to
> use libraries, and they still aren't used by students.

If this is correctly reported, it demonstrates a profound 
misunderstanding of libraries, and of the plural fashion in which 
people learn.  People use libraries in varying degree and for widely 
varied purposes.  That libraries aren't used as much as we would like 
does not mean that they are not used.  Where they are not used, is it 
because they are libraries, or is it because the school system is 
vastly underfunded, poorly run, or instruction fails to properly 
address library use?
> 
> He contended that the same would be true for the Internet, just because we
> set up a new system with new
> access routes to information, the result would be the same, only a small
> minority of the population would bother
> using it for information. The libraries, which have all the information in
> them already, are more than underused.

Internet is not a cure-all.  It won't take your daughter to the beach.  
It won't  paint a picture of crocuses in the backyard.  It certainly 
won't replace teachers, balance the federal budget or cure acne.  

Yet it can nevertheless be a useful part of instruction, of library 
resource access, of the improvement in teacher awareness and 
administrative efficiency.  Or not.  It is up to the people involved 
to figure out what they can do with global communications, to 
delineate the applications upon which costs are to be justified, and 
devise some ways of measuring whether the projected benefits are 
realized.  


 
Karl Beiser                  beiser at saturn.caps.maine.edu
Maine State Library
POB 2145 Bangor, ME 04402
tel 207-581-1656