Digerati less inclined to see a library...

[Linda Hyman]

>> Our library director geve me copy of the Benton Foundation report that
>> was covered by the Atlanta Constitution, exerpted by Edupage and
>> broadcast to the members of this list.  The original report bears
>> reading.  One of its polling results was what was picked up:  that 18-24
>> year olds don't look to librarians for computer/Internet mentoring....

>from shot at panix.com

>Why should they?
>
>Don't know if my branch library is atypical, but of the seven librarians
>assigned only three have Internet experience and only one, besides myself
>has an Internet account.  I know dozens of librarians who neither have nor
>desire such accounts.  I'm sure that if the average patron asked a
>librarian about the internet they would get little more than a shrug from
>a majority of them.
>
>Oh, yes, to be fair only one of the clerical staff has any training with
>the 'net.

I have been out of public service librarianship for 20 months (holy
smokes!) but am still peripherally involved.  When I first came into this
position, there seemed to be three kinds of librarians:  those that
embraced the internet even if only in their minds, those that hoped it was
a passing fancy, and those who strongly opposed it.  It has been
interesting to watch the change over the last year or so.  Everyone
realizes that it is not going to pass  by.  There are even discussions now
about "Internet competencies" for teachers and librarians (Are there any
"competencies" for other librarian tools/services?).

And the  talk has definitely switched from single station public access  to
LAN, WAN, MAN, intranets and the rest of the alphabet soup.  I think that
we are all perched on the cusp of radical change.  I still believe in
public libraries.  There is a lot of disparity now; but historians looking
back may say that in one decade the entire face of librarianship changed.
We've all heard those Gutenberg analogies, haven't we?  Anyway, if we are
still struggling with the impact of change so are our patrons.

Linda Woods Hyman-Education First Initiative
Pacific Bell/San Diego State University
Dept. of Educational Technology
San Diego  CA  92182  (619) 594-4414
e-mail:  lhyman at mail.sdsu.edu
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired