Reference service and computers--further reflections -Reply

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

I sympathise with the librarian who is working in such a heterogenous
computing environment, and if there is a way to pass this upstream
constructively would encourage her to do so.  We're fortunate that we
have pretty much one machine, if it is different generations.  However,
as far as the "five-minute courses" on using computers  go, while they
become tedious quickly, imho  they are descendants of that great
librarian skill, Teaching People How To Look It Up In The Catalog.  In fact, I
bet we teach MORE people BETTER skills than the olden days.  People
never could use card catalogs well anyway, for the  most part, but it's
easier to say "how do you work this dumb computer?" than "I managed
to get through college without learning how to look things up."  So we've
just displaced some tasks with others, and we help people to use
computers instead of using the catalogs,  which means we're spending
all of our time doing our jobs, which is as it should be.  The fact that 95%
of most work becomes excruciatingly tedious in a short time is just one
of those realities, and can be dealt with through enjoying the remaining
five percent for all it is worth and developing an active imaginative life.

K. Schneider
opinions mine alone (but you can rent them for a reasonable rate)