Why we won't be here in 20 years

[Genie Tyburski]

Joe Schallan wrote:
> 
><snip>
>> 
> Now we know that the statement "more research information
> than you could find in your library" is false, unless it is a
> very small library.  Yet this has become the public perception
> very quickly.

Is this a false statement, Joe?  It may depend on the library(ies) to
which users have access or experience.  Think about all the government
documents available to those residing in rural communities as one
example.
> 
> My wife is an instructional librarian at a shared public/school
> library, and she reports similar perceptions on the part of the
> students.  When asked how they plan to proceed with their
> research, they answer "Oh, I'll find it on the Internet." Despite
> years of our efforts, reference books and periodical indices
> (digital or printed) do not even occur to them.
> 
> Here's my concern.  When libraries go to the voters with bond
> issues, the libraries usually win because of the good will of the
> voters.  The voters feel good about public libraries and are
> usually willing to oblige.  Most do not know the library well, nor
> have they studied the particulars of the issue at hand.  If
> economic times are good in the community, then voters, who
> feel good if not enthusiastic about their library, are happy to
> vote the requested funds.
> 
> But what if we are suddenly perceived as irrelevant?  Marginalized?
> Of no more importance to civic and educational concerns than the
> local historical society museum?  Won't the voters say "We can get
> all this on the net . . . why spend tax dollars on a library?"
> 
> I predict that unless we convince citizens of the the value we add
> to information, then marginalization is our destiny.
> 
> What we haven't done well is promote ourselves.  The value of
> a library does not lie so much in its materials as in the expertise
> of its librarians.  Yet the voting public views us as information
> warehouses attended to by clerks.
> 
> We know that the web, with all its treasures but also with all
> its chaos and unauthenticated and downright unreliable information,
> cannot yet match a well-stocked public library.
> 
> And even when it does match (and it will), who will be the
> guides?
> 
> 
I generally agree with the rest of your statements.  The phrase
"value-added" is used so much perhaps it's losing its meaning. 
Nonetheless adding value to library services is the key to survival in
the future.

I've heard and read that people will get tired and frustrated trying to
find information on Internet on their own.  I'm not completely sold on
this idea.  Also, the new push technologies may go a long way toward
making such adventurous travel irrelevant.

Genie

-- 
Genie Tyburski					PH:  215-864-8151
Research Librarian				FX:  215-864-8999
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll		EM:  tyburski at hslc.org
1735 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA  19103

Editor of The Virtual Chase Web Site at	http://www.hslc.org/~tyburski/