Dertouzos on future libraries

[Joe Schallan]

In *What Will Be -- How the New World of Information Will
Change Our Lives* (HarperEdge, 1997), MIT's Michael
Dertouzos says (p. 188):

"Other changes are more certain.  Libraries will remain the
custodians of physical educational materials, notably books.
But they will also become managers of the information links
to other knowledge sites, with the important proviso that
they, the libraries, control the quality of these virtual
bookshelves, deciding which knowledge residing at other
institutions should be targeted by the pointers and hyper-
organizers of the local library. The new librarians will
actively ensure the presence of only those virtual links
that preserve a quality and currency of shared knowledge
deemed necessary and complementary by their institution.
Effective management of these shared knowledge pointers
will be critical to the quality of tomorrow's educational
institutions, especially because students and faculty
will also have access to their own huge arsenal of distant
knowledge links."

Wow.  Here's a nonlibrarian I.T. expert who sees a huge
role for librarians in the information space of the future, one
which looks a great deal like our traditional role of selector.
He expects us to choose and maintain high-quality links,
and not act as a mere common carrier.  But do libraries
have the financial resources to support such a worthy
goal?  Little ones like mine don't.  Big ones like Cal
Berkeley may.  Do we need to develop structures for
effective cooperative work?   I'd much rather point to
a terrific meta-index developed by librarians than
rely on what is currently available.  Is developing something
like this something we could actually do?

Dertouzos' book has a foreword by Bill Gates and back-
cover puffery from Esther Dyson, so he's obviously
well connected and has obtained advance praise from
the Approved Gurus.  One back-cover blurb says
"Groupwork, e-forms, automatization, and other
'electronic bulldozers' will dramatically increase our
productivity."

I wonder.

This is in strong contrast to the doubts expressed in a
fascinating, current article in *Scientific American*,
which points out that despite a hundreds-of-billions
investment in I.T. by American companies and
institutions, no measurable increase in white-collar
productivity can be demonstrated.  The article
explores some explanations of why this is the case.
In our hype-laden infotech world, this is *most*
interesting reading.  If you care about computer
usability, check the article at

http://www.sciam.com/0797issue/0797trends.html

or in the July issue.

Among the culprits are "Creeping Featurism" (e.g.,
311 commands in Word 2.0 versus 1,033 commands
in Word97) and "futzing."  (And be sure to click
the "futzing" link for an explanation of the Futz
Factor and what you can do to keep it from killing
your productivity.)

By the way, has anyone counted just how many
different commands library users face when they
walk into that machine-laden room we all have
these days?  We're a medium-sized, suburban
public library, and our Electronic Info Center
contains 12 entirely distinct search interfaces,
counting the online systems and the CD-ROMs.
(And I'm counting the web browser as one
interface and not even considering all the
multifaceted search tools one encounters
*within* the Web!)  Sure, there's some
commonality, but not nearly as much as you
would expect.

The bewilderment, confusion, and frustration I
witness daily may be job security for me, but it's
a helluva way to treat customers.

<rant>
Librarians should have been at the forefront of
developing standards for user interfaces.  We
could have given our patrons the gift of
commonality of commands.
</rant>

This last stuff is off topic, to be sure, but essential
reading for all of us, nonetheless, IMO.  I ask
forbearance.

Regards,
Joe


=================================================
Joe Schallan, MLS                             jschall at glenpub.lib.az.us
Reference Librarian and Web Page Editor
Glendale (Arizona) Public Library                        (602) 930-3555