[WEB4LIB] Suggestions needed

[Robert Tiess]

Michael Sauers wrote:
> I'm supposed to spend 'a few minutes' at the end of a two-day session on the
> Internet on the Libraries and the future. Here's the starting point I was
> given:
> 
> "What I was thinking was just taking a few minutes to answer these
> questions.  What will libraries be using in computers in 2 years, 4 years, 6
> years?  How will hardware change?  What about wireless?  How do they plan?
> What can they expect?  and drive home the fact that libraries are never
> finished planning."

Hi, Michael.  I think it would be nice to point out somewhere that, whatever the future brings, libraries will not only continue to coexist and better integrate with Internet technology but also influence it, find new applications for it, if not extend it.

As for the technology, we know it will change, get faster, hopefully cheaper.  Hardware won't change a great deal for libraries in two to four years.  More libraries will go wireless.  You can expect more of what we have today and have always had with technology: excitement over the possibilities, satisfaction with moderate setups implemented to "do the job," and frustration when old systems go down or upgrades become necessary.  Standards compliance (W3C, Section 508, etc.) may be a big challenge for some libraries, prompting redesigns of web sites (e.g. the recent "99.9% of web sites obsolete?" Web4Lib thread), while incorporating new technologies or platforms will new present possibilities and undreamt of aggravation.

Planning can be long term (and there should always be a grand vision for every library), but technologies (and other things, like web browsers or database vendors) can change too rapidly for long term plans to get utterly specific and exist without revision or without flexibility for unforeseen changes.  More libraries will feel the need (or temptation) to increase technological offerings; it comes down to what each institution will deem appropriate for its users.  Some will offer thin client Internet terminals with limited functionality, while others will go all out.  Much of this will get decided by budgets and mission statements and technical savvy not easy to come by.

No, libraries can never finish planning because those plans are written in pencil and we need to be able to revise due to the more rudimentary and often uncontrollable dynamics at play, such as budgets and mandatory upgrades due to some new software or service that only works on platform x....  Plan to keep planning :-)

Getting more people to realize how the library still fits in as a dominant or THE primary information source (or broker, as it were) could be a positive thing for the future of libraries.  The Internet isn't going anywhere: it'll always be there.  Public libraries, on the other hand, may have to fight to survive.  That many people come to the library just to use the Internet is still a good thing -- patrons are patrons and may some day graduate to use some of the library's other resources -- but, the library shouldn't just be sold merely as a proxy ISP either.  Libraries can and should continue to find better ways to market and improve their services to maximize potential patronage.

On another note, still too many people rely exclusively on the Internet for information, so I say "take it" wherever the opportunity arises to point out how patrons can get the best of all worlds by coming to the library first instead of the web.  In Internet classes I teach students are often surprised about what the Internet is not and what a library can do for them that the Internet cannot presently or ever do.  Clarifying the library's role and improving awareness of library services to all segments of the intended service population should be a high priority for any planner, since it involves not merely the Internet but all the library is and does.

Just some thoughts, anyway.  Good luck on your project!

Robert