[Web4lib] Innovation: NYT article on Dewey-less Arizona public library

[Ross Singer]

What's killing me about the library world's reaction to both this and
the earlier 'hipster' article is the shock and outrage that anyone
could still have such an antiquated view of libraries.

Rather than analyze /why/ such a mindset exists, the dialog has
centered around pointing out how ignorant these authors must be and
how long it must have been since they've darkened the doorway of their
local public library.  Maybe it's just a reflection on the quality of
the New York metro area's libraries, but maybe a lot of what appears
in these articles could come as a news to a large portion of its
readers (assuming the majority of those that have read these articles
are outside of the subscriptions of library-focused mailing lists).

I feel like there's a strong tone of arrogance and self-righteousness
from the library community that is unwarranted in the face of a public
that seems to be barely paying attention.

-Ross.

On 7/15/07, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> There was a discussion of innovation on this list recently...
>
> I think the Dewey-less public library branch in Gilbert Arizona might have been mentioned during the innovation discussion, but I wanted to point out an article from yesterday's (July 14) NY Times. It's listed as the fourth most e-mailed article:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/14/us/14dewey.html
>
> Librarians in general seem to come off as fuddy-duddies resistant to change and innovation, e.g., "On Web sites where librarians frequently post, the abandonment of Dewey has not been welcome. One blogger titled her entry 'Heresy!' Another called the Perry Branch's approach 'idiotic.'"
>
> Bernie Sloan
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when.
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>