[Web4lib] At Session on the Future of Libraries, a Sense of Urgency

[Christopher Kiess]

I would concur this is a poorly written article and the focus seems to be a
bit skewed. I would not, however, agree that libraries do not need change or
will survive given their current course. We do have to "think bigger" and
become more ubiquitous. 10 years ago, people had to come to the library for
more information. Today they use the web.

ILL's are great, but who wants to wait 3 days for a book if you can drive
across town in 30 minutes and get it? Libraries should become more connected
- more of a network. The web has moved towards a social networking model,
but libraries continue to have their own OPAC's and there own individual
presence. Google books is changing that to a certain extent.

The best quote in here is from Griffiths who talks about librarians working
beyond the library. That is our future - using the skills we currently have
and applying them to different fields. For example, Information Architecture
is a field that has a foundation in our profession. It has applications far
beyond the library.

Perhaps we are changing. But, is there a perception we are changing or are
we still stuck fighting our stereotypes?

Chris Kiess
Information & Knowledge Specialist
Columbus Regional Hospital


On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 3:23 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> There's a report in LJ on an ALA panel discussion on the future of
> libraries:
>
> "At Session on the Future of Libraries, a Sense of Urgency"
> http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6574501.html
>
> I sure hope that this "Session on the Future of Libraries" panel discussion
> at ALA was more interesting than the LJ report makes it out to be. Maybe
> something was lost in the translation. Maybe someone who attended the
> discussion will set me straight?
>
> It sure sounds to me like library consultants rehashing the same old
> "change or die" spiel that has been a centerpiece at many library
> conferences and gatherings over the past 10-15 years.
>
> The report notes that Steven Abram "called it 'appalling' that he can use a
> credit card anywhere but needs multiple library cards for nearby libraries."
> Has he not heard of reciprocal borrowing? Sure, reciprocal borrowing should
> definitely become more widespread, but people in quite a few areas have been
> able to use one library card in nearby libraries for more than twenty years.
>
> The report also says "Abram, asked how collective organization could
> coexist with locally funded libraries, suggested that, at the least,
> libraries could collaborate on their infrastructure, noting that library
> servers went down after flooding in the Gulf Coast and in the Midwest.
> 'There are better ways to architect this stuff,' he said. 'We have enough
> staff if we organize ourselves better.'" Has he not heard of library
> automation cooperatives?
>
> And I don't get the section of the LJ report where Abram seems to be
> equating library professionalism with the folks at Wal-Mart who don't have
> any qualms about wearing name tags? So library staff name tags are the key
> to the successful library of the future?
>
> Then LJ reports the following from panelist Jose-Marie Griffiths: "While
> 'we cannot lose that notion of collection,' she said of libraries'
> traditional role, 'no longer has it to be physically resident in one
> location.'" No longer?? To me the "collection" hasn't been physically
> resident in ONE LOCATION for at least twenty years.
>
> And panelist Joan Frye Williams is quoted as saying that libraries should
> be "more and more a place to do stuff, not just to find stuff. We need to
> stop being a grocery store and being a kitchen." Hasn't that been the case
> for some time now?
>
> Well, like I said earlier, hopefully something was lost in the translation
> and someone who was there at the discussion can set me straight. :-)
>
> Bernie Sloan
> Sora Associates
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>


-- 
C.L. Kiess, B.A., M.L.S.
Information & Knowledge Specialist
Columbus Regional Hospital
Library & Knowledge Services