[Web4lib] Shouldn't Libraries be Technology Hubs, instead?

[Sarah Campany]

I agree that libraries are about information and access. But technology is what allows people access to the new formats How libraries are able to incorporate the new technologies in their collection will be an important part of providing access for a lot of people.

Sarah Campany
Arlington Public Library, Virginia
MLS student - Southern Connecticut State University


On Oct 28, 2010, at 3:22 PM, Rees, Heidi (CHT) wrote:

> "Shouldn't Libraries be Technology Hubs, instead?"
> 
> I would argue that libraries should be information hubs, and that libraries have always been about access, whether it was access to papyrus, scrolls, manuscripts, books, books-on-tape or e-books, rather than collection.
> 
> Of course my ideas don't solve technical and/or legal problems such as ownership rights, etc. However, thinking of libraries as locations (physical or virtual) for accessing information can help establish guidelines, policies or strategies that consider past, present and future needs of one's clients/patrons/users.
> 
> My 2.0594 cents (Canadian)
> 
> Heidi Rees
> Cataloguer and Electronic Resources Librarian
> Legislative Library of Manitoba
> Winnipeg, Manitoba
> Canada
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Michael Schofield
> Sent: October-28-10 12:57 PM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Cc: irreferential at gmail.com
> Subject: [Web4lib] Shouldn't Libraries be Technology Hubs, instead?
> 
> After reading the Kindle Lending thread.
> 
> I wonder what draw there is in assuming [nostalgically] that libraries are 
> about books. I've been willing to shred that idea when I started digitally 
> archiving civil war stuff for my college library, and especially now that 
> I've "grinded" through workshops and core graduate-level courses about 
> collection development. I just can't hop on the bandwagon.
> 
> There is an excellent, if deeply buried, article in the latest WIRED 
> magazine--which ironically wrote on its very profitable website, last month, 
> that the internet was dead--about notions of ownership in a market favorable 
> for "rentership." Of course, libraries have been all about renting/lending 
> books, but that is only because libraries had the resources to acquire 
> massive collections and distribute them for membership fees and tax dollars. 
> Now that everyone increasingly has the resources to acquire massive 
> collections, it seems obvious that libraries should--well--stop being about 
> Collecting. Books shmooks.
> 
> Now, libraries *do* have the resources and--as members of local 
> governments--the responsibility to dole out digital access, which others 
> haven't. Denver just opened a Community Technology Center, You know, just 
> saying.
> 
> /endrant
> 
> Michael at BCPL
> www.TheGeekLibrary.com
> 
> 
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