Sunday, May 3, 2009

Well, I'm up to Week Six and I guess I should write what I think of the future
of libraries. I have a friend in his seventies, and he is convinced that the
"little old ladies with their hair in buns" would be spinning in their graves if
they could see what's happening in "their" library today. Granted, he is still
living in the 20th century (by his own admission), I don't quite see it that
way. The library today is much more accessible to a broader range of
users and new technologies have enhanced the library experience for all who
partake of it. Technology, like change can be frightening, but what better
place to learn about it than at a library?

3 comments:

  1. Libraries should be flexible and change with it's users.

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  2. Your friend is right that libraries have changes somewhat but I'd like to see someplace that hasn't changed over the past several decades! The complaint I hear most frequently from the "libraries are terrible now" crowd is that we are too noisy now. I won't deny that I am very much the anti-shusher; learning and recreation are dynamic and don't always happen with our mouths shut. I do understand our responsibility to manage the expectations of all of our users; that is what we have our rules of conduct for. The challenge is in successfully implementing those rules so that everyone feels able to enjoy the library as they would like. That can be difficult!

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  3. I see the library as an equalizer. Those who can't afford to buy an expensive personal reference or recreational reading collection are given access to those materials at the library. Today those materials include the Internet and digital subscriptions, as well as the formerly hotly-debated additions of paperbacks, cassettes, VHS (we might be putting Blockbuster out of business!) and DVDs.

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