After about 1 1/2 hours of trying to view the whole article by Jason Vaughn, and finally getting to it, thanks to another student's help, I thought I'd talk about it first.
I enjoyed reading this article, mostly because I understood most of it. I work in a public library and we enjoy some of the same problems.
We will be buying more laptops next month. I've wanted to implement something like a laptop check out for about two years. We only have 6 computers for our patrons to use at this time. They are busy all day long. Some days we get as many as 80 - 100 people using our computers daily. I will definitely mention this again.
Our library has wireless capabilities. We built a new building and opened February 2006. This is good because like was mentioned, the price of laptops are coming down and people are buying more and they are using our beautiful building to get connected.
There is a test library in our System which automatically shuts down the computers after 30 minutes. If UNLV wanted to do something like that and have a community area, they wouldn't have to worry about users being on their computers all day long.
Part of it was boring when he was talking about the offices not being next to each other. TMI.
But overall, it was interesting to hear that large academic libraries work the same as smaller local libraries and we have the same needs, system failures, updates, wants, and money problems!
"Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture":
If I am understanding My Lynch correctly, he wants us all to be Renaissance men and woman, understanding all things, being able to perform all things, and have skills in all area of development.
Of course, I fit into the beginning of the Information Literacy, because sometimes I can type, and do some spreadsheets, and have some basic computer skills. I can find my way to courseweb, print off the syllabus and get to my blog to respond to these articles! (My blog could also use some assistance to help it look better).
His views on the Information Technology being most important are valid. If you could only have a few employees working for you, you would probably want the most well-rounded and skilled person you could have, instead of a few specialized people. I just don't think that there are many of those type of people around.
He wrote this article in 1998. The statement he used, "a recognition of the fluid
nature of many digital forms, plus an understanding of the computer’s growing ability to edit or even fabricate what have traditionally been viewed as factual records of events (such as images).", made me think what computers have done for the Movie Industry regarding the use of special effects. There are so many computer animated and/or generated graphics out there now, it really astounds me what computers have been able to do.
In conclusion, I don't think I will grow up to be a Renaissance women. There may be hope for me to improve my skills and learn some more about Information Technology.
OCLC report: Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers(2004):
One statement that was made in this article, "Libraries need to find ways to deliver quality content to mobile devices." is one of the reasons that I am in this program.
Don't get me wrong. I Love My Books! I like to hold them and look at the cover. I like to take them in the car with me and read them wherever I am. The patrons who visit us also like their books, CD's, magazines, books on tape and books on CD. But there a lot of people who have never been to a library, and aren't familiar with the services that are provided.
According to this report, those services need to be updated and changed for the "new generation" of technology.
I did not agree with the statement that blogs are "more honest". Who is there to check and make sure that what is written is what is right?
I also felt terrible while reading that "Fleshmet" will become more prevelent and that 70% will get together with "eworld" people instead of "real" people. That is what is wrong with society now. There are too many children and people left alone who spend all day in front of a television or computer. There should be more interaction with talking, playing and speaking to others.
My husband just took the texting ability off my, his, and our daughter's phones. He said, "if someone wants to call and talk they can, and I will answer if I want. I will not pay for someone to text us something."
So, there is change everywhere and hopefully for libraries, they will be able to discover ways to keep up with the give me everything, wherever I am concept that is being heard now.
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2 comments:
I liked your perspective -- you are someone that is actually working in a library. I too find that our local public library and its branches are usually full of people; the building concept isn't dead yet! And I hope it never is, personally.
Realistically, I don't know that we can attain Lynch's goal of information technology literacy either. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't really see that an in-depth knowledge of the history and development of tschnology will help people to use it, or in fact get it. I think his proposal was somewhat academic rather than realistic.
I also work in a public library, and the computers are a constant battle. We currently limit patrons to 1 hour per day (flexible depending on how busy we are at the time) and we still have people waiting to use them. Unfortunately, we only have 1 laptop available for checkout, so I'm jealous of what your library has available! We hope to increase the number of computer stations available to patrons in 2009, and we're pushing for updated software as well.
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