10. Web 2.0 and Libraries

I read two of the pieces posted for #10, the first by Anderson and the second by Stephens. They both have something in common, a trait I believe isn't quite as common for those of us who work in public libraries. That trait is one of "techiness" (if I may use such a term), and is driven by a very narrow vision of how the public uses public libraries. Put another way, they both seem to be rather ignorant of the fact that a good-sized percentage of library patrons are really not that much into technology. Believe it or not, we still have people who come into my library and ask whether we still have card catalogs! (Yes, the card and drawer kind.) These are people mostly older than 35, some, if not many, who have been busy doing other things in their life than worrying about what's up with Windows Explorer 5.1 or what their neighbor's blog is gossiping about. They want books, or maybe an ocassional movie (might still still be using a VCR even--gasp!). They like the fact that we can look things up for them, because they don't want to learn how to use a computer unless they absolutely have to. So when Anderson talks about the "user's preferred environment" being the internet, he's showing the bubble he lives in. The bubble other people live in has very little to do with the internet. Now, admittedly, the more simplified the OPAC is, the more likely some of those people will be to use it. But that's only true for some of them. Stephens shows the same kind of bubble when he blithely talks about librarians IMing--as if the majority of pulic library patrons really want to communicate that way, instead of a portion of the teenage population. I'll give Stephens credit for saying this though, that "honest human conversations need to take place...in physical space..." He gets it I think!

#9 Library Blogs

I tried all the RSS and blog search sites recommended on the exercise page. Using the name of one of my favorite writers, J.-K. Huysmans, I typed in the word "Huysmans" to see what came up. Not many results--big surprise--though one blogger had written several entries about JKH, one in which he was discussing him in the context of Philip Roth's new novel. I decided to leave a comment, since it was such a pleasant surprise to find someone else in the world actually likes this writer. Yes, loving the work of an obscure, 19th century, French novelist whose works sometimes act as much as a bibliography for medieval mystics as they do for any sort of drama can have its drawbacks, but at least in this case I found one other person! There is hope!

Of the sites suggested, I do want to note that Topix had the interesting feature of noticing that I was searching from Grand Rapids (not sure how it knew that--IP address maybe?), so that, for instance, the website for Channel 13-TV came up somewhere on the page. I did not notice such a feature on the other ones.