A few days ago, I and several fellow Librarians were invited to attend a conference to discuss 'Library 2.0' and the impact of technology on Libraries.
...and after 8 hours I still wasn't sure what the point was. Were they saying that books were no longer important? No, they said that the idea of books and libraries are very much instilled in the publics brains. Books aren't going anywhere.
So what exactly is Library 2.0 (other than a marketable catch-phrase)?
A desperate attempt for libraries to stay current with the web-obsessed, indecisive, iPod jacked 'millenials'.
In other words, the company is losing profits and has to stay hip and cool.
Yes, that's what it seemed like to me, a sad little motivational program for a big stuffy corporation trying tap into the teen market.
I heard lots of talk about how we need to do things to entertain kids, but, the question is "what is a public library?" Is it really a community meeting place? No, the town hall is.
Should it be a place to enjoy a book and a coffee? God no, do that at Barnes and Nobles.
A library is a place that the government provides to store media and information for public use.
That's all. I don't think libraries should focus on rock concerts, video games and music.
The point was made that libraries should cater to the wants of these millenials, but what if they *gasp* grow up?? What if a library spends much of thier precious money on a product that in the next five years becomes obsolete? Now I doubt iPods are going anywhere for a while, nor do I think cell phones just a fad, but an contridictory comment was made concerning DVDs.
The individual speaker spoke about in ten years DVDs would be obsolete and replaced by blue-ray, and that the libraries collection will be out of date.
*side note: I find that unlikely. Though blue-ray hold more information and have better picture quality, they don't really revolutionize the industry like DVDs did. Its really a better DVD. Plus, nearly everyone has a DVD player now, and I doubt they'd be too keen to switch en masse.
Now let's assume this comment is true. Would it not be an example of new innovative technology falling to the wayside after immense investment has been made into the product?
But libraries should jump on technology as soon as it comes out, regardless of a limited budget.
I told you in the first post that I would rant like this.
We had three speakers:
Baldy Wheezylaff
Nervous Liblogger
and Professor Goatee Ponytail
Mr Wheezylaff was alright, he needed speaking classes and a way to organize his speach but I personnally liked him. He was funny. He had a slide show that was, as a co-worker put it, essentially "here's some more stuff" with no point to link it together with his speech.
Nervous Liblogger needed help with public speaking but she actually had something to say. Case in point, I didn't know how useful blogs where until I listened to her...so you can blame her for this.
Prof. Goatee Ponytail was a good public speaker...but really had little of value to say. It was obvious to me that this aging hipster doofus was trying way to hard to be cool. He complained about libraries saying no to cell phones, and to PSPs. I wanted to ask him if he allowed kids to talk on cells or play PSP's while he lectured.
He's probably so into himself he doesn't notice.
I could go on about him, but I can't I'm spent for now.
So I guess we now have turn Libraries into another example of extreme marketing.
LibraryXtreme! Read books... to the max!
whatever.
Check back later as I review the feel good movie Invincible
or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment