Thing 2

comments on the suggested reading on L2:

". . .The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives. . .to make the library a destination and not an afterthought." -- a re-quote of a re-quote from Sarah Houghton's definition of L2 found in the reading.

• how is the purpose stated in this quote different from the purpose of (public) libraries of the last 100 years? Perhaps instead of purpose, it is the point of access that defines L2? The public can now access the library from any computer available. The library is not so much a physical destination as it is the true uber-gateway. (not Google)
• I would think that a greater concern to information specialists is the accuracy and relevancy of the information and its accessibility by the greatest number of citizens. When pre and post Google are mentioned, I wonder what will exist "post Google." Will anything other than Google be allowed to exist for the public? I assume the military industrial complex will always have its own secure uber-gateways that none of us will ever uncover. But when Google finishes taking over the world -- what will exist as its counterpoint?
To this, I would agree that IT departments ". . .are becoming an important part of the decision-making process and have more influence over how the public perceives your organization." Unfortunately, many of our beloved IT folks are not librarians. They do not have the same perspective about information and libraries that librarians do. Just as businessmen see information as a commodity, and the military sees it as a weapon, IT looks at information from its own frameworks. Thus, when Google is allowed at K-12 schools in Florida and Dogpile is blocked throughout the entire state from k-12 schools, and the only person who knows why is an IT person in Tallahassee, we see the true power of the IT department. When deciding what technology will be employed, by whom, in what way and within what limits, the IT people listen to a different drummer than the librarian. They are not necessarily concerned with the "freedom to read" or "intellectual freedoms" or the "patrons' right to privacy." Nor do they take concerns such as "authority" into account. This is why I say for L2 to work, decisions should be made by librarians (information technology savvy librarians) rather than Bill Gates or even Steve Jobs.

• L2 requires a fundamental change in how we handle "authority." Yes, and school librarians (media specialists) will tell you that the most important part of their job is to teach their students how to evaluate information for themselves, to look at many points of view, to judge it by its age, content, purpose, reason for creation, target audience . . . as well as to determine for themselves how to select and use their own research. If we fail in this mission, all the librarian becomes is another gatekeeper rather than a facilitator. (No wonder the state is threatening to cut school libraries from its education budget.) Talk about relevance to the citizens of the future tax payers. What could be more important?

• "Give them what 'they' want" -- who is the "they?" Well, we hear a lot about digital natives in the world today. It seems to me that this refers to middle school and high school kids who used a computer mouse for a teething ring. But it is my experience that the desire to use the newest technology to access information, to teach, to learn and to research -- is not dominated by teenagers. It is used by all generations and perhaps more effectively and more wisely than the so-called digital natives based on the impact of the acquired information on the users' lives. I think it takes reaching a point in life beyond high school for the importance of relevant information in one's life to have full impact. I am thinking quality rather than quantity here. And given that technology shifts so rapidly, we are all in the same constant learning curve on technology.

Finally, I think reading M. T. Anderson's brilliant book "FEED" provides a rather chilling view of the use of information and the Internet in the future. When considering how to create the Great Library in the Sky, we must keep to the core values of our profession.

Queston One -- blogging 101

Okay, I have now set up the blog for this learning experience. I am quite excited about this and have a lot to learn.