Libraries could shut in wave of spending cuts, under Government plans
http://tinyurl.com/y9vn9np
Oh this is so wrong.
It is the libraries that are the information superhighway of the future, not
Google. It is the libraries which will tell us what our (real) values are, not
commerce. It is our culture that is the engine of our civilisation, and our
libraries are the oil in the engine of our culture. As our culture increasingly
progresses, so peoples' needs are increasingly met. To rely on commerce is a
folly.
Seth Godin, in a blog post 9 Jan. 2010, 'The future of the library'
http://tinyurl.com/yj8zfw9 , suggests libraries should "train people to take
intellectual initiative". If society is moving from a past age in which
information moved fairly slowly and taking the intellectual initiative not easily
done, to one where technology developments have happily bestowed on our
civilisation a glut of information, then asking to redesign society following
technological change is not so far fetched. Libraries should then as Seth puts
it "push everyone from kids to seniors to get very aggressive in finding and
using information and in connecting with and leading others."
Al Gore http://tinyurl.com/ygqxccm reminds us how broadcasting
enabled "tobacco companies to undermine the medical consensus linking the
smoking of cigarettes to diseases of the lung and heart and arteries" - this is
one example of "the ability of elites to shape the information that had the
most impact on publics" - undermining "the rule of reason" ... "the great
challenge now is to reject the false information and construct policies on the
basis of what is known to be true" --- and libraries now need the finance to
enable them to put themselves on a par with television and media and to do
this. We have to learn from our past.
"community information ecologies" http://tinyurl.com/ylfxmxl [can't find my
further citations on this subject at the moment however there is currently
thinking along this line in the States]. If a library assistant coaches a patron
in the use of Facebook then it is family and community culture, and this is not
so far removed from the mission of the public library founders. Could not a
library assistants place themselves on a patron's Facebook page as a 'Library
Friend.' When will libraries have e-books/graphic novels on the Internet for
teenagers to read on their Xboxes, Playstations etc.? The libraries need the
finance to move themselves into modernity.
Having said that the Telegraph article does actually conclude: "We have
absolutely no plans to change the requirements for local authorities to provide
libraries" :) Society though is changing, and technology also. It is for the
libraries to maintain a focus on our true values.
Gareth Osler (at least one glass of wine worse for wear than the last post ;)
http://libraryweb.info
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