It isn't encouraging John
I think we have slipped backwards, and I see little evidence of drives to take the libraries forward into the new world. All that enthusiasm, research, drive, ideas etc, have gone. Yes money is short, the scene is a mess, but where is the leadership., where is the intention to act. We have lost so much., time, enthusiasm, the organisations that pushed the envelope, EU funding and so on, The MLA latest version after Matthew Evans left failed to change the scene and drive things forward. The regional innovation went, and what have we left? Older and older librarians I notice who are still striving to improve.
But it takes time and it has more or less run out.
I went to a library new to me, but in the NW recently. The place was scruffy, unimposing, dirty in places, run down. Stock was dull and badly presented, there were people in the IT room, but few others.
I went to the loo., no paper no soap. I asked why. It is stolen every morning they said.
Sad, very very sad.
f
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Usher, John
Sent: 19 March 2012 20:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: IT in the library
I'm 3rd - I think! (hope?) in this age equation...
Public Library PC's lead to Public WiFi Library which supports portable devices which (with other provison) generates demand and commercial development of free (at the point of use) general WiFi - and we no longer provide such access.
RFID to circulate physical items which we may not have much of much longer (except perhaps on a welfare basis?? througk Kiosks which - as Mick says (and suppliers are certainly pushing)- may be but a 'Trojan Horse'(my phrase, I fully accept) to a wider provision of public services - and we no longer provide such access.
But we go back to the core principles:
'...the librarian's role doesn't change - only the media...'
It is all but a path to the future.
Can we move fast enough? If we're still having this debate 10 or mre years after the PN, I don't find this encouraging.
JU
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mick Fortune
Sent: 19 March 2012 11:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] IT in the library
I can only agree with you again Frances ;-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Frances Hendrix [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 March 2012 11:48
To: Mick Fortune; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: IT in the library
Some excellent points here Mick, but not just because of age. Any way I am sure I am the oldest by far!
f
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Mick Fortune
Sent: 19 March 2012 11:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: IT in the library
John mentioned RFID...
Like Frances I suspect age may be a factor in finding myself in agreement with her and John.
I remember being very impressed by a librarian at Cambridge (the city, not the university) who many years ago told me that the librarian's role doesn't change - only the media. (and we were talking about whether libraries should lend CDs then...)
What is different about today however is the steady 'transformation' of the public library service into a delivery point for all council services. This is a direction of travel being determined mostly by the market - where companies with more than an eye on their other local authority business - see libraries as key to transforming local government, preferably using their products. RFID kiosks - primarily now used by libraries for self-service circulation are about to be reinvented as access points for all council services. This is not an RFID issue - but it is a likely - and probably unforeseen - consequence of investing in the technology. Some senior librarians appear to have already accepted this as the inevitable fate of the public library and are already actively campaigning in support of this new business model.
The tragedy is that this is ultimately not a means of transforming the library service - but of dismantling it. Whether books or CDs will still be a viable part of the library service in five years from now is not the issue. If there is no library service that argument becomes irrelevant.
Co-location of services - as was so successful in libraries like Barking
- is a much better model than re-purposing the library itself - and its equipment - as service points.
I'm a big fan of technology - having worked with it in libraries for over 30 years now - so as you might expect I think it essential that library staff possess IT skills (real ones). If there were more IT-savvy librarians around we'd be using RFID to help us manage the transition from books to digital rather than simply desperately spending limited budgets on kiosks that may not even belong to the library service five years hence.
Mick
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Usher, John
Sent: 19 March 2012 10:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: IT in the library
Surely this is not new, and represents but one paradigm shift along the way?
This is a journey, not an endpoint.
Supprting people to read, and in what to read?; to learn about printed sources (a techology shift from vellum and papyrus, as much as the ballpoint pen was from a quill and IT from Caxton) and to learn about IT? The balance between support and tuition.
The tragedy, surely, is that we're still discussing this 10 or more years along the way since 'The People's Network', and it was already happening before then.
But already we face the point where Smartphones will shortly outnumber basic mobiles - and yes, even people on low incomes seem to have these.
Libraries might move more widely to WiFi to support those and other devices
- until someone provides ubiquitouis WiFi and we don't need to do it, and/ot it's streamed into people's homes via 'Smart TV's'.
So what will staff's role be then - 'Meeters and Greeters'? (which some might call Kiosk Minders). Until, that is, most of whart we read will be electronic, and all the current flurry of activity in RFID and self servce dies away?
We all come into a job/career when it works one way - when we leave, anything upto 40 years (or now probably more!)it shouldn't be the same, but that is hard for people to adapt to. Where are the 'Wheeltappers'and 'Sagger Makers Bottom Knockers' now?
I once heard it said that people don't like change - then I heard that it's not that, they just don't loke beiong changed. If they lead the change they may be happier.
As William Gibson said:
'The future is already here - It's just not evenly disrtibuted...'
Just a philospohical thought - and mine own, and not representative of my employer, etc. etc.
John Usher BSC Dip Lib
ICT Manager
Library and Heritage Services
Islington Council
Central Library
2 Fieldway Crescent
LONDON N5 1PF
Tel: 020 7527 6920
Mobile: 07825 098 223
Fax: 020 7527 6926
Alternative contact: Michelle Gannon - 020 7527 6907
www.islington.gov.uk
How to get to Central Library:
http://www.islington.gov.uk/Education/Libraries/Local/Central.asp
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Clark
Sent: 19 March 2012 09:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] IT in the library
Hi,
Yes, I think this is (or at least should be) an important part of our job and I would certainly be concerned if people felt 'resentful'. We have to remember that a great many people do not have the skills in which to make use of IT and simple provision of access is not enough.
Libraries play a crucial role in bridging the digital divide for those considered 'information poor' and without the support we can and should provide they will be left behind, seriously disadvantaged economically and educationally.
Incidentally, this raises certain issues in terms of the growth of community libraries and their ability to help bridge the digital divide
- which, funnily enough, is what I am researching for my Masters dissertation J
So yes, support should be provided. You wouldn't refuse to assist a partially sighted individual who needs help to find a suitable talking book, so why would you refuse to assist someone without the skills to navigate and utilise IT?
Sorry, as this is an area I am currently researching I could spend all day on this topic J
Ian Clark
Library Systems Officer,
Augustine House,
Canterbury Christ Church University
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel. 01227 767700 ext 3141
From: Riddick, Amanda [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 18 March 2012 18:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: IT in the library
Hi,
The other day, during a very quiet time at the library, I spent a good
20 minutes helping a customer with checking-in online and printing out her boarding passes and car hire insurance, and that wasn't the first time I've helped people with IT stuff that isn't to do with the library (eg formatting, saving onto USB stick, selecting the colour printer). Do you find that you and/or your colleagues get involved with what I'd call "informal IT", ie dealing with IT queries that are unrelated to your library's services and that take place outside formal IT classes? Do you feel resentful about it, that it's taking you away from what you're really there to do, or don't mind doing this as part of your job?
I'd appreciate any feedback, but I will probably be writing an essay about this and may want to quote you (with due references and all, of course), so please let me know if you're OK about that or not.
thanks and best wishes,
Amanda Riddick
Library Assistant
MA Student, Library and Information Studies, University College London
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