Dr. Phils Magic Touch

On Library 2.0

I can be a geek, I can be a nerd, that is why when I was a kid I used to always read "Popular Science" and "Popular Mechanics". Before the Internet those two magazines were my "geek fix". Now, I have CNET.com for that.

But what I loved about those magazines was their unabashed optimism for the future. They would always give me a glimpse at what was coming next year, ten years from now or a hundred years from, which I was going to live to see because of the medical advances that they told me was coming in fifty years.

I no longer read these magazines as much anymore, except perhaps at the barbers or the doctors office, both of which give me the opportunity to grade their predictive prowess because the magazines are always no less than ten years old in either of these places.

The whole Web 2.0 experience has allowed all of us to play with some "new" web tools out there and more to the point has given us the opportunity to reflect a little about our profession/service future. And the five perspectives, as represented in "Thing 15", has put some of the lessons learned into some level of focus.

So now it is time to "look into the future, yes into, THE YEAR 2000!"

In the Year 2000, ASIMO will pull our Holds List:



Well that is great, but what about the other functions and besides, according to Rick Anderson we aren't to be focusing on books as much anyway. While I enjoy reading some of these predictions I do find them a little off base or vague like a fortune cookie or horoscope. And some of the observations are made without much regard for the past. Mr. Richardson states ;

"Reliance on user education Libraries are poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching. Ask yourself what your patron-to-librarian ratio is (at the University of Nevada it’s about 680 to 1) and then ask yourself how you’re going to train all those patrons. We need to focus our efforts not on teaching research skills but on eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need, so they can spend as little time as possible wrestling with lousy search interfaces and as much time as possible actually reading and learning."
Away from Icebergs

Hmmmm. Is this a new problem? Eliminating the barriers is fine, but teaching is a core value. Barriers is another word for "borders" and now more than ever we NEED to teach and be able to map out where these borders are. An essential research skill is recognizing not only what but that borders exist. To the young student or the returning researcher the "Map" to these borders is drawn with concepts such as Ethics, Peer Review, Authoritative.....

Many of the barriers have been removed and those that are left, well, you simply need the "Plug-in" in order to go through them. The problem lies in teaching the skills necessary to recognize "Authoritative" material vs. the very convenient Web 2.0 public authored Wikipedia.

But this is not new, remember when we had to teach people that there was a difference between "Whitehouse.gov and Whitehouse.com? This was an awkward lesson for the media specialists out there to be sure.

And while the wistful dreaming of our futures predictors would be laying down the idealistic Bullet Train Track of our futures infrastructure right now, the reality is that the road to our future is paved and it comes with potholes and traffic jams. The potholes are the numerous Web 2.0 applications that seem to be made simply hoping that Google comes along and buys them out before they are sued for copyright infringement. The traffic jams come unexpectedly when consumerism rears its ugly head. Want to download an audio book? Great! I just hope you weren't planning on using your Ipod to listen to it, but here is a list of Windows based "Plays for Sure" mp3 players for you to choose from. "What is that? Say again? You don't have broadband? Sure it will still download via dial up, just start it when you turn your dishwasher on before you go to bed. It will be done in the morning, just like your dishes."

To carry things on further to the Library 4.0 commentaries;

"The library as aesthetic experience will have space for all the library’s incarnations: storage (archives, treasures); data retrieval (networks—reference rooms); and commentary and annotation (salon). Available as physical places in the library “storefront,” they will also be mobile, as AR overlays we can view (via glasses, contacts, projections) anywhere. Both virtual and augmented 3D reality will enable us to manipulate data via immersive, visual, metaphorical, sculptural, holographic information theatres: the research and analytic experience will merge with drawing, dance and drama.5
But Library 4.0 will add a new mode, knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought. In companies, this may take the form of retreat space for thought leaders, considered an investment in innovation; in public libraries, the luxurious details will require private partners as sponsors providing the sensory treats. Library 4.0 revives the old image of a country house library, and renovates it: from a retreat, a sanctuary, a pampered experience with information—subtle thoughts, fine words, exquisite brandy, smooth coffee, aromatic cigar, smell of leather, rustle of pages—to the dream economy’s library, the LIBRARY: a WiFREE space, a retreat from technohustle, with comfortable chairs, quiet, good light, coffee and single malt. You know, the library. "
To a Temporary Place In Time

Makes me want to run out of there like Charlton Heston screaming "LIBRARIANS ARE PEOPLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
So fine, I have mocked and I have been critical but what answers do I bring to the table? Some, none. But I know this, technology and its effects are at times to random to predict their overall effect or outcome.

Lets take a look at an example of technology and perhaps the most invasive media currently in our lives, TV. HDTV has been a federal mandate for over a decade, meaning that there has been on the books, a date to turn off analog signals. That date is in the near future, it is coming. Network television and their affiliates have turned on their digital signals, so if you have properly equipped HDTV you can view any number of the 32 version of CSI in glorious Hi-Definition.

Nobody asked for this, and while it is all very nice it isn't quite the same as going from black and white to color. So now people need to upgrade their TVs. Many don't want to, many don't think they need to. So how does technology and the marketplace work together to solve this problem? Plasma, LCD, DLP and other new technologies that make your current TV look like a Edsel. Not the picture quality mind you, that is what the digital aspect does and honestly a good old Tube (CRT) that has a HDTV tuner in it is still technically the best possible picture you can buy. But you don't feel as good about replacing your big bulky box with yet another bulky box. So the "flat panel" saved the day. For anyone that has ever moved a 36 inch tube TV the mere thought of HANGING a 50 inch TV on the wall is just to novel to ignore. "Do you get any HD channels?" Answer, "No but it's HANGING ON THE WALL!"

I assure you, ten years ago the FCC did not plan on hanging TVs to save their digital broadcast endeavors, because until flat panels came out, NO manufacturer was budging on making HDTVs. The reality is, some other serendipitous force was at play in regards to moving TV 3.0 forward. But, the question remains, has the overall experience changed? Have lives been altered? No, in reality at last count, there are available some 20 HDTV channels, there are still near 200 possible channels available through subscription through your local cable or satellite provider that are NOT digital.

So is the digital age going to completely rewrite the library and its profession. No, technology will be adapted to serve as a tool. Much as it has always been. I'm sure there were plenty of arguments flying around once the reference desk got a telephone. Dire predictions that people would stop coming to the library because they could now simply call. In reality, it is just another method of how we serve.

Libraries will do what they have always done, provide information, entertainment and community for a reasonable price. Will libraries need to carve out some space on "Second Life"? Yes, but much of what we do is in as much the "How To's" as it is anything else. And one thing that technology has never been very good at is teaching how to even use it. Our "How To's" will change but we will still have them.

Our roles may evolve into providing "Techno Literacy". Trouble shooting is going to be our bread and butter. Lets say in the near future we provide a reference service called "online voice chat." There is bound to be someone with a new Imac and a brand spanking new bluetooth headset. They try in vain to connect and use our service but can't. The librarian of the future had better know how to register a bluetooth device properly, and configure a router's ports and to enable UPnP.

With as many things, even refrigerators, becoming more web enabled we will not be running out of "How To's" anytime soon. Our opportunities to serve only expand.

So I'll take all the lofty or dire predictions with a grain of salt and set my sights a little lower regarding the evolution of our profession, at least until a Flying Car is parked in my driveway, as was predicted in Popular Mechanics.