Week eight of Library Learning has brought me to the crux of this class: How is library technology changing to fit the needs of an ever-increasingly connected patron base? What mindsets need changing in order to grasp the online information explosion, and changing needs of our patrons? The title of this blog is the favorite line I read concerning this issue. Beta versions of software are ones that are in a late testing stage, not yet ready for full release. Changes are constantly being made to work out the bugs. In order to fully serve the patron base, and gain new ones, libraries must take a beta is forever approach, constantly updating and changing rather than waiting for a technological plateau that will never arrive. It's a smart approach, but one that I have a couple questions about... Actually, I have many more, but won't take the time to type them.
1) How will we offer new approaches for younger patrons while still maintaining services for those who aren't technologically savvy? For instance, I don't believe it is realistic to expect an older and younger patron to adapt in the same ways. As the population ages, this problem will lessen, but today, we have to consider this gap. How do we avoid driving off a considerable portion of those we are tasked to serve? If they don't understand it, they won't use it.
2) Which formats, and how simple will they be to upgrade? Reading through the material for this lesson, the meaning behind the text is clear: Printed materials are dinosaurs, stumbling around the edges of a tar pit. Digital formats are fine, but constantly change. Digital libraries will need to reformat on an amazingly regular basis, or risk becoming the digital version of an 8-track tape. A book, printed a hundred years ago, yet taken care of, is as readable today as the day it was printed. Yet, there are already a mind-boggling array of digital text, image and audio formats (some proprietary, some not), and more always right around the corner. Beta is forever. What standards do we choose, and why? Our digital formats need to be easily upgradable, and cost effective, to work. A digital library must allow all patrons access to data, not just those with the latest gear. Will we rely on remote databases, and hope those running them upgrade to the latest formats, or will we be in charge of our own collection on our own servers?
1 comment:
Your first question is amazingly similar to Karen's question that she posed on her blog today! As I said in my response to her post, we'll have to figure out how to offer these new services as a companion to traditional library services, not as replacements. At least not yet;)
As for your second question - that's a hard one. Digital formats don't seem to have the shelf-life of the traditional paper-based formats. VHS is already a dying format, and it's only 20-some years old (at least since it was popularly adopted). How do we future-proof our digital collections? This is a question that is being asked (but not necessarily answered!) on many different library mailing lists and on many librarian's blogs. We have to figure that out pretty soon - ebooks and audio books and digital versions of everything are just around the corner!!
Post a Comment