Best technology for librarians & the user

Disintermediation. This is defined by Redmond Molz as “the elimination of a helper or intermediary between information source and user” (1999, p. 184).

The digitization of information, the move to self-checkout, the reduction of human and financial resources, the rise of Google…all seem to be pointing toward the extinction of the librarian and libraries as we know them today.

Though technology can be seen as the culprit, it can also be used to reposition today’s libraries as relevant and essential.  One thing in favor of libraries continuing to exist was noted by William Mitchell, who commented on the trend among members of the cyberspace communities to want to meet in the flesh. “The more electronic communication expands and diversifies our circle of contacts, the more we’re going to want to add the dimension of face-to-face.” (Molz, 1999, p. 207).

Of the four technologies I looked at, I believe that blogs are most helpful to the librarian and adaptive technology is most helpful to the user…and both can help bring the patron into the library, face-to-face with the librarian and other members of the community.

No matter what the size of the library or its budget, a blog is an affordable technology. All you need is a computer, access to the Internet, time and something to say. There are templates available that help produce a blog without having to know HTML. And the narrative produced for a blog can also be put other uses: in an e-mail, on a website, in press releases, in a newsletter, on a flyer or poster. This technology can help draw patrons into the library and is an efficient, effective way to develop content for a variety of purposes.

Though aimed at the disabled user, adaptive technology has the potential to help everyone.  The example used most often to illustrate this point is the curb cut. Designed to allow people in wheelchairs to cross the street easily on their own, it also benefits people pushing a stroller, shoppers with carts, and travelers pulling suitcases on wheels.  Making sure that public buildings, especially libraries, are available and welcoming to everyone is not only the right thing to do, it builds community and helps guarantee that disabled users have access to all of the information they want/need.

In the new book That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, the authors, Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, state that in this hyper-connected world, average is officially over.  Employees need to bring creativity, communication and collaboration to the job and be willing to invent and reinvent on the spot. They challenge the reader to think like a new immigrant who has to figure out what is going on in his/her brand-new world, find opportunities, and pursue them with energy and speed (2011 presentation on BookTV).

Utilizing a blog to its fullest potential and providing access to the library and all it has to offer are two ways that librarians can be creative, communicate and collaborate, rising to challenge of thinking like a new immigrant to ensure that the library gets invented and reinvented, and remains relevant to the community it serves.

Citations
Friedman, T. and Mandelbaum, M. (2011). That used to be us: How America fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back. New York: Farrar.

Molz, R. (1999). The Institution: Services, Technology and Communities. Civic Space – cyberspace: The American public library in the information age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.