For me, a library will always be a place meet & gather, not just to surf the Web, but to find that perfect book to read ( to actually hold it in my hands) and curl up in that cozy spot or to read your child into dreamland. My hope is that books will always be a concrete thing and not become only a virtual thing. I think balance is a good thing.
Viewing "The Machine Is Us/ing Us" was an exercise in futility for me because I did not understand it. But here is my view on the future of libraries & all this emerging technology. To me all of this is exciting & scary (mostly scary!) because everything changes so rapidly. I feel that I and many other people are being left behind. Not so much myself because I have access to this learning tool (23 Things) and opted to take advantage of it. I understand that this is the future of libraries and it is the best way to go, so stepping up to the task of "23 Things" is a good thing. Back to the many others being left behind......surely you know that Web 2.0 is not available for everyone! Not all libraries/school systems have access to funds to make this "machine" available to their community. So then books are still very valuable when access to a computer is not possible.
I do feel fortunate to have "23 Things" as part of my job, but , it is a difficult task for someone like myself who frequently resists assimilation into the world of technology. Also, it is harder for Circulation staff to work on "23 Things" because when we are off the desk there is still shelving, shelfreading, reports, etc. and scheduling time to work on "23 Things" becomes yet another task to deal with. It seems as soon as I learn a "techie" thing, it changes or something new takes its place at a daunting rate of rapidity. It seems that one cannot learn fast enough.......but onward and upward, ain't no half stepping, feet don't fail me now, and so on and so on.
Viewing "The Machine Is Us/ing Us" was an exercise in futility for me because I did not understand it. But here is my view on the future of libraries & all this emerging technology. To me all of this is exciting & scary (mostly scary!) because everything changes so rapidly. I feel that I and many other people are being left behind. Not so much myself because I have access to this learning tool (23 Things) and opted to take advantage of it. I understand that this is the future of libraries and it is the best way to go, so stepping up to the task of "23 Things" is a good thing. Back to the many others being left behind......surely you know that Web 2.0 is not available for everyone! Not all libraries/school systems have access to funds to make this "machine" available to their community. So then books are still very valuable when access to a computer is not possible.
I do feel fortunate to have "23 Things" as part of my job, but , it is a difficult task for someone like myself who frequently resists assimilation into the world of technology. Also, it is harder for Circulation staff to work on "23 Things" because when we are off the desk there is still shelving, shelfreading, reports, etc. and scheduling time to work on "23 Things" becomes yet another task to deal with. It seems as soon as I learn a "techie" thing, it changes or something new takes its place at a daunting rate of rapidity. It seems that one cannot learn fast enough.......but onward and upward, ain't no half stepping, feet don't fail me now, and so on and so on.
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