This video, The Future of the Library, has been making the rounds on library blogs and after watching it I visit the blog Everywhere is Here. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the digital divide and the bubble I spend most of my time in so I was much more interested in this video. It is about the Digital Doorway and the UNICEF Bee, providing access to the internet for those in remote areas. The project was inspired by the Hole in the Wall experiment (perhaps more famous for inspiring the movie Slumdog Millionare) The information and access we take for granted, so for granted in fact that we we’re concerned about the future of libraries as they have been traditionally, is something a great many people don’t have. This video and the projects linked to are in Africa and India but the divide is real, right here in the United States. There are a great many people without access to the internet access or a computer or a smartphone. People, who, if they did have access wouldn’t know how to use them. Just something to think about. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed Share on
Posts Tagged ‘ digital ’
We’re barely treading water, what will keep us from drowning?
Start with this, I did Now think about this – How do libraries fit into this picture? As far as I can tell the technologies we’re struggling to adapt to and implement might very well be outdated by the time we’re ready to start using them. That’s not good. Right now technologies are running by and we’re still crawling to keep up. What does it mean? Maybe we can’t keep up, maybe we should stop focusing our energy there, at least temporarily. Let’s face it we’ve been talking about the next gen OPAC for how many years? Would our time be better spent elsewhere? Maybe we need to look at changing our organizational structure and mindset first. Then we’ll be better equipped to keep pace. Perhaps becoming more fluid and ready to adapt much more rapidly to change as it happens? Because right now I see two problems The level of online service and interactions patrons take for granted is not being met by libraries. Not even the most cutting edge, front line, tech savvy ones. The technologies and trends the most cutting edge, front line, tech savvy libraries are preparing may not longer be relevant by the
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