For the two perspectives I needed to read, the first I picked was "To a temporary place in time."
Man! Now that is a REALLY forward-thinking essay! Now from when I was a kid, I've always been into science fiction and futuristic stuff-my parents were watching Star Trek when I was a baby (yeah okay, so that dates me, lol) and I've always been into new technologies. (Remember my mini-obsession with the Asus eee pc?)
So I could already see it happening when on Star Trek the Next Generation most people were reading books on their padd's and having an honest to goodness print copy was a rarity. With the Self-Checkout's having made their appearance in the library system some people think libraries will not need people anymore or indeed may themselves become things of the past. But this look at the future of libraries gives one hope that libraries, indeed and especially librarians will never become a thing of the past but instead a thing of the future.
The way it described librarians having avatars on Amazon.com and books having online personalities and libraries having an environment that:
"...is authentic (true and good); humane (emotional, irrational); experiential (designed, theatrical); impassioned; relevant (understandable, timely); and participatory (open, lived, shared)."
Makes me think that libraries will be around for quite a long time, tailoring services to the people they are there for while also guarding treasured knowlege from the past and working towards the future. I really liked this short essay, and if or when those 3D VR glasses come out that will bring the library to me wherever I am, I'll be there :)
I started to take a quick look at "Away from the 'icebergs'", but when it starts with "...I don’t think there’s any question that we librarians are working hard,..." I backtracked. Libraries are not just about librarians(nothing against them and they are very important!)-being a career Library Assistant, and loving my job, I think I as well as all the other people behind the scenes and serving the public everyday are just as important. My friend who works in another library is not a librarian, but works on programming and cataloging and many other varied jobs that contribute to the functioning of the library and assisting the public. I know, the article probably means all library workers as a whole, this is just one of my pet peeves. Sorry!
Took a quick look at "To more powerful ways to cooperate" and okay, collective intelligence is good. Ooh-open Worldcat? "Our next major effort in this area will be the release, this spring, of a search box that will allow anyone with a Web browser to search all of WorldCat, no authentication required." Sweet! Wait-can't we already search WorldCat? I noticed it on the Library's catalog page, accessible from home. Hmm. That was much better :)
Okay, I'm on to the next thing, but "Library 2.0 - It's many things to many people. What does it mean to you?" Well, quick thoughts as I'm behind-it means that the library isn't just that dusty one room book-containing place with the lady behind the big desk and card catalogs missing some cards that I grew up with in grade school :) It means downloadable audio books and being able at 11:30 at night to access the catalog at home to see if they have that book on ghosts I need and being able to put a hold on it so it gets pulled the next day and going on the internet at the library at lunch if I need to check my email and telling my friends on MSN Messenger that sure, we have this title, let me look it up and give you a short summary of it so you can decide if you want to order it from Amazon and, well, you get the idea.
It means that libraries will not disappear but will be around for a long time to come because as long as there has been civilization there have been libraries to hold its recorded memories, so future generations could know their past, where they came from. It means that I will have a job at least till I retire because I'm not only willing but eager to embrace these new technologies as they come, and promote them to people I know. It means goody, I get to have fun searching books and databases anywhere, anytime, and I think I'm going to stop now so I can finish these things :)
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