It is only currently employed librarians who need
to try to make ourselves relevant. As the ground
shifts from under what we now call "librarians", they
will gradually cease to exist. When librarianship
reinvents itself - it it does - it morphs into something else.
I'm a "librarian" but what I do would be unrecognizable to
a 1930's librarian. Professions come and go - there are
no telegraph operators or steam engine fireman now, but
there are loads of more interesting new opportuities.
regards
Mark
========================================
Mark Huppert
Library Web Development &
Integrated Library Management System Coordinator
Division of Information
R.G. Menzies Building (#2)
The Australian National University
ACTON ACT 0200
T: +61 02 6125 2752
F: +61 02 6125 4063
W: http://anulib.anu.edu.au/about/
CRICOS Provider #00120C
========================================
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of James Weinheimer
Sent: Friday, 25 September 2009 12:28 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Y'all will love this
On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:01:10 -0400, Voros, David <dvoros_at_LCCC.EDU>
wrote:
>Well lets look at the source He's an admin from a very distressed
California
>system of higher ed. I am afraid he would not fit into the academic
world on
>our side of the country.
Not yet maybe, but everybody is looking at the same trends, including
here
in Italy. While things *may*be looking up for banks and the world of
finance, nobody thinks that that will translate into changes on the
street
for a long, long time. In tough economic times, technical services have
always been the first to be cut since institutions have been loathe to
cut
acquisitions budgets (linked too closely to the prestige of the
institution)
or reference, circulation, shelving, etc. (i.e. the front end), and
would
hit the back end so that the patrons wouldn't complain so much.
But today, use of reference services has dropped significantly, there
has
been emphasis for a long time on "access" instead of "ownership" and the
only library statistic I have seen that has gone up significantly other
than
use of computers is interlibrary loan. Can that be called a success of a
library? And anyway, if these materials can be gotten electronically,
that
is *if* the Google-publisher agreement goes through, I suspect that
someone
could get an entire undergraduate education without stepping foot into a
physical library.
I still say that we need to find reasons to "make ourselves relevant in
the
new environment" (a phrase that I have heard repeated throughout the
years
and apparently coming true in California). I think we can, but we must
think
outside the box.
On that happy note...
Jim Weinheimer
Received on Thu Sep 24 2009 - 20:18:57 EDT