I heard John Palfrey, Harvard Law School, at the NE ASIS&T fall meeting this week. One of his statements I wrote down (among many) was we "still need contemplative spaces." He went on to ask the question "how do we reinstitute contemplation?" All of this in the context of libraries in the digital age.
We are at a challenging juncture in our role as libraries and librarians in scholarship. Are we just delivering up static information or creating frameworks to participate in the creation of knowledge?
Matt Goldner
Matthew R. Goldner
Product & Technology Advocate
OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
614.764.6405
goldnerm_at_oclc.org
http://www.oclc.org http://worldcat.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Weinheimer Jim
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 10:30 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] The Library of the Future
Jimmy Ghaphery wrote:
<snip>
I am not pining for the old days of the library as a place for silent
and rigorous contemplation, but do think there is a connection beyond
those crazy kids dancing in the library these days and the direction of
the catalog.
</snip>
I am pining for those old days. In so many ways, I remember the library as a place where I could find peace, and where there great minds who were never demanding but were there when I wanted and needed them. In many ways, I have always felt it was in a library where I really became a human being. (thoughts on a a reflective Friday)
I remember that in my research in the history of the Princeton Library, I ran across a story in the student newspaper of the 1880s or so, that mentioned that the librarian (who looked like a whaling captain, by the way!), ended up literally *throwing* two students out of the library because they were arguing too loudly about predestination!
I guess those days are gone.
James L. Weinheimer j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu
Director of Library and Information Services
The American University of Rome
Rome, Italy
Received on Fri Dec 11 2009 - 10:46:24 EST