I don't think anyone is arguing that academic libraries will need to provide desktop computers indefinitely into the future, Peter.
Rather, my comments -- and maybe those of others -- were aimed at your eagerness to get rid of them, and particularly your argument that they are a "huge resource sink" for libraries, and are largely unnecessary even now because "almost everybody has the Internet."
It doesn't bother me at all if, at some point in the future, academic libraries no longer provide the large number of computers we do now. But I just don't see their current use as being a bad thing either. The fact that our labs are packed surely suggests our students don't either.
--Dave
==================
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu
________________________________________
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter Schlumpf [pschlumpf_at_GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:38 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] If Academic Libraries Remove Computers, Will Anyone Come?
But it still costs the institution and indirectly the library. Just because
campus IT supports the infrastructure does not mean that it comes free to
the library, at least in terms of political capital. I concede that perhaps
now those computers are supported by a faster network infrastructure, but
that will become less and less relevant as time goes on and technology
improves. Plus the trend is AWAY from locally installed applications. Get
out of the desktop tarpit, guys! It's going the way of the standalone
CD-ROM jukeboxes if you remember those days when they were all the rage.
Librarians need to stop defining themselves by computers and the present-day
technology they see around them. Look ahead!
On 4/29/10, Walker, David <dwalker_at_calstate.edu> wrote:
>
> The original article was about *academic* libraries.
>
> At many institutions, campus IT supports and upgrades the computers in the
> library. And those computers are often faster (with a faster Internet
> connection) and have more applications than what the students may have in
> their back packs or at home. That's why they are packed with students.
>
> --Dave
>
> ==================
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
>
>
Received on Thu Apr 29 2010 - 21:28:27 EDT