That "some point in the future" may be much closer than you think -- not
some far off distant abstract point in time. I would give it a couple of
years and you will see a noticeable trend away from public access desktop
computers in libraries. Just because your labs are packed now, doesn't mean
that they will remain that way.
And the ARE a huge resource sink! In an academic library, public library or
any other context. I know this from experience. You have to buy the
things. You have to set them up. You have to maintain them. You have to
upgrade them. You have to provide user support. You have to keep them free
of viruses. Eventually you have to retire and replace them. You need
babysitters. And yes, desktop computers in academic libraries are not
immune to vandalism either. All this costs the institution money and time,
whether it is the IT department or the library doing it or both. Resources
that could be put to use elsewhere.
I have to agree with what Tim Spalding suggests: That on a greater timescale
public access computers in libraries are probably a flash-in-the-pan
phenomenon. Five years from now you may have computers designed for a
particular purpose, and they will be there, but nothing like we see today.
Peter Schlumpf
www.avantilibrarysystems.com
On 4/29/10, Walker, David <dwalker_at_calstate.edu> wrote:
>
> 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
>
Received on Fri Apr 30 2010 - 01:37:40 EDT