Peter
I work at an academic institution that serves a diverse population. A lot of students can afford their own computers, but most of them can't. So access to the computer in the library, academic support center, etc, is the only access they have. Computers in our library are not a "passing phase" but a necessity.
Julie
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Schlumpf <pschlumpf_at_GMAIL.COM>
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Sent: Thu, Apr 29, 2010 5:36 pm
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] If Academic Libraries Remove Computers, Will Anyone Come?
I don't agree. I think this push to have lots of computers in libraries is
passing phase. Sure, if one takes computer out of libraries now, the
umbers will indeed drop by half. But 5 years from now, I don't see that
appening. More and more, people have their own computers. And with wifi
nd other wireless technology becoming ubiquitous and cheap or free, the
ays of rows and rows of public access desktop computers in carrels is
umbered. The end of that couldn't come soon enough as far as I am
oncerned. Public access computers are a huge resource sink in money and
taff time to support.
Computers will always have a place in libraries, but in 5 or 10 years they
ade into the woodwork just like any other technology where they are
upposed to be. And then libraries can focus once again on their core
urpose.
Peter Schlumpf
ww.avantilibrarysystems.com
n 4/29/10, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
From today's Chronicle "Wired Campus" blog:
http://bit.ly/dcnWwW
Article quotes an assistant university librarian at the University of
California at Santa Barbara as saying: ""If you take the computers out of
the commons, I think you'd see our numbers drop by half." By "numbers", he's
talking about people visiting the physical library.
Provocative, but I don't know if I agree...
Bernie Sloan
Received on Fri Apr 30 2010 - 13:47:31 EDT