We had an Emerging Technologies librarian.
She played with Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Wiki's and Second Life all day.
Basically, the emerging technologies librarian is the resident teenager that
learns all the coolest new things and tries to figure how to apply them in
the library environment.
Sounds pretty cool to me.
But, the old curmudgeon in me doesn't see how that gets any of the important
work done.
I have shelves of backlogs to catalog and we pay another librarian to play
with Web 2.0 ?
Someone has to stay on top of the new stuff.
I thought other librarians would do that on their own, like I do, rather
than having to be hired and designated to do it.
T. Puccio
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Rochkind
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 7:30 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Transitioning to a career as an emerging technologies
librarian
I guess really, thinking about this further, is my advice would be:
Figure out from the boss what "emerging technologies librarian" is
expected to do exactly. It is far from obvious to me.
Based on what the expectations are for this position, perhaps listserv
members might have useful advice. Or perhaps say "That's a completely
unrealistic position!" heh.
Jonathan
Alexander Johannesen wrote:
> Hola,
>
>
>> To me, we're _all_ "emerging technologies librarians" in 2010!
>>
>
> I think she meant emerging technologies of what is coming, not what's gone
...
>
> *rimshot*
>
> Anyway, let me use that bad joke as a stepping stone for what
> "emerging technologies" really are ;
>
> Ideas.
>
> There, that's all there is to it. Think of how the future might solve
> all your perceived problems, and look for solutions to them in the
> current landscape. The distance between what you want and what you
> find should give you an indication of how far off in the future the
> real solution might be. Some years ago I whinged a lot about the
> librarian world's lack of understanding the onslaught of eBooks and
> eReaders that was coming (and is here now), and it was by thinking
> "what would I like?" ; a simple tablet in color I can snuggle up in
> bed with, with thousands of books, Internet for research, and some
> easy means to take notes and make drawings. Ok, how far off right now
> (back in 2005) are we? Hmm, prototypes and early eReaders are showing
> up at the techno shows, that means it's right around the corner. Easy
> peasy.
>
> Working with emerging technology has really very little to do with
> actual technology. The tools and gadgets and software and mechanics,
> they're all technology that will zoom fast into the future as the
> definition of "technology" itself will, as science finds new and
> better ways of cramming awesomeness into smaller packages. The *real*
> trick is to understand what we're using technology for now, and try to
> match it with what technology can do around the corner and with what
> problems you've got; find that golden correlation between what you
> want and what is available now.
>
> You need to be creative, though. You need to be able to think
> creatively about the human condition, try to picture what the next
> generation (whatever that means) might want to do; understand their
> context, their needs, the way things are going, and so on. As a crazy
> but lovely example, let's talk about TomTom, a manufacturer of GPS
> navigation devices. They're under tremendous pressure from the fact
> that every damn phone out there these days have both GPS and (often)
> free navigation software on them, literary killing their market. What
> to do? Something pure genius;
>
>
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/video-darth-vader-records-voice-for-t
omtom/
>
> That trick alone might be what saves the company from failure. I want
> one! I want plenty! And I have a damn phone with a GPS and two free
> navigation software on there. No, three. And lots of other interesting
> things, like Internet and whatsnot. And now I *lust* a TomTom, and all
> they did was make some optional sounds. Genius. Good technology isn't
> always new fadangled technology, but using what's already there in
> creative ways. Technology without clever use is *not* emerging, that's
> just technology. The stuff that you want to capture is what emerge
> that has clever stickiness.
>
> Some more concrete tips; read *bucketloads* of blogs. The most bang
> for your buck you'll find at places like Engadget where current
> prototypes of all sorts of consumer gadgets gets exposed, and you can
> extrapolate from there. Whatever excites these guys *will* excite your
> users. Is anyone doing an iPhone app for citation and research that
> taps into social networks?
>
> Here's the minimum, though; Read blogs, and write a blog, perhaps
> twitter. Capture what people get excited about. Find the library
> connection. Talk about it in your blog. Involve yourself in the online
> dialog. Let it sink in. Then suggest to your library to do something
> about it. Look for trends. Avoid hyperbole and marketing.
>
> And lastly, think seriously about knowledge management, not about
> books. Think about identity management, not about authority control.
>
> My 0.2$.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Alex
>
> Alex
>
Received on Fri May 07 2010 - 09:41:11 EDT