[Sig-bwp] CHE: Young Librarians, Talkin' 'Bout Their Generation | Tech Therapy: Future of College Libraries

[gerrymck]

Colleagues/

A Most Excellent Article from The Chronicle of Higher Education /
Information Technology
(October 19, 2007)

Also: Tech Therapy: Future of College Libraries (November ? 2008)

/Gerry

Up-and-comers discuss what will change and what needs to change

Section: Information Technology / Volume 54, Issue 8, Page A28

By SCOTT CARLSON

Most people are familiar with the stereotype of librarians. They are
twenty- or thirtysomethings, with tattoos, cat's-eye glasses, and
vintage clothes, schmoozing with famous authors, and playing DJ at
parties in Brooklyn.

[snip]

Whether young librarians are hip or dowdy doesn't matter. What matters
is what they think about the future of the library, particularly at
academic institutions.

Libraries are facing a series of immense challenges: the explosion of
information, a rapidly changing technological environment, shrinking
budgets, pitched battles over copyright, a new world of information
literacy, and continuing deficiencies in old-fashioned literacy.

[snip]

This month The Chronicle contacted eight librarians under 40 and asked
them a series of questions about the future of their profession,
including: [snip]

What is the future of the book? / Will there be a reference desk — yes
or no? / What information services will be performed by libraries in
the future, and what information services will be performed by
companies and nonprofit groups? / Should the relationship between
libraries and publishers change? If so, how? / Does the library
profession need to diversify and draw from different populations? /
What is one thing that libraries are doing right, and one thing that
libraries are doing wrong? /  How well did your library-science
education prepare you for the field today? / What will the academic
library look like in the future?
Here is what they said ………………………………………………………….

[ http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i08/08a02801.htm ]

Companion Audio Interviews: Young Librarians Discuss the Future of
Their Profession
Joe Sanchez, U. of Texas at Austin
Libraries in virtual worlds will join physical libraries.
Susan Gibbons, U. of Rochester
Library schools need to update their curricula.
Nick Baker, Williams College
Companies like Google will bring "new blood" to libraries.
Casey Bisson, Plymouth State U.
Libraries need to be more than community centers.
Jessamyn C. West, Librarian.net
Librarians are not very "change oriented" as a culture.
Sarah Kostelecky, Institute of American Indian Arts
Diversity is important to the library profession.
Char Booth, Ohio U.
There will always be a need for librarians.
Brian Mathews, Georgia Institute of Technology
There's too much "bandwagon jumping" with new technology.

[ http://chronicle.com/multimedia/ ]

****************************************************
Tech Therapy: Episode 36 - The Future of College Libraries
Tech Therapists Scott Carlson and Warren Arbogast discuss what college
libraries mean to campuses, the buildings' changing aesthetics, and
how they will be designed for future use.
Treadmills? And Showers? Oh My … [:-)
[
 http://chronicle.com/techtherapy/ ]

Enjoy!

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu

There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo
[ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ]

Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows
[ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]