This was an interesting exercise. When I was at WLA last week the breakfast speakers were talking about....wait for it....Learning 2.0! I had a really neat feeling as I sat at the table eating my limp french toast, listening to the two speakers debate concepts we've already covered. I knew what avatars were!
Here are a few thoughts from the readings.
1. I can't imagine what it's like to work for a branch who's circulation numbers have dropped 55%! Even over 12 years that's frighting. I agree with his point that we need to have more information available digitally, and I think KCLS has really done this well. I send a lot of students to the database versions of resources that I had to trek to the library to use back in the day. BUT as our patron survey has told us, our users WANT more books. And for that I am truly thankful to work in this area.
2. I am completely behind making interfaces more user friendly and less complicated to use. I ventured into Factiva last week (not a database I use frequently) and I had to stare at the screen for a moment to get my barrings. As it was, I just dove it and said to my patron- well, let's try clicking here! BTW, we found the article he wanted. Yay me :)
3. There is a fine line between making good/fast decisions for the good of our patrons and succumbing to techno-lust. As a system we might want to put a few more measures in place to avoid falling into that trap.
4. I still have difficulty thinking of the library in terms of commodities. I know that's how the public looks upon us, but old habits die hard. I'm hesitant to completely turn into Starbucks or Barnes and Noble, we need to hold on to the essence of our library-ness and that area is getting pretty blurry.
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