Google is NOT the Net

Google is NOT the Net, Andrew Richard Albanese, Library Journal, September 15, 2006
This morning my daughter and I went to the Des Moines Central Library. Nearly every computer was in use on the second floor. Probably fifty computers were occupied by people of all ages surely for many various reasons. Curiously, it struck me that only two people were browsing the stacks, my daughter and me. Perhaps if I hadn’t just finished reading Google is Not the Net I may not have perceived the patrons use as anything worthy of note. However, the article reviewed the industries looming question: will commercial search engines replace the need for librarians? Thankfully, it also discussed the libraries opportunities associated with technology and the need to be willing to adapt.

I found this article interesting after spending a year in a high school library watching how teens surf the net, often spending large amounts of time with little gain. Too often I see that no systematic approach is used to gather or evaluate information. Amazingly, “the world now creates no less than five exabytes of information each year, enough to replicate the Library of Congress’s entire print collection 37,000 times over” (pg.1). While I had an understanding of the uneducated use of the web I had no idea the enormity of the beast. Herein lays our opportunity. We must be prepared to educate users so that they can become successful users of the Internet. Connecting with our users on their ground, not where we feel comfortable but where we can be of use. More importantly, we must recognize that our profession is alive, not static, as the web evolve so must we. In fact, with the influx of information librarians may be more vital than ever before.

MySpace, NetFlix and Amazon provide trendy, user-friendly sites that accommodate the needs of their clients while taking advantage of networking advances. For example, NetFlix keeps a copy of the movies I want to see in order of when I want to see them (of course I have the ability to make changes as I please). The more feedback I give to NetFlix, the better suited its recommendations I receive are. It’s a copacetic relationship. How does the card catalogue compete with customer service like that? Obviously there are legal and privacy considerations as well as a burden of information collection yet can libraries continue to compete with bare bones service?

I love imaging the library of the future. Having been born in the sixties I have already seen much progress in libraries. What will be next? Change is inevitable. “You can’t fight it, so you shouldn’t. The web is about information. So are we. It’s about community. So are we.” (Joe Janes, University of Washington).

What did I learn?
As a librarian I must be well versed in technology and emerging advances that connect my learners to what they seek. This will be a challenge as a new librarian but hopefully I will catch up soon (baptism by fire) and new things won’t seem so overwhelming. I realize that I must continually seek opportunities that will increase my comfort level with the Internet/technology. It would be quite easy to immerse myself in worthwhile pursuits while letting technology slip to the side; easy but not acceptable. I am excited because currently my family thinks of me as a technology dinosaur (while I struggle with this Blog my husband jokingly said “welcome to the 90’s”) but that is changing. I may have skipped the last ten years of high tech advances but I won’t let that happen again.