On Jul 20, 2004, at 8:18 AM, Carol Bean wrote:

> I've been hearing this for a long time, and as long as you're leaning
> against the "cutting edge" deployment, it's easy to get caught up in
> it (been there, done that): digital is coming, we must adjust!  While
> I agree with the service and adjustment part, coming from the public
> library side, and especially the public side that sees a LOT of
> computer illiterate people (we're working on that...), until
> electronic gadgets become as easy to use as point and shoot cameras,
> our collections are not going to change that much.  Access will never
> be irrelevant because none of it is ever provided for free.  And even
> when the library provides the access, there is the training required
> to enable access.  It's only the mix that will change.

This, taken to a its logical conclusion, seems to say that libraries
are about providing access to information to the people who can't get
access any other way. This group of people will be getting smaller and
smaller. I imagine a time when the entire content of a library can be
stored on a thing the size and shape of a sugar cube. To read the
content of the cube you will drop it into a device, and the device will
facilitate access. As the amount of content on cube increases the less
important access will be come and the more important services against
the content will become. This, in my opinion, is an opportunity for
librarianship. It is where librarianship can grow and fill a niche.

--
Eric Morgan