Technology and Change
I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better. --Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
This is an interesting quote from an 18th century German scientist. What would he think today? Change is hard and at times change comes at a rapid pace. We, like others, struggle to stay on the curve. And yes, there are times we may be so far behind that we don't even see the curve.
I think libraries that pride themselves on being ahead of the curve on all fronts all the time increase the risk of foolishly spending the public's money. Some folks have heard the stories of how the Spartanburg Library chose not to embrace Beta and 8-Track tapes. It was determined by staff that these formats may not have value. Interestingly, we were criticized for not having 8-Tracks in our collection. In the end, history proved that 8-Track and Beta were not supported by the market.
This week two changes for the Library came our way. First, the bandwidth supporting our connection to the Internet was increased from 3 megs to 10 megs. Now, I am not an expert nor do I claim to be one, but my understanding is that we could have up to 100 megs depending on the time of day and use. The outcome is a faster connection to the Internet.
Two, we added PC management software. This addition will reduce staff's involvement and allow patrons more control over their Internet sessions. The name of the product is SAM.
We will have to work through any "glitches", but in the end, we will be better suited to serve the public. This week's steps pulled us closer to the curve, but they do not put us on the curve. I will keep you posted as we continue to look ahead.
This is an interesting quote from an 18th century German scientist. What would he think today? Change is hard and at times change comes at a rapid pace. We, like others, struggle to stay on the curve. And yes, there are times we may be so far behind that we don't even see the curve.
I think libraries that pride themselves on being ahead of the curve on all fronts all the time increase the risk of foolishly spending the public's money. Some folks have heard the stories of how the Spartanburg Library chose not to embrace Beta and 8-Track tapes. It was determined by staff that these formats may not have value. Interestingly, we were criticized for not having 8-Tracks in our collection. In the end, history proved that 8-Track and Beta were not supported by the market.
This week two changes for the Library came our way. First, the bandwidth supporting our connection to the Internet was increased from 3 megs to 10 megs. Now, I am not an expert nor do I claim to be one, but my understanding is that we could have up to 100 megs depending on the time of day and use. The outcome is a faster connection to the Internet.
Two, we added PC management software. This addition will reduce staff's involvement and allow patrons more control over their Internet sessions. The name of the product is SAM.
We will have to work through any "glitches", but in the end, we will be better suited to serve the public. This week's steps pulled us closer to the curve, but they do not put us on the curve. I will keep you posted as we continue to look ahead.
posted by Todd at 4:20 PM
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