Always On

"The position of the library as a functionally integrated, discrete presence, whether on the Web or as a physical place, becomes diffused through various manifestations (a physical place to meet, a toolbar, a set of services in the course management system, a Facebook application, a set of RSS feeds, office hours in a school or department, and so on)."

I feel like this quote best summed up what I took out of Dempsey's article. The way in which we access and retrieve information depends so much on the technologies we are using - whether it's a computer, a gaming device, a tablet, a smartphone, etc. The library, formerly known, perhaps, as a physical place, must now transform into a largely mobile entity. Libraries now have their own web pages, blogs, twitter accounts, facebook pages - all with links to online databases, e-journals, e-books, and so on. Although libraries remain physical spaces, their purpose and services in this regard are also changing. We are starting to see the library as more of a meeting place for people to discuss information obtained, more than likely, someplace other than the shelves around them. Or it has become another place to access the Web and computers in general.

Technology Loop

I thought this was funny - and would also like to mention that I have 6 other tabs open right now, and do almost every time I'm on the computer for an extended period of time, for my various social media/internet things. - GUILTY!

Quote

"Libraries are especially important now when the whole idea of education is stressing more and more independent learning and acting. All citizens must be able to find and use information."

                                                                                                             -Mirja Ryynanen

I really loved this quote from the Library 2.0 article. I find that when I tell people I am studying library science or wishing to become a librarian the typical response is "Why?" usually followed by something like "Do you really think you will have a job?" or "Do you think libraries will even still exist?" etc. Although I agree that some of the methods and ways of doing things in libraries has changed or will change in the near future, I feel that the purpose of the library remains the same - to provide access to information to its patrons. This will undoubtedly take on new forms and demand different knowledge and skills from librarians - however, I tend to agree that the library will become increasingly important as a tool in teaching the masses about new technologies.

Crap Detection

I can recall getting one of many lectures to follow about being skeptical with information gathered from the internet back in high school. For as long as I can remember, we were told to almost immediately question the validity of the source and to further prove the information as correct. I think this is probably similar to most people's experience with the world of data collection and finding e-sources, etc. and I fully support the "question everything" attitude that goes along with searching on the internet.

There is, however, and extreme end to this idea - which is teaching that using the internet to gather valuable information is frowned upon, even ridiculous. I know that this kind of thinking is because there is so much "crap" out there that needs to be weeded through, but I think there is also a wealth of valuable information that could go unnoticed to those told that the internet is useless in terms of academic credibility.

I fully encourage teaching skepticism on the internet without scaring a user into thinking that all information is bad or untrue. By being able to use the internet for research purposes, I think a lot of doors could be opened in terms of access and, with the right kind of "crap detection", the internet could be a very powerful tool to be used in academia.

The Culture of Connectivity

One point I enjoyed Danah Boyd touching on in her speech regarding social media is the concept of time on the internet. She noted that everything you say stays online for a looong time. This is great in most aspects of academia, especially in terms of discussions, notes, papers, etc. but becomes, perhaps, problematic in terms of other social media forms such as Facebook.

Facebook became popular when I was in undergrad and with the introduction of it's new timeline feature I can see all of the content that's been posted since that time - and it's not especially flattering to my 26 year old self now. Of course, there are some aspects of this general idea that make Facebook so great - pictures, for example, of high school and college that may have been lost or that I would not have access to otherwise. However, the line between social documentation and simply soon-to-be-embarrassing becomes more and more blurred with the notion that whatever you put out there stays there.

The idea of audience and social media being so intertwined in our social lives does make this concept less scary, though. "Everybody is doing it" still comes into play. I think one of the main aspects found so desirable about Facebook is that the majority of people you know, may know, or have ever seen in life are on there. The content that I find embarrassing now may be because I am expanding my social circle, I am growing up and becoming more professional, etc. and wish to reach out to those people who follow along those lines. However, the majority of my audience on Facebook is in the same boat as I am - they are old friends, college buddies, family members, etc. who either know those things already about me or have the same kind of content available on their Facebook pages.

Social Media: Pros and Cons

As technology grows and social media expands, I feel like we hear some variation on "too much information" or "there's so much information", and, in my opinion, this is the major pro AND con within the realm of social media. I feel like there is so much more information out there now than there has ever been - but, people are actually SHARING it and making others aware of it as well, and in a much easier, convenient way. However, especially in terms of academics and 100% true, reliable information, there is a con - anything and everything can be published and this makes it harder for the user to determine the usefulness of the information they're getting.

Which brings us to our job/future job - information literacy education! Although "too much information" has it's pluses and minuses, we can educate users as to where to find the best information and to remind them that not everything on the internet is reliable (although, I believe that this is already becoming like a second nature reaction for society in general in terms of people's attitudes towards the internet).

Library 2.0 - An Evolution

In keeping with the blog discussion from last week,I thoroughly enjoyed the article Library 2.0: revolution or evolution in that it suggested a couple different ways to think about the way technology and social media is "changing" the library.

Thinking of library changes as a revolution requires one to assume that libraries and librarians need to adapt totally new and foreign practices in order to stay relevant in today's world. They need to learn and take on tasks that have been completely foreign to the job before now. Although it could be argued that the different forms of social media and the ways in which we access information, electronically, for example, are completely new, the general system of storing and retrieving information is not. Not only is the act of storing and retrieving information not new, but, over the years, the methods used to store and retrieve have also changed - this isn't the first time.

I would like to think of Library 2.0 as an evolution. I believe that the ideas behind integrating new technologie and social media into libraries is to find and share information - something that describes the very purpose for a libraries existance in the first place. Of course these new methods are changes to an existing way of doing things, but, in my opinion, they will only enhance the overall experience of information sharing found within libraries.