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Emerging (and retreating) technologies
Michael Stephens is always on top of what is hot, so this quarter he is providing the trends portion of this column. See what’s Hot! and what is decidedly not.
What’s Hot
- Open-source software (OSS) solutions are gaining ground as a viable alternative to commercial products. Watch closely as 2008–09 may be the time of the OSS tipping point. More libraries and library consortia are exploring open ILS configurations while the vendors scramble for better features, more transparency, and less bloat. Libraries can utilize OpenOffice and other OSS to save money for new initiatives, while spending once-allocated funds on new positions such as “Open Source Librarian” or “Emerging Technology Librarian.”
- Learning 2.0 programs. This winter, librarians in Minnesota adapted the super successful, often replicated learning pro-gram developed by Helene Blowers in a statewide format, offering opportunities for all types of library staff, trustees, and others the chance to participate and learn. Have you scheduled your Learning 2.0 series yet? The program, offered all over the world, is entirely free to adapt to your own circumstances.
What’s Cold
- Unpleasant user experience in both the physical library and virtual library spaces. Perform a signage audit to make sure your “No Cell Phones allowed” sign is long gone and replaced with a “Courtesy Please” reminder. Our signs, staff attitude, and overbearing rules tell a story about the library. The same goes for online experience. Is your Web presence usable? Inviting? Does it answer the questions and meet the needs of the folks that visit? Clear pathways, limited bar-riers to access, and a friendly interface.
- Halfhearted attempts at seeming “2.0-ish” by vendors, big library systems, and others. Launching a blog will not make you transparent overnight. Adding a dash of 2.0 to your product line will not help if your product is built on models established at the beginning of the age of the ILS. Trying to control the message will just seem sad and outdated as we move farther into more user-centered, open environments. Listen to the conversation. Participate. Be human. Technology is only a tool. Repeat.
[...] Summer2008, Vol. 47 Issue 4, s. 314-317 CBS Link via fjernadgang | eller via den frie adgang hos RUSQ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Klap lige hesten – lad ikke 2.0 teknologierne løbe af med dig”, [...]
[...] point plan for implementing new technologies whilst negotiating technolusters and technophobes in this article in Reference and User Services Quarterly. It’s long but worth a read; I particularly liked [...]
Let’s move #7 to #1. This is all too common in libraryland.
[...] of “Reference & User Services Quarterly” features a guest post entitled “Taming Technolust: Ten Steps for Planning in a 2.0 World” that the editor of the journal — M. Kathleen Kern– introduces with the [...]
[...] Technology Planning Article by Michael Stephens An excellent article in RUSQ from last month by Michael Stephens is worth pointing out: Taming Technolust: Ten Steps for Planning in a 2.0 World. [...]
[...] Taming Technolust: Ten Steps for Planning in a 2.0 World by Michael Stephens, Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol.47 no.4, Aug. 2008 http://www.rusq.org/2008/08/18/taming-technolust/ [...]