(I wrote the following reaction in my current library and information science graduate course.)
Adam Gopnik recently mused in his article “How the Internet gets inside us” about the phenomenon of Hermione Granger “stuck in the nineties” by spending “hours and hours working her way through the [library] stacks, finding out what a basilisk is or how to make a love potion” (124). It is indeed very telling that a series founded upon magic could be outpaced by “the reality of machines” (124). Perhaps Hermione’s love of tangible books adds to the mood and mystery of Hogwarts, however, because it would be much harder to connect with her character if she were always touching away at an iPad—for that means she could be sitting four hundred yards away in an Internet cafe. However, Gopnik’s catchy lead brings up many questions about the future of e-readers and digital information that are also addressed in Evans’s Introduction to Technical Services.
Both Gopnik and Evans point out that technological revolutions which change the way people communicate are no new concept. Gopnik quotes Harvard historian Ann Blair as writing that, even before Gutenburg’s printing press, “’during the later Middle Ages a staggering growth in the production of manuscripts, facilitated by the use of paper, accompanied a great expansion of readers outside the monastic and scholastic contexts’” (128). However, Evans points out that “unlike the printing press in Western Europe, the digital revolution is a worldwide phenomenon” (135). And an instant one, at that. Many people praise digital technologies for this very reason, due to the widespread democratization of information (although we are also contending with nations like China that censor Internet access, which is another problem). Indeed, one only has to pay attention to recent developments in the Middle East to see the role that online information can play in changing history (although the size of that role is up for debate).
Despite all of the positive gains, digital technologies still have some sizable hurdles to overcome. Evans writes that “there are still questions regarding which platforms to support, how much money to commit to the service, whether users should pay some or all of the costs, and perhaps most importantly how to handle the increased workload that e-readers would create for the staff” (136). Furthermore, librarians may have to choose between digitized books and titles that can be downloaded. One related issue that I have seen in the media center at the high school where I teach is that students may not have the required technology with which to use e-books. Therefore, librarians must be sure not to use technology simply for the sake of having it. On the other hand, e-books could be accessed by more than one patron, thus providing greater access, although Evans points out that the staff would be “required to create numerous separate logins, passwords, and alias e-mail accounts” (137).
Overall, it will take more time to see how quickly this process becomes more mainstream. Just as libraries experienced growing pains with new technologies emerging during the 1970s and 1980s, so this too shall pass. What is important to remember is that technology should not be used just for the sake of having it. Keeping our patrons’ needs and resources as the first priority is key since we are ultimately here to serve them. And we also remember that we are held to the standard of providing everyone with equal access to information, and if that requires libraries to keep up the pace with emerging technologies, then we should do what it takes to ensure that we are preserving and encouraging the democratic process.
References
Gopnik, Adam. (2011, Feb 14 and 21). How the Internet gets inside us. The New Yorker, 124-130.
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