Part one of this post is a few postings down, and I invite you to review it if you’ve not seen it. If you don’t want to scroll, click here and come back after reading: http://c3library.com/2008/07/10/8-tracks-and-ultrafiche/
When I refer to failed technologies, such as 8 tracks, I do not mean that they didn’t work, or don’t work if you still have appropriate equipment to make them work. They failed in the marketplace for one reason or another. Perhaps something better came along (DVD over VHS), or perhaps they failed for business or management reasons (Betamax to VHS, HD-DVD to BluRay). 8 tracks will still play if you have the right equipment, but they lost out to a better technology that came out about the same time, the cassette tape. Both replaced a transitional technology, reel-to-reel tape.
In the same way, the transitional technology of floppy discs was replaced by CDROM and later DVD and Flash Drives. We can be sure that something will replace them in the future as the technologies continue to develop. Some transitional technologies last a long time (horse and buggy, automobiles, wired telephones), others a shorter time (cassette tapes, analog television).
The real issue isn’t just what technologies, tools, or services have been in which category in the past, or in hte present, as the borderlines are always debatable and poorly defined. The real issue is which of the new tools, technologies, or services we choose to put our investmen in for the future. Perhaps some of you could respond as to whether you have, either personally or for your library, blogs, myspace, wikis, nings, yahoogroups (or other brands), mailing lists, bulletin boards, second life spaces, flickr pages, chat accounts, twitter accounts, etc, etc. If you have some of these, why did you choose them? Why choose myspace over second life (or vice versa)? Why did you choose AIM instead of yahoo chat or another one?
Note that I’m assuming that NO library has done ALL of the above, to say nothing of wii, gameboy, and so forth. Please correct me if any library has done all of them, and if so why? Is deciding where to put your staffing and technology (and thus fiscal) resources any different from deciding where to put your fiscal resources that buy databases, journals, books, and maps?
Perhaps we should call this “service development” instead of “collection development”.
Please understand that I have no axe to grind in any of this, so please don’t take offense if I consider your 8 track player in your 74 Camaro or your HD-DVD player to be a failed technology. None of this is personal or critical of any individual or library. We’ve all made a few mistakes along the way, haven’t we? Only from those mistakes, as well as the successes, can we all learn together.
dan, who never bought 8 tracks, but did commit a large chunk of another library’s funding to Ultrafiche
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[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptPerhaps something better came along (DVD over VHS), or perhaps they failed for business or management reasons (Betamax to VHS, HD-DVD to BluRay). 8 tracks will still play if you have the right equipment, but they lost out to a better … [...]
“service development” - a brilliant use of the term. what services will we provide/develop/and sustain?
funny note: my family still listens to 8 tracks with a working 8 track player, so if you have any i’ll take any and all of them. we’re getting kinda sick of the ones we have.
I have a friend who also has 8 tracks, but as noted above I never had any, going straight from 33s to cassettes. I’ve seen them at flea markets for a nickel or a dime each.
Thanks for the kind words.
dan
>>… respond as to whether you have, … blogs, myspace, wikis, nings, yahoogroups (or other brands), mailing lists, … etc. …why did you choose them? <<
IM – I began using ICQ at home way back in the IM dark ages — 1997. Our library set up IM reference last year, which failed immediately due to poor marketing and lack of staff buy-in. IM was transitional for me, and I think it will soon be almost entirely replaced by texting – it has done so among the teens I work with. I believe desktop and laptop computers as we know them are transitional. But you asked what we have and why –
Blogs — my far-flung family used linked blogs for a few years to keep up to date. They replaced long distance phone calls and the US mail (for sending pictures, etc.) Our blogs died a natural death when we all began communicating with text and pix messages. At work, I’ve built blogs for specific purposes, mostly with a staff focus — most teens don’t blog or read a lot of blogs. Anything I write that they’re going to read will be as short as a bulletin or a text — just the FAQS! I do subscribe (RSS) to many library related blogs to keep abreast of library issues.
MySpace — after the 2006 ILA conference with the Digital Native focus, I built a profile. Why: I used it (1) to connect with library teens (post bulletins, remind about programs, etc.) (2) to use it for a MySpace class for teens and parents, and (3) to keep in touch with my own young adults. I did not jump on the Face Book bandwagon, because I have more content responsibilities on the internet than I can manage.
Wikis — I love those things! I’ve built and moderated several wikis for city committees and trainings. The results were… disappointing. Maybe half of the committee members jumped in and used it, but a good committee needs all of its members. The teens I work with mostly have no clue what a wiki is (except for Wikipedia.)
Those are just a few of examples. The one thing that strikes me as important to libraries is not what particular technologies we invest in to serve and connect us with our customers, as log as they DO connect us, but rather that we do it at all. There is a continuum of knowledge, abilities, and skills that make it easier to jump from one technology to another as they fail or transition. Any library person who has helped the 14 year old set up his first MySpace profile (he gets it, he does it, he understands) and also the 45 year old set up an email account and send his first email (he’s baffled, uncoordinated, lost) can testify to the value of transferable technology knowledge, comfort level, and skills. I guess I’m saying that even if a technology that a library invests in becomes obsolete, especially free or subscription 2.0 technologies, the outcome isn’t failure if staff and customers used it while it was hot.