How will the technological trends change the information environment and user behaviours? And how can libraries meet the challenges?
The Technological trends we are all facing are here to stay and of course it will change the information environment as we know it.
The need for quality information has never been more in demand and the demand is even greater for the speed in which it is delivered. But has the demand for instant information been instigated by the continuous introduction of new technology with all its promises or has the demand for new technology been a result of continuous demands on users time for instant information, either way it’s here to stay. The challenge to libraries is not only to keep up to date with it all but try and stay one step ahead.
Graduates are beginning to arrive at places of work – i.e. NHS environments, with some knowledge of technological trends and how to use them, they rightly then expect these trends to continue into their new learning environment and expect the providers of the CME to at least be familiar with them. This creates a need by library staff to investigate, embrace and instill it into their own daily lives, which is not always as easy as it should be.
What about the physical environment – the demand for access to new technology comes at a price. If a library wants to retain its physical presence it needs to spend valuable money on IT equipment, In my library it is essential that we provide this accessibility as it is not a given that everyone who works in the NHS has easy access to a computer at their own work place – the library offers this and must continue to do so but at a cost. So now we have decided we need more computers in the library – where do we find the space, do we get rid of books and paper copies of journals? Do we extend our libraries – highly unlikely in this financial environment. Do we just manage – of course.
The users who are willing and able to use us remotely now become a different user group and we have to meet their demands. If for example a group of graduates are prepared to have a remote induction rather than a physical tour from library staff. How can we ensure the quality of the broadcast is good enough – are we to also train as broadcasters because listening to some of the examples of existing podcasts was painful. If I couldn’t even sit through a complete podcast because of sheer boredom and the monotonous tones of the broadcaster what chances do we have of exciting our users with our renditions of library life. Also we need to engage the support of our IT departments, again I sigh in desperation. I have just tried to link to a mock up library podcast which I thought was an excellent idea only to be blocked by my IT department – Reason – The Websense category “MP3 and Audio Download Services” is filtered, I rest my case.
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