Librarian Fight!

OK, so maybe that title is a shameless and no doubt lame attempt to hook you into reading this, but hey everyone does it, right?  I'm looking at you, TV News.

I am fascinated by this sort of commentary on the social aspects and problems we all encounter as new information tools appear, practically on top of each other and clamor for our attention. This is an area where I think librarians get overlooked for their contribution. Librarians are often among the first to jump in and try out a new tool and look for ways to make it useful in the information business. But as Mr. Crawford points out in his blog entry above, it is easy for anyone to be discouraged when you are told that you are "doing it wrong".

I had a similar experience myself a few weeks ago while discussing library catalogs with a fellow librarian, of all people.  As my spouse and my friends will attest, I am a BIG proponent of all sorts of technological advances (read: I love new gadgets).  I spend lots of free time exploring new software, web tools, electronic gadgets, etc. because I find it fun.  As you might guess, I try my best to stay on top of library-related technology as well, since it combines two of my favorite pursuits.

This is where the whole idea of "Ur doin' it wrong" came to me firsthand.  Essentially, I was "doin' it wrong" by contracting with a big company for HPL's catalog system rather than jumping on the open-source bandwagon.  But here is the rub:  Sometimes it is simply impractical, if not monumentally difficult to adopt a new tool, let alone try to learn every one that comes down the pike.  This was the case for HPL and our catalog system.  We have fantastic IT people - two of them - who work very hard keeping our electronic ship afloat.  However, neither of them are software engineer or web developer types, so we opted to trade the flexibility of open source for the support of outside help in the form of a company with its own software developers.  So not only did we choose to NOT try a new thing, we fell back on an "old" model tool that ... wait for it ... works for us.

So, while I urge everyone to find out about Twitter, join Facebook, or try an open source operating system, I urge you with equal fervor to keep the tools that work for you even if they are old and do not be discouraged if you've found a use for a tool for which it was never intended.