SCPL 23 Things - #15

Herbert Simon, a Nobel Laureate Economist, wrote "A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." Dogbert told Dilbert "Information is gushing toward your brain like a firehose aimed at a teacup."

2.0 technology will allow us to increase the level of information services that we offer our community but we must be very mindful not paralyze library users by throwing information in their faces. We have to keep the doors open but we don't need to push information seekers through them. It will be a delicate balance...how many of us have said ourselves..."This is too much information."

I think about how many of us don't watch the news as much or at all. I think about the number of people who get most of their news from Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. I think about how uninformed our populace is. I think about how few of them vote.

As I write this tonight, I have counted ten passes so far of a plane spraying my house and my garden with pesticide. Those who have investigated this substance have learned that there has been no testing of the effects of the pesticide on the apple moth and there has been no testing of effects on others forms of life. There have been no environmental reports or investigations. We know that we don't have enough information to justify these flyovers tonight yet we haven't been able to stop them. Even in my house, I notice a very bad taste in my mouth---what is happening? What have they sprayed? A few years from now, will they say "whoops"...just like they did with MTB in gasoline?

We are up to 12 passes now and the bad taste in my mouth is stronger. How can we make information available in a useful way? How can we make it available so that people don't shut down? How can we be sure that we don't overwhelm our library users and leave bad tastes in their mouths?