SCPL 23 Things - #23

I have enjoyed working through the 23 Things and I confess I've also been exploring the 2.1 continuation as well. Some of the tools are just fun, some thoughtful, and some will be useful in a public library setting. I imagine many will evolve through many versions as 2.0 becomes 2.1 and 2.2. I've done most of my exploring at home on my own laptop. There really hasn't been much time to work on them during the normal workday.

But I do agree that my learning is more meaningful when I take responsibility for my own training and learning goals. In my own case, I've learned more this way than I ever would have learned in a traditional classroom setting. I know that many of our staff are frustrated because there isn't time to do everything during the workday and I worry that we have overloaded them.

Still, this is an exciting time to be in libraries and I also see many of our staff blossoming in creative ways. Change is messy and chaotic and we are very much in a time of change. We have to reexamine everything we have thought was true.

A preoccupation of mine has been the issue of privacy and freedom. Here is David Brin's 21st take on this issue:

Reciprocal Transparency: "In the information age to come, cameras and databases will sprout like poppies--or weeds---whether we like it or not. Over the long haul, we as a people must decide the following questions:

Can we stand living exposed to scrutiny, our secrets laid open, if in return we get flashlights of our own that we can shine on anyone who might do us harm---even the arrogant and strong?

Or is an illusion of privacy worth any price, even the cost of surrendering our own right to pierce the schemes of the powerful?"

Think about that.

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?