This is a presentation that I gave at the SC LIBRIS conference on May 14th 2010. http://sclibris.org/ The audience for this presentation are those people who work in tech services and the library. With specific focus on academic and public libraries
Information for this timeline was taken from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/dpm/dpm-eng/timeline/viewall.html & http://library.sccsc.edu/scils/about_SCILS.htm Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Housewright R. & Schonfeld R. (2008) have looked at how technology has changed Higher Education. As the discuss how higher education has been transformed they also discuss how people use the academic library. From this series of roles. Role 1. Library as purchaser. In this role participants agreed that “the library pays for resources I need, from academic journals to books to electronic databases,” Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Housewright R. & Schonfeld R. (2008). Role 2. Library as Archive “the library serves as a repository of resources – in other words, it archives, preserves, and keeps track of resources,” Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Housewright R. & Schonfeld R. (2008). Role 3. Library as Gateway. In this role “the library is a starting point or ‘gateway’ for locating information for my research.” Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Part of this gateway function is providing reference. Helping people with reader’s advisory and to locate materials in addition to the research tasks reference libraries might perform. Thanks to the ubiquity of computing anywhere you have a web enabled device you can most likely find someone willing to help you. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Housewright R. & Schonfeld R. (2008) likely have many other studies to perform and other findings that are highlighted within their article but… What about some other roles the library serves? The "reactable" is an intelligent musical instrument specially conceived for multi-user performances. There’s room for several players at this round table; visible on its surface are geometric figures, each of which symbolizes a specific sound. Moving the figures back and forth, rotating or interlinking them modifies the sounds they produce. With its highly intuitive, user-friendly interface, the reactable can be played by anyone—from little kids to professional musicians. But this is not just some music-making toy; the reactable is a genuine instrument and, accordingly, it takes some practice to get the most out of it. Proof of this was recently provided by Scandinavian artist Björk, who used one on her latest world tour. Libraries have always provided access to technology. Now users can checkout ebooks. Who knows what innovative technology libraries will adopt in the future. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Libraries are advocates for our rights to information and help to preserve and maintain a free and open society. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Other numerous services we provide. ESL, storytime, community meeting place. The library has something for everyone. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Nearly 1/3 of all Americans use libraries to improve their lives. Internet access at the public library bridges the digital divide and provides opportunities to search for jobs, use government services, educational purposes and for health and wellness. Becker, S., Crandall, M.D., Fisher, K. Kinney, B., Landry, C., & Rocha, A., (2010). Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries http://impact.ischool.washington.edu/documents/OPP4ALL_FinalReport.pdf Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
The Library of Congress has changed its role. More emphasis is on LC’s collections and not on it’s traditional role of providing authority records and cataloging titles. (King, D. personal communication, May 11, 2010) Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
The types of materials libraries process is different now that in was ten years ago. Music has changed, TV has changed. Simple ideas lead to revolutions. This photo was taken on March 26, 2006. Could this picture be part of the reason we have the ipad today? Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
This slide compares a catalogue sculpture to a traditional card catalog. Instead of static cards in pull out drawers we are moving to a hook architecture that extends information in the catalog so that it can interact with material on the Web. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
In the past 10 years libraries have also redesigned space from book drops… Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
to new OPACs. This is a screen shot of Grokker a OPAC which takes collections and visualizes them for users. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Libraries continue to redefine goals and assess addition of new services like making space for video games in the library. This is the Alum Rock Branch in San Jose. This was taken in March 2009. This particular event included carnival style games, video games, face painting and Pokemon Jeopardy. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Along with video games libraries have embraced electronic forms of outreach like twitter, Skype, & Yahoo! chat. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
Leading the way in Second Life providing libraries, repositories and reference in virtual worlds. If anything libraries are expanding universes not shrinking ones. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
The RFID tag was controversial when it first entered the scene and some rights advocates warned that its introduction would be the beginning of the end for our privacy. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
RFID allows libraries to free up employees to work on other tasks. Now more than will all librarians need to be trained in reference procedures. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
La biblioteca de babele (The library of Babel). This is another sculpture of books, this one is from the library in Prague. It’s a tube or a tower of books. Imagine patrons in the center of an information resource with the ability to reshuffle the stack of information dynamically. The library visually displays concordances or references to the same query. This device superimposes works allowing users to study differences on the spot or retrieve them for further education. Imagine being able to retrieve all the works which mention King Lear and to have that information sorted by type of work whether it be analysis, play, or some other type of reference. Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina
It all begins in technical services. The future is the next generation of cataloging rules and the interactions they will support. One goal of RDA is to bring together the library with the archive and museum communities so that all our data exists in a common format (Coyle, 2008). The future is a frequently unanswered question. I like to call those possibilities. Coyle (2008) asks 3 possibilities that I present to you all in closing. 1. Is RDF the right format? 2. Does RDA/RDF/ FRBR replace MARC21? 3. Who is in charge? RDA – Resource Description and Access RDF – Resource Description Framework Ron T. Brown | University of South Carolina