BlogJunction Maine » Technology

Research Re: Internet’s Impact on Libaries

Linda Lord — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:24:04 +0000

This new report, The IMLS National Study on the Use of Libraries, Museums and the Internet, sponsored by the Insitute of Museum and Library Services “offers insight into the ways people search for information in the online age, and how this impacts the ways they interact with public libraries and museums, both online and in person”. Just check out the one-page conclusions summary!

How Does Your Library Compare to Nat’l Tech Findings?

Linda Lord — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:54:46 +0000

The July 16, 2007 issue of Library Hotline reported the following statistics from the 2007 Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study from Florida State University. This study was funded by ALA and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The following represent just a few of the findings from this national survey:

15, 965 libraries reported Internet connectivity. Only 84 of these (.5 percent) do not provide access to the public.
The typical library building has 10.7 Internet workstations. (In 2002 libraries averaged 10.8 workstations).
Only 1/5 of the reporting libraries have enough workstations for their patrons at all times.
54.2% offer wireless access
29.2% of libraries have connectivity great than one T-1 line.
Library directors want at least one IT staffer “to manage the web page, implement new systems, teach clases, and handle day-to-day trouble shooting.”

Technology of the Future?

Linda Lord — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:58:26 +0000

I was perusing the May 2007 AARP Bulletin addressed to me (I’ll pause while you recover from your astonishment) and found the following predictions: “We won’t have laptops or cell phones. We’ll wear a communications center/intelligent assistant as a headband. Instead of a screen, it will have direct coupling into the right side of the brain.” Stuart Wolf, physicist and techno scout, University of Virginia.

“Computing power will be everywhere. Sensors in your car will monitor your health while you drive. Task-based learning will enable you to reinvent yourself, your career every few years.” Joe Coughlin, director, MIT AgeLab

I wonder what periodicals aimed at people in their teens and twenties are telling them!?

Broadband Meeting with ALA Subcommittee in D.C.

Linda Lord — Sun, 06 May 2007 01:17:30 +0000

State Librarian Gary Nichols and I attended this meeting on Sunday April 30. Maine’s issues mirror feedback provided by a number of states across the country:
1. The need for more bandwidth is nearly universal.
2. There is no predictable way to accurately plan for the amount of bandwidth needed in the future. Online formats and patron needs continue to change rapidly. Downloading information was the prime need when libraries first connected to the Internet. As libraries increasingly digitize resources (e.g. for Maine Memoray Network) and seek to provide online information (e.g.OPACS, ILL request forms, web sites), uploading speed will continue to become more and more important.
3. ALA urged state delegations to focus on four technology issues when meeting with our Congressional delegation: (a) maintenance and simplification of the federal e-rate program; (b) preservation of Net Neutrality, (c) Resistance to DOPA, the Online Preditors’ Act (4) Need for broadband for libraries.

Web 2.0!

Linda Lord — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:12:10 +0000

Web 2.0 refers to all the interactive web sites that have recently become so popular, e.g. blogs, My Space, wikkis, Flickr. Users don’t go to these sites just to get information; they go to these sites with the expectation of interacting with other users on the site. This is done by posting comments, contributing information or interacting in some other way with the people on the site. Young people are doing this in their sleep. We “mature” people have to learn.