Themes

Economy 0, Libraries 1 (for now…)

As the economy enters the ninth circle of hell libraries are, according to the world’s media, experiencing a glorious rebirth.

Hamilton Spectator (Ontario)

The Standard (Ontario)

York Region (Ontario)

Sante Fe (New Mexico)

Frederick News Post (Maryland)

Eagle Tribune (Massachusetts)

Suwannee Democrat (Florida)

BBC News

Irish Times

As this trope plays out in the media, other stories present a less hopeful future…

Library books fall by two million a year amid warnings of cuts and closures

Library cuts ‘could last a decade’

Journal Changes at Tucker Library Due to Global Economic Downturn (I find the idea of a medical library with no journals slightly disturbing)

Microsoft Surface and social computing

In an earlier post I discussed the possible impact of multi-touch computer screens on the catalogue display. Microsoft has just demonstrated the latest version of their software at the South by SouthWest Festival. While it is still in the development stage, it doesn`t stop us from imagining the possibilities.

According to the original story on the BBC

Devices like the Surface, as well as Apple’s iPhone, are at the vanguard of a shift in how we interact with computers.
“Everything is moving to touch and multi-touch so you had better jump on that bandwagon,” Mr Klimczak told the conference of web developers.

Donkey Mobile Library




Today the BBC had a wonderful story about the Donkey Mobile Library in Ethiopia. The library is a project of Ethiopia Reads.

The BBC article fails to mention the founder of Ethiopia Reads, Yohannes Gebregeorgis, who fled the his native country in 1981 for the United States and became a children’s librarian. He won the CNN heroes award in 2008.

Looking to the past…

The new year is here and it is time to look to the past to see where we have been. Ars technica gives us an interesting post on the open source victories of 2008.

And what will the future bring? According to some, librarian will be one of the best careers for 2009. Apparently librarians will…

…go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children’s puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders.

It was also one of the best careers for 2008, but if you take a look the median salary appears to have dropped by $4000. Maybe we need to put on better puppet shows…

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