High tech library

I read about someone who used his Pocket PC to hook up to the library's fee Wi-Fi network and checked out the library's catalog. That is waaaaay cool! I wish we could have the same technology here in the Philippines. I wish. Frank McPherson was writing about it here. And I knew about it because of The Shifted Librarian blog. There are so many things going on in libraries in other parts of the world and it makes things easier for both the users and the librarians.

Reference work is not easy in a library with many users. People ask all sorts of questions like, "Where is ?" or "What references could I use to write ?" , et cetera. Sometimes library users are simply dumbfounded with the many choices available or sometimes, they don't really know how to maximize the materials in a library. Sad but true. One-man librarians are the ones who really face the greatest challenge because of the need to stay in one place because library users also need to bring home some books and so they have to stay on the desk and at the same time there are clueless users who really need a lot of help finding their way around the library. With the above-mentioned technology, there is a probability that users would be encouraged to find the materials that they need in the library because they don't have to be in the public terminal browsing the catalog and they don't have to ask the librarian too many questions. Some library users are terrified of that.

Anyhow, I am just glad that at some part of the world, a nice technological advance is going on right now, ensuring that the information gets to the person who needs it.

posted by eClair @ 14:39