Thing 2 Perspectives

Whew!  OK, I'm already exhausted and I've just started!  A few comments on these perspectives:  Having worked 11 years in Michigan (public library cataloging would you believe), I'm familiar with where these folks are coming from.  The "future of libraries" has been the great professional debate for many years-in 1976 for instance-would books still be here 30 years from now (yes)?  Would we deliver information (and what information and how) in the same way to the same people?  Would librarians (AKA information specialists) drive the information revolution or just hang on for the ride?  Would we "rock the boat" and challenge ourselves and others to do more, often with less money?  It doesn't surprise me at all that someone (Blyberg) from Ann Arbor (U of Mich country) is leading the charge, since the library there and the University library school are known as leaders in the field.   Blyberg's wall of books is great-something newer online catalogs are doing.  I look forward to the day (this spring??!) that the Edina Schools will have a new online catalog that incorporates some of this new technology.  

I also agree that technology can be addicting-it seems there's no end to it, no matter how passionately you delve into the subject.  It's especially tough when you work with the "2.0 and beyond" generation every day as we do.  Many (but not all) of the kids are already there, technically, but they still need to be taught how to reason and think of their own solutions using all the new "gee whiz" gadgetry.

Finally, this also reminds me of Tom Peters' book Thriving on Chaos (thanks Frank for looking it up for me...) businesses needing to understand the world won't be still, that chaos (i.e., constant change everywhere) offers opportunity, but only for those who are flexible, nimble, who can identify trends and take advantage of them.

Enough for now.