Thoughts on Brown and Duguid

I think Brown and Duguid make an especially astute statement in their preface that really sums up the catch-22 most libraries find themselves in nowadays: “[w]here many old technologies inherently forced people together in factories, office buildings, schools, and libraries, new ones tempt them to stay apart, working for organizations without working in one, joining schools or libraries without going to one” (p. xix). This reminds me of part of the discussion we had back in week 1 and the idea of how people can utilize the library without ever physically stepping foot into it with all the remote and digital services offered. I believe this has been a major driving force behind all the changes we see in most public libraries today with their cafes, concerts, classes (like belly-dancing, art, yoga,) and myriad of other programs. Whereas people before went to the library for the most part when they NEEDED to, a growing number of the clientele today are there because they WANT to be there.

The “Home Alone” chapter also alludes to another reason for these changes. Brown and Duguid discuss the importance of office workers’ physical spaces and of the value-added “incidental learning” (p. 76) that occurs when one is in the proximity of others. Likewise, people often happen upon worthwhile materials serendipitously and also benefit from the human interaction they experience when they physically come into a library. This is why the concept of the “Library as 3rd Place” is such a big idea these days. As B&D illustrate, people are social beings who crave social interactions with others. Libraries are places where this can happen. But, as this course we’re taking also shows, social interactions are no longer limited to physical places. We can, as the subtitle of Farkas’ book stated, build “collaboration, communication, and community online.”

B&D also remind us that “technology alone cannot dictate its ultimate route” (p. x). Librarians, as others in any industry, need to remember that the people we serve always remain our first priority. Technology gives us the tools to better serve them. It is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

I had a great opportunity to attend NJLA’s Future Tech for Libraries symposium this summer (http://www.njla.org/njacrl/FutureTech08.html). The Brown and Duguid reading this week reminded me of many of the points its fabulous keynote speaker, Steven Bell, made in his opening presentation, “Why are we doing this? Designing future technology adoption into the business of libraries.” Dr. Bell’s focus is on library design and he strongly advocates the importance of keeping the user’s experience in mind whenever we design any program, tool or service for our library. He urges us to think about how our users will benefit from new technologies and warns us, like B&D, not to automatically adopt every new technological tool that comes around.

Finally, I really enjoyed B&D’s sharing of the story of how the telephone was introduced and finally accepted by society. I found it hysterical that people originally thought the telegraph was a superior means of communication since it was kept in the hands of “the experts” (pp. 87-89). As librarians, we need to be careful that we don’t fall into similar lines of reasoning today (especially when we are defending those more complicated systems of which WE are “the experts”: databases, opacs, dewey arrangements, etc.). We can make the best use of technology by making it work for us and the people we serve.