[Publib] The technomaze, the library, and pie

Mon Feb 5 15:33:57 EST 2007

This will be heresy to many, but personally, I have a very simple philosophy regarding gadgetry: if it comes with an instruction manual 500 pages long or you have to purchase an additional "For Dummies" guide of that length to figure the bloomin thing out, then, *no* it will *not* make my life better/happier/more fulfilling. There, I said it--ha! 

Therefore, I have largely spared myself the agony of the inoperable: I own no cell phone, no MP3 player, no fancy tv (although I do realize that in several years the three-year-old set my dad was convinced my husband and I needed, but is not HD- or whatever-compatible may become a large dust collector :( if the FCC is successful in selling off the public airwaves to the highest bidder as they are currently trying to do, but I digress...). 

Am I a Luddite? Maybe a touch, but not so much. I am perfectly comfortable in the cyber world; I read blogs, participate in listservs, catch the occasional viral video on YouTube, that sort of thing, but I refuse to let technology rule my life. My coffepot is close to 15 years old and works fine (now that I've said that it will probably die tomorrow); my iron is probably older than I am and does just fine as well. We bought our refrigerator in the nick of time before they were putting computer chips in every fridge made (thank heavens), so it keeps our milk cold without giving me grief about buying 2% instead of skim.

The thing people seem not to understand about technology is that you can decline to participate and guess what, the sun will still rise tomorrow. I'm not completely against technology: I proudly drive a hybrid and encourage everyone I know to drive them too, but that sort of technology will hopefully help keep us from killing to polar bears and drowning the coasts once the icecaps melt. That technology matters. Again--heresy alert--recording your favorite show, while an enjoyable activity as long as you can figure out how to do it, doesn't really matter in the greater scheme of things. We watch too much tv anyway, and maybe we should be having a meaningful conversation/interaction with our significant other or kid or other family member anyway.

Oh well. Can you tell it's Monday? ;)

Rebecca Bronson
Reference Librarian
Handley Regional Library
P.O. Box 1300
Stephens City, VA  22655

540-869-9000 (voice)
540-869-9001 (fax)

www.hrl.lib.state.va.us

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Joe Schallan
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 4:26 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] The technomaze, the library, and pie

John Richmond wrote:

"I can't say I was thrilled to hear one of the persons interviewed say that we're really just at the beginning of the Internet-techno-revolution, and  the worst--I mean, the best--I mean, the most complicated is yet to come."

When you consider the sort of technology that, at least according to the marketers, is essential to the American home, and when you further consider the operability issues that now attend each television set, stereo system (oops, make that "home theater"), home computer, printer, MP3 player, PDA, Blackberry, cell phone, cordless phone, et cetera and ad infinitum, and the nonstandard layout of controls and confusing interfaces, and the competing media formats, it is nothing short of *astonishing* that everyday people sometimes get some of their stuff to work.

I wonder how many people now can't get even their TV to work? I wonder how much otherwise operable technical gear now sits in closets because the owners can't get the stuff to work?

A lot of the traffic at my suburban branch library consists of people whose home computers have hopelessly seized up.  They are at wit's end and don't know what to do.  Support is minimal, unless they want to pay an arm and a leg for it.  They are thankful that there is a public library with staff to keep the computers running, so they can come and access their email through a webmail interface.

I consider myself technically proficient, having used computers since 1976 and having even gone to the extreme to teaching myself a little programming in Basic and Fortran.  At my house, we have always been early adopters (members of the Church of Mac since 1985, for example) and use, or have used, most if not all the supposedly essential gizmos.

Acquisition of which begs the question Do you own your gizmos, or do they own you?  (Fodder for another thread.)

But more and more I find even myself flummoxed.  And so I wonder what all those people who haven't had my background do when their equipment balks.

I'm convinced a lot of them come to us at the library.  Indeed, this may be an essential and highly worthwhile mission for us:  The computer nexus of last resort!

I have long felt that at our best we offer something that Microsoft in all its splendor and might does not easily offer:  Help from a human being.

And I cringe every time I hear a staff member plead for the institution of such abominations as a phone tree.  That stuff makes our lives easier, to be sure, but it doesn't make our patrons' lives easier.  I take pride that when a patron calls my library, there will be a human being on the other end, not some bot.

Human help is expensive, and the for-profits of the world have decided to erect formidable barriers between you, their customer, and the humans in their organizations that can save your time and your sanity. When you bought their gear, they made their money. They are not interested in your subsequent problems, at least not enough to give you human contact.  They know you’ll buy more of their stuff in a year or two anyway.

I'd like to say we don't do that in the public library, and that human help is the core of our mission.