This piece was given to us by the PPL director. Each employee was asked to read the 7 pages of prose prior to our future planning meeting.
Chad, Ken and Miller, Paul. "Do Libraries Matter?" Talis, 2005. 4.
http://www.talis.com/applications/downloads/white_papers/DoLibrariesMatter.pdf
Miller and Chad explain the changing technological world in which libraries find themselves. Referred to as the "modern world" a definition of needs and or trends is discussed. The belief that the Internet has created an always on always accessible resource is central to the piece. The need for items to be "free" for the taking is also key. The authors go into detail describing the impact of this 24/7 service provider (the Internet) and how it stands to affect libraries. A focus of the piece is how software will be a key player in mixing and mashing up the needs of users while placing libraries in the middle of the scene. Author bias is lurking through illustrative examples of software needs. Talis is a software company. Corporate pitching for low cost applications, participative and accessible tools for users is a need of Libraries in a 2.0 world, which Talis wants to be a part of. Without the sales pitch this white-paper begs the question for software or management companies involvement in libraries. This piece makes a case for how such tools and more importantly their design, cost, and implementation will affect libraries.
The transperant 24/7 virtual world is definitely daunting. How to embrace the needs of users and make your institution a patrons path of least resistance is the goal.
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