The wrong side of the digital divide
Casey and I were interviewed on New Hampshire Public Radio‘s The Front Porch tonight on Libraries in the Digital Age [Update: audio now online]. It was certainly a new experience for me and I was happy for the opportunity.
I won’t blame nerves but I didn’t come out with all the succinct, insightful, well-cooed tidbits that I had hoped. But I did do a bit of preparing and learned some new stuff today just from that. Some things I thought might be asked:
Why are libraries important?
The most important roll of all libraries, corporate, academic, school, and public, is to act as information centers for the community they serve. Now that there are other entities in the information provision business, it’s time for libraries to emphasize the community service aspect of their mission.
It’s easiest to see in public libraries – you walk in and there’s a bulletin board announcing meetings and events, there are toys for kids, questions being answered, public readings and movies – libraries are places for interacting with information and with each other, not just acquiring it.
Why should that interaction move online?
The fact is that no matter how great it is, not everyone in your community users the library. Maybe they’re elderly or homebound. Maybe they’re children. Maybe they live too far away for it to be convenient. Maybe they’re just plain too shy – libraries can be intimidating. The point is that just because you don’t see them come through the door doesn’t mean they’re not a part of the community you serve. And if launching a blog, podcasting, flickring, or IMing will help to engage them with their towns – why, golly, seems like a good idea to me.
The other thing to consider is that our “towns” don’t necessarily stop at our borders. My all-time favorite library story is that of the Freedom Public Library who posted a photo of a couple young patrons’ new kitten noting:
Nathaneal and Philip brought their new kitten Peperuka (“Ruka” for short) to visit the library today.
The real exciting bit comes in the comments:
We’re also pleased that the kitten carries on our family tradition of naming pets in the Swahili language of East Africa. Peperuka means “to soar up” or “to jump high.” This seems to be an appropriate name for “Ruka.” signed the boys’ maternal grandparents, Falmouth, MA
The comment that follows is a similar sentiment from the brothers’ cousin in Oakland, ME. So now the library is providing a platform on which remote family arms can be involved in eachother’s lives – how big is that community now?
What challenges face small and rural libraries to participating online?
Beside the obvious small budgets and no time, library staff’s technical skills are often limited. Or, if not, they may simply not be aware of the trend of the social web. And if they are, they may not see patrons coming through the door who would use such a thing. It is just those users, the ones not coming in, that they might reach via these tools.
Additionally when the digital divide was a matter of the haves and the have-nots, libraries could see what had to be done and applied for LSTA money and installed Gates computers – provided points of access to the internet. There are, however, few free opportunities for libraries to get help, in the form of money, training, or support to mount a web presence that uses these tools and is relevant to all users.
