Elizabeth A.G.
asked
Werner A. Lind:
As a librarian, what are the most dramatic changes in libraries seen in recent years? -- I feel they have become great, friendly community centers for readers and researchers. It is amazing to me how libraries have adapted to electronic media.
Werner A. Lind
I should preface my answer by saying that I haven't had any experience as a public librarian since 1992 (and only a few years before that), and that my experience as a college librarian has been almost entirely at one library. But that said, in the little over 30 years since I got my MLS, the most dramatic change has been the computer revolution. Libraries now provide numerous PC stations for their patrons, connecting them with the resources of the Internet; and library catalogs are now online, and searchable from any PC or device in the world.
Because of the rise of online versions, subscriptions to paper journals, magazines and newspapers have greatly declined, even among libraries; and some, including old standbys, have folded. But at the same time, with the advent of online database indexes, doing focused searches of their content is now vastly faster and easier; and the old paper indexes that formerly took up so much space in library reference areas have gone the way of the dodo. (And they're not mourned!)
Those changes are obvious, but there have been others behind the scenes. Computers have revolutionized interlibrary loan (a process that was just beginning when I started in the field), and cataloging. Now we can have instant access to a worldwide database, and send requests electronically to libraries we know have the book, instead of asking one library after another through the mail if they have it. And catalog records can be created electronically and shared online, without each local library having to laboriously create and type their own.
There have been other changes, but those impress me as the most dramatic. But "the more things change, the more they remain the same." Paper books are still the heart of the library, and they continue to find patrons who want/need to read or consult them. As a six-year-old child entering a library for the first time, I was thrilled to see so many shelves of books. All these years later, a library still offers the same thrill!
Because of the rise of online versions, subscriptions to paper journals, magazines and newspapers have greatly declined, even among libraries; and some, including old standbys, have folded. But at the same time, with the advent of online database indexes, doing focused searches of their content is now vastly faster and easier; and the old paper indexes that formerly took up so much space in library reference areas have gone the way of the dodo. (And they're not mourned!)
Those changes are obvious, but there have been others behind the scenes. Computers have revolutionized interlibrary loan (a process that was just beginning when I started in the field), and cataloging. Now we can have instant access to a worldwide database, and send requests electronically to libraries we know have the book, instead of asking one library after another through the mail if they have it. And catalog records can be created electronically and shared online, without each local library having to laboriously create and type their own.
There have been other changes, but those impress me as the most dramatic. But "the more things change, the more they remain the same." Paper books are still the heart of the library, and they continue to find patrons who want/need to read or consult them. As a six-year-old child entering a library for the first time, I was thrilled to see so many shelves of books. All these years later, a library still offers the same thrill!
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A Goodreads user
asked
Werner A. Lind:
Hi, Werner Thank you for asking my question! BTW Are you going to write more books? Thank
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