There is No One Way

Kevin Kelly who was featured in TEDTalk stressed the importance of how we as humans “have to get better in believing in the impossible”.  Librarianship has come an incredibly long way from the card catalog to an overwhelming amount of online databases.  The web has increased our ability to create, locate, and search the various avenues of the everyday library; however, he does not fail to mention that there are consequences of our usage of the web.  Three consequences he focused in on included embodiment, restructure, and co-dependency.  Co-dependency seems to be one of the largest of the three issues for the simple reason that patrons and/or librarians may depend on the Web’s answers opposed to any further investigation.  Kelly mentions a funny yet serious statement about when we do not know an answer to something that the first thing we do is “Google it”.  Unfortunately, I have found myself to be among the millions of people who goes straight to Google instead of an old-fashioned encyclopedia, dictionary, or other type of physical research material.  Years ago, we relied heavily on our own knowledge and ability to research answers.  Now there are people who consider researching typing into a search engine and getting thousands of hits in a matter of seconds.

While co-dependency of the Web seems to be a major issue, this gives librarians the opportunity to share the importance of the library system because of the Webs lack of accuracy.  Learning about the continuous technological advances will enable librarians to counter these developments with their knowledge of both technology as well as any “archaic” methods of librarianship.  As current or future librarians we are taught the importance of organization which is something the Internet is lacking. 

The Web while a great asset for many of today’s libraries, still does not take away from the importance of the physicality of organization and the satisfaction from tangible research.  David Weinberger’s chapter “The New Order of Order” illustrates a thought-provoking concept that includes the idea that we have been taught to keep our physical environments in our daily lives to be organized and in order; however, maintaining order in the digital world is much more difficult.  He gives us the example of saving our digital photographs onto the computer versus having them physically.  The issue with trying to organize these photos on the computer is that if you have thousands of photos they are not clearly labeled as to which one is which.  I personally have had an issue with sifting through photographs on the computer opposed to having them physically in front of me.  While some people may use physical storage as a backup, I differ and use the computer as my backup.  A pro to physically storing these photographs is that they are easily accessible to you and that you may go through them at a quicker pace and decipher which ones you like and which you do not.  This may be more difficult on the computer because they are most likely not labeled individually and you would have to look at them one by one.  Weinberger gives this example to shine light on the physical accessibility especially for librarians.  I believe that this example demonstrates why some librarians may favor physical accessibility opposed to the lack of organization in the digital world. 

During our class discussion it became apparent that there are clashing opinions on whether or not the Web is beneficial to librarianship.  It may be the fear of the unknown that is causing this reluctance or the ever so daunting task of having to learn these new and changing technologies.  On the other hand, others are embracing these advancements because it gives us more of an opportunity to engage and further investigate for our patrons and ourselves.  Both Kevin Kelly and David Weinberger allow us to look at both the positive and negative aspects of the Web and our way of digital versus physical organization.