Week 1 Readings

Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture - Clifford Lynch
This was the first reading I tackled for this week, and I have to admit that I found it to be the most obscure for me. Maybe it's just me, but I found I had to fight through the technical language to get to the gist of what the author was trying to say. What I think he was trying to assert was that Information Literacy was about the information itself that people come searching for when they visit a library or get on the Internet. Its the actual content present in the bound books or the web pages or e-journals. The information could even be the content of emails sent or the comments on a blog.
Information Technology Literacy, on the other hand, is understanding the vehicle by which this information is disseminated. That understanding could be general, such as how to make a spreadsheet or how to craft a blog. It could also be complex, and include how to deal with debugging a program.
Mr. Lynch seems to advocate a thorough education in both of these areas for the modern technology user to be up to date. Maybe the fact that I had trouble understanding his article is good supporting evidence.

OCLC: 2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers
This provided interesting reading, and raised just one issue with me. This report states that if libraries want to stay current with the consumer of today, then they need to reconsider how they package their information. This asserts that consumers don't care how their information is presented, whether it be in digital or physical format. Web services are not a consideration, but are rather "imperative" for libraries. I agree that there is a demand for libraries to offer web services, but I take issue with the assertion that consumers don't care how they read - simply that it be presented to them. As a book lover myself, I much prefer the physical act of holding a book while reading than to reading a book off of a computer screen.

Lied Library @ four years: technology never stands still - Jason Vaughan
This article offers an interesting inside view of how major academic libraries work and the issues that are dealt with in the struggle to stay at the forefront of technology. This article would be a good model for anyone wanting a basic overview of some of the issues libraries have to deal with: replacing computers, space maintenance, glitches, theft and viruses, and balancing computer use between different types of patrons. One subject of interest to me was the issue of computer access to both students and community patrons, as I have experienced this from both perspectives. They obviously viewed the students time as more valuable since the students were most likely researching for papers or studying for finals. I agree that during the finals week or when a paper deadline is looming up, not having access to a computer can be frustrating. I disagreed with one of their tactics that they plan on using, however, which was to restrict the access of certain Internet sites to community users. This would, in their estimation limit the amount of time community patrons could spend playing games, checking email, etc. I have been a community user as well and have been frustrated by the inability to access my email when there was an important email I was looking forward to viewing. There were times when my boss preferred to message me on Facebook rather than sending me an email. I couldn't check it, however, because that was one of the restricted sites we weren't allowed to use. I think there are better ways to balance time between users than to restrict the community users access. The Carnegie Library, for example, has a base time of 30 minutes for computer use. If there are still terminals open when you near the end of your time then they will add another 15 minutes. This way everyone has an opportunity to use this resource - a resource that shouldn't be solely for one type of patron.