Using a PowerBook (YES!), Dr. Rosenbaum took us through a review of a similar talk he gave 6 years ago and then looked to the future.
“Trendspotting: Libraries & Technology (or what do I have to learn now?)
Librarians getting together — “Community of Practice” – Shared work practices
Six years ago:
The web is becoming a community
Digital Neighborhoods and virtual communities
Chat Rooms
Portals
Current Technical Trends:
*Wireless Libraries – Bluetooth/ 802.11g
*PDAs, Tablets, Cell Phones – Cheaper, more common, wireless and net access. Libraries need to think about a new range of services that serve these devices. Developing web interfaces for devices
*RFID – Making its way into libraries via retail
*Security – Hardware firewalls, Libraries need people who really know what they are doing when setting up security. This will be increasingly important.
*DRM – Controlling content
*Web Services – Standard means of operating amongst different platforms, W3C
*Semantic Web – Interoperable, sharing of information. Agents do things for us: auctions, tickets, etc
*Blogs – used in education, media and business
*RSS – Content delivery
Current Social Trends:
*Security – Preventing and detecting unauthorized use of a computer
*Spam – could clog the e-mail system in the future
What do I have to learn now? A lot – quickly – we have a sociotechnical environment that is changing quickly! What does the future hold?
Developing digital reference services
Developing and managing digital libraries
Creation of complex database driven web sites
Understand and negotiate DRM
Creating & updating a library blog with an RSS Feed
Being able to lock down your library’s network
Delivering a range of library services through a wireless network (and to a wrist phone)