While searching in the daily newspapers of major Nevada cities, I found many articles surrounding budget cuts, circulation numbers (it appears circulation is up in most areas!), integration of new computers into libraries, and schedule upon schedule of story hours and community events that are taking place in public libraries. I admit, I had to delve a little deeper to find articles that popped with interesting library themes relatable to class readings.
Perhaps the most prominent theme that I found throughout the articles was the integration of technology into “traditional” libraries. For instance, one article from Carson City entitled “Technology at library helps increase hours”, explained how new radio frequency identification check-out services were helping to increase hours of operation at the Carson City Library. With this new service, multiple materials can be checked in and out at the same time, making it a faster check out system for librarians and patrons. Patrons set all the items they want to check out on the scanning table and then just swipe their library card.
When I first read this article, I thought to myself, “Well there goes the personal interaction with the librarian!” It seemed as though the librarian became obsolete with this new technology. However, the article later explained that with the machine checking patrons in and out, there was more time for librarians to be out in the library helping people find what they are looking for. The article also stated that circulation was up 18% and library attendance was up `10%. I have to wonder, is circulation and attendance up because of the quicker method of getting in and out of the library? Are people more apt to breeze in to pick up materials? Or is it because the librarians are able to work closely with patrons and help them to successful locate items?
Another article from Las Vegas, “Libraries urging patrons to check out digital collections” discussed how Henderson Libraries brought a digital bookmobile to their buildings to show people the “growing collections of digital media available for free download.” The company is called OverDrive and it is a library open 24 hours, 7 days a week where patrons can download music and books from local libraries at home using their library card. Patrons can check books out for 21 or 14 days. After the allotted time is up, the files become locked to that user, and they are available to another user to download. While many people are enjoying this service due to its convenience, many other library users may be skeptical and not understand how to correctly download materials.
This directly relates to articles we have read for class about the going trend towards digital and electronic libraries. This digital library could potentially house more material than the library building could, and it would be readily accessible to patrons from their own homes. But as the article states, this is an expensive service. If people are unsure of how to use the service, the costs could potentially outweigh the benefits. Plus, some people still enjoy a tangible book to read, not just the audio files of a book. This article was written in April of 2009 and stated that downloadable material was up 30% from January of that year. I searched to find more recent information on how circulation has been since, but unfortunately could not find anything directly related to this story. Does that mean circulation continued to improve? Or did the digital collection fad disappear in Vegas?
For my final article, I wanted to find something related to school or academic libraries in Nevada. I began to search the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and University of Nevada, Reno student newspapers and before too long I stumbled upon the article, “Know the Knowledge Center” from the University of Nevada-Reno. After reading this article about the new (well, new in 2008) Matthewson-IGT Knowledge Center, I did momentarily think about transferring schools. This ‘Knowledge Center’ does not classify itself as just a ‘traditional library’ for students to use. Feel free to read everything that this Knowledge Center offers, but my personal favorite is how to retrieve a book: “students can enter the book they want through a computer and a large mechanical hand will find the book according to its bar code, pick it up from a three-story shelf and deliver it to the circulation desk.”
A large mechanical hand!?! Again, I am curious of what the impact of this technology has upon the librarian. Are the librarians freed to help students search and locate items? Will they move to the reference desk area? Or are their hours cut and their jobs being replaced by this mechanical hand? In all three of these articles, there is a growing trend of technology surfacing in libraries. With this upswing in technology, the role of the librarian is changing. Hopefully librarian patrons will still see the benefits and need for librarians even in this library technological shift. After all, according to the opening quote in Marliyn Johnson’s book, “This Book Is Overdue,” Patricia Wilson Berger, former president of the ALA, states, “show me a computer expert who gives a damn, and I’ll show you a librarian.”
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