Computers in Libraries Conference Report: 25 Years Later, Still Pushing Boundaries
Since the days of mainframes, CiLâs discussions of technology relevant to patrons and staff have come a long way.
Stan Friedman, Senior Research Librarian, Conde Nast -- Library Journal, 04/19/2010
- Half of Americans now online and using cloud services
- Twitter serves as content filter
- Ebooks and ereaders poised for major growth
- As information environments evolve, so do modes of access
Twitter, ebooks, and the diffusion of knowledge were the marquee topics at last week’s Computers in Libraries (CiL) Conference, which drew some 2000 people to Arlington, VA, for its 25th anniversary.
Over the years, the conference has increasingly covered networked and mobile services only tangentially related to physical computers in library buildings. This year was no exception with much emphasis on how cloud services open up new possibilities. Conference attendees included public, academic, and special librarians from 47 states and 17 countries.
Coming of age
The first conference 25 years ago was initially called Small Computers in Libraries, for an era when computers of any size were a rarity in libraries.
In 1985, mainframes had ruled the roost for a decade. That year, Microsoft released Windows version 1.0, the CD-ROM was first introduced, and the New York Public Library closed down its catalog room to replace 9,000 card drawers with 50 electronic terminals. A computer manufacturer registered "Symbolics.com" as the world's first domain name in March of that year, marking the Internet’s first foray beyond the province of the military and university computer science departments.
In 25 years, we’ve come a long way. Conference goers arranged their trips online. Keynote speeches were streamed live over the net. PowerPoints and PDF handouts were made available for download in advance. Attendees blogged or tweeted their reactions and opinions. And this article was composed via the cloud, using a truly small netbook, Google docs, and free Wi-Fi aboard a speeding locomotive.
Networked knowledge
Indeed, the sharing of knowledge at high speed was a recurring theme at this year's gathering. Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, set the stage with his opening keynote on the latest user statistics: 75% of all adults are now online and two-thirds of them use cloud computing in some way. Additionally, 57% use social networks, 15% maintain a personal web site, and 14% blog.
We are in a time of "fast, mobile connections built around outside servers and storage," he observed. Rainie reminded listeners to keep in mind a new breed of content creators who are networked, who challenge conventional media, and who use the net to enhance their own civic and community roles. Meanwhile, the wisdom of crowds—or the crowd's failure to act wisely, as in the rise of unruly flash mobs—has never been more apparent, he said.
Twitter dominates discussions
If there was a single word on everyone's lips this year, it was Twitter. In her search tips seminar, Mary Ellen Bates of Bates Information Services pointed out the value of tweets as a kind of content filter: if users have taken up their limited message space with a web address—even a truncated one—it's likely to be a link that they consider important.
Michael Porter of WebJunction and Amanda Clay Powers of Mississippi State University explored retweeting as knowledge sharing, and how a time investment in Twitter can reap rewards in terms of gaining and keeping a large and loyal following. Later, attendees tweeted their comments in real time to the Nebraska Library Commission's Michael Sauers during his interactive session on Twitter Success Stories.
Ebooks and beyond
Computers in the world beyond libraries were also widely explored. With the conference coming less than two weeks after the launch of the iPad, those who discussed ebooks did so with caution. In her talk on hot trends in mobile communication, Bobbi Newman (Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, Columbus, GA) noted that new technology does not stay new for long and that this was the "worst time" to talk about ereaders. She pointed to the Kindle's continued popularity, the Nook's (limited) capability to share ebooks, and how a growing number of book lovers are using their iPhones as readers—its convenience outweighing the fact that the device is not ideal for that function.
Newman’s co-presenter/co-worker, Brian Hulsey, Reference Associate, Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, noted that the current and forthcoming ebook technology could be passé in the next “two months...two weeks...two hours," but still gleefully showed off an attractive iPad app for children’s books, exclaiming, "It's Cat in the Hat, man!"
Other knowledge-sharing techniques noted during the conference included everything from SMS ready reference to geo-locating using Foursquare.com. Presenter Megan K. Fox, Director of Knowledge Management and Information Technology at Jobs for the Future, provided a telling perspective when she observed that searches need not be initiated by keywords anymore. Now one can input audio, a GPS location, an image, or a barcode to generate a list of relevant results.
Evolving environments
Several presenters gave examples of how knowledge sharing can thrive or languish in specific environments. Christopher Thomas of the Department of Defense provided a unique look at the limited capabilities of a military-issued BlackBerry and the other challenges that come with working in "a culture of securing information." Co-presenter Anna Berkes of the Jefferson Library, just outside Charlottesville, VA, offered quite a juxtaposition as she described the evolution of the popular wiki-based Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia.
Later, in a session on the library world that dwells within the PC game World of Warcraft (WoW), details were divulged by a trio of gamer librarians. Bob Beck (Central Arkansas Library System), discussed the success he has had in implementing the game. With 11.5 million subscribers, WoW is not just a battlefield for avatars. It is a thriving social community offering its users a portal into a unique learning environment with countless lessons in team building and cooperation, to say nothing of the chance to ride a Winged Steed.
