As the timeline of our course moves forward to be a present day orientation, the articles we read more and more like accurate predictions of our present condition. Articles like Wrights “The Web That Wasn’t”, D’Elia et al and “The Impact of the Internet on Public Library Use” and others weave seamlessly into current discussions around the topic of the internet in our lives. Yet we cannot help but notice that each generation dreams only with the canvas of colors laid before it. It is not yet known what designs might shape our future that have yet to cross the drawing board of future librarians and information scientists.

Wright acknowledges as much in the first paragraph of his essay stating that “Tim Berners-Lee’s invention has already established itself as a world-changing technology (Wright p. 183)”. This articles however he tackles the task of acknowledging the work that lead up to the invention of Berners-Lee. Of the many who labored, most notable in my mind is Paul Otlet who predicted the internet in speaking of a workstation using multiple screens. Like the Memex envisioned by Bush, Otlet’s 1934 prediction of a “networked multimedia space” sees the world at the finger-tips of the information scientists on multiple screens and in multiple formats (Wright P.185).

This was to be expected from someone such as Otlet who attempted, in the “Bibliographique Universel” to create a “master bibliography of the world’s accumulated knowledge” in 1895 (Wright p.186). He would also develop Universal Decimal Classification, which while not popular in the United States is popular elsewhere around the world.

George D’Ella et al write of “baseline data concerning the evolving relationship between the public’s use of the library and the public’s use of the internet” (D’Ella Et al P. 802). Most salient of the study’s goals is to “identify decision criteria” around the choice between internet and computer use and to describe how the library compares on these decision criteria” (D’Ella Et al P. 804).

One expected but unfortunate correlation was found between high education, high income and high library use. The same trend proved to be true in regards to internet use. This documents clearly not only a digital divide, but indeed an information divide. However they found that overall the study “does not demonstrate (at this time) that recency, length or frequency of use of the Internet are affecting why people use the library” (D’Ella Et Al P.808). However the study did note that the average percentage of respondents who used only the internet (20.3%) is twice the number who used only the library (9.7%) (D’Ella Et al. P.810).

Overall the decision-making logic for choosing the internet revolved around issues of convenience, the ability to customize the experience and the perceived immediacy of the information. Decision-making logic around choices for the library involved issues of cost, accuracy and “protection of user privacy” (D’Ella p.812). The reasons for using the internet reflected a desire for convenience, and also for a range of options amongst online resources.

The Halfner article from the New York Times on November 21, 2005 recalls Sidney Verba of the Harvard University Library. It is not merely a fluff piece about a happy librarian, but rather a piece concerning his involvement with the sometimes controversial Google Book Project whose aim is to digitize entire collections. The article notes that in addition to Harvard, the University of Michigan, Stanford and the New York Public Library are all part of the effort, who “expects to scan 15 million books from the libraries”.

For those of us who have had the pleasure of reading works such as “Doublefold” by Nicholson Baker, we wait for the part of the story where someone decries digitization. Yet it was not Baker who voiced his concern in a litigious manner. It was understandably, the book publishers who own the rights to the materials being digitized. All of this leaves the project with only public domain materials to scan.

Meanwhile one has to wonder about the efforts of publishers to digitize their materials independently. If it was a battle for the preservation of profit or a worry over the loss of the printed word none can be sure. One thing is for certain though; there is a lot of paper involved either way. Verba speaks of scanning samples of works to give the reader an idea of a title’s contents. However, some such as Patricia Schroder, a congresswoman from Colorado who happens to be President and Chief Executive of the American Association of Book Publishers decries efforts outside those of the publisher’s themselves to digitize works that they do not hold the copyright for.

Anthony Grafton’s “Future Reading” quotes Kevin Kelly who wrote for Wired Magazine of a future in which “all the books in the world become a single liquid fabric of interconnected words and ideas (Grafton P.1).” Kelly further tells of a future in which texts could be merged and analyzed to distinguish between that which civilization knows and that which is left to be learned.

Readers of this blog and attendees of this class will clearly recognize the continuation of a theme within the words of Kelly. It is the same theme that lead to the development of the Memex and indeed the same theme that lead to the development of the Cutter and Dewey cataloging systems. Some men and women set out to write the great American novel, others set out to catalog each one of their attempts. Grafton’s article tells of the work of but a handful of the organizational luminaries throughout the ages who stared down vast swaths of knowledge and dared to classify it.

According to Grafton, the cradle of life, Mesopotamia is also the cradle of organization. For it was there in the third century B.C.E. that attempts were made to catalogue the famed Library at Alexandria. This would be followed some six centuries later with “The Cannon Tables” developed by Euseibus to gather and organize all of the early Christian writings.

Such efforts continued, into the 16^th century which found skilled librarians advising notable printing houses. As history moved forward, and the amount of information available increased, librarians were used to make sense of the increasingly complex ideas and works.

In more modern times, we have seen the rise of the micro-film and the rise of Google. Unlike micro-film machines, a large portion of the public owns computers. This allows them to scroll through information faster and with greater ease than they were previously able. According to one source quoted in the article “95 percent of searches begin at Google” (Grafton p.3).

Yet even as Google attempts to synthesize all the information from the world’s greatest libraries, it too has limitations. The article notes that works previous to 1923 are not subject to copyright restrictions with regards to digitization. However works written after that date are out of the public domain. It is limited also by the technology it uses for digitization. Some books are too fragile to be digitized safely. These efforts will be taken up by other concerned parties with adequate facilities for the job. Furthermore, the article notes that the archives of the patent office, a treasure trove of “brilliance and lunacy” is not included in Google’s efforts (Grafton p.4). Grafton’s article “Adventures in Wonderland” further documents the logic behind even attempted digitization by noting that there are a great number of organizations with a wealth of information, and a great number of places with few information sources.

Bernard Frischer’s “The Ultimate Internet Café” foretells a future in which the great research libraries embrace their destiny as repositories of knowledge through use of theatrical projection displays akin to a modern day interactive MovieTone Newsreel adapted to the needs of the academic and professional community.

The article tells of one such project in use in 2002 at UCLA. In his essay, the author argues for the standardized implementation of software for, and space in which such experiences might be possible in the library. This argument is based on a supposition that future libraries will be judged on the “quality of the experience” they offer (Frischer p.44). The author argues for a future need that encompasses multi-screen memex-esque experience. He flatly states that books should be digitized and placed into storage. The newfound space should be used for such systems as he proposes.

The article also makes the case that such an effort will assist not only users but publishers as well. It will in theory allow them to deliver up to date information in High bandwidth formats. Such materials not suited for display over computers, he advocates should be reserved for viewing in the theatre mentioned earlier by the author.

In focusing also on the architecture of the library, he suggests that libraries are about more than books and knowledge. Rather they are also about the experience of reading such books and finding such knowledge. He states that users of technology love places in which to show off such wares. He suggests that this is the reason why internet cafes are popular. This despite the many apartment dweller who might state the reason for their use of such space as having to do more with the upstairs neighbors fascination with 80’s hair metal. In the world of Frischer (p51) the library should be modeled after “the ultimate Internet Café”. One has to wonder what the lattes will cost in such a space given the tax base needed to build it.

In the writings for this week, many authors and scholars comment on the changing nature of libraries as it relates to issues of automation. These changes have affected not only the way in which we practice, but also the way in which the public perceives the practice of librarianship.

W. Boyd Rayward’s “A History of Computer Applications in Libraries: Prolegomena” suggests the reasons the difficulties encountered during the automation. He further underscores the importance of organizations such as the American Library Association. Efforts toward shared cataloging and services that provided ready-made card catalog entries also proved helpful, such as the OCLC. Later, innovations such as the MARC records laid the framework for full-scale digitization that would come later with the development, and widespread popularity of the World Wide Web.

Yet before the mechanization and digitization of records could occur, a period of standardization needed to happen. Both Dewey and the Library of Congress systems of classification were developed (LC was developed due to perceived deficiencies in the Dewey system according to Rayward). As with any great cultural change, the evolution of the cataloging process was arrived at through countless hours of dialogue between stakeholders.

This new use of technology had the effect of professionalizing what is seen by some as a clerical-level occupation. Not only did the work itself take on a more tones of information professionalism, Rayward notes that the education underpinning the training for the occupation underwent professionalization as well.

In his article “The Librarian and the Univac: Automation and Labor at the 1962 World’s Fair”, Greg Downey notes the way in which the devices we use to accomplish our tasks as librarians have an effect on the public perceptions of our status as professionals.

The 1962 World’s Fair, held that year Seattle, Washington under the theme “Century 21 exposition provided a space to showcase the modern library. At the height of cultural fascination with science fiction, fast food and innovations such as the Supermarket, the 1962 World’s Fair set out to be the Futurist’s conceptualization of every facet of society some half century forward.

Yet Downey reveals that it was not so much the work of Futurists as it was of the military industrial complex and corporate underwriters. If that would not have been enough to shatter the viewer’s faith in the authenticity of the events, perhaps you might have been dissuaded by the lack of actual librarians running the technology, the failure of the technology itself (which did not come with manuals or a repair contract) or perhaps the emphasis placed on the physical appearance of the librarians, who were required to provide headshots along with their application for this sought-after position as the overseer of a boondoggle.

A further discussion of automation takes place in the article written by F. Wilfrid Lancaster. Writing in the late 1970’s as public databases were just on the horizon and the card catalog was perhaps a decade away from the threat of composting.

At this point in library history, the author notes, the information capacity for shelves full of journals is rapidly dwindling. At the same time, the author notes the emergence of greater numbers of journals with the rapid specialization of many occupations. The result of this is the “scatter” of information amongst many journals (Lancaster p. 348). While key journals remain at the forefront of the professions, other minor journals may on occasion have groundbreaking work published in their pages. Not only does this present an issue of space, but also for each publication, there is a cost of acquisition attached. Multiplied many times over for each profession and multiplied by the number of new professions arising out of new technology and the situation quickly becomes also an issue of cost.

Immediately after questioning the future of the library in the face of such digitization, the author answers more interesting questions – namely that of the early technology that underpinned the development of the online library, as we know it today.

Speaking of such innovations as TeleNet the author notes the high cost of such connections during this time. He also notes the efforts of the academic institutions to bring this cost down.

At this point in history, access to databases cost anywhere from $3 to $50 per hour of operation - and that was merely in a demonstration (Lancaster P.351). Just think, 30 years later – he could have witnessed technology crashing for a greatly diminished amount of money.

In his article, Clifford Lynch traces the transformative effects of automation on the practice of librarianship. He notes the importance of shared copy cataloging systems which according to his article paved the way for further “collaboration” between libraries to share resources and cut costs (lynch p. 62). Like many others before him, he notes that many innovations were first tested in campus libraries and across campus high-speed internet networks. In their infancy he notes, the catalog could be browsed but no part of the book in its actual form could be seen online, given the lack of technology at that time for direct digitization of large amounts of text.

As these systems became more widely used, they had the effect according to Lynch, of making materials more “accessible” (Lynch p.63). Amongst the major databases to gain prominence in the research field were Medline. As the technology improved, other hindrances to information transparency appeared. Amongst these are the rights of authors and the now ubiquitous issue of copyright.

In “Automating the Library: The Council on Library Resources”, Deanna Marcum traces the 45 plus year history of the organization. She traces the influences of Louis Booker Wright at the CLIR who collaborated with Fred C. Cole of the Ford Foundation to develop the ideas and funding mechanisms (respectively) that would enable projects such as the MARC record to be developed and tested.

A group so committed to innovation, however was not without its fair share of infighting. Within the group, members of the leadership such as Wright disdained public librarians so much that he withheld positions of authority from them, He saw himself as a “scholar-librarian” as opposed to a professional librarian (Marcum, P. 3). His distinction being that professional librarians were devoted less to innovation and more to professionalization.

In the 1960’s it concluded, “a number of services could be improved through the application of computers” Marcum p. 5). With this mindset, the CLIR set about working toward its goal of a technology linked “national library system” (Marcum p. 6). The work on increasing library cooperation would continue into the 1970’s, with work on NELNET and the Bibliographic Service Development Program.

Later the CLIR would work with the Digital Libraries Foundation to increase the sharing of digital resources. These collaborations may not have resulted in the national library system envisioned some 45 years ago, but via technology, they have created a modicum of access to resources across the nation via the internet and its ancillary networks.

(Note to Greg - this post was written earlier, but failed to post to the blog)

The writings for this week are in many ways foreshadows of current technology. In other ways they are the dream ideas of brilliant Futurists. Aspects of both types of thought can be seen in the Memex conceived by Vannevar Bush (no relation to George W. Bush).At its core his ideas were based on the premise that we did not lack the ideas or thoughts to propel society forward. Rather we lacked a way of accessing ideas and creating connections between diverse and divergent concepts. His Memex sought to “store” and “extend” concepts in order that they should be “useful to society” (Bush p.2). He places his technology and ideas within the framework of other advances, such as photography, film and recording devices and in many ways sells his ideas as a product that will revolutionize the way we think about information and ideas. His Memex is said by some to be an early form of the internet, sans worldwide connections, for its ability to place ideas in web-like frameworks of connectivity.

In the world of Bush and his allies, the world-wide web is not computer based but micro-film based. Surely he never considered the way that the technology degrades as Nicholson Baker would decry many decades later in DoubleFold . Such is the drumbeat of progress, considering more the desire to get someplace new than the ramifications of the journey. One has to wonder what the value of historical archives are if they are all degrading. Yet there is no consideration for the preservation of documents in their original form within the Memex.

The work of Bush sidles up nicely to Leigh’s The Public Library Inquiry inasmuch as one considers the way in which information can be shared for the purposes of research, and Leigh considers the way in which resources can be shared amongst libraries to build an efficient network of libraries that would share materials for the enjoyment of users and the cost-savings of taxpayers. It is rare in our society when bastions of culture and the arts as libraries are, are put under the microscope of scientific analysis in dry calculations that seeks to quantify all the meanings derived from the place and from the services derived within. How do you measure something that is at once the “People’s University” and at the same time (but perhaps in a separate room), a place for the education of children (p.225)?

Written in the 1950’s during the rise of the interstate fast-car society, the chapter entitled “The Direction of Development” calls for centralization to take advantage of economies of scale, and provide an equalization of resources between smaller and larger libraries. The document further tells of the expansion of the libraries role as educator of adults and children. At the time of writing, the school library as we know it today had not yet come into being. Therefore it was impressed upon both the schools and the public library to make materials and staff resources available to younger students. To this end, the document calls increased training of librarians for this role, in both school libraries and in the public library sector.

While the document touches on many topics, the ultimate theme is the need for streamlining, Definition of duties and the efficient provision of resources to carry out those duties.

Pennavaria’s 2002 work Representation of Books and Libraries in Depictions of the Future captures a more modern perspective on our never diminishing fascination with The Library of the Future. She divides tales of the future into the categories of “utopian” or “dystopian” (p.230). That is to say happy tales and sad tales. Pennavaria speaks of Orwell’s 1984, and provides this writer a means of connection to another of this week’s writings, Bush’s “As We May Think” *(1945), which she notes is both hopeful in its offer of salvation through technology, but also cautionary in his plead that technology can be peaceful, even as he is aware of the constant drumbeats for war.

One has to wonder if the futuristic idea of “Libraries as community center” came from librarians as a gift to the writer, or if the futurists gifted us with this concept (p.237). Just as little thought was given to the mechanisms that would increase the speed of knowledge acquisition according to Pennavaria, so too was little consideration given to the types of people that would use the library. Could they know that libraries would collect GLBT works, that they would house original copies of infamous works such as Mein Kampf? Just as they had no idea about the mechanics of technology, so too it would seem that they had little idea about the human mechanics of support for libraries – staff members and interest groups that form the backbone coalition for the support of any library.

Sapp’s Early Visions of Future Librarianship begins with Ranganathan’s 5^th law of Library Science that “the Library is a growing organism’ (p.xi). He begins with Dewey’s hope for the future of the library and uses that as a catapult to discuss the dreams of other library greats. During the early years, were obsessed with notions of professionalization, such that it had to be overtly stated that librarianship existed as Bibliothecal Science (P.xiv).

As was noted in the readings for last week, wars played an important role in defining the mission of the library. They also played a role in increasing the visibility of librarians, even as it came late to the idea of the library as a proponent of democracy. The writer notes the “technical” aspects of early training and efforts to develop curriculum that reflected the desired higher status. Specialization was one method used to both enhance the status of librarians and enhance the level of service available for the growing needs for academic and corporate librarians. The overall training was touted alongside aspirations for the increase in cultural impact and relevance of librarians in wider society

Other descriptions sought to clarify divisions of labor, monetary support for librarianship through endowments and the role of librarians as intelligent gatekeepers of the new information economy. Throughout the work, one has to wonder where the line between the formation of new mission statements and pure aspirational wishes lay. At some point like the rantings of those who insist on the existence of extra-terrestrial races, one has to wonder if the fantastical writings of Futurists enhanced or in fact diminished the credibility of librarians in the mind of the public.

In the absence of discourse, we are merely a people gathered together, reading alone.

This week's readings begin with Nyquist's "Poverty, Prejudice and the public library". It examines the ways in which the library has been complicit in maintaining the status quo in society and in the collections. Written in the 1960's it asks that we make stakeholders of the poor and the disenfranchised. Not only taking them into consideration in our discussions but actually holding discussions with them.
It is a challenge - If we actually believe that libraries are a social good for communities then we should invest in all communities, geographic,ethnic, racial and experiential. The authro rightly calls us on our "hypocrisy" for believing only in the value of our communities, and not striving to make a wider impact.

While the article's proposal that the flight of white's means a loss of leadership is both racist and outdated, the article does make good points with regard to the economic impact of suburbanization on the urban core of the American city. Yet at the same time it neglects the lack of governmental and other investment in that same urban core. It neglects to speak of the Interstate system which cut mighty swaths of roadway through the middle of vital communities. I should hope that we have moved beyond the point of viewing the poor and disenfranchied as mere " social dynamite" to take a term from Harvard President, James B. Conant (p.81).

It is furthermore naive to assume that the same parents who want the best for their kids are also those who are not bringing their kids to the library. To say that the library audience is comprised of only the middle and upper class ignores the head-start classes that flood story-times. It ignores the illiterate man "reading" the magazine. To a certain extent this article is a measure of progress, but it is also a picture that deletes the obvious.

The short essay " Libraries to the people" was interesting for its rage and interesting for its almost mimeographed presentation style. It puts to words the lack of attention that emerging audiences can feel when their newly ackowleged needs are not met by a library stuck in its traditions. While it is a trip down memory lane, to a time when Rolling Stone and The Village Voice were truly independent and interesting, it is also a present day call to be away of the print media available that are commonly ignored by the mainstream of society. It is these ideas, the new and the cutting edge, that the library should be giving voice to in our collections.

It is also a call to be aware of things as simple as subject headings. As much as it is rude to speak disparaging of someone without cause we should not catergorize people and subjects into demeaning and limiting subject headings. This practice limits the discourse around the marginalized topics and further hinders discussion about them in a serious manner. I should hope that we are more open to the idea of many perspectives that we are not still insisting that the majority religion can determine what is God and what is not.

Following the theme of the previous essay, Samek's "Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsability in American Librarianship" challenges what it means to be a librarian. We are called by this essay to be activists for the right of expression in all forms. We are to expect support from A.L.A. in this work and when it is not presented, we should demand it. The "Library Bill of Rights" is mere words until we back it up with our deeds and our refusal to back down from our principles.

Changing the pace, Miller's " Shopping for Community..." analyzes the ways in which the idea of the public lbirary has been merged with that of a commercial bookshop (think Borders or Barnes and Noble). With the establishment of such mega-bookstores our notion of how books and community function have changed. We no longer rely exclusivly on the library for our literary community. Instead we have the opprotunity to go to large spacious stores that sell books, true - but also offer coffee, and exclusive Author meet-and Greet sessions.

The author places this in the context of not only the library world ,but also the bookstore world. In doing so she puts the library in the same place as the independent bookstore that wants to respond to the new market presence but also maintain a sense of individuality. She finds many independent ( and I can back this up with my own research) bookstores making an appeal to the moral highground of supporting local business. She suggests that some of the support for the independent bookseller is based on a distaste for the "commericalization of the printed word".

Research suggests that modern life has changed as well. We view communities as "lifestyle centers" according to Miller, and this week's readings from Nyqist suggest that a certain segment of the population has abandoned the urban core - long the home of the independent bookseller. While the trend may be reversing with recent banking troubles, one need only look to downtown Madison to notice the lack of independent peddlers of new printed works.

Furthermore, Miller finds herself frustrated with the marketing efforts that libraries must undergo to make their services known, and popular. She decries value-added services such as coffee-bars, feeling that they displace the printed word. Yet, anyone who has enjoyed a good book in a quiet place will tell you, that it goes much better with coffee - at least in my opinion.

In thinking about the cultural economy of a city. One must consider that the culture is not merely what we want it to be - it is its own animal. in some places the culture is very mall oriented. We can make attempts to change that but it might not go so well. In other places where there is more of an established downtown, an effort to preserve that space is valued. But what are we if not impostors if we go so far as to build imagined downtowns just to support our urbane cultural whims.

Buschmann's On Customer Driven Librarianship further decries the bookstoreishness of some new libraries. The author alleges that it focused the patron and the taxpayer ultimatly on the profit margin derived from such services, when the value of literacy is seldom measurable explicitly in tax revinue or in the number of books circulated. He argues that we must not only offer what is popular, we must also offer what is unpopular. Customer counts are for retail he argues, and we should not be modeling ourselves so much on that big-box format that we do only that which is screamed for the loudest. The meek amongst us might want something different, and if they whisper in our proverbial ears for a small but unpopular request, we should value that as well. We are not measured by our customer counts because the value of discovery cannot be understood in financial terms or in how many times the gate clicks. Our best brand identity is that of the availablity of knowlege. Knowlege he argues is not for consumption but for discourse. It is through this discourse that we grow as a society. It is in in it's absence that we are merely a people gathered together, reading alone.