Our Trip to the San Francisco Public Library
I arrived at the San Francisco Public Library a bit early for our class with the intention of doing a bit of quiet reading beforehand -- maybe grab a cup of hot chocolate at the cafe downstairs. I ran into Lizzy B (that would be my ultra cool version of the name Elizabeth Bartlett) and we took off to find a niche that wasn't so heavily occupied. We ended up in the teen reading section:
We won't tell if you don't?Eventually we made our way back to the lower level of the library, where Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Senior Librarian for Digital Futures at the San Jose Public Library, gave a lecture about the future of libraries -- "Library 2.0." Lo and behold, we ran into the other librarian of the future, Ivan Chew. I guess these guys run in packs!
This is Sarah, the "Librarian in Black". Isn't she lovely? I thought her dress was gorgeous. Her lecture wasn't bad either!One of the things Sarah discussed was issues with internet filtering, and her belief that there should be "all information for all." She also mentioned how libraries are now rethinking things like library cards, signage, checkout, and catalog access. Sarah said that by moving into the realm of "Library 2.0" -- the use of tagging, social labeling, decentralized data creation, and social organization of data -- we are experiencing the "democratization of information and expertise." This librarian in black urges us to embrace this change.
Sarah can be reached at librarianinblack@gmail.com or on her AIM screen name, LibrarianinBlack.
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