Doug Johnson

The Sound of the Other Shoe Dropping
Head foir the Edge, Technology Connection, March 1995

Where can I find answers to these reference questions while not leaving my desk?

• What is the atomic weight of boron or the size of the Andromeda galaxy?
• Are there any bookstores in Albuquerque, NM, that carry a new book by Krol on computing?
• Last year Clinton proposed a new technology policy. Where can I find the text of this policy?
• What nights will the Denver Nuggets be playing home basketball games this season?
• What was the total amount of sales in liquor stores in the U.S. in September of this year? Was it more than last year?
• What’s been written on the development of hiking trails for the handicapped?
• I’ve heard Clairol offers college scholarships. How do I qualify?
• Where can I get the monthly Consumer Price Index for the last decade - as a computer file which can be imported into a spreadsheet?

Well, on the Internet, of course. Should this information source be of interest to librarians? It is more than interesting - it’s critical to the survival of our profession!

Your answer to one question will tell if you’ll be one of the survivors in the great print information to digital information shift: Why are you in the profession?

At the turn of the century, this country had lots of blacksmiths. Some stayed employed and some didn’t. Why? If you asked the soon-to-be-unemployed blacksmiths why they were in the business, they’d have said, “Because I like horses.” If you asked the other blacksmiths, those who stayed viable in their changing environment, the the same question, they probably said, “Because I like helping people get from place to place.”

When the first “horseless carriage” came along, those with the “transportation” mission fixed wheels, banged out fenders, and even tinkered under the hood. They remained transportation specialists.

Ask yourself the same question: Why am I in the business? “Because I like books” is the wrong answer. I hope you said, “ Because I like helping people find, use and communicate the things they need to know.”

Now as computers fill our schools, you’re probably helping kids do Boolean searches, bang out reports with desktop publishers, and even travel the Information Highway. You’ve remained an information specialist.

Unfortunately, we as a profession have a history of dropping the ball when it comes to making new technologies our own. In how many schools is “AV” still separate from “library?” In how many schools is the librarian not seen as a computer expert, even though we all know that a tremendous amount of information is available to patrons in electronic format? In how many schools are keyboarding, word processing, database and spreadsheet use, and computer-assisted drawing no part of the media skills curriculum, even though two-thirds of our mission is teach students to process and communicate information? How many of us are seen as teacher prep time babysitters, rather than critical components of the total educational process, and are thus expendable in tight economic times?

Our profession currently has a tremendous opportunity to stay (or become) relevant information experts. There are a pilot projects being conducted throughout the United States to bring Internet access to K-12 teachers.

If you can’t participate in one of these projects or your state doesn’t have one, get on the Internet through a commercial on-line service. You will need access to a computer and modem, about $15 per month, and the ability to pay some long distance charges if you aren’t living in a larger community. Oh, and the willingness and determination to learning something challenging.

I recently read an Internet signature which taunted: Libraries are for people who can’t afford modems. Ouch. But if a critical mass of librarians don’t become the on-line information specialists for teachers, students and administrators, the next sound we hear won’t be that of a ball being dropped, but the sound of the other shoe.