Technology and The Time Savers
November 26th 2006 23:00
Technology. It’s an amazing asset nowadays, in every area of our lives. In a mere 20 years we have adapted to using new technology on a daily basis - wondering how we ever got along without it. From computers, mobile phones, lap-tops and notebooks, to databases, digital downloading, search engines and scanners - our lives are on speed-dial, and getting faster!
One place that has felt the full impact of this new wave of gadgetry is the humble public library. When I was young and visiting a library to borrow a book, (that was the only reason you went to the library in those days) it never seemed to take long for the librarian to remove the card, write my name, stamp the book and file the card. Simple. Off I went. Yet, today it is possible to scan up to 20 books and issue a receipt in less than 1 minute! And for some, that is still not quick enough.
Don’t get me wrong, this is great news for libraries. We can serve and assist more people than ever before, making more information, more accessible, to more people. But I realised the other day that the library visit itself has altered. For example, it is now possible to locate a book, (via a library’s on-line catalogue) place a reservation, receive notice of said reserve, travel to the library, retrieve said book, check it out on a self checker and leave the library – all without speaking to anyone! No inter-action needed.
You could get depressed about this, or excited, which ever way you lean. There are plenty of people who consider this as advancing our society. But in my experience, libraries still have as customers, a large portion of the population that want and need contact. Like it or not, there is a whole generation of people out there who steadfastly (how’s that for an old word) refuse to be sucked into this plugged-in, memory-stick world. Like the elderly couple who will turn up their noses at the self-check unit and shuffle over to the counter for me to check out their books, sighing and shaking their heads about the days when we would stamp the books instead of issuing slips of paper. You nod and sympathise a little, but be careful, an innocent comment could lead you almost anywhere. Before you know it, you’re talking about their uncle Buck, (one of 15 children) from Armidale who sailed the seven seas and ended up growing coconuts in New Zealand!
As a modern library worker, you feel a certain obligation to introduce these new ‘fandangle machines’ to reluctant users – to no avail.
You can harass, beg, connive, threaten or berate them but they won’t budge. Believe me, I’ve tried, on more than one occasion - spending a monumental amount of time trying to teach one gentleman how to find a phone number in the internet white pages. I got nowhere of course, but he happily let me prattle on, and had a lovely half hour of my undivided attention, showing him something he had no intention of using, or ever learning!
Who's the clever one then?
You see, they really do know what they’re doing. They are saving for themselves a most precious commodity – time. Technology takes up too much time, and unlike us, they have no intention of spending it with machines.
One place that has felt the full impact of this new wave of gadgetry is the humble public library. When I was young and visiting a library to borrow a book, (that was the only reason you went to the library in those days) it never seemed to take long for the librarian to remove the card, write my name, stamp the book and file the card. Simple. Off I went. Yet, today it is possible to scan up to 20 books and issue a receipt in less than 1 minute! And for some, that is still not quick enough.
Don’t get me wrong, this is great news for libraries. We can serve and assist more people than ever before, making more information, more accessible, to more people. But I realised the other day that the library visit itself has altered. For example, it is now possible to locate a book, (via a library’s on-line catalogue) place a reservation, receive notice of said reserve, travel to the library, retrieve said book, check it out on a self checker and leave the library – all without speaking to anyone! No inter-action needed.
You could get depressed about this, or excited, which ever way you lean. There are plenty of people who consider this as advancing our society. But in my experience, libraries still have as customers, a large portion of the population that want and need contact. Like it or not, there is a whole generation of people out there who steadfastly (how’s that for an old word) refuse to be sucked into this plugged-in, memory-stick world. Like the elderly couple who will turn up their noses at the self-check unit and shuffle over to the counter for me to check out their books, sighing and shaking their heads about the days when we would stamp the books instead of issuing slips of paper. You nod and sympathise a little, but be careful, an innocent comment could lead you almost anywhere. Before you know it, you’re talking about their uncle Buck, (one of 15 children) from Armidale who sailed the seven seas and ended up growing coconuts in New Zealand!
As a modern library worker, you feel a certain obligation to introduce these new ‘fandangle machines’ to reluctant users – to no avail.
You can harass, beg, connive, threaten or berate them but they won’t budge. Believe me, I’ve tried, on more than one occasion - spending a monumental amount of time trying to teach one gentleman how to find a phone number in the internet white pages. I got nowhere of course, but he happily let me prattle on, and had a lovely half hour of my undivided attention, showing him something he had no intention of using, or ever learning!
Who's the clever one then?
You see, they really do know what they’re doing. They are saving for themselves a most precious commodity – time. Technology takes up too much time, and unlike us, they have no intention of spending it with machines.
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Comment by Anonymous
I have grown up with the changing technology and as a result each and every technological advancement has morphed seamlessly into my life.
However, being a budding writer, I can only imagine the skill required to use the old typewriters and the slow process of deep thinking before every key stroke.
To my mind it would be agony to not be able to delete a sentence in an instant, and rearrange a paragraph with a little click and drag. Is this just a sign of technological advancement? Or could it also indicate a world that is losing its patience and its ability to enjoy the slower and sometime more satisfying processes in life?
Kathryn