Scary
I went to the library today to do my weekly research for the art-education groups I lead.
However, today the library server was down. In addition,because ALL the libraries in the Minute Man network are on the same server, it meant that ALL the libraries that are near me, roughly 42 libraries in well over 20 towns, had no computer service. Moreover, they had no idea when it would be fixed.
I asked calmly if thy had a card catalogue and the woman behind the desk began to laugh. "Card catalogue?? What's that?" So next I asked how she intended me to find the books and resources I needed for the class I had to teach tomorrow. She said that the reference librarian could help me a little but otherwise she wished me good luck.
It turned out that the reference librarian could point out the section of numbers where the art books were located. That was all she could do but it was enough for me to get by. Once I got to the right section I just wandered around till I found what I needed and it wasn't so bad.
Today I realized that we have become totally dependent on the computers for our information and when the computers go down we are helpless. It seems there should be a back-up plan of some sort.
Most importantly why the heck did I spend so much time in K-5th grade learning about the card catalogue process and its importance in finding library books just to be laughed at for mentioning it twenty years later?
It hit me today the extent to which things have changed.
However, today the library server was down. In addition,because ALL the libraries in the Minute Man network are on the same server, it meant that ALL the libraries that are near me, roughly 42 libraries in well over 20 towns, had no computer service. Moreover, they had no idea when it would be fixed.
I asked calmly if thy had a card catalogue and the woman behind the desk began to laugh. "Card catalogue?? What's that?" So next I asked how she intended me to find the books and resources I needed for the class I had to teach tomorrow. She said that the reference librarian could help me a little but otherwise she wished me good luck.
It turned out that the reference librarian could point out the section of numbers where the art books were located. That was all she could do but it was enough for me to get by. Once I got to the right section I just wandered around till I found what I needed and it wasn't so bad.
Today I realized that we have become totally dependent on the computers for our information and when the computers go down we are helpless. It seems there should be a back-up plan of some sort.
Most importantly why the heck did I spend so much time in K-5th grade learning about the card catalogue process and its importance in finding library books just to be laughed at for mentioning it twenty years later?
It hit me today the extent to which things have changed.
posted by El @ Thursday, February 08, 2007
2 Comments:
At 3:38 AM, February 09, 2007,
O King said…
What ever happened to the "Dewey Deciaml" system? Didn't they take a week to teach us that???
At 5:40 AM, February 10, 2007,
Barbara Norris said…
Boy, I'm with you on this one. When the compters go down the whole world stands in shock waiting for someone to tell it what to do!!!
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