During grad school, I worked for a major book retailer for about a year. During that time, I answered more "reference" questions than I do now, working as an actual Reference Librarian for a public library. 95% of the questions I answer at the library are related to the computer lab: How do I log on? How do I print? Why isn't MySpace working? Etc. Etc. Rarely do I ever get a question that involves the actual hunting down of information.
So, I've started to wonder about my profession.
Public librarianship hasn't really changed that much over the decades. Sure, we now have online catalogs instead of card catalogs, and we have the World Wide Web at our fingertips to help us answer questions. But, in general, it hasn't changed. Or,rather, WE haven't changed.
Most of us librarians went into the library field because we love books and we love to read. So, it seems only expected that we'd thus resist the technology that seems so set on replacing our libraries and our jobs. But its our resistance that is actually doing more harm than good. We're like cave men stuck in a futuristic society, trying desperately to keep the rock from becoming a wheel.
I don't know exactly where I'm going with this. This wasn't a planned blog. Wasn't a topic I was pondering over for hours. It just sorta popped up and now I'm wondering just how important my job and I are to the public. Where is the library going? It obviously needs to change, but how?
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