Transforming Library

The view of literacy is going through a transformation along with what a media specialist does as a conduit of this information. Even a digital library will need someone for its maintenance and renewal. That person will also have to be knowledgeable of the technology and the context. To have one without the other is inefficient and can be costly. Think of the idea of the New York Public Library putting its collection on ipods. With a collection size of 15,000,000 books to circulate, there must be someone to manage it. Even digital materials become outdated, corrupted and just not circulated as expected. Yet, the Library of Congress seems to be lagging behind in this area (see link below).

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2000/july2000/reportlcneeds.cfm



What does this mean to the media specialist, when the foremost depository is out of line with the age? Should there be some concern that there will not be consistency is how to proceed with this medium? Does that leave the person leaning toward a career in this area out on a limb? Where should the focus be? What is or where is the transformation?

When considering seven habits of a lifelong learning, the digital world is an integral part of it. Habit 6 says we are to use technology to our advantage and if the Library of Congress is looking at this as a problem then they should consider habit 3 "view it as a challenge". But most of all they should consider habit 1 begin with the end in mind.