Okay, so it didn't look like this EVERY day. We had thunder on Monday, an earthquake on Tuesday, and plenty of clouds and fog in between. Besides, we were inside much of the time. But it's hard to beat Monterey as a lovely place to hold a conference. On days like this, it's tempting to drive down the coast to Carmel or Big Sur. That's the challenge of attending Internet Librarian!
I've heard a handful of truly inspirational presentations in my lifetime. You know, the ones that make you you think differently about a subject than you did before. When that subject is the future of reference, and so, the future of the library profession, we should all pay attention.
Librarians need a vision of the future. Joe Jane's keynote presentation, "Reference 2.0: Ain't What It used to Be...And it Never Will Again," should be required listening for any librarian looking past the immediate future, past the wave of baby boomer retirements, and towards the future of reference in a time when there's a great deal of information already at the fingertips of anyone with a computer and an internet connection.
As Joe points out, in our increasingly digital world, people are helping each other. For now, print is the librarian's secret weapon. There's an incredible richness and depth in our print collections, but let's face let's as time goes by, print will become less important as the percentage of digital information grows.
We need to separate ourselves from the physical lbirary. "Be somewhere and everywhere." Physical stuff needs a place. Digital stuff needs to be everywhere.
An immediate and very practical hint from Joe relates to tracking statistics regarding virtual visits. If the physical realm is becoming less important, and the virtual library more important, then our future depends upon tracking and verifying the usage of our digital resources.
Joe gave an insightful and entertaining speech. Luckily, you can recreate the moment. This speech will be available as part of the Internet Librarian CD, available within the next 4-6 weeks. It's just another example of the power of digital information!
