According to the American Library Association Bill of Rights, "Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves." The "other library resources" of this statement has definitely evolved through time.
I remember, as a kid, my local library seemed to have everything (bear in mind this was the early- to mid-1980's). I would go and not just check out books, but mini-filmstrip projectors and filmstrips, a record or two, a VHS tape, or a children's book-and-cassette combination.
Nowadays, everything seems to be going in the digital age, and most libraries (save for a few small-town ones I've visited over the years) have adjusted to new demands quite well. Where there were once microfiche and small filmstrip projectors (which people could 'listen' to filmstrips to on headphones), there are now large amounts of computers so people can either do research or play a game to relax. In addition to VHS tapes, there are DVD's, and CD's have replaced other forms of recorded music, and some libraries even loan out computer games (or hold video game nights to attract a younger crowd). Many libraries also have wireless internet connections as well.
This has altered the mission statements of many libraries, but not drastically. Rather, the mission remains the same, but envelops the new forms of technology that have evolved over time.
For example, this one from the West Hurley Public Library: "The mission of the West Hurley Public Library is to collect, preserve, and make available library materials in print and in electronic formats to serve the recreational, informational, educational, and leisure needs of the chartered community. The West Hurley Public Library is committed to supporting a lifelong enjoyment of reading and learning," or this one from the Evanston Public Library in Illinois, "The mission of the Evanston Public Library is to promote the development of independent, self-confident, and literate citizens through the provision of open access to cultural, intellectual, and informational resources.-Evanston Public Library, 703 Orrington Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201, http://www.epl.org/library/library.html".
So has the advent of technology changed the original mission of libraries? Somewhat, but for the most part, it's usually all for the better, since there are now faster, more efficient ways to gain the information that patrons desire, which is, more times than not, always a good thing, and most public libraries have done a good job in keeping up with the times while maintaining the retention of their original mission.
RESOURCES CITED:
http://midhudson.org/department/member_information/missions.htm
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.cfm
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Public, academic, and special libraries will continue to provide information and exclusive books that you cannot find anywhere else.
I believe that even though most people today rely on the Internet, there will always be somebody who will still prefer to go to the library and interact with real people and real books and ask real questions, not just a keyword.
As Andrew K. Pace (Head of Information Technology at North Carolina State University Libraries) pointed in the chapter Digital Service-Businesslike Revaluation: “The digital library…encompasses not only collections in digital form, but digital services that continue to define the library as a place. The digital-traditional relationship is symbiotic, not parasitic; digital tools, services, and expertise exist to enhance the services and collections of libraries, not necessarily to replace them”
Work cited:
Andrew K. Pace. The ultimate digital library: Where the new information players meet. American Library Association. Chicago, 2003
I know I certainly enjoy going to the library...not only do I interact with people and real materials, but it gets me out of the house! :)
Perhaps it is because of my chosen profession, or perhaps because I love nothing more than tearing through the pages of an old book, but as a researcher, I can not imagine doing research without going into a library and looking through documents and books to consult primary sources. I understand that digitization is supposed to make information more accessible but part of researching is the experience of turning through the pages of a book published in the early 1900's.
I guess I am just not ready to give up on libraries and I don't think society should be either, I think libraries are here to stay.
I agree with Kimberly. I was a history major as an undergrad, so I did quite a bit of research over the years. By far, my most thrilling research experiences were working with primary sources. Be it a pamphlet from the late 18th Century or old issues of "The South End", nothing compares to reading through the pages of an old, yellowed text...the kind that crumble to dust if you're not careful. That kind of talk is a bit overly romantic in our digitized age, but reading what are essentially photographs of something off a screen is not at all the same experience.
It's good that libraries are altering their mission statements to keep up with the times, but perhaps we're setting ourselves up for more headaches in the future. By this I mean it is possible to embed in a mission statement too many technology buzz words, and thus force your library to revisit the statement again every few years to update. We might be better off creating very generalized statements about making technology available to patrons than focusing on specific technologies. For instance, the first mission statement you quote makes mention of "electronic formats" which is currently adequate. However, new technologies (http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2003/012903/Data_
stored_in_live_cells_012903.html) might one day render this useless. It might be better to say: “and make available library regardless of format”.
Patch, K. (2003). Data stored in live cells. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2003/012903/Data_
stored_in_live_cells_012903.htm
kimberly and jason, i echo your sentiments. as a history major also i find there is something so thrilling about opening those primary sources, or even really books in general. for those that LOVE reading and books, that feeling you get from that tangible, real item that you can hold is irreplacable by ebooks or digitized forms of material. you said it very nicely kimberly that you're not ready to give up on libraries yet and frankly neither am i! though i am glad to see that the old card catalog system has become extinct i am not ready to see libraries, in general, go the same way the old card catalog did!
I had an appointment the other day and over the course of some "get to know you" type of conversation, my LIS coursework came up. The doctor with whom I was speaking said, "My, thats romantic- there won't be any libraries in a few more years." I was a bit taken aback by this attitude. I reminded the good doctor that professional students need professional environments in which to study and that google is not, by and large, a wellsfont of academic quality material. Needsless to say, I excused myself from that unholy place as soon as possible.
The LIS field would greatly benefit if Andrew Pace's articluation that the "digital traditional reltationship is symbiotic not parasitic" could be disseminated more widely. Let's all remember to do this!
Work cited:
Andrew K. Pace. The ultimate digital library: Where the new information players meet. American Library Association. Chicago, 2003
As everyone else has stated here, I believe that the need to go to the library to do research will not subside. I personally would rather go to a library and research for books rather than spend a lot of time on the Internet searching for information. It is nice that libraries are altering their mission to encompass the new technology, i.e. electronic books and journals, but I do not believe that it takes away from the traditional mission of the libraries, it only enhances it.
Last week, on April 3 and 4, 2008, The Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the University of Illinois at Urbana Campaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science organized the second annual eChicago Symposium: Libraries, Community Technology Centers, and Chicago: Building and Serving Our Communities.
The symposium brought “together those who work in libraries and community technology centers with researchers, students, and public stakeholders interested in the possibilities of technology as a community development tool.”
Source cited:
https://webtools.uiuc.edu/formBuilder/Secure?id=9451793
http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~katewill/echicago-program.pdf
This discussion reminded me of a point made in one of the articles we read in relation to Web/Library 2.0. One of the points made was how Library 2.0 "requires a fundamental change in a library's mission". It talks about how we need to make sure our library's mission allows changes to occur, and allows the library to stay relevant to younger users.
I thought this was an interesting point, but I don't think that it means a library needs to abandon traditional values and purposes. I think the point is that we need to make sure that we are continually using technology to enhance these values and purposes.
Blyberg, J. (2006). Retrieved February 20, 2008, from www. blyberg.net: http://www.blyberg.net/2006/01/09/11-reasons-why-library-20-exists-and-matters/
Nope, the advent of technology hasn't changed the mission of libraries. As with other commenters, this post also reminds me of one the 2.0 discussions. Mainly what changes is how information is delivered.
Meant to add something to my last post: It's good that libraries from time to time put themselves through these crises of self-examination. It means that we're not being complacent. We're constantly checking that we're doing our jobs and meeting patrons' needs. I guess, though, that--yes--we do need to try to know exactly what our jobs, our missions, are.
I remembered that article too, Kelly. I agree with the part that library missions need to be sort of fluid to allow for change, but the general mission about providing information does not change after adding in web 2.0 or any other new forms of information. Like Yashmyn said, it's just the way information is accessed or provided that changes.
There is such a drastic difference between doing a keyword google search and actually walking through the stacks and having the opportunity to run you fingers over the page compared with the simple keyword searches that come up from the internet alone. The interaction with a real person also helps personally in narrowing down the field of what I'm searching for and coming up with more resources to meet the needs of a project. In Walt Crawford's 2003 column about technology shifts he details the differences from the 70's to now ,"Even then, the crisis-mongers and hypesters were active. If libraries didn’t transform themselves using computer-based tools and replacements for the book—microfilm being the replacement of choice—they would disappear.
But somehow, despite using boring old books and failing to make every librarian a programmer (another necessary transformation touted a few years later), libraries have survived. The tools have improved, and the core missions remain." The core mission being, the libraian's need to provide regardless of the methods the best and most accurate information possible.
Looking Back on Library Technology:
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/thecrawfordfiles/2003columns/junejuly2003.cfm
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