Information and the Future

This is the blog of the Information and the Future task force of the Rolfing Library at Trinity International University. The IF task force exists to explore the role of libraries in the future of Christian higher education.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Reading Resources

For introductory level resources, I would recommend Computers in Libraries, Chronicle of Higher Education, and, not surprisingly, http://www.library.njit.edu/. CIL offers some basic questions to consider when implementing new technology in libraries. CHE often includes articles on how technology is changing in larger libraries around the US. NJIT is a helpful example of how technology can impact the library catalog.

I think this concept of 'the long tail' is certainly worth pursuing considering our patron population. I would guess that we have a number of students and faculty who are interested in many relatively obscure materials. (Heh...I happen to be one of them myself.)

Ah, speaking of CIL, this month's issue talks about grant-writing for technology plans. Does anyone have experience with grant writing on staff? This may be something we'd want to consider after IF task force gets its' feet wet and has an opportunity to sort out what our goals and plans are. I enjoy researching and writing, so if no one else is inclined, I would probably be up for it if we decide to head in that direction one day in the future.

If anyone feels so prompted, it would be good to have members of our group praying about it. Since we have so little funds to operate on, it is easy to have lots of great brainstorms and then hit a wall and say "we'll never see this happen." This is a significant problem at our school and I'm sure many other small private institutions like ours. Perhaps it is time to dream big and actually plan big. The Lord is able to do immeasurably great work, but often times we confine ourselves to the resources we can see. Faith is not by sight. What might we be able to demonstrate to our campus about our faith in God by this project?

1 Comments:

  • At 9:39 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    The future of library funding is definitely germane to this discussion. One interesting aspect of the long tail discussion, for example,is who pays for the technology that allows library collections to be connected. Those of us who collect the sort of niche material that is so valuable in LT often may need funding assistance to be able to continue to acquire and share those collections. And although we may need to be creative, I agree that we should not quickly assume things are beyond our reach.

     

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