Phones...not just for making calls anymore

So, here is my first "official" blog entry for class. The assignment: blog about anything related to technology. Where to start? Just for fun I asked my kids what their favorite technology is...I got blank stares from one...a raft of questions from another, "what do you mean? Can I say a teleportation device? Do you mean computers??" and from my youngest (the smart-aleck) "I would have to say it's a toss-up between the wheel and fire." All three are "digital natives" having grown up surrounded by computers and have never known the pain of DOS commands or the world before the Internet. (Yes, it really did exist).

In the past two years of library school, I have been exposed to more technology than I ever thought possible...I have several blogs...I built a website...I can use words like "user experience" as well as bandwidth and processing speed with ease. I have over 100 friends on Facebook and have even built a Facebook page for my library branch to allow us to communicate with patrons that way.

And I have an Android phone. While I do use it to make calls, I also use it to go mobile with everything I can do on my computer. What freedom! What power! What efficiency. Questions can be answered instantly from anywhere, issues are easier to resolve and it has never been easier to communicate. Watching the news and wonder where some international location is? I can pull out the phone and check the Internet for the answers. Library accounts, the catalog and databases are all available 24/7 to anyone with a phone that can access the internet - reference services, too. According to the Pew Internet Project studies - more and more people are "going mobile" and they are doing it at younger and younger ages. Increasingly teens are using Internet search engines for information...but they don't have the experience and knowledge to effectively evaluate, organize and use the information that they receive. Libraries need to combine the convenience of the Internet with training in information literacy. Libraries have always provided meaningful access to library materials - we need to embrace mobile technologies and social networking to continue to reach members of our communities and provide services where and when they need them. For an increasing number of teens - that is out in the ether...

There is always more to learn

More than twenty years after I donned cap and gown to receive a bachelor's degree at UCLA I returned to the 'scene of the crime' for a master's degree. In the intervening years many things have changed, yet at the UCLA campus many things were eerily the same. My first week of classes I was sitting on the edge of the inverted fountain waiting for the class - looking around not much has changed physically in this spot on campus. As I looked closer, though, almost every student passing by was either talking on a cell phone or wearing a pair of earbuds. These were not common student accessories when I was an undergraduate. We did, however, wear the same overloaded backpacks! On June 12, 2010 I was in cap and gown again, this time to receive my MLIS from UCLA. One might think that would be enough...however, here I am, one month later, taking an on-line class in library services and kids. I will be participating in ALSC's pilot course 21 Things for 21st Century KidLibs. Lifelong learning? Yep, I got that. #alsc21things