How do you maintain your public computers?
Librarians want to know.
Librarians want to know.
The first time I heard someone talk about the struggle to prepare students for careers and jobs that don’t currently exist, I could only imagine some sort of futuristic science fiction type of world. But now I realize that this has already happened in my life. The methods I use to contribute to the MaintainIT project were not possible in the early 90’s when I was in library school--webinars, blog postings, and downloadable books. But really, the skills I focused on in my formal education: writing, research, and librarianship are still the foundation of my work today. However, it made me start thinking about how technology affects libraries and librarians today.
Meredith Farkas, of the blog Information Wants to Be Free, recently reflected on how the Internet has changed her life. Her comments and those of her readers summarize what is now possible in everyday life, such as online learning (formal education and personal development), successful online dating, connecting with friends and collaborating with colleagues, new ways to contribute to the library profession, databases and online research, and work from home opportunities.
Personally, I am grateful for the flexibility the web has given me. I can: work from home while still being connected locally and nationally to the profession, stay up to date with long distance family and friends, collaborate virtually on books and presentations, communicate regarding consulting opportunities, help libraries with finding grant opportunities, and especially, I can share and be inspired. I found my amazing nanny online, who works part-time in my home so that I can work part-time in my home as well. My husband travels regularly and while I never keep track of what hotel he is in (I can barely remember which city he is in!), I can always reach him through cell phone or chat. My mother currently lives across the world and we share the weekly stories of our lives through email.
One technology influence that seems remarkable to me relates to hiring practices. Websites such as LinkedIn create opportunities to have a professional profile and an online network. Almost all job announcements are online and require computers for not only resume creation, but often the actual application. Even positions at large box stores and other retail establishments that don’t require computer knowledge skills still demand use of a computer to complete an online application. Public libraries across the country are helping their communities with these new workforce requirements through the use of public access computers.
Of course the MaintainIT Project is all about libraries and technology, and how we support our communities in ways that I couldn’t have imagined as a library school student!
How do you feel an impact from the influences of technology whether personally or professionally?
--Stephanie Gerding
Author, trainer, MaintainIT contributor
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Tell us about your daily routine maintaining public computers, or a moment when you were particularly proud. Don't forget that what might be "that's nothing" to you may be an "aha!" to someone else!
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Ditto
Hi Stephanie!
I, too, as you know, am living a life that is made possible by the wonders of technology. I work for MaintainIT/TechSoup(which is located in San Francisco), but am able to live in Kansas City and work from home. A whole slew of technologies help make my life work, but the thing that makes the biggest difference is probably IM. MSN, Google Talk, and Skype -- they really, really make me feel connected to the people with whom I work or collaborate in some way.
Brenda