Connectivity and Librarianship

Nowadays in libraries one of the most common words you here is connectivity (or connected, connections, etc.).  First and foremost, we are connected with information.  A recent study conducted by industry analysis firm IDC showed that in the European market alone, the sales of smart phones were expected to exceed 95 million for the year 2011.  That's an astonishing figure at first glance, but then to anyone that does not live in a bubble, perhaps not really.  One could only assume that the same could be said of the U.S. market,  Samsung sold 35 million worldwide themselves in the 4th quarter of 2011, a larger total than even that of Apple.  Note, too, that this does not include any tablets or other mobile devices that provide internet connectivity themselves. 

I normally don't quote movies, and do not consider myself a movie buff at all, however, there exist lines that you don't tend to forget--thanks in part, I presume, to the power of the media and the entertainment industry--but in this case I find that one line is appropriate.  In the 2002 version of the movie Spiderman, the character of Uncle Ben Parket played by Cliff Robertson says "With great power comes great responsibility."  And as my research tells me, this is not the first time this has been said, nor will it be the last.  It is a variant of a concept attributed to Voltaire among others.  We have information at our fingertips unlike any period before in history, and with that power comes a responsibility to be good stewards of the information.  We must show our users how to navigate through the trash heap of information on the internet and find the good.  This is not to dismiss books, not in the least.  Books have become part of the internet landscape with the huge library Google has amassed with their Books project.  Just as Google has collected their volumes from previously published works, there has also been a movement towards self-publishing.  Anyone who has the money to invest can do so quite inexpensively and reach a substantial audience. 

The other portion involves those of us involved in the sifting along side our users.  In the last several months, I have come to realize once again the power and pervasiveness of social media for professional purposes.  A lot of it began for me back in late March 2011 when I was able to attend the ACRL 2011 Conference in Philadelphia, PA.  At that conference, many  if not all of the sessions came with Twitter hashtags (#) which promoted the real-time sharing of information from the ordinary (We're in such and such meeting room, come join...) to feedback of the panel discussions and much more.  That type of learning led me to using Twitter more and more often.  Since that time I have engaged in many fruitful discussions, debates, and other conversations about issues in libraries, librarianship, and more.  And while 140 characters is somewhat limiting, the opportunity to begin a dialogues is thoroughly present.  I hope that others buy-in, and also encourage their users to as well.