Afterthoughts

Day 1 of ASLP's ICT in Libraries:Trends, Security,Ethics has ended and a recap is able at the ASLP website here and here. Next week's column will be devoted to the topics covered in the seminar so I will not repeat it here.

We were a cozy bunch. Though we did not reach our target in terms of participants with the activity coming at the heels of CONSAL XIII, they were nevertheless receptive consisting of what I can label as the next-gen librarians.

The program couldn't have been arranged any better with US Embassy Cultural Affairs Officer Bruce Armstrong's keynote and my lecture on IT fluency setting the stage for the more complex topics of security and free and open source software in libraries. All throughout the different presentations, it was oft repeated that librarians are not expected to become IT experts but it would be helpful in the performance of our duties to understand even the basic concepts of IT not only to survive in the information age but also to be able to use IT effectively in our daily lives.

As a resource person, I find it difficult to strike a balance in the content when addressing a mixed audience such as the one we had today. On one hand there were those who were receptive to IT and on the other hand there were those who got lost towards the end of my lecture.

There is truly much work to be done in terms of education and training librarians in information technology. But with some librarians shunning activities with the slightest hint of technology in them, how do we, who organize continuing education activities for them, entice them to attend? How do we break the barrier or to be blunt about it address their technophobia? These are the million peso questions.

The profession needs to mature in terms of opening up to cutting edge professional development activities. It was disheartening to hear stories about the participants of the recently concluded and much promoted CONSAL XIII who raved not about the content of the presentations but the quality and cost of items they bought from the flea market.

I rest my hope on the growing number of next-gen librarians to start building a counter-culture. That is if they are given the chance now for tomorrow may be too late.