Sunday, July 16, 2006

these phones are everyware

Been thinking on cell phones and libraries for a while now, and I finally put together an article on the topic for Library Journal -- "Phones are Everyware" is in the 15 July issue.

Leave some feedback about it if you like. I've been pleased to see lots of librarians moving away from supporting the ban (Michael Stephens has a great post about it at Tame The Web). So many of us are still trying to crack down, trying to keep the new technology out -- maybe librarians of the old guard smell the doom of 20th Century models of librarianship. It doesn't have to hurt, though. And it's true that too many lessons of the 'old guard' are lost on 'young guard' librarians.

Libraries are only doomed if they fail to subvert the ubicomp and fail to put it in service for their own future. This thing is coming hard and fast.















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Listening: Rykarda Parasol

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cell phones are not annoying in and of themselves, it is the abuse of cell phones that should be outlawed.

Unfortunately most people are too inconsiderate simply by nature to understand that a loud annoying ringtone or cell yell irritates everyone in their vicinity. They ruin it for everyone.

Until basic manners catch up with technology an outright cell phone ban is the only solution.

Anonymous said...

that's a buncha bull.

either you embrace the gizmos or yr patrons find elsewhere to be, man.

the gizmos are here to stay. yr library may not be.

and if it's human rudeness yr trying to change, hey, you'll be trying for a real, real long time.

good luck.

WE