The Enduring Library: Technology, Tradition, and the Quest for Balance by Michael Gorman
Interesting book about strugles and issues libraries find themselves in the “age of information”. I believe some issues to be slightly outdated but most of the book is very much in the current topics of disscussion. This book is dedicated to library professionals and those who are in the library business. Mostly it is a guide and advice to dealing with problems libraries across the world are finding themselves in.
There were some points that I liked a lot about how author presented the changes that affect libraries today. Most important one of them is that once again we need to be reminded how the changes were always present. We think too highly about ourselves while experiencing said changes and panic while doing it. We should be more humble and panic less. The prophecies on ebooks and digital data taking over the libraries or even making them obsolete were greatly exaggerated.
There is one thing from this book that made me wonder about our paterns of behaviour. The issue of “Information overload”.
Information Overload, or “Information Fatigue Syndrome (IFS),” occurs when we over-expose ourselves to media, technology and information. Our brains have trouble keeping up with everything that we are feeding them, and the distorted-spin EMF energy fields we’re being exposed to don’t help the case (generated by cell phones and wi-fi). We end up having headaches and being exhausted and end up making mistakes and wrong decisions. The main point is, when exposed to too much information and technology, we tend to shut down.
Afternote:
Lately I get tired very easily by loud music and miss some piece and quiet away from the Internet, mobile phones, tehnology and even noise….
This might me part of the reason I have been away for last three weeks…
