Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A Technology to Improve Libraries for Libraries

A technology that will most improve libraries for the librarians is the ILS. Though these are not perfect, and do not always meet patron expectations, they were created specifically with librarians in mind, and most librarians can navigate through the system rather well. With new technology and ever-more education about the possibilities of this technology, these systems will only become better: easier to use, and more sophisticated with heightened possibilities of function. Hopefully, the librarian will not become obsolete--I do think that unlikely. One newer implementation that is amazing to me is the hosting capabilities that ILS have. These include servers, data storage, network control so that really knowledgeable IT staff members are not absolutely needed--though I am always still thankful when my library's IT guy is around. Also possible are data conversion, electronic resource management and scanning of archival quality pieces through ILS.

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