Friday, March 2, 2007

Blogpost #4 Library Blogs of Note

Ricklibrarian is written by”baby boomer” reference librarian, Rick Roche of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs, IL.

I learned of the blog through an article, Balancing the Online Life in the January 2007 issue of American Libraries.

The AL article notes that Roche began working in libraries in 1976 “long before the birth of the web”, and quotes him as saying, “Boomers do not have to be left behind and can catch up technically, but it helps to partner with the younger librarians”.

There’s much written about the resistance of “old school” librarians to the technologies of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, and yet here’s a great example of a professional who has taken it upon himself “to make a conscious commitment to keep up with the technology trends”. Roche attended the LITA forum for six years and while he observed that many of the presentations were beyond what he could understand, he learned from the effort:

“In demonstrating his points, the speaker completely lost me. You may not need to write code, but you need to read it and know what bits to take, how to combine it, and where to put it. He moved a little too fast for me in this presentation. I need to start again with this topic” (Roche’s comments about a Mashup Application presentation at the Internet Librarian 2006 conference).

Ricklibrarian , “a review of books, websites, movies, or anything worth reviewing with comments about libraries and librarianship”, is valuable for it’s diversity of content as well as the observations and spirit of its creator.

It's comforting to read these musings from a fellow boomer who's challenged, but not defeated, by the new technologies, and whose adventure and humor make for enjoyable and informative reading.



6 comments:

Mary said...

It is reassuring to read that other people are challenged with certain current technologies. I am just excited to be part of this adventure.

BookmobilebabeJody said...

He seemed to have some interesting links also. What a wealth of information you can find from a good blog! The Monty Python bit was really funny! My kids say those lines all of the time so I wondered if they used them in their abbreviated forms online.

Marita said...

Claudia, being a fellow "boomer" I can relate to everthing. Think about being in this profession and not keeping up with the new technology! Last week I attended a technology conference and was amazed and dazzled by presentations from "tech" professionals in the library field. It will take me a while just to soak it all in. Oh well, the tech train keeps on moving so we all better hop on it. Thanks for a great article.

claudia said...

Thanks for all of your comments. As I work on my blog, wiki, and web site, I'm encouraged by Rick Roche's sense of adventure and sense of humor! I'm glad you all shared in reading his blog.

Claudia

wantonlife said...

It's good to see that people are talking about generational issues in libraries, especially as it relates to technology. I am personally a member of the XY generation....not quite X and not quite Y. Supposedly, those of us who are about to turn 30 are in a position to help "translate" between users with varying skills levels. Cool post.

Greg Prosmushkin said...

Thanks for taking the time to share this informative post with us. Your articles are always filled with such detail and I will be looking for more from you soon. Have a wonderful rest of your day and keep up the posts.
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