"I'm one of those firm believers that we're going to be around." - Joanne Mast
It’s often claimed that with the advent of this wide,
wondrous digital era in which we now find ourselves libraries will become
obsolete. Children’s librarian Joanne Mast has heard this argument over the
course of her 35 years as a librarian, but she has not seen it come to pass.
She told me, “I used to be a law librarian in Pittsburgh, and I’ve kept in
touch with people who are still law librarians, and they tell me there’s
actually more of a need for librarians and library staff now.” She says this is
because there is so much material now available that libraries need to increase
their staff to keep up with it.
As far as digital resources go, the IFL has all the
technologies I can remember using in my twenty-something years. There are audiobooks
on cassette tape, and films on VHS, audiobooks on CD, music CDs, DVDs, desktop
computers for public use, computers devoted to library catalog searches,
e-books, and interlibrary loans available for patron use or borrowing. It
provides all these things for no cost to the users, and as such becomes a more
valuable resource in times of economic hardship.
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