This blog was created as part of my Masters studies at Texas Woman's University for a course in Information Storage and Retrieval. My attention is focused on public libraries. While I'm interested in buildings, design and space planning in public libraries, my interests extend far beyond this narrow scope. Usually, we are motivated by a pressing need to learn something. In this case that is very true, since I'm in a very crowded library and the time for expansion has not yet come, financially that is! Therefore, it is in the best interest of the community for the staff and I to be creative in using the space we have and maximizing every asset, while we await the appropriate time for an expansion. A clear case of "necessity is the mother of invention." It will also be interesting to track just how this expansion unfolds, politically, financially and physically. While I've had the privilege to have lead two building projects for two different libraries, which included a new library building project and the restoration and expansion of an historical library building, this should be another vastly entertaining and interesting project.
As part of my duties as Director of a public library I teach an on-going computer class. The majority of my students are older citizens struggling to learn a new skill. A new skill that is difficult for most people-young or old to grasp. Recently, I've been faced with same frustration trying to help people with Vista which I know almost nothing about. My students also struggle with varying degrees of physical barriers brought about by the natural aging process. These include tremors, poor eye-sight, difficulty recalling or remembering information, hearing loss, deterioration of fine-motor skills and on and on. Because of my fondness for these people and past experiences with their absolute joy at any small success, this has lead me to become very interested in training or teaching to older citizens.
After having watched a very interesting web cast of Social Networking with emphasis on Second Life, curiosity lead me to sign up for an account. I'm a newbie on Second Life and don't have abundant time to spend on the site, hence I'm a pretty worthless citizen of that world right now. I'm interested in exploring this new web application and how it can benefit the library and its users, particularly if it helps the library reach out to young people.
And then again, who knows. The library world is so interesting this could lead us anywhere from book reviews to innovative ways libraries are using for delivery of services.
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