Technology Plans

One document that stood out this week was the ALA’s Technology Plan. I think it was well organized and clearly presented its goals, strategies and criteria for successes. However I found all the talk about getting member’s information so they could be treated on an individual level as somewhat disconcerting. Even though there were safeguards for securing the information, I never realized what a high priority ALA placed on marketing products and services to its members.

Several years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Cathy De Rosa (The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan:Pattern Recognition) speak at a Florida Technology in Education Conference. I was impressed then by the research and insights the publication brought to light. I retained a copy of the booklet after the conference, and found it again when this reading assignment came up. After reviewing it once again, I marvel at how accurate many of the scans are seven years later.

I will file the article on applying for grants by Stephanie Gerding and Pam MacKellar in a place where I can easily find it again. I think it will prove very useful later if I have an opportunity to apply for a grant.

And of course, Florida’s State Plan for LSTA funding should be a “must-read” for all public librarians in the state. Many times the bigger picture does not trickle down to the librarian on the front lines. This document provides the visions and explanations of why things happen as they do. For any semi-ambitious librarian it is important to have knowledge of the direction that libraries hope and plan to move so they can make informed decisions to align their career goals to the goals of their institution.

As one article pointed out, IT people view the technology arena with different perspectives than end-users. It was frustrating, as I mentioned when discussing the fiasco of implementing thin-clients in my library, how IT departments make decisions without investigating end-users' needs and abilities. Having the chance to get my fingers “dirty” in an IT sort of way in this class, I have much more respect for the complexity of networked systems. I doubt in the hierarchical environment in which I work that I will ever be asked to contribute to technology planning. But I do hope that I may someday serve as a knowledgeable middle man between IT implementation plans and students’ needs.