Yes, Lee. We know you are charming and smart and love librarians. We appreciate that. Especially the results from the last Pew survey: LIBRARIANS ROCK.
But seriously, this is what fascinated me and leads right into the SCLS Handheld Libraries conference on April 22nd. 78% of Americans have cellphones. CELLPHONES HAVE TURNED AROUND THE INFORMATION DIVIDE. Cellphone owners are using their devices to connect wirelessly to the internet. Email is important to them, and THEY ARE USING THE INTERNET TO STORE INFORMATION using their cellphones.
So how can libraries have a no cell phone policy? People are talking on cell phones, and they are USING THEM TO ACCESS THE INTERNET, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE NO COMPUTER AT HOME!!!!
If you are not seeing this in your library, it may be due to the prevalence of the image above.
We need to wake up and smell the coffee, which by the way is Starbucks at the conference.
4 comments:
Another thought that occured to me while Lee was speaking was how intimidating our libraries can seem to people not used to our terminology or rules. Sometimes people are afraid to ask for fear of seeming stupid. Especially when rules vary from library to library - how are they supposed to know where the DVDs are or for how long you can keep them, or who to ask for help finding a book to read or a resource to follow? Something to said for uniformity across the board, but we don't want to lose our adorable grass roots nature either :-)
78% of Americans have cellphones - but what percentage of those have Internet access on those phones? I image the number is still small and until the price of I[nternet] phones and services is markedly reduced, the masses will be texting while the 'elite' emails. There might be a bridge over the divide, but right now it is a toll road.
Noise is one of our biggest complaints. Most people using the cellphone in the library are talking, not going on the web or texting. If they are texting or using the web, we would never know or object, because they would not be making all that noise.
Good point about noise but some people talk on their cell and they are quiet. I've observed patrons who are standing right next to each other talking and are more disruptive then the person on the cell...and often (and I'm sure that some libraries are more consistent about noise then others) it's the person on the cell who is told to get off.
Those "no cell phone" signs do not make the point that it is the noise that is the issue. So maybe they should say "quiet area" as opposed to "no cell phones"?
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