EOS vs. Library 2.O

 

EOS or End of service is what I call a computerized library without internet and/or power.  In the old days, whether the Internet connection worked or not did not impair library staff from providing library service.  We still had books, magazines, and librarians able to assist in the search for knowledge. 

 

In the Library Web 2.0 future, we will not have big bulky Reference books or hidden stacks of old magazines to assist patrons.  Hence, the arrival of EOS.  We have already had days that mirror this future during a few hurricane seasons in the recent past.  Patrons walk in the door, peruse the circle of computers, note the out of order signs, occasionally inquire how long the computers will be down and assume the library has nothing further for them.  This is a library future I am not yet ready to embrace.  Call me resistant to change.  Call me an archaic.  Call me anything but EOS. 

 

If we could somehow still have both, a Web 2.0 library and shelves with books, magazines, and dvds, as well as librarians that know how to find information in both paper and electronic sources, that would be my first choice.  Living in a world of paperless resources creates the potential for moments of EOS.  Determining which resources are important enough to retain in paper in a library world of ever tightening budgets creates hard choices and the limiting of access to information for some. 

 

Just this week, I helped an independent business consultant decide that "yes, he would have to drive to North Miami" to access an International Reference source that was too expensive for our local university libraries to purchase this year.  It was interesting that the other two libraries that he visited discussed the difficulties of choosing what not to purchase with him but did not offer to search other libraries for a newer edition or to print him out directions on how to get there.  Sometimes listening and determining how to assist in solving a patron's problem (even when we do not have the resources) defines customer service.  The use of Internet resources to increase customer service always reminds me of the power of the Internet.  Knowledge is power; down with EOS.

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