2008

Top Tech Trends

——————————————————————– In 1908, Thomas Edison stated “Anything, Everything is Possible.” According to Smithsonian Magazine, the events and innovations that occurred a century ago marked America’s entry into the modern world. The innovations in 1908 literally put us in motion. Wilbur Wright flew 2 hours and 20 minutes. Henry Ford introduced the Model T to the masses. The First Skyscraper – the Singer Building was built in NYC. ——————————————————————- At ALA’s Annual Discussion, K.G. Schneider said there were two ways to look at this years library tech trends. – Architecture of Aesthetics – Architecture of Participation Below are a few new concepts Alexander Cohen collected for LITA that affect the Library of the Future and its’ Architecture of Aesthetics… Google’s Library Digitization Projects, Artificial Intelligence / Web Search Projects Virtual Streetscapes Kindle Amazon’s Ebook Reader Harvard’s Green Campus: LEED Status Bibliotheca Alexandrina “recapture the spirit of openness and scholarship” British Library…

2007

Tech Trends 2007

Tech Trends, Midwinter 2007 One area that was greatly discussed during the two hour exchange was the ILS. Trendsters discussed open source, convergence of vendors and the fact that these are no longer boot strapped companies but ones that private investors think have value. The top technology trend that are and will continue to have a great impact on library services are enterprise ILS services, outsourced services, green / sustainable building design including heat source pumps, RFID, gaming, and techno mobile vans .The recognition of “the library as place” and the need to recognize new sets of services is having the greatest impact on librarians. Librarians need to learn that their services are both virtual and place-centered. They need a forum with experts who can share trends that are changing services. For example, there is a product called Goldfire. This is an innovation platform that indexes everything. As a matter…