Tag: technology

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Interview with Ken Varnum, Editor of “New Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know”

| Karen Doster-Greenleaf
Ken Varnum as Editor book covers

For over the past two decades Ken Varnum has become a leading expert in library technology, focusing his research on discovery systems and library analytics.  He has lent this expertise once again as editor to two recently released titles from ALA publishers, the new LITA Guide New Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know and Beyond Reality: Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality in the Library. He is the Senior Program Manager at the University of Michigan and the editor of Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL). In our interview he provides his insights on the landscape of library technology, future challenges, and what he hopes his reader’s take away from his books.  What technology/technologies will have the largest impact on libraries in the upcoming decade? I think there are several intersecting trends that will continue to have an impact in the coming decade. The first is consolidation of metadata into increasingly…

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I’m a Librarian. Of tech, not books.

| Whitni Watkins|5 Comments

When someone finds out I’m a librarian, they automatically think I know everything there is to know about, well, books. The thing is, I don’t. I got into libraries because of the technology. My career in libraries started with the take off, a supposed library replacement, of ebooks. Factor in the Google “scare” and librar*s  were going to be done forever. Librar*s were frantic to debunk that they were no longer going to be useful, insert perfect time and opportunity to join libraries and technology. I am a Systems Librarian and the most common and loaded question I get from non-librarians is (in 2 parts), “What does that mean? and What do you do?” Usually this resorts to a very simple response: I maintain the system the library sits on, the one that gives you access to the collection from your computer in the comfort of your home. This tool,…

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