Librarian Way

Michael Gorman, president-elect of American Library Association (ALA), has a lot of librarians upset, particularly those who blog (write in a Weblog). His “Google and God’s Mind” (LA Times, 17 December 2004) commentary about Google’s book digitization project, which is being done in collaboration with various libraries, sparked some debate and disagreement with his position. The primary charge is that Gorman is overly cautious and insufficiently far-sighted regarding the application of technology to libraries. This led to his “Revenge of the Blog People” commentary in Library Journal. And this got a lot of bloggers upset.

LibraryPlanet.com put together a very nice Gorman article on 24 February 2005, in which the writer collected and linked the original article and various blogger responses from both librarians and non-librarians. On 28 February, 2005, Karen Schneider blogged a reasoned response to Gorman in her “Gormangate” blog entry: Free Range Librarian: Gorman, On Reflection.

Google press release, 14 December 2005: Google Press Center
Library Journal, 15 February 2005: Revenge of the Blog People!

Blog people button for your site from Greg Schwartz is at Open Stacks.
Following Jenny Levine’s lead, I will link the button to Technorati: Search for michael gorman bloggers .

Today I received e-mail from Amanda Credaro. On December 8, 2003, I posted that Biblia collects humor. I am not sure why I wrote that, but The Warrior Librarian has kindly corrected me: Credaro writes humor. Her Warrior Librarian Weekly (WLW) postings are full of lines that make you smile or laugh. She wrote a humorous book titled Biblia’s Guide to Warrior Librarianship.

WLW is both fun and informative. I admit that I have not kept up with it, as a full-time job and homework nearly every evening and weekends does not leave much time. Take a look at WLW: She is celebrating her 200th edition since mid-1999!

Marydee Ojala’s editorial in the July/August 2004 issue of Online discusses Clayton Christensen’s book The Innovator’s Dilemma. She wrote

I find the notion of librarians and informational professionals being disruptive technologies extremely appealing. What a wonderful role to assume! …I suggest we enjoy this pivotal role, relish our power, rethink our priorities, and assert our distinctiveness.

So, my fellow library school peers, we are becoming a disruptive technology.

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