Posts At work, I spend my time identifying changes to the information landscape and how they will impact on librarianship.
This afternoon while I waited for Mr4 at swimming lessons, I still managed to be stunned by a casual conversation with another couple of mums. It really brought home to me how much information is available to the average person, and how savvy they are becoming.
I don’t think mummy-chat in the 1980s was like this.
Mum 1: What’s that in your bag?
Mum 2: Oh, it’s just a CD of “The History of the Whole World”, they are giving them away with the Sunday Paper.
Mum1: Oh yes.
Mum 2: I’ve been picking it up in the supermarket when I get the paper, but I’m not really sure why…
Mum 1: Oh?
Mum 2: Yeah. It says here that it’s for over 9′s and my two are under five. By the time they are that old, it will all be out of date.
In case you didn’t pick it up – it was the history of the entire freakin’ world….with a Sunday Paper…..full multimedia….but rejected because it would be out of date within 4 years.
I think Mum2 made the right call, but did anyone else grow up in a household where your parents carefully paid the monthly account so they could provide you with a set of World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopedia Britannica to last your entire school years?
(Changing the topic totally…I’ve been translated. If you visit this link, Razones buenas (y malas) para estar en Second Life, you’ll see the Spanish version of my Ten Very Good Reasons Why Your Librarians should be in Second Life and Six Very Bad Reasons to have a Library Branch in Second Life. Thanks Mixolidius. I know, I should be cool about it… pretend it happens every day….)
The timeline of change is smaller than generational. I bought a set of Brittanica just after my 15 year old was born. It came out as a CD for 10% of the price only a few years later and then they stopped selling the books. Of course she has only ever used them on the rare occasion that I suggested that it may be slightly faster than booting up the computer. We even bought a bookcase to accomodate them. Maybe if I hang onto them long enough I could sell them as collectors items? Nah- anyone want a very slightly used set of Brittanica?
I just love mother’s conversations. Check out these ones:
1. I really like the conversation that it is more important for a boy to have a good education (i.e. to go to a really good school) than a girl because after all the male will be bringing in the wages and supported the family.
2. Then there was the conversation about University education being a waste, and people with that have a Uni education being weird – not normal.
You may be thinking these conversations were in the early 1900s, but no they were by friends in the early 2000s.
As techie as I am, I have a bit of a “thing” for reference books. Got several editions of Who’s Who, a few scifi encyclopedias, and various other bits and pieces. I don’t yet have the Britannica (though I narrowly missed an unused set a few years ago. The one thing I really desire is a full printed set of the OED. Mmmm…
Thanks to you, Kathryn. I find your blog very, very interesting and I think that this will not be the last time I’ll quote you. I’m just beginning in Second Life and I need to learn about it and its applications in librarianship and your blog is a fabulous place for doing it.
(Sorry for my awful English… I used to translate it, but to speak and to write it…)
Sue C, meet snail. snail, meet Sue C. I believe you two may have needs that dovetail
I admit to having more library discard editions of Pears Cyclopedia than is proper.
Sue W…those must have been some “just smile through gritted teeth”moments – although for me early on in mummy-hood, a sleep-deprived night could make my mouth engage before my brain and I sometimes called a spade a spade, and broke mummy-etiquette.
mixolidius…thanks….maybe sometime we can speak in Second Life with a Spanish/English translation HUD switched on. My avatar is Emerald Dumont if you’d like to friend her.
OK. Katryn. I’ve just offered my friendship to your avatar in SL. Mine is “PacoLopez Heron” (my name in real life is Paco López Hernández). I hope we can met, despite of our terribly different time zones!
I’ll go on reading you. Greetings from Spain!