Week 7 Readings

Public Libraries, Values, Trust, and E-Government

Values can be hard thing to teach in library school because the student has their own set of values and the library might have different values and combining the two may take a bit of work. I believe that, from my school experience, this is only half true. Some classes are better at teaching library values than others. Free access to information is a value that is taught fairly well throughout my classes, while others might not be taught as much.

Trust has been associated with libraries for a very long time and I as a librarian would take pride in that fact. I would also make sure to continue that trust with the people who come into the library. Even though we are a public institution that is run by the government, most people are much more trusting of the library than the government itself. As long as our patrons continue to trust the library and continue to use it, then the library will be there for them.

As the government puts more and more online, patrons need help in finding the information that they need. The e-government sites can be confusing and people might not always trust the information that they find but if they have a librarian helping them to look for the information, they would trust that they have found what they wanted. With so much more information being put on the internet, it would be very difficult for someone who does not have a computer or internet access to obtain the information that they need if there were no libraries there for them. Libraries are going to become ever more important as time goes on and more and more information is only available on the internet.

Community Leadership through Public Library E-Government Services

As more agencies are putting more and more of their information and services online, they are saving money but at what expense to others.  As the agencies are lowering cost, patrons, and face-to-face services someone else must pick that up and the people who do are the libraries. The libraries are more involved in helping others in using the internet and online services then they have been in the past. I think that the government should give the library some compensation for helping the patrons in using the e-government. I think that if the libraries were closed then the government would have a hard time getting information to the people.

Responsibility Rolls Down

I want to know how citizens can make informed decision when the library is the only place they can get the information and since the library is not getting enough funding it is closing down. It is sad to read about the law libraries closing their doors to the public when that is why they should be there. Public libraries might not have the resource that the patron is looking for. E-government has grown over the past two decades and has changed the library in many ways, it will continue to grow and change.