Comments on: Appreciating our Heritage while Embracing a Future http://dltj.org/article/heritage-and-future/ We're Disrupted, We're Librarians, and We're Not Going to Take It Anymore Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:48:39 +0000 hourly 1 By: the jesterhttp://dltj.org/article/heritage-and-future/comment-page-1/#comment-10136 the jester Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:27:26 +0000 http://dltj.org/2006/07/heritage-and-future/#comment-10136 Steven --You bring up some very good points and numerous places that I could use to launch a discussion of how I see Clayton Christensen's theory of disruptive innovations applying to libraries. At the very least, a hearty review of "disruptive" and "sustaining" as terms-of-art from Christensen's perspective would be in order.Unfortunately, I'm traveling at the moment and don't have ready access to some important reference material. With your permission, I would like to spend some time constructing a proper response with the promise that it will be one of the first (if not the first) posted in the new year. Steven —

You bring up some very good points and numerous places that I could use to launch a discussion of how I see Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovations applying to libraries. At the very least, a hearty review of “disruptive” and “sustaining” as terms-of-art from Christensen’s perspective would be in order.

Unfortunately, I’m traveling at the moment and don’t have ready access to some important reference material. With your permission, I would like to spend some time constructing a proper response with the promise that it will be one of the first (if not the first) posted in the new year.

]]> By: Stevenhttp://dltj.org/article/heritage-and-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9404 Steven Sun, 24 Dec 2006 07:14:01 +0000 http://dltj.org/2006/07/heritage-and-future/#comment-9404 As one of your elders, I would like to question your disruptive position. My mother got her library degree in 1942 and I have been a librarian for 30 years. I started when the University of Wisconsin boasted 7 million bibliographic items. Guessing 5 cards per card set that would be 35 million cards. We had to look up articles in paper indexes, write them down on 3 x 5 cards, and dive into the bowels of the library for bound volumes of journals. No one figured to put the copiers there so we schlepped them up to the copier area. Kaypro and Wordstar were 5 years away so we had to type our papers on a machine that had no spell check or correction. And those 35 million cards were hand typed as well. But, what I learned then is what I use now. I was taught by 3 of the best, my mother, Dr. Roman Draznowski, and Dr. Martin Sable. Dr. D was the librarian of maps for the American Geological Society. Dr. Sable was the foremost authority in the bibliography of the Spanish version of Yiddish. These were two old school guys. What they taught me has lasted through OCLC, Dialog, Lexis/Nexis, FirstSearch, OPAC’s, eJournals and eBooks. None of this is new. For 3000 years librarians have been information specialists. We invented the first two SQL’s, the first of many controlled languages, everything in IT was in a library 200 years earlier. It is not disruption that is needed but an appreciation of fundamental ideas. There is actually a profession here. Those who practice it need no disruption. Some in the structure, who will remain nameless but whose initials are ALA, may need disruption, but those who practice this craft well need none. As one of your elders, I would like to question your disruptive position. My mother got her library degree in 1942 and I have been a librarian for 30 years. I started when the University of Wisconsin boasted 7 million bibliographic items. Guessing 5 cards per card set that would be 35 million cards. We had to look up articles in paper indexes, write them down on 3 x 5 cards, and dive into the bowels of the library for bound volumes of journals. No one figured to put the copiers there so we schlepped them up to the copier area. Kaypro and Wordstar were 5 years away so we had to type our papers on a machine that had no spell check or correction. And those 35 million cards were hand typed as well.
But, what I learned then is what I use now. I was taught by 3 of the best, my mother, Dr. Roman Draznowski, and Dr. Martin Sable. Dr. D was the librarian of maps for the American Geological Society. Dr. Sable was the foremost authority in the bibliography of the Spanish version of Yiddish. These were two old school guys. What they taught me has lasted through OCLC, Dialog, Lexis/Nexis, FirstSearch, OPAC’s, eJournals and eBooks.
None of this is new. For 3000 years librarians have been information specialists. We invented the first two SQL’s, the first of many controlled languages, everything in IT was in a library 200 years earlier. It is not disruption that is needed but an appreciation of fundamental ideas. There is actually a profession here. Those who practice it need no disruption. Some in the structure, who will remain nameless but whose initials are ALA, may need disruption, but those who practice this craft well need none.

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