book recommendation and conferences

[Doug Johnson <palsdaj@VAX1.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>]

Hi folks,

I have been set to no-mail for the past month, so if this book has already
been roundly discussed, forgive me. (This rude thing called a job got in
the way of my reading LM_Net.)

I was very impressed by Crawford and Gorman's book _Future Libraries:
Dreams, Madness & Reality_. ALA. 1995. In it, the authors analyze the
financial realities and physical possibilities of an all digital future.
Their well-supported conclusion is that while electronic resources will
become an ever important supplement, print will be and should be around for
a very long time in most libraries. I'd love to find an executive summary
of this book for all those superintendents, legislators, and board members
who think that when a school has Internet access, they don't need a budget
for books, magazines, videotapes and other traditional reading and
information sources. This is an important book which is good reading for
those of us who have "technojunkie" tendencies.

I also had the priviledge to attend two wonderful conferences. The Illinois
State Library Media Association's fall conference featured wonderful talks
by (among others) Nat Hentoff and Caroline Cooney. It was extremely well
organized by friendly, dedicated media people. What fun!

The Multimedia Schools Conference in Chicago was also very good. It was a
pleasure to hear the excitement in Judi Harris's voice as she describe real
Internet activities kids from around the world have been participating in.
I also got to visit with some real school media experts. One advantage of
attending this conference was that it was held in conjunction with the
On-Line conference which serves information folks from universities,
special libraries, and business. These people are big-time into electronic
information resources (and they don't come cheap!)


Good to be back on LM_Net!

Doug


Doug Johnson, District Media Supervisor  |  Fast, Cheap, Good:
I.S.D. 77, Mankato Public Schools        |   Choose any two.
Box 8713, Mankato MN 56002-8713          |
Voice: 507-387-7698                      |
Fax: 507-387-2496                        |
E-mail: palsdaj@vax1.mankato.msus.edu    |
or:     djohns1@west.isd77.k12.mn.us
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/staffdir/staff2/Johnson_Doug.html