[Genealib] RE: Looking to the Future

[Heather McLeland-Wieser]

Larry;
Its not all bleak. At Seattle Public we are absorbing budget cuts but we've been there before and we survived.  Door count, question count and database use are all up and believe me we let the Mayor and City council know that.  We also have a number of young librarians interested in Genealogy in the Seattle area.  Maybe you can entice them to NY with suitable blandishments <G>

Heather

-----Original Message-----
From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu [mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of Naukam, Larry
Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 12:17 PM
To: genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu; genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
Subject: [Genealib] RE: Looking to the Future

Sadly, the outlook for 20 to 30 years from now isn't very good. Now, people are coming more and more to rely on computers to "check everything"., which of course is a fallacy. Other have pointed out that merely having something digitally available is nice, but it's not a complete solution.

Probably the scariest outlook is that libraries will be staffed as cheaply as possible, with no experts in the field; and that even now budget considerations are forcing libraries to discontinue access to computerized databases. If that happens patrons will HAVE to go back to using microfilms - but there isn't much money to buy them. And in my humble experience, many librarians are at retirement's door, and there haven't been any young people brought along. I wish that I had a better outlook, but I am nothing if not a realist.

And that's not even mentioning if libraries can afford to buy computers and get net access.
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