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<title>12.opml</title>
<dateCreated>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:00:27 GMT</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:27 GMT</dateModified>
<ownerName>Tom Morris</ownerName>
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<outline text="In a library not far from here..." created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"><outline text="A young and eager learner enters a public library in the not-so-distant future." created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Welcome to Wellbridgefield Town library. Do you want a coffee?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;No, I've just had one in the car park. Then I was offered one in the bakers. And the bookshop, the record shop, the betting shop and the shoe shop. I'm fine for coffee.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="The learner starts wandering around the library and eventually approaches the desk." created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Hi,&quot; the friendly librarian starts. &quot;I'm your digital knowledge navigator today.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Err, hi. I'd like to read about Moses Maimonides. You know, the philosopher?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Sure thing. If you go over to that terminal, you can use one of our many online services to learn about that.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;What? You mean, use the Internet?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Yeah. You heard of it?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;I looked up everything on the Internet before I came here. I thought there would be books.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Oh no. We removed them all back when some social media consultants and tech geeks told us they had been made obselete by the Apple iPad and the Kindle.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;You haven't got any books?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;No. They're so old tech, and lo-fi.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;But what if I want to learn about Moses Maimonides?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Well, you can use one of our many exciting digital service offerings.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;You said. So, what you are telling me is that the library has nothing more on offer to the reader than what they can get on the Internet.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Well, that's not the most charitable way of putting it. We do serve coffee! And we're a real living room-in-the-city - a place where people can get away from the hustle and bustle of consumerism, sit back, enjoy a latte and peruse our many wonderful online services while listening to the piped music we've plumbed in.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;You've got &lt;em&gt;what&lt;/em&gt;?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Piped music. Yes. The social media consultant told us to install it. People like it. There's even a hashtag for it on Twitter and it is all driven by a shared, collaborative Spotify playlist. And we've done a deal with Spotify - they cut is in on the advertising revenue!&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Adverts? What the--? Do you find people get irritated by the noise?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Oh no. People love it. That is what the marketing department says, anyway.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;You've got a marketing department?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;They aren't so much a marketing &lt;em&gt;department&lt;/em&gt; as a rough gang of consultants we've drafted to hang out on Twitter. We really need it - to help people learn all about our wonderful digital services.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Which is basically just Google, right?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Haven't you heard? The Internet has &lt;em&gt;everything&lt;/em&gt;!&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;But if you want to know about something that isn't on the Internet, you come to the library and there aren't any books - but you'll sell me coffee so I can use Google to look up more information about what I already know because I looked it up on Google when I was at home. Are you going to help me buy carbon credits for this pointless journey to this souped-up coffee shop?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Well, we are here to help and guide you.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;You are?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Yes, we're digital knowledge navigators.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;How do you help me navigate digital knowledge?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Well, we can look over your shoulder occasionally and say 'oh, you shouldn't trust that!'&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Is that very difficult?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Yes. It's a really tough skill. I mean, if you are trying to find out about Moses Maimonides, you should probably trust pages on &lt;a href=&quot;http://plato.stanford.edu/&quot;&gt;plato.stanford.edu&lt;/a&gt; pretty highly. And the entry on Wikipedia is probably okay too.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;That's really useful. I could never figure out that the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy was a trustworthy source of philosophy information while some random blog on the Internet probably isn't. However would I survive without a digital knowledge navigator?&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;I told you we are useful. Really, we're the elite in knowledge navigation. As well as pointing out that encyclopedias written by subject area experts are more useful as sources than random blogs, we are fully trained in the the intricacies of Google's Advanced Search page.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;But I really need a book for this. The material just doesn't seem to be online.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="&quot;Have you tried Waterstones? I hear they still stock books as well as coffee.&quot;" created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/><outline text="Inspired by &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.viruscomix.com/page369.html&quot;&gt;Subnormality - Down at the Library&lt;/a&gt; and Seth Godin's recent post about libraries - see &lt;a href=&quot;http://tommorris.org/blog/2010/01/12#When:19:38:18&quot;&gt;my earlier response&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href= &quot;http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2010/01/seth-godin-and-libraries.html&quot;&gt; these&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/1010000101/post/1190051919.html&quot;&gt; responses&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.theanalogdivide.com/2010/01/just-call-me-tenzing-norboo/&quot;&gt; to&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://sarahglassmeyer.com/?p=306&quot;&gt;Seth&lt;/a&gt;. Also see my previous posts &lt;a href= &quot;http://tommorris.org/blog/2008/10/10#When:22:19:54&quot;&gt;How to destroy a library&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href= &quot;http://tommorris.org/blog/2008/12/08#When:17:30:38&quot;&gt;More library faffery&lt;/a&gt;." created="Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:28 GMT"/></outline></body>
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