Reading #3

Firstly, the article would probably be meaningless if you did not take the time to see Thomas Frey's credentials on the side of the webpage, which states he is a "Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, and Google's top rated futurist speaker. Unlike most speakers, Tom works closely with his Board of Visionaries to develop original research studies, which enables him to speak on unusual topics, translating trends into unique opportunities." In his article "The Future of Libraries" he offers insight into how things were and how things will be pertaining to the way people interact with the library and its services. Frey begins the article with a intriguing anecdote involving the journey of Leonardo Da Vinci's extraordinary works after he died and how they passed between libraries over the years, rearranging itself into collections. He then tells lists out all of the beneficial aspects of library services and then informs the reader that definition of all that is changing. Later he re-caps prior technologies in the library (the oldest being writing, reading; recently, iPod and Podcasting) and tells us that all technologies have a limited life span. Though, it is not until scientists can "conquer the ultimate small storage particle" that we can start technologically advancing. the simple search days are numbered. result of this opportunities for libraries to interact with it and build new and exciting “information experiences”. Currently our searches are in text form using "some forms of image, audio, and video" to search, but "the next generation search technology will include the ability to search for such attributes as taste, smell, texture, reflectivity, opacity, mass, density, tone, speed, and volume." He concludes with his main point, about how the way people interact with the library is changing. By spanning the history (so far) of the library, Frey illustrates that they have changed drastically from the time of da Vinci, but "we’ve only scratched the surface of many more changes to come" so we should enjoy the journey.

Okay, so I was really impressed with Frey's occupation/credentials and thought what he had to say was really intriguing after reading through it for a second time. Yes, the article pertained mainly to the future of libraries and how they will technologically advance (slowly), but all of the technologies that are in a library are the ones people will use inside on an everyday basis, outside of the library. One thing that kind of made me think was when Frey said that the keyboard will be soon to go.. So I guess that means you just actually speak the letters or words to a computer, cell phones, etc.? That sounds pretty cool, but currently I have a Moshi alarm clock, which I speak with to set alarms, time, get temperature, etc. and it's convenient, but sometimes it can be really frustrating. And I don't see anyone every using voice-activation for their cell phones. I think people like the privacy of not saying the words aloud? It's kind of scary having Frey predict all these new things coming out replacing what you haven't even bought yet, but it is good to know. Also, I'm sure it is really helpful to librarians to get the gist of knowing what to expect and plan ahead for continuous change while still delivering all of the services libraries have always provided to people.