Springboarding off: “our faculty (library and med school alike), though not at all old, may have to be convinced of the value and use of web 2.0 stuff…” & “using technologies that actually return some benefit emphasized, with planning and understanding your users and what actually works, rather than “here are some shiny things to play with!”

Indeed, there are those in the librarian population, who either because of their own age or personality/skill set or perception of time limits on the job may not be enamored with jumping on every new bandwagon when it comes to technology. How can they decide when in the technology learning-adoption cycle they should “jump in”…When is it “worth it” for them to learn? Is being aware of the technology, but not necessarily learning ir or adapting it enough?

ALSO
What are some techniques & success stories from the front lines of conversations & dialogs, meeting in the middle and not “talking up” and “talking down” between “early adopters” and “late adopters” of technology trends (in MLA & professional organizations, at an institution). There was a great session at the Charleston Conference in Nov. 2007 on innovators and innovations, but the “tour” was way too fast…

Yeah, I think this is a common and important problem. Of course, the hard part about speaking to this problem is that it takes radically different forms depending on the particular demands/requirements of the particular IT department.

Perhaps, though, we can discuss some real examples of creative work-arounds that may give others ideas…?

I just left working in a non-profit hospital that was NOT affiliated with a large academic university. We did have our own family medicine residency but that was it.

My concerns which I mention over and over to anyone who will listen is that hospital librarians because of the tight restrictions on technology (most are single librarians with no IT department and don’t have their own servers) have no chance of using these 2.0 technologies. All blogs, wikis and other social networking features were shut out. Plus there is a thought by administration that these would allow people to waste time when they should be taking care of the patient. When I left I was still fighting to get some nursing units access to the Internet so they could access the IP accessible nursing journals. Some of the nurses didn’t even have email access. I love being at an academic where I can actually participate but saying “work with your IT Department” may not cut it. Other strategies that you can recommend would be good. Reality is that while MLA and others champion 2.0 (there is a huge emphasis on this at MLA 2008) this is often not an option at all of a large number of front line hospital librarians.

http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/web20/archives/2007/12/teaching_web_20.html

But maybe I just have my cranky hat on today.