Six more things

are what I have left to do. I will get to them, for sure, although I think not in order. Let me take three of them now (15, 21, and 22).
Let me take the downloadable audio books first. I like the idea, and it works wonderfully for one of my co-workers, who listens all the time, which is great. I have an ipod (which you know from one of my previous posts), which is not compatible with either overdrive or netlibrary. But that is okay. I do often listen to recorded books in the car, but I am very particular about the ones I am willing to spend so much time with. The narrator makes all the difference! There are so many cds I have popped in, so eagerly awaiting to hear the story, only to discover that there is no way I can spend 15 cds' worth of time alone in my car with that voice. I prefer to use my ipod for music and podcasts. I have many favorite sites right now for locating podcasts (itunes, of course, as well as my favorite news and music sites), and according to my itunes I have like weeks of listening to do to get through all of it. No problem, except that, of course, new things come every day. I have learned a great deal about the technology, which really has gotten so much easier to understand and to use since I first started with it. There is also just an awful lot more out there now, which was not there a couple of years ago when I got my ipod. I used to have trouble even finding podcasts I wanted to listen to; they were all about technology and stuff, which is interesting but not as a constant listening diet. Now, almost every website I tend to visit (for news like the BBC, the CBC, NPR, even the ALA) has either (or frequently both) an RSS feed or a podcast to subscribe to. This is great! I have discovered so many terrific things out there, and I know that all the time there is more to be discovered. I particularly like new music (like CBC Radio 3) and news from international news organisations. Getting a different perspective on things is important to me. As I write this I am listening through itunes to a news podcast about a shooting that occurred in downtown Vancouver. The world is not as big a place as it once was.
Although I do watch it every evening I am at home at that time, I think Neil Postman was right about the evening news. I am still considering some of his perspectives on the future of technology. I do not agree with all of his dire predictions about how we will will become used by instead of users of the new technologies, but there is something that rings quite true about "[We have had a] rapid emergency of an all-instant society: instant therapy, instant religion, instant food, instant friends, even instant reading. Instancy is one of the main teachings of our present information environment. Constancy is one of the main teachings of civilization." (Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979), p. 76) I need to consider further whether the public library ought to be the one cultural heritage organisation that works to maintain that constancy. There needs to be a way for us to pursue the new technologies and to provide free access to them, especially to those citizens we serve who may not have such access, as a result of economic situations, or either perceived or actual disabilities, while at the same time, work very hard to preserved the printed word and the whole concept of a civilised society. (I know if you came into the public library where I work some evenings and witnessed the neighborhood youths' engaging with the new technology and with one another, you might not think we had anything to do with a civilised society at all, but that may only further our need to do just that. There has to be someplace that does, or it will be lost forever, right?
I will climb down off my soapbox now, and get ready to go to work. Three more things to do on Friday!