Almost a year later...

I'm still here. This full-time work thing has made blogging all but non-existent in my life - I have no idea how my fellow librarians do it. Most of you have lives fuller than mine in that you have children and work and blogging and a social life and conferences, while I only have a job and a husband and part-time children. By the time I get home most days, I am simply too burned out to devote further thought to library land (or, rather, I think about it plenty, but just do not have the motivation to put thoughts to posts). I have spent the better part of the past year trying to decide if I would continue this blog, with no real conclusion reached as yet.

HOWEVER-

My last post was about the teens in my Teen Advisory Group, and their seeming complacency with regard to college-level work, research, and the usefulness/role of libraries in their educational lives. I was frustrated by the failure of the school department to impart on these kids the importance of libraries, and disheartened by the blase attitudes of the kids themselves. None of that has changed.

So, I was not at all surprised by this Facebook status update, posted tonight by one of the kids (now in college) referenced in my last post:

"(I) had no idea that trying to navigate her way through bookstacks in a library would be so difficult! Who needs books when you have the internet? The 24 hour mission: write an 8 page research paper and study extensively for an exam. Time starts...NOW!"

I tried to warn her...


I wonder if she will be able to get through four years of college at a rather prestigious university without actually needing anything more than the internet. If she can, I don't know if I will regard it as a triumph of modern technology (which I love) or a failure of our educational system from start to finish.