Miles's Library - Part Five and Final
Friday, July 17, 2009 at 06:14AM I have been asked to write a chapter on "future libraries" for a book being put together by an Australian colleague. While I had meant to write a short scenario to introduce the chapter, the scenario took over.
Below is the fifth and last part of what a school library might look like in 2025 - the approximate year my youngest grandson, Miles, will graduate from high school (assuming one still graduates at the traditonal age of 18 - a big assumption.)
The ideas here are a combination of extrapolation of current happenings, wishful thinking and maybe a little dread. Your comments are always welcome.
Miles’s Library: A Day in the Life, 2025 - Part Five and Final
4:00 PM
As Miles walks in the front door, his dad calls out from his home office, “Supper’s at six – I blocked it off on your calendar. Attendance is not optional. Oh, and when is that lawn going to get mowed? The grass gets any longer you’ll not only have to mow, but bale as well.”
Sighing at the hopelessly agrarian reference, Miles acknowledges his dad and heads to the family room. Rather than use the smaller, 54” screen on the computer in his room, he decides to go holographic for his meeting with Dr. Shahada. He grabs a soda from the fridge, gets comfortable in one of the big easy chairs, and opens the connection to the University of Jordan. The family room fades and is replaced by a holographic multiuser virtual environment. Dr. Shahada is already at his desk and Miles finds himself sitting across from him. The image is good enough to read the text on the diplomas displayed on the wall behind the professor’s desk.
“Salaam lakim, Doctor,” Miles begins, happy to have a chance to practice his Arabic, a language he has studied both formally and informally for ten years. (The rest of the conversation is conducted in Arabic.) One of the reasons Miles’s parents chose his current school was that its staff recognize that multi-lingual professionals are at an advantage in the global economy. In 2015 when Miles chose Arabic as one of his "focus" languages (along with Tagalog), his parents wondered if other languages would have been more beneficial. But the rise in democratic governments and a permanent peace settlement in the Middle East in the 2010s led to the region’s growth as a world economic and educational leader.
“The blessings of Allah upon you as well, Miles,” Dr. Shahada replies with a smile. “I’ve been looking forward to our conversation today. To get to the point, one of the librarians here at UJ spotted some of the avatar-represented search bots you’ve been creating and also noticed your proficiency in Arabic. Our library in collaboration with the computer science department here at UJ would like to offer you a summer internship with us. You would be working with our librarians to improve our own library portal by adding idiomatic Arabic-speaking avatars.”
“It sounds exciting!” remarked Miles. ‘Would I be doing this work in Amman or telecommuting?” He and Dr. Shahada continue to discuss this opportunity until nearly 6.
One of Miles’s school library’s major services is to provide and support “learning portals.” While text-based portals have been a common library offering for over ten years, the virtual environment interface is relatively new. When Miles logs on to his library portal, he sees a 3D representation of his physical school library. His avatar moves through it easily, looking far more natural than the funky Second Life-like creations of early MUVEs. He can see which members of his PLN network are online, check for messages (audio, video and text), do real-time video/audio communications with those both in and out of the library, and view his selected and school-required news feeds. Around the library at various stations are librarian avatars with whom Miles can engage. While one sits behind a general information desk, others are subject-specific, offering guidance in languages, science, mathematics, history, communications and other areas. Virtual doorways lead to teacher, advisor and guidance virtual offices and to the school’s virtual museum of permanent student project displays. There is also a doorway to Miles’s “warehouse,” a visual depiction of links to all the projects he has undertaken as a student.
What makes the portal especially valuable to Miles and others in his school is its customizability. Using open source APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and programming scripts, Mile has re-arranged the standard library layout, deleting some components like the annoying electronic posters and adding features like a real-time Arabic translation avatar, a collection of rare Tagalog documents, doorways to several research labs, and hidden door to a representation of his bedroom at home where he can work on personal tasks.
It is, however, Miles work in creating custom-search bots represented by avatars that excites him. The library provides a set of tools that allow students to create “librarians” who will follow carefully composed search parameters, following ever more sophisticated semantic rules.
6:00 PM
During his conference with Dr. Shahada, Miles received a message comprised of several ideograms. It was Jenny keying from her phone, asking Miles if he wanted to meet her for a jog. He discretely replied that he was busy, but suggested they meet in the 20th Cent game after supper. After mowing the lawn with a push mower, Miles sits at the kitchen table where his mom, dad and 10-year-old sister Maggie are already engaged in conversation.
Maggie tells about the latest version of Oregon Trail that she and her team are playing in their U.S. History Class and about the research she is doing on animal rights of the 19th century; Dad shares his day of F2F pastoral visits to his elderly parishioners and how nice it was to get out from behind a computer screen. But it’s Miles’s mom’s reflections about her day as the town's public library director that really interest him.
“I am always surprised at just how popular our “Edit Yourself, Market Yourself, Support Yourself” workshops are – even after all these years of holding them. It seems it’s take some people a long time to realize that the DataBank and payment plan changed the model of making money from one’s intellectual property. While many creators choose to contract with editors and marketers – often people who once worked for large publishing companies – even more people have added editing and marketing to their own job skill sets. It’s really gratifying to see the public library be an effective community and personal development resource in this way.”
While Miles and Maggie visit their public library rarely, they both take advantage of its online presence. Maggie is a part of an active gaming group sponsored by the children’s section and relies on its recommendations of new games. Miles attends the public library’s seminars online and often consults its resident personal branding guru – “Purple Cow” Smith.
“I suppose it’s time to hit the studies,” Miles says after finishing his last bite of dessert.
“Time to talk mushy to Jenny is more like it,” teases Maggie. “And don't forget, it’s your night to do the dishes.”
7:00 PM
After the last spoon is dried and put away, Miles spends 30 minutes playing virtual lacrosse – the cancellation of his regular athletic practice is making him feel a bit sluggish. He checks his vital stats on the game station after his workout and sends them to his data storage locker in the library.
Back in his room, Miles logs into the MMORPG, 20th Cent. His regular avatar easily moves from one virtual environment to another, quickly morphing when the situation calls for it. Jenny is already online.
“My friend Winslet just finished a challenge this afternoon and asked me to beta it." 20th Cent, like most popular games, relies on users to create quests, puzzles and adventures for each other. Both Miles and Jenny prefer “amateur” created content to that designed by self-designated professionals. “Think you can survive the sinking of the Titanic this evening?" Jenny asks. "You know, you look a little like a young Leo DeCaprio.”
“Let’s try it. If I am going down with the ship, I can’t think of anyone I would rather have with me.”
Jenny’s and Miles’s avatars, now looking like Leo and Kate, teleport to the White Star docks where they board the ill-fated ship – Miles playing steerage, Jenny, first class.
Jenny and Miles are capable readers. Due to an early educational program called NCLB, both, in fact, could read before entering kindergarten. But like the majority of their peers, they nearly always choose other media for nearly all their information and entertainment needs. Even video and audio are increasingly less popular than gaming. Miles and his peers demand engagement – not just entertainment – and engagement requires interaction.
Games themselves have evolved becoming an art form and are considered a medium of serious commentary on human nature. The Pulitzer Prize in gaming reflects the respect now paid to the creators of serious games for their plots, characters, settings, tones and themes. The library helps its patrons discover and understand this still relatively new medium, offering game discussion groups, organizing game fan clubs, and arranging game developer talks and seminars. And games, of course, are an accepted and effective pedagogical tool – especially for elementary students.
It takes Miles and Jenny almost three hours and a dozen attempts before both are rescued before freezing in the icy North Atlantic waters. Jenny notes several anachronisms that Winslet might want to fix before public release of this scenario. Miles gives Jenny a virtual kiss good-night, logs off the game and heads off to brush his teeth.
10:30 PM
There is a quiet knock on Miles’s bedroom door.
“Hi, Mom. Come in.”
“What are you reading, sweetie?” Miles’s mom asks when she sees him propped up in bed with an actual paper book on resting on his knees. As an avid reader herself, Mom is always a little disheartened by how little all three of her children read for pleasure and is delighted when actually picks up a book.
“Oh, it an antique paperback called The Diamond Age by a 20th century writer named Stephenson. Pretty interesting how he predicted the OLPC movement that Negroponte and his cult began. Uh, Mom, can we talk a minute?”
‘Sure. What’s going on?” Mom asks, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Don't faint, but I think I might major in library science next year instead of computer programming. Jenny was teasing me this morning about how much time I spend in the library and it got me thinking about how much I do like working there.”
“Well, that is a surprise, Miles! The field and training has changed so much since I got my MLS 25 years ago, and it has really changed since your grandpa got his library degree almost 50 years ago – long before the personal computers were common place, let alone the Internet,“ Miles’s mom observed. “My training seems obsolete, now. Good thing I'm in management where I don't need many technology skills.”
“You know I talked to Grandpa just now, bouncing this idea off him. He said about the same thing – that the tools and roles of the librarian have changed so dramatically, especially in the last 20 years or so. But then he added something. He said that the tools librarians use change, the importance certain tasks librarians perform change, and even the services libraries offer to support their schools and society change. But some things, like the librarian’s mission and values, remain constant. Librarians still support intellectual freedom and fight censorship. Librarians are still about open inquiry and access to information and ideas. Librarians are still about helping people find and use information that is reliable and help them use it to improve their lives. And librarians have always been about helping people help themselves by learning how to be life-long learners and informed decision-makers.”
Miles’s mom rolled her eyes. “Did he also go on about how it’s a librarian’s interpersonal skills, not his technical skills that are the most important?”
“Of course. But you know he also said that he thought I’d make a great librarian and would be proud to have me in ‘his’ field.”
“Well, that’s your grandfather – always trying to recruit the best and the brightest.”
Miles yawned. “Thanks, Mom. I need to get some sleep. My senior project is one day closer to being due so I need to really get cracking on it tomorrow.”
“Good night, baby.”
As his mom left the room, Miles put down his book, switched off the bedside lamp, and spoke to his avatar, “Please wake me up at 7, Marian. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Miles, my love.”
“I’ve gotta turn down those affection settings!” Miles muttered as he rolled over and closed his eyes.
