2008 Woodie Awards
Libraries take byte of future
Laura Shatzer - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 7/25/07 Section: Metro
Jen Wolfe went to iSchool - short for "Information School" - at the University of Washington by night. By day, she catalogued Jimi Hendrix memorabilia at a Seattle museum of American pop music. Now the former rock-band bassist is a librarian in the UI Digital Library Services, working to bring books and documents to the masses via the Internet.
For the 35-year-old, her position and her alma mater are evidence of the ever-evolving field of library science.
Jim Elmborg, the director of the UI School of Library and Information Science, said the old-fashioned notion of a library as a repository of books is fading rapidly, as tension builds between older, more traditional circles of librarians and a new "Web 2.0 generation."
"Young people see it as more of an open system," he said. "It's very much about letting users have more choices and inviting users in."
Last August, the UI library school was awarded a three-year, nearly $1 million grant to recruit and train 20 budding digital librarians.
Elmborg said the number of applicants to the UI's graduate program has increased recently, with more students arriving immediately after earning bachelor's degrees, but he noted that library science remains a career many stumble upon later in life.
With degrees in English and African American studies in hand, former teacher Jeaneal Weeks became director of the Hiawatha Public Library in 2003. Now earning a master's in library science, the 44-year old enrolled in User Education: Multimedia - a hands-on course in which students use Photoshop, create podcasts, and make videos in iMovie - to keep up to date with the latest trends.
"I feel like I'm one of the least technologically savvy people in this room, but I've made huge strides," she said on Tuesday afternoon after finishing her web portfolio ahead of schedule.
For librarians such as Wolfe and Greg Prickman, a UI Special Collections librarian, part of their division's draw is the academic environment.
For the 35-year-old, her position and her alma mater are evidence of the ever-evolving field of library science.
Jim Elmborg, the director of the UI School of Library and Information Science, said the old-fashioned notion of a library as a repository of books is fading rapidly, as tension builds between older, more traditional circles of librarians and a new "Web 2.0 generation."
"Young people see it as more of an open system," he said. "It's very much about letting users have more choices and inviting users in."
Last August, the UI library school was awarded a three-year, nearly $1 million grant to recruit and train 20 budding digital librarians.
Elmborg said the number of applicants to the UI's graduate program has increased recently, with more students arriving immediately after earning bachelor's degrees, but he noted that library science remains a career many stumble upon later in life.
With degrees in English and African American studies in hand, former teacher Jeaneal Weeks became director of the Hiawatha Public Library in 2003. Now earning a master's in library science, the 44-year old enrolled in User Education: Multimedia - a hands-on course in which students use Photoshop, create podcasts, and make videos in iMovie - to keep up to date with the latest trends.
"I feel like I'm one of the least technologically savvy people in this room, but I've made huge strides," she said on Tuesday afternoon after finishing her web portfolio ahead of schedule.
For librarians such as Wolfe and Greg Prickman, a UI Special Collections librarian, part of their division's draw is the academic environment.
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