Sunday, March 12, 2006
I've been out of sorts for several days, hence the relative radio silence here. I don't quite know what's going on except I've been waking up from a full night's sleep still tired, which is aggravating and, over the last few days, all my coworkers and the members of the public seem to have come straight from intensive workshops on how to piss Loz off although, to be fair to them, in my current mood they achieve that merely by existing. When I'm at the larger library I can normally have some success finding an out-of-the-way corner to hide from people and get on with my work without disturbing anyone. At the smaller library that's just not possible.
Still, it does make me wonder...
There was a story earlier in the week about how in the young adult sector more time was spent online than watching telly. Considering a lot of the crap that's on the main channels these days that's hardly surprising. Rebus and The Greatest, Bestest Muppets Show Evah! made me watch ITV for the first time in years. But when almost all of the ITV output is based around nostalgia, Corrie, shows where the stars of Corrie sing easy listening classics from the 1950s, shows about the best moments from when Corrie stars sang easy listening classics from the 1950s, well it's an open goalmouth isn't it? Could we really have the possibility of a situation where ITV goes under?
At a training course in January we were reminded that libraries do a good job of catering to the elderly female market, and they're dying off now. So are public libraries the ITV of public services? Could we be little more than internet cafes in a decades time, people that can buy their books, people who can't watch 24 Murdochvision?
According to a friend, my blog is blocked on the public terminals in all Cornwall libraries, presumably for such verboten terms as 'gay' and 'tranny'. Of course, in Cornwall they only open the library if a black cat doesn't walk in front of the manager on his or her way to work.
Still, it does make me wonder...
There was a story earlier in the week about how in the young adult sector more time was spent online than watching telly. Considering a lot of the crap that's on the main channels these days that's hardly surprising. Rebus and The Greatest, Bestest Muppets Show Evah! made me watch ITV for the first time in years. But when almost all of the ITV output is based around nostalgia, Corrie, shows where the stars of Corrie sing easy listening classics from the 1950s, shows about the best moments from when Corrie stars sang easy listening classics from the 1950s, well it's an open goalmouth isn't it? Could we really have the possibility of a situation where ITV goes under?
At a training course in January we were reminded that libraries do a good job of catering to the elderly female market, and they're dying off now. So are public libraries the ITV of public services? Could we be little more than internet cafes in a decades time, people that can buy their books, people who can't watch 24 Murdochvision?
According to a friend, my blog is blocked on the public terminals in all Cornwall libraries, presumably for such verboten terms as 'gay' and 'tranny'. Of course, in Cornwall they only open the library if a black cat doesn't walk in front of the manager on his or her way to work.
