Library technology helps bridge digital divide

By Joe Johnson
The Collegian

The Henry Madden Library has installed several new tools for digital research since the reconstruction project began in 2005, but the focus on just these advances might be alienating members of the community.

“The library has always been concerned about reaching the widest expanse of people,” reference librarian Monica Fusich said. “We understand that some people won’t have all the technological bells and whistles to take advantage of these new things, but there are other ways for them to get help as well. We are always looking for new ways to help people.”

What started as a redesign to allow books to be requested from the online catalog has evolved into a redesigned home page, an instant messaging service, online Web tutorials and more.

“When I started, we only had one connected PC at UC Riverside and it was just a stand alone,” Fusich said. “In the past, students just accessed the information, used it and that was it. But now there is this greater sense of connectivity, and if the students are going to connect to it and use it in different ways, then I feel we need to step up and allow that, so we are all on the same page.”

The digital divide, as defined by an online encyclopedia, is the gap between those with regular access to digital technologies and those without.

“The library was always heading towards new technology, even before the construction,” community borrower Allan Oakley Shields said. “It has just gotten a bit more sophisticated. I don’t have a problem with it, but people just starting out would. There really needs to be a class on how to learn it all.”

The wide penetration of the Internet today has eliminated a large portion of the digital divide gap, but there are still those who lack the skills necessary to make use of these advances.

“Some of it is self-explanatory, but there always comes a point where you need some aspect of training to understand the technology,” student Miles Hernandez said.

But while training might be beneficial, there is a general assumption that most incoming students already understand this new technology. According to the Fresno State General Catalog, every student is required to have his or her own computer, or to have access to a workstation with all the recommended software.

“There is actually a state mandate that says that we have to provide certain online resources for students,” librarian Paul Priebe said. “What’s difficult is that there are large numbers of people in the community and even on campus that are older or just haven’t had access to this technology and haven’t absorbed it. So how does the library set up a system that accommodates them while at the same time catering to the people that have grown up using this stuff? It’s a balancing act and it’ll stay that way until the population reaches a point where everyone just gets it.”

Priebe, who has worked at the library for 30 years, points out that the University of Hawaii has abandoned its book collection in favor of an entirely digital system.

“We’ll always find reasons to be unhappy,” Priebe said with a laugh. “People will always find new ways to say that computers suck and that it was all better when we used books. But even as they say this, future generations are just going to get unwittingly more and more used to the machine. As material is made available, there is always going to be someone out there to access it. And once this becomes a part of mainstream culture, there won’t even be a difference between the so-called book and computer cultures.”

Students not affected by the digital divide gap, however, are decidedly mixed in their reactions to the new computer resources the library is establishing. Student Julie Pena commented that she liked the idea of being able to receive assistance without having to navigate the library construction.

“I don’t think that many people will use these new things,” student Joseph Zavala said. “I think that generally, students don’t go to the librarians for help. People just keep surfing the Internet until they find what they want. And if you just use the ALIS catalog and Google, you can find plenty of what you need. This extra stuff is nice, but I probably won’t use it.”

And though the gap between those who understand the technology and those who don’t may still exist, the time might soon be approaching when this issue has deteriorated for good.

“I use the excuse of age to explain why I don’t get this stuff,” Priebe said, “but there are many people my age and older who understand this technology. I’m just not one of them. Students 40 years younger than me are going to be more fluent with this technology than I am and I imagine when they reach my age, they are still going to be building on this knowledge.”

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