Time has been important through history, long before the 8 hours work, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest. Computers and their related technology were heralded as massive time-savers, lately some are using the term time-wasters.
From Fritz Lang's movie - Metropolis
From the library operation perspective, in pre-computerisation days huge amounts of time was spent shuffling paper and card: issuing & returning, cataloguing & filing, sending letters and overdues. Now a loan is just a swipe of a barcode by staff or patrons themselves, catalogues and searching are generally online, and overdues direct to email boxes, et cetera et cetera.
The tools themselves like databases, e-journals, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 expand the field even further. Libraries can now undertake a whole range of operations they could not conceive a scant few years ago, and offer a plethora of services to complement their stock and trade.
Where to from here?
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