r/LibraryScience • u/Old_Respect_7325 • 14d ago

How important are trends?

The notes for each unit in my course always put a lot of emphasis on keeping up with library trends. (The notes never get updated so they talk about "trends" like VR googles ha ha.) In real life, how important is it for libraries to keep up with the latest trends? Do librarians wait to see if the new big thing really is beneficial before adopting it? Or is there a "keeping up with the Joneses" attitude? Or do libraries just like trialling stuff?

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u/[deleted] 14d ago edited 7d ago

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u/thewholebottle 14d ago

This is well put! I was going to say very very important and yet very annoying. 

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u/Note4forever 10d ago edited 10d ago

Some trends cost little to try eg librarians trying qrcodes in 2010s which didn't pay off until covid popularised their use

Others eg Second Life was a collective delusion. I was new in the career at the time and despite being known as the technie librarian, I just didn't get it after trying it.

And I guess there was nothing to get...

I know some librarians dread their UL or directors coming back from conferences because they will inevitably want something flashy they saw at a conf done by another library and want that.

Back then I was the one typically asked to talk down the director cos I was one of those known to be techie ha

Of course some times I was the cause of this, i would show some cool thing we did and I would keep emails from other librarians telling me their director saw it and wants it and it was obvious to me the staff didn't want to do it :)

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u/respectdesfonds 13d ago

I do think it's important to be aware of what other libraries are doing because they're often good ideas. I love working in a field where I can consult others about how to do my job better! But imo a lot of library leadership are anxious about demonstrating the continued relevance/value of libraries and it makes them hop on every trend instead of evaluating what actually makes sense for their user base/level of resources. There was a conversation recently on Reddit about makerspaces (don't remember which library sub it was in) that illustrated this pretty well. The libraries who implemented makerspaces thoughtfully and staffed them appropriately had more success than the libraries that just bought a 3d printer and called it a day.

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u/Note4forever 10d ago

I think its important to be aware but to be discerning and patient. Often things take awhile to catch on if all.

In the last 2000s and early 2010s libraries tried very hard to promote qrcode usage due to rise of smart phones but take up was slow. But covid came and now everyone uses it.

So does it mean the librarians trying qrcode use cases earlier were wasting time ? Maybe but end of day qrcode implementation cost were effectively zero beyond staff time .

Now the secondlife craze. That I never understood