These are all great things, but we are also impacted by some of Rick Anderson's icebergs. From my experience, there are plenty of patrons (usually Baby Boomers or Classics) who would rather have a print resource than try to follow my Google-Fu or navigate one of our online databases. That and the fact that many patrons are apprehensive if not downright against attempting to tackle the basics of computer use, not to mention the Internet.
While I adore the idea of the "knowledge spa" that Dr. Wendy Schultz presents, I'm not sure what to think about her Library 3D. I'm a digital native in the strictist sense (not the generational one - I'm a Gen-Y, but the sort that values the same things their parent's valued, if I remember my Virtual High School training), but maybe I've been living in the only bit of habitible space that is under a rock on the digital playground. Before reading this, I had no idea what Library 3D is. After reading it, all I can think of is a serious drain on my computer's processing speed. Will a swing in the way we interface with the internet turn everyone into audio-visual learners? I still enjoy reading text on a screen, and while at times I'm sure I'd understand it better if it were being patiently and verbally explained to me (take cataloging for example), I can't imagine our society as anything but text-based. Even my online recreation is text-based, but I could just be the odd one out in that case.
It's either that, or I am just that notorious (and lonely) torch-bearer for King Alfred the Great.
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