Monday, August 21, 2006

Books and Technology

Another lovely weekend spent at a place I would gladly die in: the library, where else. You can’t find another vehicle for meditation, reflection and calmness like the face of an icy lake for a non-religious guy. I can almost sniff out the rows of dusty old books in the air now. Books live ad infinitum, but sadly, a lifetime cannot suffice to savour all. Relinquishing your individuality and soul to get into a literary character is a humbling experience. The highest order: to see what he sees, to feel what he feels. A great novel comes with rich visualisation and characterisation.

Now, be warned: the rest of this post is a steep descent into boredom, or are you already yawning?

I will be taking a paper on Business Information Management in December. So some work is needed now to churn out something intelligible then. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is the starting point in developing an Information System strategy.

I would urge the National Library Board (NLB) to consider building a web base system where noteworthy read could be recommended to a borrower according to his preference. For example, if he has recently borrowed the novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, other titles of Dystopian fiction could be flashed on the borrowing page once he logged in, or at best, emailed to him.

Given its IT experience in the existing internet system, the vast customer data base and the loan records, we may even borrow a read from the comfort of our home; let the books be despatched to the readers instead. Go ahead, charge a small fee; I don’t mind.

I would think that with this system, the IT strategy will be better positioned to support the business objective of bringing libraries closer to the public in promoting a knowledgeable and engaged society.

All said, with technology changing everyday, and possibly increasing interest in e-book, we may see the end of paperback and hardcover.

2 comments:

d said...

i know what you mean about libraries, i love them too.. its like being in a candy store but everything is free :)

happy reading.. :)

mrdes said...

Same to u:-)