The Digital Divide

So. Last night I sat down with my laptop to blog and my boyfriend came up from the basement (AKA Man Cave) and asked what I was about to do. I told him blog. He asked, "About what?" and I said, "The Digital Divide," and he said, "That sounds dumb." I responded telling him that HE was dumb (like a mature 31 year old woman would) and then he said, "That sounds like a nerd term."

Sigh. I suppose it is.

I guess I just feel that I've encountered the Digital Divide in a whole new way of late. Before, whenever I thought about the Digital Divide, I always stereotyped. I thought of older people who haven't been in the workforce in a long time, therefore haven't had the necessity of updating themselves with technology and technological tools. I also thought about senior citizens who may have thought the advances in technology were a passing phase or something. And until now, mostly I've only encountered those people who have little to no technological skills, and realized this only once they were out of a job. Since many MANY employers are now asking for emailed or electronically submitted resumes and applications, much of the public service work I've done up until this point has included assistance in filling out these forms and creating resumes for people on computers, since they don't know how.

So we're talking Digital Divide, we're talking patrons. We're talking about my previous experience with a pretty specific portion of the patron population, meaning those trying to get back into the workforce and need to have basic computing skills to even submit a resume for a CHANCE at an interview.

Now I'm experiencing something different. For the first time, I'm working at a place that hasn't updated their computers in years. As a result, many of the things don't work, or don't offer patrons the tools they need. None of the computers where I work (right now) have Microsoft Office on them. That means no word processing, no presentation making, no excel chart creating....nothing. This includes the STAFF PC's! (OMG that's a whole other blog post about creative ways around not having the software you need for formatting things.) At any rate, since the patrons haven't had the computers, and the staff hasn't had the computers, or the software to keep up to date on certain things...I'm experiencing more of the digital divide with staff and colleagues within my new job. It's at times frustrating, but more than anything disheartening. It makes me really frustrated for the people who work at this library, who don't have the skills or information they've needed in order to "keep up" in the library world. As a result, I feel a little disconnected from them and find myself wanting to help- but feeling that it's not my place to instruct someone on how to copy and paste, or use Google Docs, or organize their internet browser bookmarks.

There are just SO MANY SHORTCUTS in the digital realm. Technology allows people to do things faster, more efficiently, MULTI-TASK! And so a lot of the time I feel really weird in my new job, wanting to have several browser windows open (including my email and calendar), consulting web resources for patron interactions, etc. I'm kind of an anomaly it seems.

And it's not their fault! I mean, had I not been given the tools in my job, and the trust to "Go forth and Learn" wherever you were, on desk, off desk, etc.-- would I know what I know now? That's what I wonder. I mean, I have a computer at home. I love my iPhone and I love gadgets in my personal life, so it just all kind of melts together now. There is not so much a line between what I use Professionally (for my job) and what I use personally (at home). Facebook has colleagues and it's often where I learn about interesting articles about libraries. It's not just where I post pictures of my adorable baby. It's where I connect with people.

So basically what I'm wondering: do a lot of my new colleagues just avoid technology in their personal lives too? Or is there that big of a divide between their personal and professional lives that they may have a super cool fancy phone, and still not know how to cut and paste into a Word document? I find that hard to believe. I don't know. It's just puzzling to me how Information folks, us nerdy librarians who would like to know as much as possible...how they could avoid wanting to learn more? To become more helpful to patrons?

I'm not speaking about anyone specific, just making an overall observation due to a couple of interactions I've had. It just seems that there are two camps where I work: those who know and use computers, software and technology on a regular basis, for pretty much everything- and those that don't.

I just wonder how long "those that don't" will stay that way. Will they change? Will they want to learn? I think they'll have to once we get the tools to offer patrons....we'll see!