Saturday 26th May 2007: Phoenix from the Ashes

My laptop had been doing strange things (she says technically): performing "data prevention executions" on particular applications and stopping me accessing the Internet even though I could ping the router and was getting excellent WiFi signal (she says now sounding like an anorak).
Having no Internet access I had to resort to good old Thomson's Local to find a laptop repair specialist. No virus detected just lots of application instability - a number of updates had not been properly executed so a total system rebuild was done for me.
Four days without a laptop was like having lost the use of both arms. This brought home to me how much I've become part of the Google generation. At the same time it highlighted the continued importance of traditional paper resources and traditional library skills in using them. All this fits in with a presentation I'm working on for two senior managers who don't see the need for a library or librarians when everyone can find what they need on Google for themselves.
My working title(s) for the presentation is "Amazoogle / Googleization and redefining the library" The other title only in my head and not written down anywhere at work is "Guide to library services for the technically efficient but educationally sub literate"
It is scary to think that some people in very senior posts think that an organisation like ours can source reliable authoritative information to contribute to decision making of national importance only from Google.