Recognizing diversity of perspectives, the complexity of technology
For this week’s Choose Your Own Adventure format, I read some recent research from Pew on the state of technology usage and perception. I also read through Pew’s collection of thoughts from futurists on their predictions for how technology use will change and affect us in coming years. One fact that stuck with me was the huge diversity of perspectives on issues including social media’s effects on democracy and people’s awareness of artificial intelligence in everyday life, (Anderson et al., 2021; Silver & Clancy, 2022).
The questions Silver and Clancy asked focused on people’s perceptions and attitudes. This led me to wonder what recent research has been done to assess causality between technology use and real world outcomes or other social indicators. I then thought about how broad and interdisciplinary this area of research is. For example, I did a quick keyword search for articles on social media usage’s effects on mental health in SJSU’s OneSearch, and the results yielded articles from journals in communications and media, human-computer interaction, education, political communication, medicine and more.
Given the complexity of the social and political effects of emerging technologies, how can public libraries make informed decisions about how to integrate them into their services? I’m primarily referring to more consequential players in our information ecosystem like privately-owned social media sites and generative AI. This module prompted me to reflect on the feasibility of devising a completely informed strategy within the time constraints of everyday public service. (For example, the library where I work hired a consulting company to help our library system create a Technology Roadmap. Due to budget and staffing issues, very few points in the plan have been achieved.) Many of our readings for this course so far have touched on frameworks to approach this issue, like listening to the interests of the community and the expertise and lived experiences of staff at all levels of the library system.
How can public library workers balance the need to meet people where they’re at – scrolling on platforms and dialoging with AI chatbots – with the mission to teach the public about the social and political facets of information search in the internet age?
With these technology perception statistics percolating in my mind, I came across a Linkedin post by Lauren Pressley, the Dean of Z. Smith Reynold’s Library at Wake Forest University, (2026). Pressley argues the role of libraries today is no longer to provide access to information, as internet-equipped smartphones fill that need. Instead, libraries’ role today is to promote discernment, “knowing what to ask, noticing what a confident answer leaves out, and sensing when something is wrong.” She continues, “When you know something the challenge is being able to say with clarity why you think what you think.”
Though I’ve always recognized that libraries play a role as educators, Pressley frames education as libraries primary responsibility, not access. This conceptualization helped me better understand how libraries should approach emerging technology. It’s not necessarily a question of how to adopt the technology into library services. It’s a matter of how to teach people how these technologies affect our information landscape and the ability to discern. For me, thinking with education and discernment as the goal instead of centering on the technology itself can be a more useful framework for approaching library service.
References
Anderson, J., Rainie, L., & Vogels, E. (2021). Experts say the ‘new normal’ in 2025 will be far more tech-driven, presenting more big challenges. Pew Research. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
Pressley, L. (2026, June 30). Building the conditions. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-conditions-lauren-pressley-gxsoe/
Silver, L and Clancy, L. (2022). In advanced and emerging economies, similar views on how social media affects democracy and society. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/06/in-advanced-and-emerging-economies-similar-views-on-how-social-media-affects-democracy-and-society/
Hey Molly, thanks for this thought-provoking reflection. I love the Pressley quote and am going to mull on that for a while. Encouraging and unlocking discernment as a primary responsibility of the library feels right to me, too. Although I agree it can and should be serious, especially when it comes to the potentially harmful effects of social media and AI, it can also be light and fun. I just saw a sign for ukulele kits at my local library and smiled because maybe learning the ukulele can be part of someone’s journey to becoming more discerning and more themself!
Hi @nancylee2026! Thank you for the reminder that building an awareness of information skills can be fun and light. I always think about the many fiber art programs at my library. The regular patrons who attend have built such a vibrant and dynamic information community. It’s a safe space for connection and learning.
@djcrumbo so glad you highlighted Pressley and explored the Pew Research. I appreciate how you tied this to planning for implementing various technologies and shared what you’ve done at your library.