Next week, I'll be giving the wrap-up talk at the spring conference of the Eastern New York Chapter of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ENY/ACRL). The theme of the conference is "Who's Driving the Technology Bus?" Apparently the information superhighway metaphor is still alive and well, and it's populated by buses. One good thing about buses is the fact that the passengers are taking the journey together.

Besides speaking, my other duty that day will be to facilitate one of four breakout sessions. Mine will be "Missing the Bus: Making Sure the Right Technology Doesn't Pass You By."

I've been thinking about this. A consideration of "the right technology" isn't quite as simple as it may seem. This reminds me of the Emerson quote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." How do you define a consistency that is "foolish"? Unfortunately, Emerson never explains. But next week, I'll have to improve on Emerson. What makes a technology "right"? I'll be working with the group to figure this out. If the conference organizers were hoping we'd take an Emersonian approach to their topic, I admire their tactics.

So I've been preparing for this session by thinking about the implication of what is right. How do you know that the right thing has passed you by?

My first thought is that it's pointless to answer this question without first considering the context. There needs to be a reason why something is right. My second thought is that you need to identify what you can potentially do, and should aspire to do, before you can figure this out. Needless to say, these answers will vary from one library to the next.

What's right for you is your context. This includes your mission and library-wide goals. It also includes your assessment of user needs, and a strong understanding of the technologies that might accommodate these needs. You may already have good things in place that you can build on. The conditions in your library are crucial - you can only implement on site what these will accommodate. Conditions include your infrastructure, staffing, skills, funds, time, and so on. Maybe you'll need to outsource some of your technology needs, to your campus technology unit or a third-party service. You may attempt to collaborate with other libraries.

In a more general sense, you need staff that stays on top of things. You need people with a clear-eyed view of your specific situation, and the creativity, vision and will to propose initiatives. You need a culture that encourages and accommodates proposals that bubble up from below. You also need a culture of flexibility, one that is willing to reorder priorities, find resources and support experimentation to bring about change. All of these things, all together, can turn a technology initiative into something that is "right."

I've been trying to think of a formula that summarizes this. I've come up with the Three A's. (Might as well try to make it catchy.)

Assessment. Library staff assesses the needs of its users and the current technology scene. These findings are considered in the context of the library's mission, current offerings and capabilities. Bottom line, this activity never stops.

Agreement. Administration and staff come to an agreement about the technology initiatives they want to pursue.

Action. The library creates the conditions necessary for implementation. Implementations proceed.

It may look easy, but of course it's not. It takes a lot of hard, ceaseless work. Any one of the above can go wrong. It may be a struggle to get administration on board. Not enough of the right staff are willing to participate. Your enthusiastic librarians are not given the tools or the time to move ahead. Other priorities are pressing. And so on. Or maybe, despite all the good will in the world, it just isn't possible to move ahead in the way you've envisioned. You may need to regroup, modify your ideas, and try again.

I would also argue that, in spite of your best efforts, right technologies will pass you by. You'll never be able to do it all. You can't, and you shouldn't. There will also be compromises. Sometimes there are things that are simply out of reach. Maybe the definition of "right" is based on a hearty realism mixed in with the best that you can do.

These are my thoughts going into the conference. Now I'm interested in hearing what the participants have to say.