comment on "20 reasons why..."

Kathryn Greenhill's post on "20 reasons why learning emerging techologies (sic) is part of every librarian's job" stirred up some old memories.

Nearly 20 years ago KRL selected three staff members to have the first internet accounts. Talk about scary! There was no World Wide Web, no graphics; everything was text-based and the search engines, named Veronica and Archie, were so primitive that you could never expect to find anything with them.

Just accessing the internet involved complicated software, UNIX, and a whole set of protocols. It was the starting place. I think it took me a year to master email and another six months to figure out LYNX. Every step got a little easier but the whole process was plain hard work.

After those initial struggles, the Web browsers were a piece of cake. We were instant experts but that seems to be where many of us stopped. Greenhill's 20 reasons made me realize that I have been resting on my laurels. It has been years since I put any real effort into following the evolution of the internet. I've gone from being the wagon train scout to the last wagon in the line. Now it is time to play catch up.