An Abundance of Riches

We live in a world of abundance. The word abundance itself suggests a level of joy in its containing of the word "dance". It is not only the abundance of things or ideas or possibilities but the abundance of love from friends and family that keeps everything going. I've heard people say that things like the internet separate people, isolate people and make the world a colder place but I have not found that to be the case. Never have people been in a position to share their wealth of knowledge and caring over vast geographic and temporal spans. In industrial nations anyone (practically) can interact with anyone. Letter writing is lamented yet things like email and blogging share as much, or more of people's inner life. Sometimes too much. Cell phones are ubiquitous and video calls are becoming more common also (as have early morning bed-head calls).

There is abundance in the choices of ways that we can do things. The open-source movement has made software available, usually for free, that enables anyone to do things like edit images, produce videos and make and share music files. There is no constraint on human creativity. For people who cannot afford computers themselves the public libraries offer free access.

I think the difficulty that most people face lies in the abundance that overwhelms. More and more and better and faster is overwhelming to the average person trying to navigate the basics let alone the more involved possibilities. The role that librarians play in teasing out the essential needs that people have and helping them to identify and develop the basic skills is critical. Librarians need to be the interpreters of the new order so that everyone can be comfortable in Star Trek land.