| In a small town library in Massachusetts, in recent months there have been
several problems with their computer catalog system. For unknown reasons the system keeps
crashing. Users are unable to access the catalog from a remote site, and even within the
library itself, the system is inaccessible even to the library staff. One member of this
group happened to frequent the library on a day that the system was not working to get a
book for a class. The library staff was unable to even look up the book in their system,
because it had also crashed. Fortunately for the patron, the librarian happened to be
familiar enough with the collection to be able to find the necessary title. There was
apparently no internal system for the librarians to use in order to look up a book.
Several patrons seemed frustrated with this inconvenience, and the library only had one
staff person working the desk, creating even more problems for the users. It was only
the users who regularly visited the library who were able to find the information they
needed. |
| A couple of weeks later, when linking to the catalog once again from a remote source,
the following letter popped up from the library director:View Letter |
| According to Everett Rogers, the library staff appears to still be in the stage of
implementation with the innovation. With new technologies such as this, often it isn't
simply a question of adopting new technology, but a long path of trouble-shooting and
working to fine-tune the system for public use. Unfortunately, as the Executive Director
points out in the letter, in a situation like this, the public's perception of this new
technology is adversely effected by its quirky application. In Shannon's model, this would
be the influence of "noise," which slows the acceptance of the new innovations by the
public. Rogers defines the individuals involved as falling into four categories:
(1) Innovators, (2) Early Adopters, (3) Early Majority, (4) Late Majority, and (5)
Laggards. This particular library falls into the Late Majority Category. Most libraries
within Massachusetts have long ago worked out these quirks, but there are still enough who
haven't to qualify this library as still falling in the Late Majority, versus the Laggards
category. |
| In order to over-come this type of problem, it would have been necessary for
someone within the library staff to have already had a more advanced knowledge of this
particular innovation, to anticipate that the library would need more advanced computers
in order to maintain this system. This would have required more training, and therefore
more money to implement the new program. It is unfortunate that for the Library users of
this community, their perception of this technology is going to be very negative because
of its inadequate implementation. With any innovation, the key to the success of its
implementation is ensuring the library staff fully understands all of its needs before
trying to implement it. |