The technology was there, it just hadn t found a use in higher education where the chalkboard was standard and perfectly adequate for most classroom needs. When we look at history, it is sobering to learn that much of the so-called cutting edge technology we are using is fifty years old or older or that although the technology has improved, the idea and early use, vanguard use, is more than a hundred years old, to cite the fax as a prime example. Transistor radios, VCRs, faxes, cell phones, and camcorders are recent examples of this phenomenon. In a sense, yes, but the trick is to find creative, innovative ways to use such technology if being in the vanguard is to have any value. Armed with the knowledge that even the smallest of libraries can improve services through technology, the next step is to find a service niche and the matching technology.
Ideas become important.
Librarians learned a long time ago that it was silly to re-invent the wheel every time a change was considered. We have a record of asking one another. Invariably, there is a positive reply. This is how library services evolves and this is why it is impossible to plot accurately just who is doing what that is in the vanguard. Let me give you some examples.