She replaces Dr. Ruth Jackson, who left in December 1998 after a 10-year administration that achieved the computerization of many library resources. O'Brien is concerned about the impact on library users and librarians of the enormous changes taking place in modern libraries. We're going to be running two libraries for a long time. We'll still need to take care of print materials and, at the same time, we have to figure out how to move ahead with technology. A library has people, interactive services, not just access mechanisms.
Technology extends the library's reach.
Human interaction should be a cornerstone in education. There must always be a place for instruction in libraries. We're pretty good about talking with people at the reference desk in a non-threatening way. The culture of librarians is changing along with library facilities and their holdings. O'Brien remembers how, at the University of Tennessee in the early 1970s, librarians observed a ritual surrounding the card catalog.