Technology, innovation and the social web: the value of dimension in the public library. The case of the Muskiz library

Abstract

The evolution of information technology and its relationship with libraries is reviewed, from the end of the twentieth century to the present, with a discussion of libaries´ response to technological changes, especially the internet and the web. A case study focuses on a small public library in Muskiz (Bizkaia/Biscay province), and its use of the social web to offer new library services. Cheaper access to technology may shift the capacity for innovation, from centres that have resources to acquire and manage proprietary solutions to institutions that modify their products and processes using open web services. We describe how scale affects a library´s access to technology and positions it in technological discontinuity: in the 20th century, technology was on the side of larger structures but currently they are penalized.