LITA’s Top Tech Trends - Tech Futurists Assess the State of Library-related Technology by George M Eberhart

The panel assembled by ALA’s Library Information Technology Association (LITA) for its Top Tech Trends predictions on Sunday afternoon had its work cut out for it. Not only was it the division’s 50th anniversary, but moderator Maurice Coleman, tech trainer at Harford County (Md.) Library, put panelists through a lightning pace with questions worthy of the McLaughlin Group.
The panelists were Blake Carver, LYRASIS; Lauren Comito, Queens (N.Y.) Library; Laura Costello, Stony Brook (N.Y.) University; Carolyn Coulter, PrairieCat Library Consortium; and Nick Grove, Meridian (Idaho) Library District.
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Here are some of the questions:
What is the next top tech trend?

• Comito: Teaching underlying concepts, not specific devices.
• Costello: Real-time library data: What are patrons’ favorite chairs? Is the library busy now?
• Grove: Virtual reality and how it will play out in libraries.
• Coulter: Balancing access and privacy.
• Carver: Super-fast, super-easy app development; huge, cross-platform software that anyone can design and implement.

What is on the horizon in IT privacy and security?

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