The 2 posts we read for this week were spot on in a lot of ways. I agree with the view that librarians and other library staff should be able to offer support to users for any service the library has, and that has to include computing. I also agree that there need to be common sense boundaries to the support that we provide to patrons. This is true in all areas of library service, not just new technologies. Just the other day a patron came to the circ desk and asked me if she could leave a car key for someone to come and pick up later on in the day. I was not willing to provide that service, due to the myriad complications and liability issues I could forsee arising from that situation, so I said no. Same goes for computers. If someone asked me for help setting up a Yahoo! account or creating a table in a document, I could probably handle that, and I think that's within the scope of what I can be expected to do.
I like the parallel the author draws between libraries' active participation in literacy campaigns and the libraries' responsibility to offer support for computer technologies. Libraries have traditionally offered workshops, tutoring and support for their patrons, and that should continue. A big difference is that these new technologies are new for nearly everyone; librarians included. This means that library staff will need to make an effort to learn the new technologies, and pass that knowledge on to users.
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Campus security would take any key you give them. To get it back, you have to show your id and a good description about the key. :))
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