"I'm not a Luddite, but..."

When I think about my relationship to technology, this phrase immediately pops into my mind. I just received my MLIS from UCLA, returning to school more than 20 years after graduating from college. Several times over the past two years I’ve heard classmates preface their statements with “I’m not a Luddite, but…” and they would go on to explain why they didn’t have a Facebook page, preferred vinyl over MP3 downloads, or otherwise justified their resistance to some form of technology.

After looking up the genesis of this phrase (the American Heritage Dictionary defines a Luddite as “one who is opposed to technical or technological change”) I wondered, Where do I fall on the Luddite-Techie spectrum?

On the one hand, I’ve been happily using computers for more than (gulp!) 25 years. I took Pascal programming in 1983 and worked my way through college providing sales support for IBM PCs (fully loaded with 512K of memory). I’ve had internet access in my home for about 15 years, check in on Facebook throughout the day and have already used at least half of our “21 Things.”

On the other hand, I’m not a gadget person. I don’t have an iPhone or an eReader and only last week started using my son’s cast-off iPod (more an objection to putting things in my ears than an aversion to technology).

But I marvel at all that Web 2.0 can do and am excited about learning how we can use these “21 Things” in the library. I look forward to working with you all.