Up the Downward Compatibility Staircase

I got a new laptop computer over the weekend. Exciting, yes?

Not exactly. Yes, it's nice to have all that extra memory and storage. I was looking forward to it and it's great. But there's a down side.

It's called Windows Vista.

Yeah, you've heard the stories. Turns out that they're true. In the interest of progress Microsoft appears to have upgraded itself out of compatibility with things like my not-very-old Netgear wireless router. So my fancy new laptop can't connect with the Internet except through a cumbersome Ethernet cord. So much for progress.

In the computer world it's called "lacking downward compatibility," and it's a common problem with Vista, judging by all the complaints I've seen. What it means is that the new stuff can't talk to the old stuff very well, if at all. What it implies is that I may have to upgrade my other technology (i.e., purchase a new wireless router) just to use Vista.

Downward compatibility isn't a problem just for computer geeks, though. It's something libraries are grappling with as well. In our case, the newer technology—online databases, the Internet, e-books, talking books, and learning software on CD-ROMs—sometimes don't connect all that well with the "old" technology: books.

Part of the problem is that there are so many new forms of information storage and retrieval that it's difficult to juggle them all. Or juggling them comprises an additional burden. A good case in point is this LATI class, with its blogs, e-mail, discussion boards, and assignment modules. Jumping from Web page to Web page has made me yearn for an old-fashioned, linear syllabus to guide me. It's also led me to form some new questions. Just because it's electronic, does that make it better? Just because we can blog, does that mean we should?

But there are other ways lack of downward compatibility plays out in libraries. Many teachers in my community—doubtless frustrated with students cribbing their assignments from questionable Web sites—now routinely require their pupils to use at least one or two books as resources for research projects. Their definition of "book" is pretty straightforward: information that is printed on actual paper with actual ink, and bound into a volume.

Problem is, many of today's "books" don't fit those specifications, and other information resources are starting to move away from the ink-on-paper model as well. What that means is that volumes on the shelves aren't being replaced as often, so many are less current than their electronic versions. It also means that a broad selection of printed materials on a given topic may no longer be available, because they've already been supplanted by online versions.

So how can we offer current information that also satisfies educators' demand for published information with integrity? Clearly we need to start thinking "outside the covers" if we are to meet this demand in the future.

But first we have to recognize that, as seductive as the new technology may be, it's still expected to be downward compatible, to serve the "old" requirements of a good education.