2007

Next Generation Libraries: The 2.0 Phenomenon

Next Generation Libraries: The 2.0 Phenomenon
Stephen Abram
Joe James

Stephen’s Lighthouse blog for slides

Change is coming and everyone will be effected.

FaceBook – get your name and face out there. Let them know your name. Stand behind your word. Get libraries to evolve by de-cloaking. Show who they are and what their specialties are.

MySpace merging with Yahoo. Thompson just bought Reuters.

Google Scholar serves your students up to advertisers.

Advertisers pay to be on first page.

Libraries are more complicated than Fed Ex. They only deliver one way. We deliver it out and get it back.

IM and Meebo allow you to have a conversation. IM research increase risk students learning because they are familiar with this technology.

Is it good to know a fact that is wrong or the process that allows you to find the fact.

US is most far behind on technology.

Google does who, what, where and when very well.

Libraries should focus on how and why questions – improve quality of question and user experience.

How does information become knowledge? Learning.

Put it in your own personal skills.

Make learning happen.

People’s learning styles are hard coded in their genes. Ex. Dr is experienced based.

How do they really learn? Ex. Auditory – have streaming, podcasts, etc.

Nursing – visual have videos.

Library – discovery, learning, experience,

Second Life = virtual world

Avatar – way you want to be – he has full head of hair.

See the beginning of things. See the difference.

1. Whole world is moving to phone being dominant device.

Projectors size of sugar cube in every phone.
China every book on e-book. Everything is getting smaller. Library is where you are at not where you go.

2.5 million books on the web.

He questions binding periodicals. With full-text databases, do you need to bind your periodicals??

Format agnostic generation – everyone under 25 years of age.

Federated search. The user makes the choice.

Broad band is moving through electrical system. Wireless for free. Entire cities are wireless for free – his city
Montreal.

De-cloak. Show expertise. Work as a team and tell of others expertise.

Web 2.0 is our way to move forward.

Largest generation in history and possibly the most intelligent.

Look at Learning 2.0 system. 400 libraries already. Make a U2 video.

Don’t study something to death – just do it. Death is not our original goal.

Joe James – Seattle Public Library &
University of Washington

You don’t need a degree to be a good librarian but it doesn’t hurt.

Information Environment – how do we best serve our populations?

It is continually evolving. A market place but more.

America is aging. Non-hispanic whites will be a minority. No majority by the middle of this century. The demography is changing. Everyone thinks everything is on the Internet. Free, easy quick and good enough – Google. What is better than that?

Don’t try to beat them.

Privacy and intellectual freedom – young people care less about their privacy. Young people give themselves up for free ringtones.

Way people think of Libraries – good books, place for children, place to read e-mail.

We bore them.

Biggest enemy of librarianship is INDIFFERENCE. Rather be hated than ignored.

Librarianship evolves to meet these challenges. We have to be worth it, necessary and make a convincing case. Must have all three of them.

We do such a good job in library buildings: sense of community, sense of place, warm feelings. People like libraries.

What do I do?

Anything but do something. Whatever you do must advance one cause. Advance the information needs of your community. We should be the first they think of when they have an information need. We should be on the top of their minds. Central to their information lives. Advance the cause of being central to the information lives of your community.

20 years ago the library came 11th on the list to find information.

Who else stands up for intellectual freedom.

Edit the entry on wikipedia. “We can take them.” Cite your sources. Fight for quality.

Make a video.

MySpace and Facebook – get recognized. Try it. Tell people about it.

Second life – build libraries here. Second Library. “Joe James said it first” Second life is all about creativity. Build creative objects – music, drama, art, history, etc. Will have to be organized and stored – build a library dna so they will be organized

Learn.

Play – ex. Twitter.

Succeed and Fail.

Tell people about it – blogs, conferences, etc. Leadership does not mean success. Can learn when things are going horribly wrong.

Use the tools. Don’t try to beat them at what they do good.

Focus on services to the young. Sets the pattern for their lives.

Take time with people at the reference time.

Reading and Literacy. Reading advocacy.

Serving new members of the community.

Advocate for information freedom and privacy.

Rethink priorities – there is a lot we can do but we may have to give stuff up. Decide what makes sense. We don’t give up easily but might need to let go to embrace the new.

Focus on Quality.

The Library is the staff that makes it work. The values it embodies. It just happens to be housed in that building. The library is always trying to leak out of that building – bookmobiles, ILL, etc. Now we are OUT. There are things on the Internet that we can do more effectively than we could just in that building. The library is the interaction – somewhere and everywhere. The online presence must be better than what you do in person. In person, they have already made the commitment. Online, you must serve them better or they will be gone.

Librarianship takes the human record and saves it. We make humanity more human. Be part of that mission. Be central to their information needs.

iSchool

Q & A

DRM – copyright management – free stuff coming from Amazon and Apple.

Identity management and version control.