Designing Collection Experiences:4. Concentration

Roy Kenagyrjkenagy@netins.net

www.whatwouldranganathando.orgOctober 22, 2013

Waterloo Public Library

Rhizomes

List as many collection development practices as you can. Which ones do you prefer?

• Purchase alerts• Make displays • – presentation• Pay attention to what’s going on

in pop culture• Format innovation – Nooks,

playaway views• Looking at other libraries,

bookstores, Menards• Listening to the readers• Consulting core collection

sources: Wilson, etc.• Looking back at circulations of

an author’s previous titles• Cleaning up the appearance of

the collection

• Getting the right amount of copies• Consulting reports from your scat

tables• Accessibility• Using availability ratings to design

your space more effectively• Partnering/grant seeking:

pursuing money• Physical layout of the collection• Ensuring readers can find what

they want• Considering your collection

failures• Having a purchase request

policy/procedure

Cedar Rapids Public Library, a long time ago.

Image from Caitlin at http://mychocolatemoments.com/

Lolly Parker Eggers. A Century of Stories: The History of the Iowa City Public Library, 1896-1997. Iowa City: Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation, 1997.

What are the advantages & disadvantages of collection management by subject specialists?

Advantages• Ownership of the area assigned• Knows the subject area really

well• Subject managed by someone

who is an expert would have great depth

• Won’t have an area of the collection that is neglected

• Expert can consult better sources• Frees up time of selectors if

responsibility divided

Disadvantages• Could be biased toward one

viewpoint• Labor-intensive• Financial limitations – less flexible in

allocations• Area might suffer if specialist left or

took leave of absence• Fabulous collection that is not of

interest to your patrons• Uneven collection because of

passions of individual selector• Rest of staff may not be aware of

what’s in the collection

Guerrilla Selection

Nathan Bedford Forrest. Who, according to Wikipedia, did not say “Git thar fustest with the mostest.”

Concentration leverages the strategic power of availability.

Surprise and delight your readers.

Heterogeneous MjGranularity Mj

Networks, not Mjhierarchies Mj

Why Mjrhizomes? Mj

Pareto Mj and Mjthe long tail Mj

Unlike the graphic arts, drawing, or photography, unlike tracings, the rhizome pertains to a map that must be produced, constructed, a map that is always detachable, connectable, reversible, modifiable, and has multiple entranceways and exits and its own lines of flight. It is tracings that must be put on the map, not the opposite.

— Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus (p. 21)

Pareto Distribution

Long Tail

Kinda Long Tail

What are some examples of the Pareto distribution from your public library experience?

• Long tail: Bridge player• James Patterson• Amish fiction• DVDs•

Heterogeneous Granularity

Image: Flickr – bibliovox [char booth]

Rhizomes are a flexible and responsive tool for framing your

collection.

Apples and MjOrange Juice Mj

Transactional MjBudgeting Mj

Product Life MjCycle Mj

Design MjFrames Mj

Decision MjMatrix Mj

Narrative / Exposition MjContinuum Mj

Disintermediation: MjEliminating the Mj

middle-man Mj

Strategies for MjFormat Mj

Transitions Mj

Design MjFrames Mj

Economic MjValues Mj

Service MjResponses Mj

Affordances Mj

Innovations Mj

Policies and MjPlans Mj

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. The Experience Economy. Revised ed. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2011.

Public Library Service Responses

Sandra S. Nelson for the Public Library Association. Strategic Planning for Results. PLA Results Series. Chicago: American Library Association, 2008.

Affordances Mj

Collection Mj

Texts Mj

Staff Mj

Discovery Mj

Archiving Mj

Retrieval Mj

Recreation Mj

Learning Mj

Facts Mj

Research Mj

Training Mj

Guidance Mj

Diffusion of Innovations

Based on Everett M. Rogers. Diffusion of Innovations. 5th ed. New York: Free Press, 2003.

Where do you want to be on the innovation curve?

• Early majority

How do your policies and plans acknowledge the design frames?

• Collection plan reflects service responses: popular fiction; reference collection

• Collection development policy geared to defending patron complaints about selection choices

The Narrative / Exposition Continuum

"Raw Data" Is an Oxymoron, ed. Lisa Gitelman. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2013.

IntroductoryStage

GrowthStage

MaturityStage

Decline Stage

TotalMarketSales

Time

The Product Life Cycle

Product Life Cycle Exercise

• Hardcover books Mature, tending toward decline• Paperback books Mature, toward decline• Graphic novels Mature, Growth, Growth • E-books Growth, borderline with introductory• Streaming video Intro, YouTube growth• DVDs Mature, on borderline decline• Spoken CDs Mature, tending toward decline maybe• Music CDs Decline, Mature tending toward Decline • 16mm film Dead• Art prints Decline• Puppets Growth?/Mature/Decline• Streaming music Growth• Blu-ray Growth/Mature• Downloadable audiobooks Growth• Public access computers Decline/Mature• Print magazines Decline• Services like Zinio Growth• Research databases Decline• Genealogy databases/narrative Growth• Playaway views Growth• Loaning e-readers Intro/Growth

Encourages Mj

Discourages Mj

Disintermediation: MjEliminating the Mj

middle-man Mj

Value-added MjServices Mj

Traditional MjDistribution Mj

Chain Mj

Transactional Budgeting

Murray S. Martin and Milton T. Wolf. Budgeting for Information Access: Managing the Resource Budget for Absolute Access. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998.

http://emis.ii.fsu.edu/index.cfm

See John Carlo Bertot, Charles R. McClure, and Joe Ryan, Statistics and Performance Measures for Public Library Network Services, Chapter 3 (Chicago: American Library Association, 2001), for composite measures combining both traditional and electronic use, as well as possible ratios to put electronic use into perspective.

Decision Matrix

Strategies for MjFormat Mj

Transitions Mj

Experiment Mjwith Action MjLearning Mj

Share the MjRisk Mj

Find MjTradeoffs Mj

Follow the MjLeader Mj

Invoke an MjAngel Mj

Cultivate an MjAudience Mj

Grow Your MjFunding Mj

SOAR Mj

Strengths Mj

Opportunities Mj

Aspirations Mj

Results Mj

BISAC Subject Classification

Book Industry Standards and Communication

http://navigator.nmc.org/

2013 Horizon Report Shortlists

K-12 Higher Education Museums

One Year or LessBYODCloud ComputingMobile LearningOnline Learning

Flipped ClassroomMassively Open Online CoursesMobile AppsTablet Computing

BYODCrowdsourcingOpen ContentSocial Media

Two to Three YearsElectronic PublishingLearning AnalyticsOpen ContentPersonalized Learning

Augmented RealityGame-Based LearningThe Internet of ThingsLearning Analytics

3D PrintingAugmented RealityElectronic PublishingLocation-Based Services

Four to Five Years3D PrintingAugmented RealityVirtual and Remote LaboratoriesWearable Technology

3D PrintingFlexible DisplaysNext Generation BatteriesWearable Technology

The Internet of ThingsNatural User InterfacesPreservation/Conservation TechWearable Technology

Strengths: What can we build on? What rhizomes are we most proud of in the collection? How does that

reflect our strength as a library? What makes our collection unique? What can we be best at in our

community? What is our proudest collection achievement in the last year or two? How do we use our collection strengths to get results? How do our collection strengths fit with the realities of the community? What collection services do we do or provide that are world class for our

readers, the library community, and other potential stakeholders?

Strengths

Opportunities: What are our stakeholders asking for? How do we make sense of collection opportunities encouraged by external

forces and trends? What are the top five collection opportunities on which we should focus our

efforts? How can we best meet the needs of our stakeholders, including readers, staff,

and the community? Who are our possible new readers? How can we distinctively differentiate ourselves from existing or potential

competitors? What are possible new or strengthened rhizomes, products, services, or

processes? How can we reframe challenges to be seen as exciting opportunities? What new skills do we need to move forward?

Opportunities

Aspirations: What do we care deeply about? When we explore our values and aspirations for the collection, what are

we deeply passionate about? Reflecting on our Strengths and Opportunities conversations: what is the

collection, what should it become, and where should we position it in the future?

What is our most compelling aspiration for the collection? What strategic initiatives (i.e., projects, programs, and processes) would

support our collection aspirations?

Aspirations

Results: How do we know we are succeeding? Considering our collection Strengths, Opportunities, and Aspirations, what

meaningful measures would indicate that we are on track to achieving our goals?

What are 3 to 5 indicators that would create a scorecard that addresses a triple bottom line of effectiveness, people, and planet?

What resources are needed to implement vital collection projects? What are the best rewards to support those who achieve our collection goals?

Results

Insights from SOAR

Frames/Rhizomes Practices/Measures