yale 2011
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Yale Library Research Education Symposium June 9, 2011TRANSCRIPT
Future Ready: Academic Libraries on the Edge
Stephen Abram, MLSYale Library Research Education Symposium
New Haven, CTJune 9, 2011
These slides are available at Stephen’s Lighthouse blog
Change
We Only Get So Many Once-in-a-Lifetime
Chances To Do Great Things
News Flash “The Internet and technology have now
progressed to their infancy”
News Flash
News Flash
Tech Shift Happens
Seth Godin on Decisions (June 8, 2011)
o Which of the four are getting in the way?o You don't know what to doo You don't know how to do ito You don't have the authority or the resources to
do ito You're afraido Once you figure out what's getting in the way,
it's far easier to find the answer (or decide to work on a different problem).
o Stuck is a state of mind, and it's curable.
20th Century Strategies
Inventory and CollectionsBuildingsSearchReading is FundamentalPatronsOutreachCirculationPrivacy
21st Century Strategies
Content AccessBricks and Clicks and TricksCommunities of Knowledge and
PracticeResearch ImpactPartnerships Information Literacy ProgramsSocial links and Student Life
What Are Libraries Really For?
• Community• Learning• Discovery• Progress• Research (Applied and Theoretical)• Cultural & Knowledge Custody • Economic Impact
Columbus, Cook, Magellan and Libraries: Searching for the corners of the earth, the edge of the
oceans and discovering dragons ...
-
Magellan Columbus Cook
Questions for Academic Libraries Today:
1. Are the priorities right?2. Are learning, research, discovery changing
materially and what is actually changing?3. Books. Meh.4. What is the role for librarians in the real
future (that is not an extension of the past)?
What has changed?
Libraries at the heart of the campus? Nope. Students are focused at the lesson and event
(essay, test, exam) level Researchers are connected beyond the host
institution. Physical access and basic reading has already
evolved to intellectual access with new competencies
A Metaphor
Grocery Stores
Grocery Stores
Grocery Stores
Cookbooks, Chefs . . .
Cookbooks, Chefs . . .
Meals
The new bibliography and
collection development
KNOWLEDGE PORTALS
KNOWLEDGE,LEARNING,
INFORMATION &RESEARCHCOMMONS
Chefs, counsellors, teachers, magicians
Librarians play a vital role in building the critical connections between
information , knowledge and learning.
Service Metaphor
o Cafeteriaso Take Outo Private Dining Roomso Private Chefso Variety
Culture
Trans-Literacy: Move beyond reading & PC skills Reading literacy Numeracy Critical literacy Social literacy Computer literacy Web literacy Content literacy Written literacy
News literacy Technology literacy Information literacy Media literacy Adaptive literacy Research literacy Academic literacy Reputation, Etc.
You have the tools.
Stop Making it so Hard!
Steal This Idea
List of content farms and general spammy user generated content sites:
All Experts (allexperts.com) Answers (answers.com) Answer Bag (answerbag.com) Articles Base (articlesbase.com) Ask (ask.com) Associated Content (associatedcontent.com) BizRate (bizrate.com) Buzle (buzzle.com) Brothersoft (brothersoft.com) Bytes (bytes.com) ChaCha (chacha.com) eFreedom (efreedom.com) eHow (ehow.com) Essortment (essortment.com) Examiner (examiner.com) Expert Village (expertvillage.com) )
Experts Exchange (experts-exchange.com) eZine Articles (ezinearticles.com) Find Articles (findarticles.com) FixYa (fixya.com Helium (helium.com) Hub Pages (hubpages.com) InfoBarrel (infobarrel.com) Livestrong (livestrong.com) Mahalo (mahalo.com) Mail Archive (mail-archive.com) Question Hub (questionhub.com) Squidoo (squidoo.com) Suite101 (suite101.com) Twenga (twenga.com) WiseGeek (wisegeek.com) Wonder How To (wonderhowto.com) Yahoo! Answers (answers.yahoo.com) Xomba (xomba.com)
GOOG
The nasty facts about Google &
Bing and consumer search:
SEO / SMOContent Farms
Advertiser-drivenGeotagging
Have Students Changed
?
YES (duh!)
My son: Zachary
NextGen Differences
Increase in IQ - 15-20 Points Educational attainment up, a lot Reading up, markedly Brain & Developmental Changes Eye Movement Changes Massive Behavioural Changes Major Decline in Crime Rates – down 65% But still a 70% behavior overlap with
Boomers (see my book chapter)
Young People Have Changed, but
Twitter & Facebook are dominated by the middle-aged
Gaming too. . . Mothers in their 30’s Social networks fastest growing populations
are seniors and is more international and less urban and less English dominated.
eBook reader usage is largely middle-aged. Mobile data usage is growing beyond youth
very quickly, workplace use is huge
What We Never Really Knew Before (US/Canada)
27% of our users are under 18. 59% are female.
29% are college students. 5% are professors and 6% are teachers.
On any given day, 35% of our users are there for the very first time!
Only 29% found the databases via the library website. 59% found what they were looking for on their first search.
72% trusted our content more than Google. But, 81% still use Google.
We often believe a lot
that isn’t true.
2010 Eduventures Research on Investments
58% of instructors believe that technology in courses positively impacts student engagement. 71% of instructors that rated student engagement levels as “high” as a result of using technology in
courses. 71% of students who are employed full-time and 77% of students who are employed part-time
prefer more technology-based tools in the classroom. 79% of instructors and 86 percent of students have seen the average level of engagement improve
over the last year as they have increased their use of digital educational tools. 87% of students believe online libraries and databases have had the most significant impact on
their overall learning. 62% identify blogs, wikis, and other online authoring tools while 59% identify YouTube and
recorded lectures. E-books and e-textbooks impact overall learning among 50% of students surveyed, while 42% of
students identify online portals. 44% of instructors believe that online libraries and databases will have the greatest impact on
student engagement. 32% of instructors identify e-textbooks and 30% identify interactive homework solutions as having
the potential to improve engagement and learning outcomes. (e-readers was 11%) 49% of students believe that online libraries and databases will have the greatest impact on
student engagement. Students are more optimistic about the potential for technology.
Bricks, Clicks and Tricks Gambling
Emerging Tech that Drives Users to the Library
Content Farms, Mills (Demand Media, AOL, etc.)
Encyclopedia.com HighBeam & Questia WorldCat AccessMyLibrary iPhone App for
public, school and higher ed – iPhone, iPad, iTouch and Droid!
Geo-IP features and measures Watch for more . . .
The Elephant in the Room
Very Big Secret
Change can happen very fast
Sensemaking
5 Things have Changed . . A LOT!
1. Cardholders, Users, Members, Patrons, Clients, Customers, Learners, Students, Scholars, Researchers, Teachers, Professors
2. Books & Media & Collections3. Mobility4. Learning & Research5. Government
The History of Unintended
Consequences & Unpredictability
“Strategy is a Choice . . .
To be a victim and feel these changes are fated and blamestormOR
Create the future we need and take collective responsibility for the conversation and development of the future.”
Find Reasons not Excuses.
As technology advances
Emboldened Librarians hold the key
So how must library and educator strategies change?
Discovery & Ideas
Has academic research focus shifted entirely?
Has the future changed?Has our future changed?
COWS, etc.
The Future Discovered
• Stem Cells• fMRI and The Brain• Cloning• Trucking and GPS• Wind and other energy• Nanotechnology• Robotics• Massive Book Digitization• Music• Translation• Streaming Media• Seed Bank
A 1965 iPhone
Books
We have a shallow understanding of the Codex – the book format(s)
Transition from scrolls – illumination – codex – and beyond
What does all this mean?
The Article level universe The Chapter and Paragraph Universe Integrated with Visuals – graphics and charts Integrated with ‘video’ Integrated with Sound and Speech Integrated with social web Integrated with interaction and not just
interactivity How would you enhance a book?
So how must library and educator strategies change?
Mobility
Broadband
You must clearly understand the latest US FCC Whitespace Broadband Decision – THIS IS TRANSFORMATIONAL and going global
Net neutrality, kill switches . . . Local wired, mobile access ‘everywhere’ to the
home and workplace on a personal basis Geo-awareness: GIS, GPS, GEO-IP, etc. Wireless as a business strategy (Starbucks) Mobile dominates the largest generation
What changes with personal devices?
The Fanboys
are failing us.
The Physical Act of Reading
Speaking of e-
Books...
Borders Kobo, B&N Nook, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Sony, etc. . . .
Can we frame the e-book issue so that it can be addressed rationally?
Books
Fiction
Non-Fiction
E-Learning
What do we need to know?
What are we going
to do next?
StrategicAnalytics
What do we need to know?
How do library databases and virtual services compare with other web experiences?
Who are our core virtual users? Are there gaps? Does learning happen? How about discovery? What are user expectations for true satisfaction? How does library search compare to consumer
search like Google and retail or government? How do people find and connect with library virtual
services? Are end users being successful in their POV? Are they happy? Will they come back? Tell a friend?
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1010
Top-Level BenchmarksGale-Cengage Browse Survey
August 01, 2010 - August 31, 2010
Save the User!
What Would You Attempt If You Knew You Would Not
Fail?
20th Century Strategies
Inventory and CollectionsBuildingsSearchReading is FundamentalPatronsOutreachCirculationPrivacy
21st Century Strategies
Content Access & DiscoveryBricks and Clicks and TricksCommunities of Knowledge and
PracticeResearch ImpactPartnerships Information Literacy ProgramsSocial links and Student Life
A Third Path
The power of libraries
Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLAVP strategic partnerships and markets
Cengage Learning (Gale)Cel: 416-669-4855
[email protected]’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.comFacebook: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen AbramTwitter: sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1