The Future is Not Out of Reach – David Lee King

The Future is Not Out of Reach: Change, Library 2.0 and Emerging Trends

David Lee King

People think about change in different ways

• Positively
• Negatively

Librarians and change

• slow change
• fast change

Transformation taking place in social networking world

• Social networking is really taking off
  • Mentioned in mass media
  • patrons noticing and caring
• RSS, RSS Reading, tagging, comments, mash ups, user generated content, friending
• Comments
  • old way – one-on-one, letter, not a public conversation
  • new way – public conversation, AADL
• Friending
  • old way – business card
  • new way – Facebook, YouTube channel, MySpace, Instant Messaging buddies
    • you can be friends for life
    • connections regardless of geography
    • trusted source
•  Content
  • old way – books on a shelf
  • new way – staff generated, patron generated, pieces of web pages, subscribed to
    • different types of media
    • tell stories, give the library a human voice
    • Denver Public Library – YouTube video contest
    • participative in nature
    • Stevens County wiki (Stevens County Public Library)
• Tagging
  • old way – authority controlled, librarian created
  • new way – user generated, personal keywords
    • Scriblio – each book is a blog post
• Web as Platform
  • old way – patrons visiting the library to access the library
  • new way – patrons visit library to access the web to do stuff outside the library
    • use web to create content, access services, get information
    • library as launch pad to a destination
• Mashups
  • Freely combine content from more than one information source
    • syndetics, amazon
    • LibraryThing for libraries

Whys and Hows

• Relevant to the next generation
  • IM and text messaging
  • creating user generated content
  • using web 2.0 tools for storage, bookmarking, entertainment
• Mobile technologies are getting smaller and easier to use
• Activities have to be more interactive
• Teach the current generation
  • concept of information literacy changing
    • teaching people how to use social tools effectively
    • • Flickr class
      • MySpace for parents program
    • show people how to save time
      • RSS
      • different forms of communication (IM)
      • Bookmarking
      • working smarter by using tools
• Be a community leader
  • become a community resource
  • be relevant to their users
• How do I find time?
  • changing the focus
  • changing job description
  • changing services we provide (karen’s comment)
• letting go of the past
• do something scary
• Granting time
  • give time for reading, playing, learning, creating
  • send staff to formal training
  • practical training for staff
  • buy books for training
• When making changes…
  • describe change succinctly
  • plan carefully
  • help people respectfully let go
  • constant communication
  • model new behavior

5 year forecast

• more interaction more participation
• personalization
• more multimedia
• mobile – actual functionality for non-nerds
• easier designs (via templates and skins)
• National Library of New Zealand conference “in 2017 libraries will be…”
  • anywhere, anytime, anyhow
  • libraries will be about communities not computers
• one things is sure: change…