uof aslis feb2013final

Working in The Information Future:Non Traditional Paths in Library Work

Stephen Abram, MLSForum for Information ProfessionalsUniversity of Alberta, SLIS, Edmonton, Feb. 8, 2013

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It’s simple really

• Users will continue to be diverse in the extreme• Expectations around timeliness will increase• We will have a foot in both camps for many years to come: digital and

physical• Content will (is already) be dominated by non-text (gamification, 3D,

visual, music, video, audio, etc.)• Search will explode with options and one-step, one box search is for

dummies• The single purpose anchored device is dead as a target environment• Devices will focus on social, collaboration, sharing, multimedia, creation• Librarians will need to focus primarily on professional service and

strategic alignment (reduced roles in organizing knowledge and step&fetchit politeness)

• Service Professionals NOT Servants • E-Learning, collections and metadata will go to the cloud massively

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Market Share versus Winner Thinking

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Deer in headlamps slide here.

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Who are you?

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• I’d add . . .

• Vision• Creativity• Respect for other degrees and talents• Comfort with lack of structure • Comfort with performance contracts and measurements• Comfort with pay tied to performance• High comfort with virtual work and team work• High comfort with ambiguity

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• Is my career non-traditional?

• MLS 1980• 1980’s major recession• Contract work• Suncor• Coopers & Lybrand • Wage & Price Controls• Full-time• Coopers & Lybrand/Currie Coopers & Lybrand• Hay Group / Hay Management Consultants• Contract• Smith Lyons Torrance Stevenson & Mayer• Until 1991

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• Moving to the Dark Side

• Thomson Electronic Publishing• Thomson Corporation (300 companies)• Carswell• Micromedia• Micromedia IHS Canada• Micromedia ProQuest• Sirsi• SirsiDynix• Gale• Gale Cengage Learning• Lighthouse Partners• Dysart & Jones

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• Thomson and Librarians

• Executive positions• Mergers & Acquisitions• Training and Development• Sales• Customer Support• Product Development• Market Research• Metadata• Systems and IT• Editorial and content creation

• Hundreds of librarians • Lost count at 25+ CEO’s with MLS

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• Micromedia & IHS & ProQuest and Librarians

• Executive positions• Mergers & Acquisitions• Training and Development• Sales• Customer Support• Product Development• Market Research• Metadata• Systems and IT• Editorial and content creation• Customers

• 1/3 of staff had library training

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• SirsiDynix and Librarians

• Executive positions• Mergers & Acquisitions• Training and Development• Sales• Customer Support• Product Development• Marketing Communications• Market Research• Metadata• Systems and IT• Editorial and content creation• Customers and Library Relationships

• Librarians hired on contract or PT 250+• 250 employees with MLS

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• Gale Cengage Learning and Librarians

• Executive positions• Training and Development• Sales and sales management• Customer Support• Product Development• Market Research• Metadata• Systems and IT• Editorial and content creation• Customers

• 700+library trained employees

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• Consulting

• Choosing target markets• Choosing clients• Conflicts• Skills• Admin Support• Business development• Cash flow• etc.

Library MegatrendsIt doesn’t take a genius to see librarian skills and competencies applied to the trends and issues in each sector

Content Fragmentation

•Digitization’s real impact – non-fiction vs. non-fiction•Format• Print, ePUB, PDF, Kindle, etc. etc.• CD, DVD, USB, etc. etc.• Streaming• Licenses, Open Access, Creative Commons, etc.•eBooks, eJournals, eContent•Games, Learning Objects, Guides, …•Copyright Issues (NatGeo, Tasini, TPP, SOPA, AC, etc. etc.)•Author Lawsuits, WikiLeaks•Citation fragmentation•Make no mistake, the legal framework for knowledge economy is being built now.

Beyond Text, Books and Reading Literacies

•Text aloud and shrinking codex market•Graphics & Charts•Formulae•Pictures, Maps•Video & Audio•3D objects•Gamification•Deep Data Mining•Assessments•Community collaboration, cohorts, & social sharing •The book model in your head is nostalgia

Walled Gardens or Infinite Access

•ILS•CMS•Cloud(s)•Device dependencies•Formats (e.g. Kindle)•Discovery versus consumer search versus native search•4 horseman to watch:•Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook (not Microsoft)•Who controls reading and intellectual freedom?

Learning Object Diversification

•NextGen Textbooks•eLearning (white label, proprietary, custom,…) •Learning Management Systems•Cohort Learning Environments•Presentation Systems & Virtual Conference Environment•Personal Learning Environments (PLEs)•Collaboration Software as standard workplace•MOOCs, e-learning, ‘distance environments’•Open Access, scholarly publishing and deep aggregations digitization•The Academic Bubble is the next BIG disruption

End User Fragmentation

•Teens / Post-Millennials•Millennials (gender, IQ, social)•Aging workforce and tipping points•Other demographics•The new digital divide is not economic or aligned with poverty•Business versus Consumer•The Device Divide •Mobility•Librarians’ relationships with cohorts are critical.

Search Fragmentation

•The new Algorithms•Consumer Search•Specialized Search•Professional Search•Semantic, Sentiment, Social, Suggestion Search etc.•Mobile search•Social search•Work and personalized alignment•Augmented Reality•SEO & SMO & Content Spam•Geo-location•The ultimate search choice fragments

Technology Fragmentation

•Feature Phones die•Smartphones dominate•Tablets (Phablets?!)•Laptops•Desktops become rare•Gaming stations as access•Television as device•E-Readers (e-paper versus plasma)•Internet of Things•Browsers lose dominance to apps and HTML5•Fanboy behaviour is NOT Professional behaviour

Imagine

How do your skills apply to these issues and challenges?

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Black and White

•The polarization of discussionDogmatic vs. Professional positions on: eBooks, access, copyright, etc.

Political and social value systems in confl ict

Black & White

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• Examples of B&W discussions

• These can sometimes lack professional perspectives, be politically dogmatic and belief driven, and use death symbolic metaphors

• E-books versus Physical Books• Open access versus Proprietary Content• Free versus Fee• Business Models versus Social Models• Apple versus Microsoft PC• Desktop vs. Laptop vs. Tablet vs. Phone• Privacy and Confidentiality

• Make no mistake. I’m not saying the discussions are wrong or taking sides I just think professionals see colour and shades of gray.

Definitions

•Discovery•Search – known item retrieval•Topical or Subject Search•Research• Immersive Learning•Assembly•Two step discovery: discover, searching, finding, use•The pressure is ON for librarians to scale up their

information fluency training initiatives

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200,000,000

400,000,000

600,000,000

800,000,000

1,000,000,000

1,200,000,000

Series1

Double a penny every day for a month =Over $1 billion in just 30 days

Recognize key shifts

OMG – the digital book!

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•Public Libraries•Academic Research Libraries•Community College Libraries•School Libraries•Specialized Libraries•Consortia

Trends Differ Slightly by Library Sector

And so do the audiences, members, users …

Public Libraries

•Recommendations (LibraryThing for Libraries, Bibliocommons, Book Psychic) •Community Glue•Economic Impact and VALUE studies•Programs on steroids aligned with collections and space•Partnerships•Education and Learning – REALLY committing to learning and accreditation/ credits / diplomas / certificates•Renewed advocacy moves to Influencing and selling

Academic Research Libraries

•Confronting and acknowledging the Academic Bubble•eLearning alignment, MOOCs, LibGuides•Repositories: Content Archipelagos? Standards and Cooperation•LibGuides next generation•Patron-driven acquisitions•Post-literacy: Information Fluency versus ‘literacy’•Demarcation between Undergrad, Grad and Faculty/Staff•Dealing with different personae•Copyright compliance•E-Coursepacks and e-Reserves•Strategic budgeting•Partnerships and Liaison roles and managing same sustainably

Community College and Undergrad

•Information Literacy•Distance education and eLearning•Textbooks, Reserves, Coursepacks, e-all•MOOCs•Mobility•Collections for new degrees and certifications•Dealing with the scalability issue in Higher Ed

School Libraries

•Dealing with cost-effectiveness•Common Core and ‘new’ curriculum•Aligning with research•21st Century Learning•Future of the Textbook•Scaffolded Information Literacy / Fluency •Filters•Staff and Faculty relationships•Classroom pages•Impact

Specialized Libraries

•Intranets•Internal knowledge, RM•MS SharePoint•Relationship building•Embedded Librarianship•Personal branding•Outsourcing•Training (scalability)•Proving impact, value, and mission alignment

Consortia

•Consortia•CRKN, OCUL, TAL, etc.•Dealing with the small town mindset•OCLC Linked Data, RDA and global metadata strategies•DPLA•Library Renewal•EveryLibrary Advocacy PAC•3M e-books (CALIFA / Douglas County initiatives)•Dark literature, orphan works, etc.•Cloud initiatives

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• Issues in the Private Sector

• Cooperation vs. Competition• Walled Gardens versus Openness• Living in all technologies• Mapping and understanding changes in users• Licensing content and lawsuits• Staff development• E-first versus print first• Integrating non-print content• Choosing to stay ahead of most customers• The adoption curve• Adding dimensions to Pricing

• Revenue is a measurement of success not a goal in itself.

Where are the real pain points?

So what is the answer?

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

Meals

Are we going to support a totally build it yourself world?

Imagine IKEA merging with GM...

What is a meal in library end-user community or research, education and learning terms? Are you focusing on scale?

Let’s think

Think: Are you thinking food, courses, days, weekly plan, or nutrition overall?

The new bibliography and

collection development

KNOWLEDGE PORTALS

KNOWLEDGE,LEARNING,

INFORMATION &RESEARCHCOMMONS

What are the real issues?

•Craft versus Industrial Strength•Personal service only when there’s impact•Pilot, Project, Initiative versus Portfolio Strategy•Hand-knitted prototypes versus Production• e.g. Information Literacy initiatives• Discovery versus Search versus Deep Search• eLearning units• Citation and information ethics• Repository archipelagos

•Strategic Analytics• Value & Impact Measures• Behaviours, Satisfaction• Economic and strategic alignment

What We Never Really Knew Before 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.

Be More Open to the Users’ Path

What Would You Attempt If You Knew You Would Not Fail?

eLearning, Mobile, Distant, Virtual, Workflow

Get to where the user is.

Choose

The power of libraries

A Third Path

Don’t study the issue to death.

SmellyYellowLiquid

OrSex

Appeal?

Focus on the Whole Experience

Until lions learn to write their own story, the story will always be from the perspective

of the hunter not the hunted.

Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLAConsultant, Dysart & Jones/Lighthouse Partners

Cel: 416-669-4855stephen.abram@gmail.comStephen’s Lighthouse Blog

http://stephenslighthouse.comFacebook, Pinterest, Tumblr: Stephen Abram

LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen AbramTwitter: @sabram

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