rewriting the book: on the move in the library of birmingham

8/2/2019 Rewriting the Book: On the Move in the Library of Birmingham

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4/19/12 5:Main Articles: 'Rewriting the Book: On the Move in the Library of Birmingham ', Ariadne Issue 64

Page 1ttp://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue64/gambles/

Issue 64 July 2010

Rewriting the Book: On the Move in theLibrary of Birmingham

Brian Gambles presents the Library of Birmingham vision and strategy for addressing the challenge ofmobile digital services.

Introduction

The Library of Birmingham (LoB) will open in 2013 as a world-class centre for culture, learning andknowledge, rewriting the book for public libraries in the 21st century. Rewriting the Book, which isintegral to the new LoB brand, recognises and embraces the present and future challenge to libraries it accepts that established means of accessing knowledge are changing rapidly and dynamically, with asignificant digital dimension, and that increasingly radical responses to this challenge are demandedfrom leaders in the library sector.

The LoB will seek to transform perceptions of Birmingham, redefining 'the library', with an outwardfocus, deeply embedded in partnership working, digitally connected to the world, and servicing bothlocal and international audiences as a platform and cultural hub for knowledge and communal exchange.Fundamental to this change will be the delivery of digital services both inside and outside the newlibrary with greater support for mobile communications with customers. Mobile is commonplace today,and opens up many opportunities to enhance customer experience both inside and external to the newlibrary.

This article describes the continuing journey of the LoB project in assessing the challenge of mobile, itsrelevance and how innovation could improve the visitor experience in the future.
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Figure 1: Library of Birmingham Design

Mobility: An Integral Part of Living

Mobile services are an integral part of our daily lives and embedded in our culture. This is never moreapparent when we do not have them close to hand a recent survey found that 40% of mobile phoneusers would rather lose their wallet than their mobile device. The choice may not be available for muchlonger: the mobile is very likely to become your wallet in the future! Numerous surveys demonstrate theextent of this change from the first mobile phone in 1982 to over 5 billion phone connectionsworldwide and 30 million in the UK alone with 130% penetration. Alongside this has evolved anincreasingly sophisticated functionality with the Swiss army phone concept and a growing range ofapplications addressed through the software. The human phone interface is evolving with growingdemand for touch-based interaction.


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Figure 2: Mobile Technology Growth

The iPhone phenomenon shows no sign of abating, with some 250,000 applications downloaded 5

billion times generating $1 billion for Apple. Over 3 million iPads have been sold in 3 months. A similarexperience is emerging in the cultural sector with some 300,000 downloads of the National Galleryapplication, Love Art, in just two months. The Louvre Application was the seventh most downloadedapplication globally in 2009. The majority of applications simply act as a new way to access content orreplace the classic museum audio guide, but a new generation of augmented-reality applications offersmore radical opportunities for learning and knowledge enhancement: Street Museum, by Museum ofLondon [1], overlays the capital's street's with old pictures at given locations.

Mobility now encompasses many meanings and a vast range of device types offering multiple services.The growth of portable, lightweight computing platforms has blurred the traditional device boundarieswith multi-channel access becoming commonplace. The growth of cloud-based applications, increasedcollaboration and participation is driving the customer experience forward in the mobile space. Thechange from simple information retrieval to an enhanced customer experience is significant, withconcepts such as augmented reality [2] appearing on mobile devices. The ability to connect anywhere,

the availability and very nature of media, and the whole context of mobility is rapidly changing on aglobal scale. In some developing countries a whole generation of landline-based broadband technologyis being passed over as the dominance of mobile access asserts itself.

Communities are already connecting using mobile devices over the Internet to share interests andinformation. It is unlikely that the pace of change will slow down and customer demand andexpectations will grow with profound meaning for libraries and archives.

The Challenge to Archives and Libraries
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A revolution has taken place in how we read, learn and consume knowledge in the last twenty years.This shows no sign of halting. The combination of mobile tools in hand, ubiquitous Internet access anda vast array of ever increasing online content represents a significant challenge. Can libraries continueto hold appeal, or is this the end of libraries? Far from it, if we simply see the change from physical todigital as one of form but with a vastly increased user community.

For archives the online paradigm is an unprecedented opportunity - the frustration of limited physicalaccess to collections and treasures is overcome through the digital dimension. Of course, this may notbe as rewarding as the physical experience of a Shakespeare first folio but it opens up a rich treasure

trove to millions, and signposts the originals. The LoB views this challenge as a unique opportunity butone which will require significant cultural change to embrace it. The objective for libraries and archivesin the mobile arena is to make services relevant and meaningful for the mobile user but in a way thatcomplements and enhances both the online and physical experience.

LoB on the Move: Vision and Strategy

The transformed library of the not-so-new century will be perceived and accessed in a variety of waysthat reflect changing lifestyles, technologies and customer expectations. The vision must allow for andembrace the digital revolution but not lose sight of the core values which have been embedded inlibrary and archive services for generations.

Technology will continue to evolve, sometimes slowly, but sometimes in great leaps and bounds,always challenging accepted forms and formats. In 25 years time will all services be delivered from the

cloud? Will we all be reading plastic newspapers? Will wireless be the universal form of access for alldevices? Will we see a greatly reduced physical book presence?

The approach to digital mobile services fits with the overall vision for the LoB where top down servicedelivery and the conventional provider-recipient relationship embedded in most public services isreplaced by collaborative working, enabling customers to contribute to and share in the collectiveknowledge and the active memory bank of the city. This will unify the online, virtual and digitalcharacteristics of the LoB, integrated with and complementing the physical library and supportingengagement with new customers and communities in ways that are meaningful to citizens in the digitalera. This will challenge accepted service delivery models. Mobility will be a critical component of thischange. The strategy must entail fundamental changes in the library operation linked to digital mobileservices: -

A Web strategy to create an holistic library Web presence with increased collaboration andcommunity engagement with new social networking tools like Facebook having greater relevance.A flexible and adaptable approach to service development and deliveryA programme of digitisation and metadata creationA programme of staff development with an accelerating shift from traditional library work tocontent creation and multi-channel online customer interactionEngagement with leading operators and innovators in the mobile space to develop longer-termcommercial partnerships and solutionsEngagement with locally based innovators from the digital SME sector to activate and animateentrepreneurial relationships and unlock commercial potentialTechnology delivered to support mobile engagement with customers supported by free wirelessaccess and rich contentA diverse and engaging retailing approach to address the economic challenge of the day.

In reality the presence of mobile access throughout society is assumed and we fully anticipate that thecapability and form of mobile devices will evolve the critical factor is in the wealth of library andarchive content which represents the knowledge preserved from generation to generation. The keychallenge is facilitating the customer experience through killer applications via the mobile channel. Bythis approach, the library can shed its recent dependence on the robustness of the device, and focuson its strengths content and engagement.

Change Enabled by Innovation

The LoB has recognised the importance of innovation in the future delivery of library and archive


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services. Throughout 2009 innovation suppliers across the country were approached the better tounderstand how technology could apply to the LoB mobile technology was an integral part of this.Innovation allows us to do things in ways we could not do before: it empowers people, supports theircreativity, makes them more productive and, above all, releases potential and helps people learn thingsthey did not think they could learn before. This is all fundamental to reinventing the whole way thelibrary works, creating a new image of radicalism.

Birmingham Library & Archives Services has a strong tradition of social and community engagement asa platform for LoB to build upon digital mobile opens up new ways of engagement and sharing with

social and multi-cultural groups both locally and internationally. The rapid growth of mobile access andconnectivity presents a number of critical challenges to the library and archive community. In developinga strategy for the next decade the key characteristics of mobile which are relevant to the LoB journey:

1. Effective use of mobile in the provision of wayshowing [3] support within the new library withdifferent levels of support from simple floor and service information to specific information anddirection finding for collections and books.

2. Integration with city-wide GPS-based navigation to promote cultural services.3. Social networking support and interaction with the library using existing services (i.e. Facebook)

and new online services as they emerge.4. Enhancement of the visitor experience through digital media, content and augmented reality type

services.5. Migration of existing services to the mobile platform, such as library reservations.6. Use of more recently established services through the mobile channel, such as email, SMS

texting and Web site information.7. Development of new library and archive service applications to provide specialist services.

Many of the challenges of the day were reshaped and reformulated as the research progressed: theGoogle book digitisation programme, the e-Book in all its shapes and sizes, electronic paper, theiTunes experience, the long-term evolution of mobile technology and mobile services. In developing astrategy for the future, each of these challenges must be addressed in the context of a changing libraryservice. Amazon in the US now claim 6 e-downloads for every 10 physical book sales. At the very leastthis represents a sea change in how people access the written word. With the iPad, Apple has apotential game-changer offering illustration, animation, sound and film as well as words in full colour much more than an e-Book and with iTunes capability built in.

The LoB is now set to move forward with a number of innovation projects which will help to shapeaspects of the future business model and open up commercial opportunities in ways that would havepreviously been impossible. Discussions are taking place with major IT suppliers such as Microsoftaround an MS Surface proof of concept which is looking to deliver both multi-media content from thelibrary archives and content captured in the public domain. Partnership engagement with a number ofleading digital SMEs in the Birmingham area is underway with some examples of the areas currentlyunder investigation included below.

iPad

A project which is exploring the potential for using the iPad within a library context providing a highlyvisual image-based application making use of the iPads excellent display capabilities. The applicationwill focus on the strength of the digital images with the exploration of images facilitated through anintuitive image-browsing interface.

Digital Wayshowing

A digital wayshowing [3] application which provides an interactive tour of the library, accessed throughthe Web, on touch screens and mobile devices. The purpose of this application is to enrich userexperience whilst in the Library, efficiently guiding users to their destinations as well as providing aplatform for users to take a more interactive and explorative approach to navigating the Library.
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Figure 3: Library Wayshowing Application

The application will use technologies including Augmented Reality [ 2], QR codes [4] and GPS tracking[5] to build a bridge between the real and the virtual, offering users a new and exciting platform onwhich to explore space and place.
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Figure 4: Library Visitor Journeys

iTunes U

iTunes U [6] supports the application of the iTunes store approach to delivering downloaded contentfrom the library. This is not a new concept, having been used effectively by universities world-wide toshare content, but it is relatively new to public libraries with only a handful of sites in place.

Historically, libraries have been excellent at capturing, preserving and disseminating the intellectualoutput of others, but not so good at doing the same with their own expertise and knowledge. Specialistlibrarians often develop substantial expertise in their subject areas which is occasionally captured in abook, newspaper article or library-oriented publication, but usually it is only ever deployed in the contextof customer engagement and professional networking. Some library experts deliver public talks onspecific subjects, but these talks have rarely been captured for later use. In the main, the vast majorityof library expertise is only ever expressed in a largely ephemeral way. Delivered freely and bespoke tothe precise needs of one particular library customer, library expertise is an incredibly valuable elementof the library service.
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Figure 5: iTunes U at New York Public Library

iTunes U provides exactly the right framework through which digitised library and archives expertisecould be best delivered. With the Apple framework as a model, staff can start imagining how expertiseand knowledge might be captured and disseminated far more widely. The design and delivery of iTunesU is ideally suited to the mobile world opening up a wide range of content to library users.

Customer Experience and Mobility

Customer experience is everything! The LoB is embarking on a series of customer journey scenarioswhich will include the physical, digital online and mobile to fully understand how and where futurecustomers will interact. We fully expect this to support multi-channel access to services from the homethrough to the digital spaces in the new building. The demand for a fulfilling and engaging customerexperience has never been greater. Digital services provided by archives and libraries will needincreased flexibility to support online access on the move using well designed applications which allowfor the continuum between fixed and mobile locations.

The challenge is around understanding the needs of the customer in terms of transactional andexperiential engagement and then shaping solutions which deliver a wide range of rich content throughthe mobile channel. The LoB is far from having all the answers to this challenge but our approach ofengaging with innovative thinkers across the region, combined with the strengths of major ICT suppliersand the knowledge, understanding and drive from across the services represents a formidable mix inany transformation of library services.


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The LoB Projects

The LoB has defined a programme of ICT-enabled change projects which will establish a soundinfrastructure within and external to the building, a range of core business-led projects along with theinnovation projects described above.

Figure 6: The LoB ICT Projects Pyramid

What Does the Future Hold

The journey for the LoB has only just started. As the building takes shape in Centenary Square aparallel change has started only a few hundred yards away in the Central Library. Change is ultimatelyabout people the technology helps make the change and often enables it to happen in new ways, butwithout the vision and drive of the people who deliver the services it becomes just another technologyfad. How we employ the technology into current and new services to enrich the lives of visitors to thenew library both physical and digital is the true test of our vision. To address this challenge the LoBhas defined the Five Libraries concept which establishes a clear structure for change incorporating allthat is good about the library concept but also embracing the need for a transformational approach tothe digital agenda of the day.


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Figure 7: The Five Libraries of LoB Digital

There will continue to be significant changes in technology with mobile leading the way. For example,

we have considered the potential of near field communications [7] technologies in relation to the mobilecustomer with major developments expected over the next three years and the almost inevitableconvergence of more and more services into the mobile phone. Our exploration has confirmed changesin the way we access technology with touch and voice this is nowhere more convincing than in themobile arena. What will be as important as the technology are the social trends which mobile facilitates:the increased collaboration and participation online with self-authoring and delivery of content.

Conclusion

The library of the future will be very different from today there are fundamental social, economic andtechnical forces driving this change. However, if we adapt, take advantage of the technology, buildsustainable partnerships, engage with communities and continue to provide meaningful services, andlearn to operate effectively in the digital space, then the future looks bright. The theme of this article is

'on the move' which captures the dynamic approach which must characterise the library of the future,carefully and strategically positioned at the point where past and future collide, and perfectly shaped totake advantage of the resulting release of forces: rewriting the book.

References

1. Street Museum of Londonhttp://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/MuseumOfLondon/Resources/app/you-are-here-app/index.html

2. Augmented Reality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality
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3. Library Wayshowing iPhone application: American Museum of Natural Historyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3quWNKB6w8

4. QR Codes http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/about-qr-codes/5. GPS Tracking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gps6. iTunes U in Libraries New York City Library

http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/nypl.org (Requires iTunes.)7. Near Field Communications http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/

Author Details

Brian GamblesAssistant DirectorCultureBirmingham City Council

Email: [email protected] site: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/lobFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/libraryofbirmingham

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Article Title: "Rewriting the Book: On the Move in the Library of Birmingham "

Author: Brian Gambles

Publication Date: 30-July-2010 Publication: Ariadne Issue 64Originating URL: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue64/gambles/

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