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June 29, 2006

Why I love Inc. Magazine

I turned 13 on Dec. 4, 1970. I spent most of my formative years during the 1970’s. It was an age of mixed messages and contradictions. Big business was not cool but, most of my college classmates studied accounting. So my declaration that I love INC. Magazine maybe a little shocking (gasp). I also adore the Harvard Business Review. (Gasp! Gasp!)
Here is why.

In the July 2006 issue of Inc. there is a great article on p. 55, about really listening to your customers and truly adapting to their needs. On page 61of the same issue is an exciting article about the “Five New Technologies That Will Change the Way You Do Business”. The five are:

* Robot Assistant (android) by 2016- a Japan based company produces a recptioist that looks like Hello Kitty and another business hopes to robot police on the street in 5 years

* Voice Recognition by 2012- “the fact is, machines won’t be truly integratedinto our livesuntil we can talk to them…Look at what Google is up to. The company recently secured a patent for a voice controlled search engine.”

*Proactive Computers by 2010-”software that takes note of our behavior and surroundings and puts it to use…your PC might get you what you need before you even think to ask

*Holography by2011 - “why waste so much time on travel if you can place a 3-D version right into the offices of your prospects or your regional employees at a moment’s notice.”

*Flexi-screens by 2009 - “How about an entire wall that is one big screen? Or a 14-inch computer display that can roll-up enough to fit in your coat pocket? Or a small display that’s so inexpensive, you’ll be able to place on on the box of every widget you sell.” (Could add new meaning to “talking books”)

I can see an application in libraries for each of these and a challenge to all librarians. If I were a newly minted librarian, I would be beating down Googles door. Librarians have valuable skills they can apply to the development of these technologies.

But, back to even more great stuff inside the covers of INC. Magazine. On the bottom of p.32 is an inset box that discusses how some companies are hiring top level executives to write their blogs. A great example of guerilla marketing can be found on p. 102. Then on page 94 is a discussion of the Topos Router, “The magic of the box occurs when you mount it on a lamppost. Install 30 of them per square mile, and you’ve created a wireless network that can transmit data all over a city.” There is more,so much more in each issue. Go to teh periodicals section of your library and peruse this magazine. You will find at least one idea you can use in your library.

Just wait until the next Harvard Business Review comes out.

posted by Anna at 1:20 pm | Comments (0)

June 28, 2006

In Shakespeare’s stomping grounds, libraries face cuts

Interesting article that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor about the closing of public libraries in a cost cutting move…Lessons for all of us.

If you can’t link to the article above, you might try this link: http://tinyurl.com/ouvsx

posted by Anna at 5:50 pm | Comments (0)

June 26, 2006

Surviving in a New Environment

This years work theme for NSLS is “The Future of Libraries.” Our goal will be to introduce or members to new trends in leadership, customer service, and technology by providing our members with onlilne and face-to-face formats for discussion, highlighting best practices and professional development classes. The concepts of content, body of work, and authorship and which formats they are delivered in seems to be one of the challenges that are facing libraries but also other industries.

My ex who works for a newspaper constantly talks about the future of that industry. In a recent article that appeared in The Huffington Post,the concerns of the advertising industry are discussed. They are worried about how to keep “hip” and relevant in a world where people have increasingly more power over the content they receive. In other words, how do you make people want to see your ads when there are so many other video clips, podcasts and other forms of media vying for the consumers attention. I think libraries are in a similar boat.

Librarians must decide how to nurture the traditional goals and services of the public library while embracing and engaging in new methods of delivery of content. Reaching out to where our public is and keeping it relevant to them is a neccessity. I think the edges of the definition of “content” will continue to blur between different formats, methods of delivery and authorship. We know we have Wikipedia but, we also have sites like YouTube.com as competition/partners/sources in content production.

YouTube.com is especially interesting in its blend of commercial and amatuer works. I think it makes both categories a little sexier to the viewer. It makes the amatuers seem a little more professional and the commercial seem a little edgier with an underground/indie vibe. I suggest that libraries take advantage of these venues to do a little guerilla marketing. Wouldn’t it be cool if ALA or ILA could produce some “subversive clips” to promote the profession and our institutions? …Just a thought.

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posted by Anna at 3:28 pm | Comments (0)

Netspeed 2006–Looking at the Future

I spotted this very interesting conference on DIG-REF. I especially like the part about “the opportunity to investigate and explore emerging technologies.” Another interesting feature is the discussion of the OCLC study. Sounds like it might be worth checking out, the announcement follows…

Please join us in Edmonton, Alberta this October for the annual Netspeed conference, hosted by The Alberta Library. Netspeed 2006 will be held at the Crown Plaza - Chateau Lacombe, October 18-20. Netspeed is the preeminent annual technical conference in Alberta and is designed for decision-makers, librarians, technical staff and trustees. Netspeed provides information to help library staff work effectively with current technology in libraries and the opportunity to investigate and explore emerging technologies.

We are pleased to present a an outstanding selection of breakout sessions, a wide array of exhibitors, and the following plenary sessions:

* Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: Results of an OCLC Study.
Catherine de Rosa, VP, Marketing and Library Services, OCLC

* Using Collections to Make Connections: Social Software Initiatives for Libraries Beth Jefferson, Founder, BiblioCommons

* Innovation and Automation: The Georgia PINES Project David Singleton and Julie Walker, Georgia Public Library

The 2006 brochure is available from our website at http://www.thealbertalibrary.ab.ca.
Early bird deadline is September 8, 2006 and advance registrations are encouraged!

Christine Bourchier
The Alberta Library
#6-14, #7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V5
cbourchier@thealbertalibrary.ab.ca

—

posted by Anna at 11:57 am | Comments (0)

June 22, 2006

Tech, Net and Pop Culture

Continuing with some of the ideas I tried to present in my post “Batman vs. Superman” about the future of media and how it will be an interesting melange of print, online, graphic, word and live action here is a very interesting article that was posted on The Filter, a publication of the Berkman Center for the Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School. Libraries need to find their place in this heady mix while safeguarding access. The article says it all and much better than I can.

Tech Mandates, Net Neutrality, and Pop Culture [the-filter] June 2006
– by Wendy Seltzer

Popular culture is no longer just what is broadcast by the major networks. Even as the networks incorporate members of the general public into their “reality” shows, even more of those average Joes and Janes are also creating their own programming and sharing it online. Nearly 50 million of them are writing for web pages or weblogs, sharing photos or videos, or creating podcasts, according to a new Pew Internet and American Life report. The public is reading the public, as well as the broadcast tastemakers.

What has spurred this outpouring of public-created culture? The availability of new tools that put creative power into the hands of more amateurs, of broadband networking that lets them share their creations with others, and of general-purpose computers that allow them to watch their friends’ and strangers’ creations alongside those of commercial publishers.

Many of these capabilities, which the Berkman Center’s Jonathan Zittrain groups as “generativity,” are happy accidents. As Wintel urges people to replace almost-new computers with newer models fast enough to cope with the latest and greatest operating system, some find that beyond spell-checking documents at lightning speed, they can now edit photographs and video clips. The Internet connection one might have bought to catch up with e-mail after leaving the office becomes a vector not just for reading the latest re-forwarded joke, but also Yahoo!’s version of the news and Daily Kos’s, and perhaps, for adding one’s own spin by adding blog commentary or editing a Wikipedia entry. The white-box PC has room for software that makes it a web browser, news reader, media player, and audio/video-editing studio (if you bought a Mac, it might come with that pre-installed). People who don’t know they need generative capacity become creative audiences once they get it as a byproduct.

Yet just as the creative potential of the formerly passive audience is coming into its own, it is under threat. To protect old-style business models, big entertainment companies are pressing technology manufacturers to limit the capabilities of their machines, using licensing deals and threats to withhold media content. They are asking broadband providers to help in ferreting out users sharing movies or music. Not stopping with the laws of code or markets, the publishers are asking Congress for new laws: broadcast flags, “analog hole” closure, and stricter penalties for circumvention of digital rights management.

But digital editing and conversion technology is dual-use. Copying “Lost” might be infringement, or it might be a political statement, mixing the mysterious island footage with that of a bumbling political leadership. (Last election, TrueMajority urged voters to “fire” President George W. Bush, in a commercial that remixed clips of Donald Trump on “The Apprentice,” .) If entertainment companies get their wishes, new hardware and software won’t be able to generate that kind of statement.

Broadband providers haven’t shown themselves to be great friends to users either, saying they want to charge twice for access to bandwidth rather than giving users neutral access to the network. Their dream Internet looks a lot like the cell phone network — content and contracts available from just a few places, with a payment at every click.

Before we let them snuff out the sparks of popular creativity, we should remind the entertainers in Hollywood, the network operators, and their friends in Congress that the same public who can make them popular can make them unpopular and send them home again.

LINKS:

* PEW Internet and American Life Report, “Home Broadband Adoption 2006″:

* Jonathan Zittrain, “The Generative Internet”:

* Jonathan Zittrain’s Inaugural Lecture at Oxford University, “The
Future of the Internet - and How to Stop It”:

Source :filter-editor@cyber.law.harvard.edu

posted by Anna at 3:58 pm | Comments (0)

June 21, 2006

Do You Serve a Higher Purpose?

Today, I was feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by all of the changes that have already occurred in our profession and all of the ones yet to come. I probably have at least another 20 years still ahead of me in the world of work. Sometimes, I wonder if I can be smart enough, adaptable enough and visionary enough to survive. I have been in the field for 23 years and may have that many more years to go and I occasionally feel a crisis in confidence.

Working with a dynamo like Sarah Long, who is always bring us new ideas and concepts for services,often, I feel very humbled and awed by what others in the profession are doing. At times like this, I find myself doing that middle-aged thing of asking “What am I doing here and is there anything that makes me special?” In the midst of this a co-worker handed me a book that Sarah had shared with her. It is entitled Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship by Nancy Kaliko Maxwell.

Ms. Maxwell, who is Jewish, was inspired to write this book after the third person in one day referred to her as “Sister”, mistaking her for a nun. Granted she works at a library in a Catholic university but, some people were still making an interesting assumption. She was especially impressed by a conversation she overheard between a nun and an agnostic co-worker. The nun stated “Everything I do is an offering up to God.” The agnostic librarian responded “I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same way. I can’t describe it, because I am not sure I even believe in God. But at the reference desk, I feel like I am offering my work up to Something or Somebody beyond myself….In the library I feel I am serving some greater purpose.”

I blush to say it but, this really struck a chord with me. I am not the type of person who feels comfortable discussing my religious or spiritual beliefs in the work environment but, I guess I am a member of the Librarian Sect of Sacred Secular Knowledge. (Yes, I am looking into tax exempt status.) While I do not agree with everything in this book, I did find this brief nine chapter, 156 page book a balm for my soul and my book spines.

It is a great light read that provides ideas and thoughts that will stay with you and provide you with many hours of contemplation.

This book was great at snapping me back into shape. Being a lilbrarian isn’t really about me or how good I am, it is about putting the skills that I do have to use for the greater good and helping people. The message I came away with is enjoy sharing the knowledge and talents one possesses and relish how even your simplest acts can help others. Can I get an AMEN?

posted by Anna at 2:55 pm | Comments (0)

Run your fingers through Shakespeare

Google has a really cool Google beta site up that provides “The complete plays of Shakespeare. Now at your fingertips. ” Very interesting but I can’t help but notice the “Buy this Book” option.

http://books.google.com/googlebooks/shakespeare/

posted by Anna at 10:30 am | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

Barnes & Noble University

Barnes & Noble has a B&N University that has free online classes (like a Simplify Your Life class and a Web class, for example) as well as online reading groups led by authors or moderators.

These might be interesting to attend and check-out if any of the ideas can be “borrowed” for our libraries. I know some libraries do online book discussions, etc. I think these might make interesting podcasts as well as interactive online sessions.

posted by Anna at 3:49 pm | Comments (0)

Superman vs. Batman: Who Wins? Libraries do!

Like many people in her age group (she is 17,) my daughter wants to become an author and or illustrator of graphic novels and comics. This is a serious commitment on her part and she has done a phenomenal amount of research into the history and possible future of this art form. Over the years we have had deep conversations regarding who is the best superhero, Batman or Superman. My daughter has always been firmly in the Man of Steel’s camp while I like hanging with the Bat. We have also discussed the Marvel vs. DC Universes and American vs. Japanese Animation. To her this is just as important as any discussion about Chekov vs. Tolstoy or Confederate vs. Union Armies in the American Civil War.

Manga, anime, comics, cartoons, graphic novels, and all of the online versions of these formats are touchstones and cultural icons for my daughters generation. Libraries have been paying notice to the popularity of this genre but we need to pay even more attention. What does this mean for future reading formats? Heck, what does it mean to the entire entertainment field?

My daughter has shared with me several very funny cartoons that have been created, posted and viewed in an online format. What happens when the book and the online world collides? I think it is the graphic novel. Here is what my daughter has to say about it:

The Future of Graphic Novels

One of the oldest and often undervalued forms of story telling is undergoing a major change. The future for this art is an uncertain one, clouded by misunderstanding. The future of comics and comic books is one that no one can guess, the recent rise in popularity being counter balanced by the notion that comic books are lower forms of literature and art. With such prejudice against comic books, it is amazing that they have lasted this long. So it is that we will look at comic books in the present and try to glimpse the future that awaits them.
In the 2001 Guardian First Book Award, a lone comic book stood out among the nine contestants. Not like the usual contender whose daunting blocks of black and white type which made them formidable foes for Chris Ware’s colorful work of art, Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth. Although it won a single vote, it was a great accomplishment considering that …(more)

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posted by Anna at 2:22 pm | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006

Call me?? Are phones still preferred over online communications?

Bernie Sloan, Senior Information Systems Consultant, Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois shared with DIG-REF a very interesting article that appeared in the June 19 issue of the New York Times. the article discusses how NYPL has a centralized reference service to handle queries that come in via phone, chat, or e-mail.

The article discusses how the phone service is still more popular than the online services. This might be an accurate reflection of the tastes of their audience but it may also be an example of comparing apples and oranges. They limit phone sessions to 5 minutes but, online sessions can go on as long as needed.

Here are a couple of of excerpts Bernie pulled out that are quite interesting:

“While the number of telephone calls has declined over the years to fewer than 150 a day from more than 1,000, they still made up two-thirds, or 41,715, of all inquiries to the staff last year (the rest were by computer).”

…and…

“While Internet inquiries make up only a third of the questions, they can take up to 35 minutes each and 85 percent of total staff time.
Internet inquiries come by e-mail (13,398 last year) and a one-on-one chat that resembles instant messaging (7,220 last year).”

I am sure that the decline in phone reference is do to the Internet. Also these findings seem to support what reference librarians have already been seeing. The reference questions that come to us are more complex and time consuming than the ready reference questions of the past.

If we are using a strictly bottom line, business model some people might say is reference worth it? Can it be done more efficiently . The answer maybe yes, it might be done more efficiently, but, if we don’t answer involved reference questions are we giving up one of our key marketing tools? We are a service industry. We can provide unique services that balance out in their value to society and the individual.

When the conversation turns to the value of reference services and librarians, how does one justify what one does? How do you do it? Is reference dead? Are reference services worth the money? What do you think?

Below is AnthonyRamirez’s article “Library Phone Answerers Survive the Internet.” New York Times. June 19, 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/ny5gk

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posted by Anna at 1:45 pm | Comments (0)

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