What I'll tell the Librarians

If nothing else, my previous post asking what I should say in a speech to the California Librarians Association, produced over 30 responses. Clearly people are passionate on the subject.  Clearly they also have a positive outlook for the need for libraries.

Below is my preliminary outline for talking points I will deliver at Long Beach Convention center this Sunday night. My outline was a mess a couple of days ago, but Ivan Chew, the Rambling Librarian has helped get me organized and focused, proving once again that librarians by their nature are both generous and well-organized.

Special thanks also to the 30 of you who contributed by joining the conversation. I have given credits to those of you, from whom I directly borrowed.  If you feel overlooked, lease let me know.

Everyone else. Please let me know how I can correct and improve on this.  There is still time.

1.    US Libraries may be alive & well

•    5 X Amazon.com customers
•    $14 b, more than running shoes
•    1 in 7 people have library cards
•    But there’s a storm coming?

2.    Storm Clouds

•    Fewer visitors
•    Fewer check outs
•    Miscellaneous beats Dewey
•    Stodgy “non-hip” image
•    Free no longer unique
•    125 YouTube downloads for every NYT paper read

3.    The Internet is:

•    An infinite repository of information
•    Every library can use it to provide infinite bookshelves
•    Let’s people everywhere share what they know and think
•    Inexpensive

4.    Internet is eating up everything

•    Traditional media
•    Geography
•    Local communities being replaced by global neighborhoods
•    Book-scanning
•    Digital-reading devices
•    Point: Libraries need to adapt or prepare for Jurassic Park

5.     What is social media?

•    2 guys at backyard fence
•    2 yrs from blogs 2 social media tool warehouse
•    About conversations, not tech
•    SAP Survey-Youth driven

6.    The Online Generation

•    College freshmen younger than the internet
•    Online more than on TV or phone talk
•    Influence each other
•    Teflon resistance to marketing as you know it
•    Changing habits. Changing culture. Changing everything

7.         Will social media kill libraries?

•    Of course not. Don't be silly
•    Nothing beats face-to-face
•    Library as community spaces.
•    Access for left out people
•    Many changes needed
•    ‘Online Generation’ spurns brick & Mortar
•    Global more attractive than local

8.    To Engage the Online Generation

•    Use social media to join  conversations
•    Become expert resources on how to use the tools
•    Use social media to eliminate physical boundaries
•    Librarians as Internet knowledge guides
•    Infinite bookshelf is hear.
•    Virtual books? The content is what’s relevant
•    Use real places to explore digital spaces
•    Bridge the digital divide
•    Go multimedia

9.         A few case studies

•    CSLibrary Casa Grandes Colo librarian uses Twitter/blog to engage in community conversations with community youth.  Those conversations coincide with a 30% uptick in traffic, mostly young people
•    LO-Fi Librarian, a UK Law librarian follows users on Facebook. Uses a Blogger/Facebook  not to look cool, but to deliver services, communicate with/users and raise her library's profile.” Also following users in facebook.
•    YALSA  has a blog that lsook at anything tagged 'Technology' for social networking posts.  Members  have been podcasting, Twittering (@yalsa), and posting bookmarks at del.icio.us for awhile. Part of their gaming panel took place in Second Life
•    The American Library Association lists their social networking tools on their wiki .

10.    Social media can

•    Let friends share what they’re reading
•    Let readers review books for local communities.
•    Let community tell library what they want

11. Librarians can

•    Use scanned volumes to give users infinite stacks
•    Serve as Internet guides to literature
•    Understand the power of discovery through tagging
•    Blog. Tell users  what’s happening through RSS feeds
•    Blog. Let users tell you what should happen

12. Librarians can also

•    Join a global librarian network. Share with a wiki
•    Use Twitter so people ca get info from mobile
•    A global librarian online network
•    Link/point to your users
•    Distribute current community information

13. A global network of librarians

•    Meet others like yourself
•    Share passion and authority
•    Learn about innovations elsewhere
•    Collaborate to solve problems

14. Barriers

•    Few
•    Requires change in focus
•    Significant time investment
•    Approval process.
•    Too many options. Choose wisely

15.  Special thanks:

•    30 people responded to my blog and Facebook questions
•    Name: http://www.aliconferences.com/conf/social_media_govt1207/day1.htm
•    Ivan Chew, Rambling Librarian  —Singapore
•    Lo-Fi Librarian, anonymous UK Law librarian blogger/Facebook user
•    Shawn Lea , Everything and Nothing
•    Rohit Bhargava, Influential Marketing Blog
•    Randi Mason, MLS, PRSA

If you are attending the conference, please let me know if this is what you want to hear.

Comments

[Hugo E. Martin]

Dear Shel,

you collected a lot of information bits about Librarian & Internet, etc., but maybe you forgot a major battle-field. There is one subject which I want to stress ... and feel it doesn't have the weight in your structure it needs.

Librarian and Libraries must become the custodians of information and publication, the need to fight the role SMT-publishers take on, to wall information and make (more) profit just for this reason, breaking the wall they build before.

SMT-Publisher make a lot of money from the work of public (and private) sponsored scientific work and sell it for exceptional money back to public (or private) subsidized libraries, institutes and alike.

e.g.
the German Max-Planck Gesellschaft canceled their contract with SpringerLink
http://hemartin.blogspot.com/2007/10/max-planck-gesellschaft-kndigt-rahmen.html

Do you know the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and the Humanities"? MPG is one of there founding members
http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html

Today all the tools are around for scientists and institution to publish direct and if libraries would joint with there expertise they could provide - with much lower budgets - a highly needed job in getting information’s and publications organized and retrievable.

I think librarian should regain and fight for their role, usefulness and power (they had already) …

[shel israel]

Hugo,
I'm sure your point is valid, but you raise a subject i do not understand. What is SMT? What can librarians do about it?

[Douglas Karr]

My rant that has little to do with the topic: Can you ask the librarians why we continue to build libraries in every school and in each community?

My kids' high school has a library that most communities would be jealous of and down the street is... the city library!

Why can't schools and communities share a bigger, better, library?

Rant over. :)

[shel israel]

Nice rant, but it has not a thing to do with this group and how social media can help the library of the future.

[jane]

Looks like it will be a great presentation! I totally agree about getting in there and practicing/using the new tools. I think it's a great way to connect with communities and to gain skills for whatever is next.

[Mark Ivey]

Shel--Looks like a good speech. I don't think libraries will be driven out by social media, but they will have to reinvent the institution or face getting left behind for good--this should be a strong message. The biggest thing they could do (you touch on this in #8 and #10) is engage their readers and create communities, based on their reading interests. The models are already there--look at applications like iLike in Facebook, where people write reviews on their favorite books and you can share interests. Del.icio.us is another, allowing you to compare bookmarks and actually build networks this way. I see no reason they couldn't create their own grassroots weekly reviews, and offer RSS feeds, maybe even linking up with local newspapers or other pubs, in effect turning them into online publishers and community builders. Libraries could take the community idea a step further, serving as the central hub for these communities to come together and even get together in real time. The possibilities are endless, limited only by their imagination (and possibly tax dollars). Good luck with it.

[Anne Libby]

Librarians should make sure that people know how important they are as protectors of our civil liberties, via their activities in anti-censorship efforts (and other efforts, no doubt, this is just area I've become aware of...)

Thanks and be well.

[Hugo E. Martin]

SMT? Sorry, it stands for Science, Medical and Technical Publishers / Publishing. Librarians can work (as before) direct with the scientists and public funded research organizations ... for less money they have to pay to the middle man, they can provide free access ...

My idea was, don't talk "just" about the 'wonderful' tools, but also the system changes needed.