Connecting Librarian

I am so busy at the moment and haven’t the time to write posts about each of these worthy reports, so here’s a brief overview on each - it may be worth your while to check them out more fully.

“Public Libraries and the Internet 2006” - from the Information Use and Policy Institute, looks at the state of internet access in public libraries in the US, how it has changed since 1994 and how libraries expect to see it change in the next two years. There’s a lot more there, so check it out.

“Cites and Insights: Crawford at Large” is a favourite of mine. Walt Crawford produces a regular extravaganza of information, analysis and criticism on a wide range of topics relating to Libraries, Policy, Technology and Media, averaging at about a 26 page pdf file. Its always on my reading list. If you are particularly interested in library blogs, then you should check out Walt’s Looking at Liblogs issue - it even included Connecting Librarian!

“Teen Market Profile” - is an interesting exploration of American teen consumers, from the Magazine Publishers of America. The profile is based on the work of Mediamark Research and provides a profile on teens as consumers - who they are, what they buy, how they think and how to reach them. Important for libraries to know too.

“Long Overdue - a fresh look at public and leadership attitudes about libraries in the 21st century” - comes from Public Agenda, under the auspices of Americans for Libraries and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It looks at how Americans see their libraries in the 21st century, with a special look at the view of public officials. It identifies both strengths and challenges for public libraries. There is plenty here for public libraries in Australia to learn from.

“Supporting students: the educational contribution of Australia’s public libraries” by Dr Alan Bundy for the Friends of Libraries Australia (FOLA). It researches the increasing use that students of all ages, are making of their public libraries, the impact of that use and makes recommendations for service options which libraries can provide, but only with further government support. FOLA has done a series of reports on how libraries support different sections of our society, which are also worth checking out.

All worth reading, but will take a while to do so - Enjoy!

I had the great delight of being able to attend a talk in Melbourne, given by Stephen Abrams on Friday just gone, entitled Web 2.0 and Library 2.0: competing in a Google World - hosted by CAVAL. Although it was over 3 hours long, I took even more copious notes than I usually do, so this will be long. As they are notes relating to where I am at, I apologise if they don’t make a lot of sense out of my context. As this post will also be a combination of what Stephen said and a little of what I am thinking, I will differentiate it by putting my thoughts into italics. Here goes:

Broadband is becoming more widespread - in Toronto, Canada, it is available for free through their power lines! As this spreads even further, it raises a threat to libraries as destinations. What are we doing about that?

Google is great for the who, what, where and when questions. Libraries are better for the how and why questions. Our quality of information and our intervention through the reference interview, helping the user to better define their information need, beats a general internet search every time. How do we communicate that to our users and potential users?

Video games, which are contentious in libraries world wide, are important to libraries, not only to attract young users, but because that type of interface is how we will interact with computers in the future. If people aren’t learning to use them now, they will have to do a lot of catching up later. Add the strategy, information and research that goes into some of these games and it becomes more than a mindless distraction.

Be smart in how you do information literacy. One library did a session “Pimp my MySpace account” and in the midst of glamming up the graphics, adding plugins etc, subtly taught on privacy (ie. do you really want that photo to come up when you are running for Supreme Court justice?)

There were more changes in the mid 20th century, than there have been in the last 15 years - electricity, refrigeration, commercial flight, television, moon landing, computers started, etc. However, although the last 15 years has been relatively slow in terms of change, its now going to get a lot faster.

SHIFT happens!

Libraries have been cataloguing websites, but can’t keep up with the changes. Should we be doing that? (Stephen thinks not)

We need to move forward, success in the past does not guarantee success in the future.

Virtual services from a library need to work as a branch, with branch staff etc, meeting the needs of the virtual users. What are their demographics, their languages etc. Toronto’s website is now available in 27 languages!

Books are not at risk - publishing and book sales are still increasing. Libraries may be.

Changed priorities ahead - no stopping at any time - we need to keep moving, keep innovating.
When we study something to death, death is not our goal! Experiment by doing!

Why should people use a library when there’s Google? We are not information professionals, but knowledge professionals. We help to link the user to the information, thereby assisting the process of making knowledge. We have to teach how to find, not to search. Libraries have to put themselves at the point that users come in (ie. lesson level on a uni website).

Isn’t this just the best time to be in libraries?
What do we do best? - create an experience, improve the quality of the question and support community and learning. Librarians like to answer questions, unfortunately for us to be approached means that the user has to admit that they don’t know something and that is hard!

Questions to consider:
1. How will libraries address the localisation of search?
With the introduction of Google Maps, Google Scholar and Msn near me, that local advantage that libraries have is being threatened.
2. How will libraries address the need for scholarly search?
MS Academic has 120 databases. Need to be focusing on tools, toolbars, virtual reference, connecting through social networks, OPEN URL compliancy etc.
3. How will libraries inter-operate with blended learning alternatives?
Live Meeting, Web CT and Blackboard are beginning to aim at public libraries. We can use them to help users upskill - continuous learning - facts are changing!
4. How will libraries evolve to include next generation communication devices?
Wireless through powerlines. Mobile phones becoming even more prominent. XML is important as it senses the device it is being sent to and reformats appropriately. Portals and portlets.
5. When will libraries deal with Millenials and post Millenials?
They have bigger brains and IQs. Characteristics are as much about upbringing as environment. Eyes move differently around a screen than boomers and xers. Use Jakob Neilsens rules on websites, will meet both needs. Websites can use more info density, don’t need lots of white space. Boys read more than girls if you count games. Up to 18, girls do more literature reading, whilst boys do more episodic reading (ie. games), after 18 it reverses. There have been changes to all age groups - young adults, seniors, working class/poor - the general public is not so general anymore. As there are different intelligence and learning styles (7), interfaces have to support the widest range of these.
6. When will libraries focus more on the user experiences and less on what staff needs?
Whose pain is being assuaged? Use products to free staff to do other things that support this goal. Tools include: federated and targeted search, Open URL, Portals, blogs and RSS, virtual ref etc.
7. When will real questions of governance and productivity be addressed?
Its about relationships - IT, web design, HR systems, registrations systems,
Its about sharing information - knowledge management
Its about cooperating - instant messaging, texting
There are more millenials now than Boomers - need to get them now!
8. Where will we find risk takers, innovators, etc?
Social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace. Need to have a presence there. Growth in Australia on MySpace and Bebo rivals that in the US.
9. What are the benefits of Web 2.0 for libraries?
Need to help invent the future by being a part of it or it will just roll over the top of us and leave us behind. Use the technologies as a tool for what we want to achieve, not as end in itself.
10. Where we find the vision?
Focus. Great expectations, the future is already here, its just not widespread enough. Librarian 2.0 plays!

So that’s what I noted. The even greater benefit was the ideas, thoughts and inspirations it generated, which will hopefully outwork to things that will be of benefit to my library service and our users.

Teens are an important audience to public libraries and one of the harder groups to reach. I have said it here before and I will probably say it here and other places again.

Let me say first that not all teens that come into our libraries are problems. We have teens that we employ as shelvers to work after school getting books back on the shelves and we also regularly have high school students doing work experience in our libraries and most of these teens have been great. Quite a few have gone on to become part time library officers and still work in our libraries many years later. We also have regular teen borrowers, who have good relationships with the staff and have never caused a hiccup of any sort. Unfortunately, they are not the ones who first come to mind when talking teens and they are not the ones that the rules are introduced to deal with.

However, we do have problem teens, that are a pretty constant issue for us, so it was interesting to come across a couple of blog posts that have come really close to home for me, with their experiences of teens in their libraries. Its scary when you read something like this and realise it could just as well be you writing it about your library and experiences. (or close to it anyway).

The first comes from Real Public Librarian who talks about the issues of having a totally inclusive youth library in “Youth in libraries - are you really ready to welcome them in?” You would think the answer is obvious, teens are future users of public libraries, so of course we are - but its not that simple. Deb works in such a library and hypothetically talks about the problems of balance that she and other public librarians (including myself) have to deal with on a daily basis. That balance being between welcoming all teens and the assorted behaviours that come with them and not alienating some of those teens and your other users. Very thought provoking post.

Then from Happyville Library and the witty and insightful Happy Villain comes “Self help for Happy Villain“. Happy Villain outlines one usual day with the assorted teen crowd that has invaded the library, yet again and all the demeanours and misdemeanours that go with it. This post is doing the rounds at my library and there are staff who aren’t laughing when they read it, instead they are nodding their heads in sympathy and understanding.

I can relate to Happy Villain’s predicament, there are times when I feel similarly after having to deal with teens all day. However, that doesn’t mean we close our doors and our services to them. In fact, we have turned the PCs to our advantage with teens, with a number of successful gaming nights being held at several of our branches, which have drawn new teens into our libraries. Going back to Deb’s experiences however, its finding the balance, that brings teens in with their baggage without alienating too many other people.

I know its hard for teens, but its hard for the staff too. Each group expects respect and its not always forthcoming. Our manager has come to a kind of understanding with a key group of teen offenders and we have good days as a result - even the bad days can be managed to a certain extent when you have that understanding to fall back on. Input from our Council youth workers has also been helpful for staff. Still, its hard sometimes to respond evenly and fairly to some of those teens, even when they have a good day, because of all the bad experiences we have had with them.

Amazingly, despite this sometimes acrimonious relationship between certain teens and staff, they still keep coming. Maybe they have nowhere else to go or nothing else to do, it could be that despite the staff they feel like the library is OK - realistically, its probably just that they can’t get internet access freely and easily anywhere else in the local area and they will put up with whatever they have to, to get that access.

As a lot of issues with teens in our libraries come from the use of our public PCs, it doesn’t hurt that we have a PC booking system coming in the next few months. Hopefully, that will eliminate or at least greatly reduce, the aggravation resulting from how these teens use our PCs - at least from a staff perspective. The staff have a something to look forward to, an end in sight and they can’t wait. The teens should be happier too in one respect, they won’t have the staff all over them about breaching the conditions of use! Whether they see it that way, is another thing!

Once they are limited with the PC hogging, will they find other ways to be disruptive? We have had our fair share of vandalism, pranks and bad behaviour not related to the PCs. Will they move onto other things in the library once their PC booking is over, like reading magazines, or gasp! borrowing! We have a great (under-utilised) teen collection of books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, audio and graphic novels etc. Or will they leave as soon as their time is up? The PCs are by far the biggest drawcard, both for teen library use and teen bad behaviour. Only time will tell what the effect of this change will be and whether all groups involved will be happy(?) with the results.