Schubert Foo - Vice Dean SCI Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
“Going virtual for enhanced library experience: a case study of the National Library of Singapore

His website - www.ntu.edu.sg/home/assfoo/

Was impressed with the developments in Librarianship in Australia, as evidenced by the papers and showcases at VALA. Encouraged the audience to share internationally and not think that the innovation can only come from the US or Europe.

National Library Board oversees the National Library and all public libraries in Singapore.

Singapore is a very IT savvy country. As young as 3 year olds are given mobile devices to play and learn with. Everywhere in Singapore, heads are down, using their handheld devices. Government initiative promoting Singapore as an IT island. Social and affluent society, cosmopolitan - coffee drinking is an experience in itself.

Singapore Libraries - brick vs click, collect-organise-store-access, mediator (source to user), authoritative, trusted content

Library users are in the minority and are scholars, researchers, library savvy.  Others find info needs met by search engines, see web info as legitimate and the only source, they think Google, Yahoo, MSN not library, expect instant gratification, find info until is downloadable, expect exception user experience (memorable, unique, exquisitely simple).  How do we find solutions to reach the majority and bring them back to our physical and virtual libraries.

What do hey do to close the gap? Delve into the information space of the users . Make resources more discoverable for them, thus bringing them back to the library.

Mobile phone penetration in Singapore 2007 - 109.1% of the population. SMS Nation - 3rd place afer Malaysia (210) and the Phillipines (846) - with a monthly average of 209 text messages per month.  Relatively cheap to send SMS and is often used to close business deals (no signature required).

Role of library - to connect users to resources that users need, for whatever purposes, in any format, from anywhere, using any device at the time (instantaneous for some) they want it.  Library as an info-concierge - individual info object is a self sustaining, self contained node unit, can be content or service, in any format.  Need to be inter-connected with multiple access points. Upon discovery, an information object becomes an info-concierge with ability to connect to other content (in library or outside) or other information seekers.  Connectivity can be achieved by hyperlinks, different platforms, pusing information - connectivity not necessarily one way.  Evolving a mesh (web) of information.

What’s Next? Browse by subjects, browse by format, recommended relational search, up and coming events, photos and stories to share. This content is harvested rom internal and external resources. Content can be released to spaces tousdie the library to promote discovery.(ie social networking spaces)  Residency in other spaces allows users to use them as best suited for their needs. If they don’t want the content, they can ignore it, but its there if they are interested or a need arises. Example: BookJetty.com.(like Library Thing) but will show if its in a local library or link to an online bookseller for purchase.

Library as a network of inter-connected info-concierges. Requires harvesting of other resources, selecting and authenticating contents, meta-tagging, creating, maintaining and growing taxonomies, information content organisation. Internal - NLS web content and subscribed databases. External - GYM, MICA, IDA, NAS.

Library as a network of true collaborators. Connectivity: content to content, people to content, people to people. Libraries are best placed to provide this. Dialogue/information sharing tools: wikis, blogs, social spaces.  Both library owned and other owned content.  We don’t have to own everything, we need to harvest content that is useful to our users, regardless of source.

In house exhibitions are rendered as far as possible to virtual exhibitions, once the physical one has ended.  National Library of Singapore is a smart building, approximately $300 million. ie. maximised airflow, use of sun and reflecting panels, trees on the 7th floor were chosen from thriving ones in the surrounding area. (book to be published on it soon).

NLS repositioned its reference service to meet users’ changing expectations and consumer lifestyles. Service within reach - SMS reference. Ask a librarian service by phone, one public library has a video conferencing service (no librarian in the branch), email and now SMS. 60 characters in Chinese, up to 160 in English.  Librarian resolves enquiry and enters answers via a standard template.  Reply with a direct answer or a URL. The URL gives more info, including more search terms to use, highlighted resources including notes on where to look in them, links to their availability.  At the end they include feedback questions which the user completes and submits. The answers are kept in a database as a future searchable resource.

Observations: overall positive feedback.  Various types of questions answered. Some users expect instant replies. Usgae rates averages 10-15 enquiries per day. Accessing NLS through Google, Yahoo and MSN. Created Infopedia - articles authored by NLS reference librarians about personalities, places and historical events in Singapore.  Use SEO to make sure it appears high on search engine results.  (infopedia.nlb.gov.sg)  Using Google based content (ie. maps) helps get links to your content. Content usage has increased exponentially with better exposure on the web - from 400 views to 63,000 views per month.  Other micro-sites are being explored.

Collaborative reference network. Making use of community expertise - librarians, researchers, community members. If questions can not be answered, referred to the network of specialists - who will then respond to the query which the librarian will then return to the user.  Uses forum for the discussions occuring over a query, can follow a thread.  Observations: still goes through the library, reference communities can included librairans, experts or others.

Challenges: requires support, experimentation, budget, time and innovation. Future promises excitement for librarians, managers, developers and vendors. Librarians will continue to grapple with constant flux of technological changes, users’ behaviour, users’ expectations and the need to reinvent themselves and continue instilling information literacy knowledge to users.  Need to continually learn about our users.  Referred to the JISC/British Library report on the Google Generation - Information behaviour of the researcher of the future.