Libraries and Journalism: Same, Same but Different?

One of the topics that has been floating around of recent times that has caught my attention is the decline of print Journalism in the face of the onslaught of news on the web.  It strikes me that the newspaper industry's uncertain future echoes that of libraries. They know that the impact of the web is fundamentally altering their future and they are not sure how their business model will need to change to accommodate the cultural shift. Sound familiar? (beware... long post ahead!)

First, we had Rupert Murdoch announcing that he believes that consumers will need to pay for online news. Then as he developed these ideas he pledged to block Google News from indexing content on his News web sites.  More recently, there has been a negative response to the ABC's announcement of a 24 hour News channel, now that digital TV is gaining traction in Australia, from commercial media outlets.  Their argument stems from a belief that public funding (and subsequently the lack of profit motive) gives the ABC an unfair advantage.  By taking market share from commercial media their advertising revenue is reduced and consequently it is more difficult to stay in business.   ABC argues, of course, that more competition in the marketplace is good for consumers.

Now, I don't think that anybody is going to pay for the kind of news that is available all over the web for free.  Indeed, the word-of-mouth effect of social media - twitter and the blogosphere for instance - is making the 'race to announce' a global phenomenon.  Coupled with the sloppy journalism and rehashed media releases we see in much of the current environment's so-called news media, so often exposed through channels such as Media Watch, I think that pay-per-view news announcements are certainly not a viable business model into the future.
(Media watch succinctly sums up the debate in End of the Free Ride and Building the Paywall)

That sort of news is simply information and information will be increasingly available. No... To generate enough revenue to survive news media will need a different focus. Be it analysis or opinion or something else they will need to add value to information.

What was that?  'Add value to information', isn't that what libraries do?

Forget Google. Maybe news media are the biggest threat to the ongoing future of libraries. Are we trying to occupy a similar space in the information management landscape?

I don't think either industry will survive on the fast fact - quick answers with raw information.  Google has that covered (at least until something better comes along). All the evidence points to people finding the information they get from Google Searches 'good enough'. Google's ease of use trumps any desire to seek out best quality.  So the future for libraries, and reference services in particular, is in adding value to information. Especially in situations that warrant more than a simple answer.  But maybe that's the future for news media as well?

Do we have any competitive advantages over news media?  I actually think libraries are well positioned to take advantage of possibilities of adding value to information due to several factors:

Trust
Libraries are trusted institutions. Libraries are generally funded by parent institutions and that funding is not reliant on libraries making a profit.  As a result we strive to be unbiased in delivery of our services.  This can't be said of commercial news media.

Collections
Our collections have been developed over a period of many years. We have historical material to draw on.  And it has been maintained so that we can access the full depth of our collections. We have a long tail.

Collaboration
Libraries have a long history of sharing resources.  Because we aren't generally required to turn a profit we are more willing to collaborate and share.  Commerical media are more than willing to accept contributions but it's a one way street. They can't afford to give away what they create.

But it's not all beer and skittles.  For all the self congratulatory rhetoric from within the library industry about librarians being the information specialists, I think we have a long way to go to add the kind of value that I'm talking about.

Librarians need to get much better at Information Design. From what I've observed, librarians are very good at collating information but the presentation of that information still leaves a lot to be desired.  We could learn a lot from the field of Experience Design - bringing together disparate information and designing it to be easy to consume, yet really useful.

Let me give you an example. Most NSW public libraries collect and arrange by subject lists of useful web sites in some form or another - something like this list of resources on Climate Change.  Some great resources in there but often buried deep in the information architecture of the library web site and not a great deal of value added.

Compare that with this special feature on Hurricane Katrina from the BBC (I used the Wayback Machine to get this screen shot from a week or so after the hurricane).  It has news articles but it also inlcudes audio and video material, history and analysis and space for readers to participate. And it is prominently promoted on the site, at least while the story is still current.

Notice however, that the bulk of the content is generated from the BBC's normal news production process. I believe libraries have a wider pool of content to draw from.  Here are some thoughts about where we can really add value to information.

Focus on the uniquely local
Almost all NSW public libraries maintain a local history or local studies collection. Uniquely and intensely local material that is often not available anywhere else.  In my experience, local information is highly sought after. However, the physical objects are locked up in a collection and only accessible while the library is open and sometimes only by appointment.  Let's digitise and promote this content, mix it with the rest of our collections and set it free. I think local content is a real drawcard for local public libraries.

Get more from your Collection
Let's start making more of our collections.  Let's surface interesting content, different resource types and bring them together in interesting ways.  Let's create a useful experience for our users (we might have to abandon Dewey for this!)

Provide Participation Spaces
As librarians we can add value to information but we should also recognise the amateur experts in our community and provide opportunities for them to add value to our collections.  Let's provide digital spaces where they can bring together their knowledge, our collections and resources and data from the wider web.  The rise of citizen journalism, blogging and so on shows the will to participate is there in the community.

There are regular calls for libraries and librarians to become better at promotion and it's true, we do need to get better at that. But there is more to creating a great user experience and adding value to people's lives than better promotion.  This quote sums it up:

While there are many quick, one-time things you can do to make your content findable, we’ll address those later. First, we have to make sure that there’s a reason to promote your library and its website. If you’re not offering relevant services or interesting content on your site, there’s really nothing to promote.
The most important and effective thing you can do to make your content findable and to draw people back is the most difficult: Make a good website. Creating a website is ridiculously easy, and it takes about 5 minutes to start a blog. Filling such sites with interesting content, however, takes skill, effort, and inspiration. Anyone can hit the “publish” button, but to learn about the interests of your community and to systematically present relevant content takes time. This is what you must do.
How to Drive Traffic to Your Website: Aaron Schmidt and Sarah Houghton-Jan

 Libraries need to deliver a better product than our current offerings as we move forward (especially in our web presence).  If they don't there will be others who will occupy that space. The phrase, 'painting lipstick on a pig' might be overstating it but you know what I mean.

Second life

I am putting this post here rather than the new technologies blog because second life is not a new tool, but I thought I might not be the only person who had not yet explored it.

Second life is an online space for interaction. I had not used it until last week when I had to prepare for a class meeting there. I am getting used to online games and this is not as smooth. My avatar did not walk (or run) with anything approaching stylish grace, although she was good at flying. I did not want to invest a lot of time tailoring my avatar and had not realised that the initial choice of avatar was so critical.

It was a useful place for a class meeting as we were all in different locations, but in second life we could be online in the one space. There are other tools for this, like games and so it was interesting to see what I had been missing by not exploring second life before now. From my brief experience you still have to make arrangements to meet people, it is not so populated that you will just bump into someone for a chat. You can both chat and type your messages. You can tell when someone is getting ready to type a message because their hands are going up and down (like typing) and there is a sound of a keyboard. This is helpful as it stops everyon speaking at once. There is another signal for when people are talking. The voice chat is clear as well.

We were there to look at a Stanford University archives project.

It was really interesting to hear one of the archivists talk about how this was going, as well as being able to see some of the digitised archives.

Second life is a series of islands and as there are no boats you have to teleport everywhere you go. You can't readily wander around and just browse except island by island. You can search the map by keywords (which is how I found the Australian libraries site), and then teleport to locations of interest.

I dropped by the Australian Libraries site a couple of times (at different times of day), but did not run into anyone.

I now have my avatar for future meetings, or to check up on anything in second life.

What do Users Want from Your Library Catalogue?

I've just been having my first look at the most recent OCLC report, Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want. The results don't paint a very flattering picture of current generation catalogues but I don't think those findings are particularly surprising.

So what do users want? Here is a summary:

• Direct links to online content - text and media formats
• Evaluative content, such as summaries/abstracts, tables of contents and excerpts
• Relevant search results
• Item availability information - if the item is available and how to get it
• Simple keyword search with an advanced, guided search option

You should read some of the detail in the report - it's really interesting. It certainly got me thinking. I believe that the results illustrate a couple of key points:

1. Users want to start with a simple keyword search and get relevant results.
   Remember when Google just started up and the impact that their relevancy ranking had compared with search engines like Alta Vista and Yahoo! Now that's how everyone experiences the Internet and they want it in our catalogues.
2. Catalogues are good when you know what you want.
   A bit of detail in the report suggests that catalogues are good when the user is looking for known items but really let people down when they are trying to discover information on a new topic. Random results from a keyword search aren't good enough. If you can't have the full text available online then people expressed a real need for more data to help them choose the good stuff. That included table of contents, summaries and excerpts as well as faceted searching to help them narrow down large result sets from keyword searches.
3. If the whole thing isn't available right now online, 'how do I get it?' becomes the most important question.
   Assuming the user chooses a library catalogue as a discovery tool and manages to find some worthwhile resource their first preference is to link straight to the full text of the item online. If they can't have direct access there and then the detail around how and when can they get hold of the item becomes paramount.

What does this mean for the future of libraries and reference services? I see reference as the process of discovery based on identified information needs. However, the window (catalogue) to our biggest resource (our collection) doesn't appear to fulfill that need for discovery.

Does the library industry have enough dollars and/or expertise to develop catalogues that will meet our users expectations? Maybe libraries will not be in the discovery business for much longer? Should we be focussing on the delivery side of the equation? Could/should we outsource the discovery process to the institutions who are doing a better job of it (Google, Amazon, etc.) by making our collection data available to them in return for them sending traffic our way. Should reference services move to the Cloud to meet our users? Is it sustainable for individual libraries to all have their own uniques collections with an individual, self-contained discovery tool?

I see change coming and interesting times ahead.

Your thoughts? Leave a comment...

Innovation

Have a look at this blog post about 50 ways to foster a sustainable culture of innovation.

It is great because it is focusing on what is possible, or what has to be done to make an idea possible.

They are all interesting ideas. My favourites are:
3. Have more fun. If you're not having fun (or at least enjoying the process) something is off.

6. As far as the future is concerned, don't speculate on what might happen, but imagine what you can make happen.

9. Ask questions about everything. After asking questions, ask different questions. After asking different questions, ask them in a different way.

11. Encourage everyone to communicate. Provide user-friendly systems to make this happen.

15. Notice innovation efforts. Nurture them wherever they crop up. Reward them.

24. Communicate, communicate, communicate, communicate, communicate and then communicate again. Deliver each important message at least six times.

32. Avoid analysis paralysis. Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.

42. Give your people specific, compelling, and measurable innovation goals.

46. Reward collective, not only individual successes, but also maintain clear individual accountabilities and keep innovation heroes visible.

50. Drive authority downwards. Make decisions quickly at the lowest level possible.

Think about how some of these ideas could help change your service delivery for reference and information services.

You may want to write you ideas in the comments.

Online gaming and problem solving

According to a recent article in New Scientist online games are solving uncomputable problems

Using the distributed skills base of online gaming enthusiasts scientists (with the help of the general public) are able to find out things which has been beyond their reach including more ideas about how proteins can be folded, and about spiral galaxies. You may want to profile some of these games in your libraries as a way of stretching people's understanding about online gaming.

I am just starting some research into the possible and actual use of gaming methodology for reference and information services. There would seem to be some really useful areas around expanding research skills as well as in other areas.

If you have never tried online gaming check out one of the games mentioned at the end of the New scientist article.

9 in 2009

LibraryThing is suggesting that people read 9 books in 9 different categories, all in 2009. Thanks to Robyn for this information.

There is a new page on the readers advisory wiki for any reading lists which this reading inspires.

I also think this has strong broad reference implications as well - how about reading 9 books of relevance to 9 different areas of referance and information services work? I will have to think about my 9 categories of reference work, but would probably include changes to reference service delivery including roving reference, community information, readers advisory work, and local studies for a start. I will let you know how my reading goes (it will be a mix of books, articles, online reports, blogs, videos and podcasts).

What are your 9 books and the 9 categories they represent?

Meeting New Users in Wikipedia

I've just read an interesting article by Dreanna Belden called Harnessing Social Networks to Connect with Audiences: If You Build it, Will They Come 2.0? (Internet Reference Services Quarterly; 2008, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p99-111). Unfortunately it's not available in full text online as far as I can see but it is indexed in Ebscohost Masterfile Premier, which all NSW libraries should have access to. You may even subscribe to it at your library - if not you can request a copy from Sutherland Library through Interlibrary Loans.

At the author's library at the University of North Texas they are using Wikipedia to drive traffic to their digital library initiatives. They add references to relevant Wikipedia articles that link to items in their digital collections. When I read this it struck me as so obvious. Why aren't all libraries and librarians taking a much more active role in editing the references in Wikipedia articles? This is what we do best isn't it? The author gives some statistics in the article suggesting that they are receiving more referral traffic through Wikipedia than through Google Search.

Talk about putting your reference service 'in the way' of the user. If users aren't coming to the library for their information searches then lets put our services right in front of them where they are looking. How much could libraries improve Wikipedia articles by adding some comprehensive reference and reading lists? It doesn't have to be limited to referencing resources held in digital collections either. The combined book stock of libraries worldwide offers enormous opportunity for reading lists across the range of Wikipedia articles.

Book references could be linked to Worldcat records as a way of guiding people to libraries as the place to find a copy of the book (rather than Amazon, which so often happens online for book references).

I see this as a similar philosophy to Slam the Boards. You might not be directly helping your immediate local users but a cooperative effort by libraries creates a better outcome for everyone.

This is such an obvious idea that I can't believe that librarians aren't already doing this. Maybe they are? Maybe you are? Have you ever heard of this going on in libraries?

Is Web 2.0 a Revolution?

In the final post in my series on Clay Shirky's book, Here Comes Everybody, I want to share with you his idea that Web 2.0 tools may actually revolutionise society, and consider what that might mean for Libraries.

In my first post I introduced the idea that new technology can only effect societal change once it becomes ubiquitous or invisible. When Web 2.0 tools become ubiquitous everyone becomes a content creator. This is what Chris Anderson calls the democratisation of production in his book, The Long Tail. Shirky argues that once the lines blur between producers or publishers and consumers there is a fundamental change in the way our society operates, that "the category of 'consumer' is now a temporary behavior rather than a permanent identity." (Here Comes Everybody, p. 108). The result is that previously impossible things start occuring.

The hallmark of revolution is that the goals of the revolution cannot be contained by the institutional structure of the existing society. As a result, either the revolutionaries are put down, or some of those institutions are altered, replaced, or destroyed. We are plainly witnessing a restructuring of the media businesses, but their suffering isn't unique, it's prophetic. All businesses are media businesses, because whatever else they do, all businesses rely on managing of information for two audiences - employees and the world. The increase in the power of both individuals and groups, outside traditional organisational structures, is unprecedented. Many institutions we rely on today will not survive this change without significant alteration, and the more an institution or industry relies on information as its core product, the greater and more complete the change will be. (my emphasis)
Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody, p. 107

What is the role of Britannica in the age of Google and Wikipedia? I think they're trying to work that out themselves. What role do reference librarians have when only 1% of college students begin their information searches at a library? (OCLC Perceptions report, 2005).

I think that information is the core product of libraries and that the sharing of information now and into the future will profoundly affect how libraries operate. What do you think?

A reference renaissance - conference

If you weren't able to be in Denver in early August you can catch up on many of the presentations from A reference renaissance. Quite a few of the PowerPoint presentations are now available from this conference.

What ideas from here inspire you? What other ideas do we need to consider for reference and information services?

Do you think there really is a reference renaissance occurring?

Beyond 4 Walls: Presentation Slides and Links (Martin Boyce)

Beyond 4 Walls: Imagining Reference Services in a 2.0 World was presentation given at the Reference @ the Metcalfe Seminar yesterday. In the presentation I looked at a possible future for reference services and argued the case for starting to plan for that future now.

You can view a version of this presentation below.

View Upload your own

If you can't read the text view the presentation on Slideshare, where you can see it in full-screen.

The links mentioned in the presentation can be found on my del.icio.us bookmarks.

If you view this slideshow or saw me present then please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Dangerous ideas at PLA Minneapolis

One of the sessions at PLA in Minneapolis was called Dangerous ideas. It included questions such as:

What if librarians would promote and participate in the development of Wikipedia?
What if we made decisions that are not based on scarcity?
What if libraries large and small invest together to adopt open source solutions?
What if teens in the library were our partners instead of our problem?
What if we learned to advertise the allure of libraries as successfully as soft drinks and junk food?

For more information see Webjunction.

What are some dangerous ideas for reference and information work?

Keeping on doing reference work

David Lee King is blogging from PLA about various sessions he has been attending.

In particular look at What Does it Take to be Good at Reference in the Age of Google?. It won't take you long to read - and it shows the need to continue learning, and thinking creatively about the reference and information work which we do.

A new definition of reference

RUSA has redefined reference.

Reference Transactions are information consultations in which library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources to help others to meet particular information needs. Reference transactions do not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with locations, schedules, equipment, supplies, or policy statements.

Reference Work includes reference transactions and other activities that involve the creation, management, and assessment of information or research resources, tools, and services.

For more information see the RUSA blog.

Skilling Up for the Next Generation

There was an interesting post on the ReadWriteWeb blog recently suggesting that Sexy Librarians of the Future Will Help You Upload Your Videos to YouTube. The article presents a future where one role of librarians is to help people improve the discoverability of their online content. You should read the whole post but here is a snippet:

'Imagine a future when you go to the library with a 5 minute video you've just made about last night's Presidential debates and that librarian says to you:
You should upload it to YouTube and tag it with these four tags - two broad and two more specific to existing communities of interest on YouTube and the topic of your video. Then you should embed that video in a blog post along with some text introducing it and linking to some of your favorite posts by other people who have also written today about the Presidential debates. Make sure to send trackbacks to those posts!...
...Would that be great, or what?'

What I find interesting about this scenario is the recognition that the findability of information is a big challenge. The networking aspect of social software - blogs, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, etc allows people with converging interests to become recommendation engines. These are the spaces that potential future library customers inhabit. Libraries need to not only understand these new spaces but also to ensure that we are disclosing our content in these places so that our customers can discover us.*

So, how would your staff cope with an enquiry like this? Has your library started planning for the future skill sets your reference staff will require? Does your marketing strategy include online communities? Have you considered running a Learning 2.0 program in your library? If not, why not? Would any of the arguments in these posts sway you toward training staff in new technologies?


*See my comment on Ellen's post about Planning for the Future for a more in depth explanation of what I mean about discovery and disclosure.

Mobile reference and paging for help

Some restaurants are implementing systems where you can easily and quickly page the table staff – from table based pagers. Wouldn’t it be great if you were doing research in a library and had a question and could page a librarian to come and help you? Or from the perspective of a librarian if you could know exactly where someone was with a question without the enquirer having to leave their place at a computer or at the shelves.

It would build on, or complement, the roving reference model being effectively used by several libraries including Orange County Library Service and their mobile gamma,King County Library System (Pitney, Barbara and Nancy Slote, The KCLS roving reference model, Public Libraries, Chicago, Jan/Feb 2007, Iss 1 p 54 – 68) and and Salem-South Lyon District Library (Hibner, Holly The Wireless Librarian: Using Tablet PCs for Ultimate Reference and Customer Service: A Case Study, Library Hi Tech News. Bradford: Jun 2005. Vol. 22, Iss. 5; p. 19 – 23).

Emerging trends in technology

In Kansas some library staff have started an emerging trends discussion group. The discussion takes place on a blog because they are not in the one location. The first book they are discussing is The long tail by Chris Anderson.



Have a look at the blog Library intersections to see more. Would you be interested in doing something similar across NSW? What book title would you suggest we start with?

Planning for the future

During the recent LIANZA conference the National Library of New Zealand used the opportunity to find out what visions people had for 2017.

The ideas are available from flickr under the heading In 2017 libraries will be…

This idea has inspired a suggestion from Michael Stephens (Tame the web blog) that this method be used to collect visions from your community.

How do you see reference and information services in 2012 and in 2017? What are we doing, do we still have a role? What are the new areas of engagement with the community? How has our capacity to provide reference and information services been enhanced? How has it been eroded?

I think we have a hopeful future, but we need to plan for it, rather than react so I would be interested to know how you see the answers to the above questions.

What tools need to be developed to help libraries lead? There are many great tools out there – but what would help you provide a better service to your customers. What is the next tool like a wiki or a blog?

What else are we talking about that we need to develop? What actions do we need to take to move these ideas into being?

Reference desks - part 3

The renovations in the central library in Orlando, headquarters of the Orange County Library System removed large service desks and replaced them with much smaller desks to encourage staff to walk around serving clients. The provides assistance to people who do not always approach reference desks because the desks can look forbidding and like they have been designed as barriers rather than for places for people to come who would like some help. If you have not refined the details of your question it is easier not to approach a desk, but instead to be approached by a library staff member seeking to provide assistance to you. This way you don't have to decide if you need help, but can just ask the librarian who is talking with you.

Reference desks - part 2

This reference desk is part of the new central library at Santa Monica, California.

It is designed so that clients have confidentiality when they are asking questions or seeking assistance. These desks (there are two of them) are also designed so it is easy for staff to walk away from them to help clients. They offer privacy to the clients as they can not be easily overheard by other staff on desk, or by other clients.

Reference desks - part 1

As part of the trend for reference and information staff to be more mobile within a library the service desks are becoming smaller.

This example from King County Library System in Washington State shows an ergonomic reference and information desk. It can be raised or lowered depending on the staff member on duty, or the clients needs for example it can be low enough for people to sit at. It is easy to approach and very easy for a staff member to be able to walk away from it to help someone. The desk does not present a barrier, but gives opportunities from staff to help the public.

King County has done a lot of work about changing service models – see Barbara Pitney and Nancy Slote’s article Going mobile: the KCLS roving reference model, Public Libraries. Chicago: Jan/Feb 2007. Vol. 46, Iss. 1; p. 54 (15 pages)

The future of reference and information services

Many of you would have heard Helene Blowers speak during the last couple of weeks. Her presentations are available from her LibraryBytes blog.

How are you positioning your library for the future of reference and information services? How have your services changed in the last 1 -2 years? How are you preparing for the changes of the next 1 – 2 years (and even further into the future)? How are you imagining the future of reference and information services? What will remain the same? What will change?