The Library’s Second Life

1. The Library’s Second Life Janine Schmidt, Trenholme Director of Libraries, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

2. A typical Montreal winter work day ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

3. Overview • Change • The Library’s first life • The Library’s second life ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

4. Change • Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.  ~John Kenneth Galbraith • It is not necessary to change.  Survival is not mandatory.  ~W. Edwards Deming  • When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.  ~Victor Frank • When you are through changing, you are through.  ~Bruce Barton • Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.  ~Robert C. Gallagher (http://www.quotegarden.com/change.html. Viewed September 14th, 2008) ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

5. http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/files/images/080211_change.jpg http://www.blogaholics.ca/change.jpg http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/8880_Nilakant_Change_Management.jpg ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

6. The challenges of change • Millennials, “born digitals”, “switched on” older persons, and a few still digitally challenged have new needs • Emerging social, economic and learning environments demand new responses • Amazoogle - global conversations – “conversation is king, not content” (http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/10/disney-exec-piracy-i.html. Viewed Nov 19 2008) • Knowledge consumers have become producers and everyone is an “expert” – on films, books, and any and every topic • Ordinary people collect, organize and produce information online e.g. documents, photos ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

7. Today’s users • What is it that motivates, even inspires, millions of users to spend hours online, not searching for information, but creating information, building content and establishing online communities? What drives users to not only contribute information, but to contribute “themselves”, creating detailed personal profiles on social sites and sharing that information to establish new relationships with hundreds of new virtual friends? No longer…”information consumers”, internet users are becoming “information producers” and will soon be the primary authors, producers and architects of information on the World Wide Web. OCLC. Sharing, Privacy and Trust in our Networked World. 2007. http://www.oclc.org/reports/sharing/default.htm ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

8. Today’s library users • Multi-task, are mobile, constantly communicating • Learn from each other • Are computer savvy, with varying ability levels, but are information poor • Want integrated content – delivered instantly • Use discovery learning • Seek simplicity and instant gratification • Search and grab information from the internet • Are globally and visually oriented • May be digitally distracted? ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

9. What do clients want? • Basic services - access like Amazoogle • Personalized service – just for me • High tech, high touch, help when experiencing difficulties and frustration – dial up not get up • Pleasant and inviting surroundings and experiences • Books and journals, real and virtual, internet sites – tried and true, and new- information delivered– just in time • Answers to questions, solutions to problems, ideas, support for good work outcomes, results, research support, inspiration • Training and motivation in information resource discovery • Understanding, empathy, competence, reliability, responsiveness, timeliness, honesty - I do not care how much you know until I know how much you care • Most users do not know what is on offer and cannot easily find what we provide – know what they get, not what they could get ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

10. Social networking ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

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12. Breaking news ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

13. The new communication media? http://www.weblogcartoons.com/cartoons/facebook.gif (Viewed 23rd March, 2008) http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/rgn_wikipedia_wideweb__470x458,2.jpg IViewed March 25th, 2008) ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

14. Online Use Yet people reading more – 1/3 Canadians read more than 11 hours per week. Sales of Canadian books up by 4.9% in 2008. College students begin searching with web. 2% begin with library website. (OCLC survey) ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

15. The competition Digg Justanswer Ask.com ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

16. The Google way • Universal search, Google scholar • Online • Currently words, images, music, - Future - films, TV shows, video/radio broadcasts, books, academic papers, pamphlets, government documents, music, maps, charts, blogs, in all languages • “organizing all the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful” • Finding objects, people – RFID tags, URLs to people • IGoogle - personalized search, monitor search and surfing history – who we are, age, jobs, marital status, holidays etc • Gmail, Google Maps and Google Earth on our mobile phones • Purchase of YouTube, creation of Wikipedia lookalike • Cloud computing, GoogleApps - store on remote servers, vast super computer • Big Brother, hostile to privacy OR map of human knowledge to enable others to find trade routes in the new information economy, information democracy ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

17. Symbols ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

18. The Library’s first life ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

19. First life libraries • Driven by collections not clients • Focused on process not outcomes • Cooperated with others • Edifice complex • “Come and get it” • Difficult to use - need to learn “how we do things here” • BUT Ranganathan’s laws – The library is a growing organism ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

20. So what is a library today? ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

21. What is a library ? • A collection of books used for reading or study, or the building or room in which such a collection is kept • Library collects fewer real information resources, but in many formats, and continues to organize them, provide for access and use, both locally and globally, and increasingly delivery • Knowledge/information bank, information/learning hub, research/information repository, global information portal, search engine, worldwide link ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

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23. What is a librarian? ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

24. The Library’s Second Life • Emphasize our clients • Expand real and virtual collections • Refurbish the facilities • Think and act strategically • Develop new products and services • Improve access to and use of website and search interfaces with links to external websites and 2.0 services • Make things easier • Collaborate with others • Abandon some activities ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

25. Second Life librarians • Creator, critic, collector, joiner, spectator (Forrester Research) • Blended librarian • Roving librarian • Information consultant, counsellor, adviser, IT expert • Knowledge manager, knowledgeable • Personal search engine ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

26. Second Life Librarians • Focus on client needs and wants • Plan and prioritize • Ensure technology provided is not “toys for the boys and girls” but clearly related to client needs • Develop and promote client-focused services • Are nimble and take risks • Rove and respond to remote clients • Constantly re-skill themselves and their clients • Monitor new developments in the environment and the “biblioblogosphere” ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

27. New (?) products and services • Focus on the website - provide unique names to web pages which accurately describe content in simple terms • Provide client-focused content on websites e.g. borrowing, not lending • Provide effective search interface to catalogue and other data repositories • Use interactive techniques in any information fluency/literacy classes e.g. clickers, second life, templates, learning management systems • Get constant feedback from clients – and respond! Watch – usability laboratories – and learn! ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

28. What do users want most from the Library? • Access print resources • Access e-journals/e-books • Request inter-library loans • Talk to a liaison librarian • Support for teaching • Support for research • Use the physical facilities/library as a laboratory 28 ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

29. What do users want next from the Library? Access print resources Access e-journals/e-books Request inter-library loans Talk to a liaison librarian Support for teaching Support for research Use the physical facilities/library as a laboratory 29 ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

30. McGill’s Second Life ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

31. LibQUAL+ 2008 comments • Needs more quiet study space and more computers! Longer hours are preferable • In general I am impressed with some aspects of the McGill library system. The shortcomings rest predominantly with issues of accessibility to information resources online and the capacity/training of some library employees who interact with users regularly. I believe much more attention needs to be focused on increasing the digital access to journals and ebooks since these are the information vehicles of the current age that most students use ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

32. New (?) products and services • Provide links to Digg and Delicious • Provide interactive learning at point of use and links from any online learning system being used to library resources held – linked to curriculum offerings • Use games – difference between game playing and learning? • Provide podcasts and vodcasts e.g. how to use library facilities/resources, information fluencies • Insert widgets and plug-ins – Facebook link to online chat ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

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35. New (?) products and services • Provide online exhibitions • Use roving librarians – 40-60% of users never ask a question at a desk • Facilitate harvesting of library collection content e.g. GoogleScholar • Communicate details every way e.g. blogs • Support online and mobile learning and access – learning for life ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

36. Online exhibitions ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

37. Podcasting ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

38. Blog collection update ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

39. New (?) products and services • Promote services actively through engagement with client groups • Digitize rare and special collections and make them available – DOD and POD • Participate in e-publishing and open accss • Mash up collaborative services • Support e-research ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

40. Abandon some activities • Outsource basic tasks • Process reengineer everything • Perfection is not attainable in this world – near enough is usually good enough ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

41. Approach to change ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

42. Building commitment and competence to change • High commitment & low competence – new colleagues developing basic skills, willing to try, limited expertise, experienced dedicated colleagues willing to try, “keeners” • High commitment & high competence – young colleagues recognizing change provides opportunities, people who understand change is a given, strong colleagues willing to listen and learn ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

43. Building commitment and competence to change • Low commitment & high competence – competent colleagues near “burn out”, experienced dedicated wary colleagues, “traditional leaders” currently respected who feel challenged by changing “the way we do things around here” • Low commitment & low competence – old pros, been there done that, dedicated structured colleagues who like things “the way they are”, few always negative towards the “administration” ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

44. Change strategies • Plan strategically and set achievable goals • Develop action plans, set implementation schedules and monitor achievements against goals • Provide staff development for everyone • Restructure to ensure greater flexibility, accountability and speedier decision making • Use ICT imaginatively and innovatively • Improve efficiency and effectiveness • Cooperate with similar best practice organizations • Communicate consistently – and constantly – with everyone • For things to change around here, I have to change ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

45. Future success • The second life library will be different • Open the doors and windows of opportunity • Invite and accept participation by clients • It will be messy – keep it simple • Participation and a little chaos create the most exciting venues for collaboration, creativity, community building – and transformation – right on mission • Just do it! Aiming to lead in every way • If not, the Library’s first life may be its last ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition

46. Thank you for listening! http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/thankyou.htm ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition