Elisabeth Leonard on Libraries

Information literacy and new services needed in the Google Age

In a report from the British Library and JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future,

Library Journal states:

The report offers several predictions for 2017:

• A unified web culture, as national library services and provision will become far less meaningful
• The inexorable rise of the ebook, with print sales diminished sharply outside leisure markets
• More content explosions, as mass book digitization bears fruit
• Emerging forms of scholarship and publication, including pre-publication release and online peer review
• Virtual forms of publication in various formats
• The semantic web, in which computers become capable of analyzing all the data on the web, especially in areas like science

In the report, the authors state:
In general terms, this new form of information seeking behaviour can be characterised as being horizontal, bouncing, checking and viewing in nature. Users are promiscuous, diverse and volatile and it is clear that these behaviours represent a serious challenges for
traditional information providers, nurtured in a hardcopy paradigm and, in many respects, still tied to it.  Libraries must move away from bean counting dubious download statistics, and get much closer to monitoring the actual information seeking behaviour of
their users.

Are we listening yet?

Evidenced based management

There's been a wave of Evidenced Based _________ (medicine, librarianship, research).  The latest is evidence based management.  I just read an article in Information Outlook that said EBM has 6 standards:

• Treat old ideas like old ideas
• Be suspicious of breakthrough ideas and studies
• Celebrate communities of smart people and collective brilliance, not lone genius or gurus
• Use success and failure stories to illustrate practices supported by evidence, not necessarily as valid evidence
• Take a neutral approach to idealogies and theories.  Base management practices on best practices, not on what's in vogue.

Now, I am all for evidenced based practice. Really.  But, here's my issue with what I read.  It seems to me that this could hinder innovation!  Given how libraries often follow rather than lead, encouraging libraries to be suspicious of breakthroughs is really not necessary!  Librarians are already suspicious!  We need to encourage creativity, encourage librarians to try and to fail, just as we need to encourage them to try and succeed.  While I believe in healthy skepticism, I think I prescription to be suspicious that isn't balanced with a standard that mentions how to change, how to solve current and future problems, is itself a problem. 

And a cute example of Twitter marketing

Take a look at Ms. Green!   It's a day in the life (every day), with entries like:

  As the world’s most gorgeous green superstar, I can’t even walk down the street these days!

Marketing and Twitter?

I recently began to post thoughts in Twitter.  Why?  A friend has been after me for awhile to join in the Twitter frenzy and I am apparently responsive to peer pressure.  I had a Twitter account when I was at UCSD, but created a new me this month.  There are more Twitteratti than there used to be and I am finding it more interesting to participate.  Why blog about it here?  Because I think there is room for libraries to benefit from Twitter.  Not only in terms of internal work, but for external marketing.  Think I've lost my mind?  Take a look at the Brooklyn Museum's Twitter page.  It has info on exhibits, schedules, and other online sites.  They have 316 followers (this may not seem large, but if these folks are really interested, it seems like 316 followers can be a powerful start!  It is a bit of grassroots marketing and a bit viral too).
This may not be for everyone, but I think it's an intriguing way of reaching a different population, especially as the app limits you to 140 words in an entry!  Make every word count...

Baby boomers aren't the only market to target

In a recent survey (found in Top Marketing Trends for 2008), advertisers reported that while baby boomers are still their focus because they have the most buying power, Gen X and Hispanics are in second place, followed closely by women and Gen Yers.  Respondents said that Gen Xers influence their parents and grandparents AND that they know exactly what they are looking for.

Liaison Responsibilities

Liaisonfor Charleston Final

From: eleonard, 11 hours ago

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Library liaison responsibilities: presentation from the Charleston Conference

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Facebook, facts, and the beginnings of an addiction

Let me admit that I am becoming a Facebook addict.  I cannot quite explain it, but there it is.  I like seeing how my friends are doing, sending a Vampire slayer after them, and then toasting them with a glass of champagne.  With that knowledge in the background, here are some Facebook facts I have recently come across:

From Data: Students + Facebook + Library Outreach

A total of 23% of respondents stated that *yes* or *maybe* they would be interested in contacting a librarian via these two socialnetworking sites [Facebook/MySpace]. 

Undergrads had a slightly higher than average percentage of 34%. 

Nearly half of the total respondents stated they would not be interested, but for various reasons - the biggest reason being that they feel the current methods (in-person, email, IM) are more than sufficient. 14% said no because they felt it was inappropriate or thatFacebook/MySpace is a social tool, not a research tool

And from an OCLC presentation I attended at ALA:
There are 59 million users on Facebook and 65 billion page view a month.

Which leads me to my question: do you Facebook?  If not, why not?!