Workshopping the future trends for scenario building

Dr, Wendy L. Schultz kindly shared her scenario building trends with me. They will be available on the OCLC website, along with her slide deck, after July 14.

The way it worked in the ALA workshop was that groups of five particpants were assigned three of the trends and had to forecast what the trends would mean to libraries in 2036. then we used the It was very wide-ranging, even only lookinf at three of the trends. If you look at the list, you will see many are beginning to impact us now. When you throw in the transformational and strateic questions, it isa verypowerful way to consider future scenarios.

Scenario Building Workshop
Trends

* Era of vigorous & active elders (average life span of 100 years)
* Expectation of Customization of all services and experiences continues to increase.
* Public attitudes about paying for service change – willing to pay
* Folksonomy becomes the norm – everyone is used to participating in the organization of information
* The Home Area Network is the center of all home activities and connects all devices and information that the resident needs
* Artificial Intelligence software is trained rather than written
* NetFlix model becomes the expectation of all infotainment services
* High Definition formats for media allow more picture resolution, increased viewer control, additional data/information and easier storage
* Copyright issues continue to prevent libraries from fully participating in ebook evolution
* RFID prices drop to affordable prices, enabling most libraries to integrate into their ILS systems
* Robots become more integrated into daily life. They are emotionally responsive and enable us to deal more easily with computing/networking. They are used as receptionist and home guides.
* Portable translation devices become the norm, enabling better global communication
* Self-service” moving to self-sufficiency
* Back lash to human machine interaction – groups demand human service
* Seamlessness of information, communication, work, and leisure
* Social networking continues all kinds of groups of people worldwide
* A move to open-source software
* Security, authentication and Digital Rights Management
* Proliferation of elearning that is customized for the learner
* Change in scholarly review and publication of materials
* Expected mass retirement of librarians does not happen, and new librarians cannot find jobs
* Time shifting is the norm – people expect get information and entertainment when and where they want it
* Intelligent agents are prevalent enabling users to engage with simple software to locate and organize any information they seek
* Life long learning changes the university college model of what a student is – seek to build life-long relationships with students
* Fabbing becomes mainstream. People now download patterns for devices and things, and they are replicated by a home fabbing machine. No need to go to the store
* Everyone is a content creator
* Technology continues to shrink in size and price
* Increased memory capacity enables almost everyone to carry the equivalent of 180,000 Libraries of Congress (exabyte)
* Personal coaches become the norm as people transform themselves over and over throughout a long life span
* Information is customized for the user and transmitted to them in public via voice, message, or simple images
* Gaming movement leads to changes in how educational experiences are designed and delivered
* Exclusivity, markets-of-one, extreme customization, “massclusivity”—the more access consumers have to quality the more they want exclusivity. Think brands introducing top-of-the-line products that cost way more than the rest of the line-- Mercedes-Benz, Puma, all first-class planes, iPods covered in diamonds—or super membership cards that allow access/rewards to things most cardholders can’t have
* The “experience economy”, the third place, “being places”: People will expect to be entertained, cosseted, educated and catered to by libraries
* Continuous consumption: All resources and services will run 24/7 on broadband, and on multiple devices. People expect instant information gratification.
* Seamlessness & Merging of public/private time: The barriers between resources and services will disappear. Databases won’t be separate from the library catalog won’t be separate from full-text
* The “internet of things” : RFID (or “arphid” as Bruce Sterling refers to it) will allow for all kinds of things to be tracked and to be searchable. Interlibrary loan will change fundamentally.
* Privacy & Presence: Libraries will have to accommodate a major shift in the boundaries and definition of privacy. People will be able to be always present to one another.
* Disintermediation & Disaggregation: Content has left the container. The notion of “book”, “article” will change as all content is born digital and so can interact with all other content. Human mediators between content and consumer will diminish in quantity and change roles. Micropublishing is a preference and mash-ups the norm.
* Collective documentary – plentiful, diverse, accessible but people are overwhelmed by choice and seek meaning, stories, and autheticity
* Unfunded “liabilities” – healthcare, education, social services…libraries?
* Distributed computing, data
* User generated metadata and taxonomies
* User generated content


Focus Questions

Transformational questions:

* What skills do staff members need to thrive in this scenario?
* What does the organization look like? How many staff? What kind of staff? What are imperative organizational behaviors?
* What services and programs does library provide?
* How is the library budget distributed in this world? (staffing, collections, technology, etc…)
* What is a collection?
* What is literacy?
* What does research look like?
* Is reference still alive? What does it look like?
* Is there a physical space? If so, what does it need to have?
* What is the role of the library in the community?
* What kind of technology do you need?




Strategic questions:

* How can libraries (physical and virtual) be redesigned to provide a seamless experience?
* How can libraries and information service providers enter users’ spaces instead of making them come to our spaces?
* How do we keep the benefits of metadata and classification while making them invisible?
* How can technology be leveraged to serve more people and deliver more services?
* What can be done to demonstrate (and increase) the economic value of libraries?
* How do libraries take advantage of new technologies and new architectures of participation to deliver new or additional services?
* What new opportunities exist for libraries to work together to build more open-source solutions?
* What services are required to support an informed citizenry, to create learning and creative opportunities?
* Given that there is likely to be little new money for asset management of digital material, how will libraries and allied organizations preserve, curate and provide access to digital collections?
* Should the interpersonal aspects of librarianship—service, instruction, collaboration—be retained in a Webby world? How?
* What is the purpose of the library in a networked, distributed environment?

Snapped shots of NOL

I can't believe how many times I forgot to take my camera with me in NOLA, or if I did take the camera, I forgot to take pixs. Then there were the plain old bad photos. Oh well, I do have other gifts.



This tanker was moving down the Mississippi at quite a clip. I tried to make up for the overexposure in iPhoto--another thing I try by the seat of my pants.



This is the A&P in the French quarter. I was charmed just to see an A&P again--the balconies were a bonus.



Cafe du Monde, in the French market, where we shared cafe au lait and beignets with my great comrade, Chris, from Philly.

Tourist excursion #2

Monday, 6/26/2006

My boyfriend has a close friend who is a New Orleans native and resident. He is also a pilot. He offered to take us up in a small plane for an aerial tour. His plane is still in Chicago since the storm, but he could borrow one. It seemed like an incredible opportunity for our last evening in N. O.

Our friend picked us up at 5:00—plenty of daylight left. We drove to the Lakeview Airport, seeing parts of St. John’s bayou. This area has been hit harder by Katrina than Uptown. Many more houses that are shells, or irreparable at a glance. The airport buildings have been destroyed. There are a variety of trailers in use. The plane our friend can borrow is a two-seater. I elect to stay on the ground, as I am tired from getting around the convention and attending the excellent sessions. There is a very nice quadruple-wide trailer (biggest I have ever seen), the Million Air Club, with heavy-duty AC and fabulous huge comfy chairs. They do not care at all that I am not a member or the guest of a member. I watch the planes take off and land for a while, then fall fast asleep in a comfy chair. Turns out the radio in the borrowed plane is not working, so the boys just spent an hour flying around the airport in a pattern, since they could not talk to the tower. Apparently, small planes are one more thing it is hard to keep in repair since Katrina.

Our friend took us to see his house. On the way, we see Lake Pontchartrain, and a very beautiful sunset. The first floor of the house flooded, about four-and-a half feet of water. All the walls had to be stripped to lathe and sheet-rocked. All the wiring had to be replaced. All of the appliances had to be trashed. It was still quite a work in progress, as our friend had just started his final year at Tulane Law School in August. He ended up doing distance ed in Arkansas part of the year, and was able to graduate in May. But you can tell the house was lovely, and will be again. The house still has no A/C. The swing on the front porch survived. We swung a little. The neighborhood is slowly coming back, but no restaurants yet. We head over to Uptown to get some dinner. On the way, we pass row after row of identical FEMA trailers. They look soul-less. Dinner in Uptown and another excellent meal—Thai this time. Our first non-Cajun meal, though we detect influences. We do not complain.

Tourist excursion #1

You may remember an earlier moment of was-that-self-pity? When I bemoaned my inability to see more of Katrina’s devastation. I wasn’t counting on the kindness of friends and relations.

I may not have mentioned to you that my cher frére , i.e., big bro, is a hydrologist with the EPA who has been mobilized to the Gulf for about five months off and on, starting last November. Now let me mention how very proud I am of the work he has been doing, which has included working over 100 hours per week, some 100,000 refrigerators (all that freon) and overseeing instant landfills. At least maybe some of them won’t be Superfund sites someday.

So part of my excitement about visiting to New Orleans was that I might see him. Might because his deployment is just about over. He knew it would be over by July 1, but didn’t have a firm date. My good luck continues: his deployment ended this Wednesday, 6/28. So, he tells me he wants to take us out to dinner. I plan that he can pick the restaurant, but we will pick up the check. Sunday afternoon, we finish up our sessions at the convention center. He tells me “they” will pick us up at out hotel, and to bring our bathing suits if we have them. I have already heard a little about the woman, B., he has met down there.

On Sunday, cher frere tells me that they have decided against going to a restaurant. B. is currently caretaking a mansion in the Uptown neighborhood. So we drive to Uptown, the residential neighborhood home to Loyola and Tulane Universities. B. and my brother tell me Uptown wasn’t hit that badly by Katrina. Then they show me how to read the spray-painted X symbols still on some houses. The quadrants give the date of examination of the house, the total number of dead at the house, and some other info, like gas and electric. We see one or two houses per block where the owners have not returned and/or not painted over the X. There are lots of blue roofs, debris piles, overgrown yards, boarded up businesses. There are signs: “We’re back”; “Not coming back”; “Back in August”; “Moved to Houston”. The signs are still the easiest way to communicate with your neighbors/friends.

We get to the mansion. I do mean mansion. The kind of place to which they sell tickets. Jaw dropping. Was once the governor’s mansion (long time ago). Gorgeous garden, pool, hot tub, huge porch, high ceilings, woodwork on woodwork, stained glass, antiques, art. I am afraid to sit in a chair. I forgot the camera! I am so sorry, as now you will never believe me.

Oh, cannot leave out Zoe and Miss Ross, two incredibly spoiled but still very sweet and adorable Shih Tzus (picture isn’t them but coloration is right).

So I got to bond with dogs. Cher frere had purchased a big mess (10 pounds?) of enormous shrimp off a Vietnamese-American owned boat on the Gulf. He and B. make an incredible meal. The four of us eat all the shrimp. We can’t possibly eat dessert. We need to sleep, so it’s back to the Holiday Inn for us.

Draft: From Poetry in the Branches to Branching Out

Sunday, 6/25/2006

Description: The ten-year old Poetry in the Branches program model that trains librarians in the how-to’s of poetry programming, collection development and display, has grown! Disover how the NEH-funded project, Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century, brings talks on classic and contemporary poetry by outstanding poet/scholars to five U.S. cities. Learn how to replicate this program in your library. Hear former poet laureate Robert Pinsky give his Branching Out talk on William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost.

Lots of handouts, including a Program Planing Overview that looks really useful.

Moderator, Marcia Howard from the ALA Public Programs Office. Joined by Tom Phelps from the NEH; Susan Larson from the New Orleans Times Picayune; Gerrie _____ from New Orleans Public, Lee Briccetti, Poets House; Alice Quinn, Poetry Society of America & The New Yorker; Robert Pinsky, 3-term Poet Laureate.

Marcia:

There is a “cultural readiness” for poetry now. For selection, librarians can look to the “Showcase” at the Poetry House website. NYPL’s initiative, the multi-element Poetry in the Branches, successful over 10 years. A model for national “Branching Out.” Elements are:
1) exposure
2) ongoing conversation

Related PSAs on public transit—Poetry in Motion.

The means of production has been democratized by technology. (Aha, my conference theme keeps emerging!)
Poetry is hot—hiphop, slams, open mikes, chap books.

Alice:

“creating a living education in poetry”
“A sentence is a sound itself.” –Robert Frost
Being attentive to the music in our own speech.

Poetry Sourcebook—yearly guide to using poetry in libraries. [Does SDCL own? No.]
1. Order one title a month from a living artist
2. www.poetshouse.org selection source—Directory of American Poets
3. Consortium (of small poetry publishers). Booth #3526. Good web site. Also Small Press Distributors.
4. Do displays. Add poetry to anything—face out—merchandise!
5. Ask readers to select a favorite poem. Copy it and have a place where it is displayed on a rotating basis.
6. Include staff—open meetings with a poem.
7. Include poetry in book discussion groups.
8. www.favoritepoemproject.org
9. Form memory circles for group recitations
10. Poetry readings. Poets’ own work + their favorites.

Gerrie:

Pretty much inherited Branching Out w/o knowing much about it—a former employee had applied for and received the grant.
Robert Pinsky did a program in the spring. Successful beyond wildest expectations. More programs scheduled for fall. Katrina hit. Moved program to Lake Charles in cooperation with that system. Then Rita. Moved next to Jefferson Parish. Still good turn-out. People really appreciated it seemingly more after the storms, and all the changes in hosts/venues/etc.

Robert:

Program brings together people in order to be a great nation. “Becoming a people.”
US still in progress—improvisational. Schools now carry almost the full burden of cultural learning, compared to 18th and 19th centuries. Public libraries are a major contributor.

Closeness is essential to civilization. Poetry=intimate and social activity.

Originally with Branching Out, Robert was supposed to write a paper and read it at a public library. Thought that was a terrible idea.

Pub libs=important counterweight to academia. Tom has to fight upstream for poetry funding against the academic flow.

Robert decided to look at Wm. Carlos Williams and Robert Frost in terms of the agricultural-industrial tension in their works. “Poetry is a machine made out of words & breath.”

Three Esses: Straight, smooth, and square. Blank verse—iambic pentameter without rhyme. Looks at “Directive” by Frost and “To Elsie” by Williams.

Recites them, pulling out lines, drawing out the sounds and rhythms. I had to stop taking notes. It was enthralling. Then, believe it or not, he is completely interrupted by a very loud fire alarm. We must evacuate to a stairwell. By the time it is over, it is time for the next session…how cruel.

D R A F T: The Long Tail: The Internet, Culture, and the Mega-Store

Monday, 6/26/2006

Chris Anderson, founding editor, Wired, contributor, The Economist, started career: Nature, Science, research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. New book out.

Who needs megahits?

20th Century hit driven; largely regional culture to begin, then radio and TV.

21st Century begins: NSync—3/21/2000. Tech stock bubble burts. NSync sales will be highest numbers ever, forever. Hit machine gearstripped since then. CD sales flat, # of hits fallen by 50% .

Network prime-time audience share vs multichannel TV household penetration. Demand spreads with more access/content.

Top-rated TV shows, news anchors, fragmented demand

Powerlaw curve—1/x –freakily ubiquitous. On logarithmic scale, s/b straight. Trails off when distribution ends—only can have so many movie screens, etc.. Megaplexes require concentrated demand. Need lowest common denominator fare.

Supply & demand hit a bottleneck. Opportunity. Wal*Mart carries 4300 CD titles typically—tiny classical, jazz, world music sections—largest music retailer in US. Hits=25,000 tracks. Rhapsody online music store has over 1,200,000 tracks.

Foresees ½ of market will be hits, ½ niche non-hits

Force 1: Democratization of the tools of production: blogging, mySpace,

Force 2:Democratization of distribution

Force 3: connect supply and demand. Result drives business from hits to niches. Think Google. Ability to manipulate results via filter.

Google: Long tail advertising. PVRblog. Little folks can now reach worldwide markets.

CapitalOne—personalized credit cards—individually tailored

Long tail talent—Google talent search—programmers –winners from all over the globe, who thought there were incredible programmers in Madagascar?

Long tail libations—microbrews—distribution has improved

After the blockbuster—small is the new big, many is the new few.

10 fallacies of “hitism”

1. Everyone wants to be a star.
2. Everyone’s in it for the money. Rise of the nonmonetary economy.
3. The only success is mass success.
4. “Direct to video=bad
5. Self-published=bad. Lulu.
6. Amateur=amateurish. Latin root-love. Wikipedia. Blogs.
7. Low-selling=low-quality
8. If it were good, it would be popular.
9. The economics of the head apply to the whole market.
(microhits and ministers)
10. Focus on strong signals and ignore the weak signals.—weak signals are where the interesting things are happening.

The long tail of books
1. Online retail
2. Used book network. Fastest growing portion of the book market—up 33% last year—increased liquidity. Effect of classic secondary market—how will it effect the primary market? Expansion of “virtual inventory”. Our children will never know the meaning of “out of print”.
3. Print on demand. Smoothes out inefficiencies in market. Sony Ereader. Time may be coming

Libraries Long Tale

1. Interlibrary loans—distributed inventory –virtual access.
Collection overlap between “Google 5” libraries (Harvard, Stanford, Michigan—bigbig libraries)—only 40%. 10% of books=90% of circulation
2. Online dbs. JSTOR—like Google for scholarly works. Libraries offer unique access/abilities
3. Book search. Google Books—inevitable as technology gets cheaper.

Opportunity
4% books in print
70% unknown
20% gov docs

GreaseMonkey plug-in for Firefox browser
Hacks Amazon to show library availability. Shows overdues, RSS for availability.

Five lessons:
1. Don’t confuse limited distribution with shared taste
2. Everyone deviates from the mainstream somewhere
3. One size no longer fits all.
4. The best stuff isn’t necessarily at the top.
5. The mass market is becoming a mass of niches.

Q&A

Will Wal*Mart and Amazon go away?
Hits will not disappear—the lowest common denominator will always sell

What happens w/o net neutrality? AT&T, etc., owns net?
Doesn’t think cable/ telecomm companies have the ability to do what they say. If you regulate the net, it will go horribly wrong. Chokes innovation—look at cell phone market. Thinks there will be maybe two tiers, but consumers have all the power and their choices will regulate the market.

Big business wants to keep their share of the market?
The marketplace will become a consumer paradise.

Trust as a factor?
Brands are a proxy for quality. Measure brand by price premium. Now Sony can only charge a smaller price premium, because we have the info, amateur reviewers, etc. We know all the X are made in the same factory in China.

Implications for long tail on children’s library services?
Home-schooled=long tail. Something out there for every thinking.

Is there any end to the long tail? Rural areas?
Proto-long tail: 1896 Sears Roebuck catalog. Technology is on our side—digital delivery.

Must have dial tone for DSL—monopoly for Verizon. Where does your optimism come from?
Technology is enabling more choices.

New Orleans?
Cities are long tail—more variety, more diversity. Places with distinct culture can market that, and find a broader market.

What about community?
People want to live in cities to engage with other people.

Copyright law as a constraint on distribution?
Biggest problem. WKRP rights would need to clear 30 songs per episode—impossible task. Copyright is a barrier—too complicated to figure out who owns what. We need a new industry/model…

Wow. That was a half-hour talk plus 15 minutes Q&A. Will take me MUCH longer to ponder/digest. And I missed stuff whizzing by. Certainly, the implications for our industry are VAST.

Selling/signing book: The Long Tail : Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (Hardcover)

Dang, it’s not in our catalog—I may have to do an ILL!

D R A F T: To Your Health: accessible health & medical information

Sunday, 6/25/2006

D R A F T: Sunday, 6/25/2006 To Your Health: accessible health & medical information

Program description: This program will discuss the elements of effective easy-to-read materials for low literacy materials for low literacy adlts. We’ll review the disconnect between health information providers and seekers, the success of “plain language” initiatives and the importance of vocabulary and layout. The session covers published material, how eto write your own material and ways to partner.

Sponsored by ALA Committee on Literacy and the Medical Library Association

Lots of really good freebies left from pre-conference on the same topic: books, cds, handouts

Diane ______ (didn't catch last name--sorry), MS RN, Ohio State U. Medical Ctr.


Diane:

Overview of health literacy issues. As health care has changed to more outpatient and office-based , patients are turning more and more to libraries.

Providers need to give clear, condensed medical advice.

43% of US adults read at a basic level or below.

Only 13% read at a level considered proficient.

People who are already stressed don’t take in information well.

High risk: elderly, minority groups, immigrants, those on welfare, chronic ill—physical or mental.

Language issues. Learning disabilities. ESL. When people stop reading, they lose the ability.

1 in 3 patients leave the office with important questions unanswered.

2 in 5 don’t follow the advice—too difficult or they just disagree.

De-coding words, numbers and forms.

Mehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifdia onslaught—ads for drugs…

Dyslexia. Develop coping mechanisms.

Advice and consent forms—who reads?

Difference in jargon—wheezing vs. tightness

Poor disease mgmt—more likely t/b hospitalized

Estimates up to $73 billion in costs annually.

Web resources—would you take medical advice from your 16-yo neighbor?

http://www.amafoundation.org/go/health literacy

Anxiety.

Easy-to-read: Use Fry or SMOG scales.

Commercial materials getting better: Crain’s, good government materials

Helping people ask and answer questions is a large part of dealing with health literacy.

“How happy are you with the way you read?”

More is not always better.

Developing materials: translating vs. dumbing down. Simple pictures, simple words and sentences, lots of white space, lots of white space, >12 pt type

Know resources—patient education specialists, consumer libraries at hospitals/health centers

www.healthinfotranslations.com

Q: Issues with giving medical advice as reference service?

Information does not = advice. Distinct line—“you need to ask your doctor that question”

Beth Westcott, National Library of Medicine

System of regional health libraries. 4 free courses. Public librarians can take all four, then can take 12 MLA courses. Get specialization certification for free.

Health reference questions s/n/b shortchanged due to legal concerns

State-school academic medical libraries—there for us—tax supported

www.medlineplus.gov
NLM, no ads, no bad links, up-to-date, free, videos, pictures, English and Spanish, 185 tutorials that will read themselves aloud, procedures, real time

Bibliography for public libraries, addendum in folder

“Go Local”—on medline—places that treat a condition locally

NNLM.gov—click on your state—lots of funding opportunities right now—they just got their 5 year contracts and they need partners!

Dollar General, Pfizer, Verizon, fund health literacy

Askmefree—brochures on how to formulate questions

Really good session—very informative.

After the storm

Many of the advisories and press releases about New Orleans that I read before coming assured me that if I stayed in the French Quarter (where my hotel is) and Central Business District (convention center), I would not see any difference in pre- and post- Katrina. ALA was offering a variety of volunteer activities in the areas most devastated. However, I knew my physical efforts would not be available. So I resigned myself to making a difference with my wallet. I was a bit disappointed, thinking I wouldn’t see anything of Katrina’s effects first-hand.

OK, I guess whoever wrote that was trying to reassure nervous conference goers. That or they were sanity-challenged. The signs of Katrina are absolutely everywhere. We arrived after dusk, so we really couldn’t see much Friday night. I noticed the “taxis” in line at the airport. A lot of them had no indication they were cabs—they looked liked private SUVs and minivans, some rather beat-up looking. My NYC street sense said “gypsy cabs—look out.” There were large signs about the fares to the French Quarter and Conference Center. I had planned to take a shuttle bus. The line was enormous. There was a line for cabs, but it was moving. We decided to see if anyone wanted to share a taxi. We immediately found 2 takers, librarians from New Mexico, so we got in the “taxi” line. When we got to the top of the line, our cab was a van, so we recruited two more passengers. The van had a cracked windshield, which concerned me a little, but not so much as it was on the passenger side.

By the time we got to the hotel, it was full dark. We got to our room, which is very nice and ENORMOUS. Last year, at ALA in Chicago we stayed in the world’s smallest two-person hotel room. I mean, claustrophobics, avoid the Chicago Red Roof Inn Uptown. Seriously. OK, I inspected the premises. Pretty standard. The only thing odd is one of the windows. The glass has shattered. There is another sheet of glass between the room and the shattered glass, so it seems safe. I think maybe it’s some sort of privacy frosting, but I’ve never seen this kind before. It does make me a bit uneasy, but not enough to keep me awake worrying.

When we went out looking for dinner, we discovered that many, many stores and restaurants are boarded up. The few restaurants that were open had long lines. We succeeded finally in finding a place where I won’t have to stand for 45 minutes The French Quarter escaped the worst of the physical devastation, but has been hard hit economically.

In the morning, while awaiting the shuttle bus to the convention center, I notice that at least 30% of the cars I see have cracks in their windshields. On reflection, I am guessing that the number of broken windshields and windows on the Gulf of Mexico far exceeds any possible replacement inventory anywhere. The drive to the Convention Center reveals many more boarded up businesses. It reminds me of the very worst areas of Jersey City and Philadelphia, so my street sense pops up and says “Careful here.”

The convention center, a huge building, is only partially open. Plus the number of staff definitely seems thin. Usually there are all kinds of businesses trying to sell you something at a convention center. This convention center is just trying to offer basic services. There all kinds of greeters and people to help attendees, but nothing like my previous ALA Annual experiences. The day continues to show me an understaffed tourist industry that is trying so hard to make this conference work. The economic impact of the conference is obviously a very big deal. The goal of giving the librarians a good experience seems to have inspired everyone except some of the drunks on Bourbon Street. I feel like a visiting dignitary or something. (Even some of the drunks are helpful, and ask if I am one of “the librarians”.)

Saturday notes

Well, my day one at ALA Annual 2006 is over.

First thing, it was off to the exhibits. Over 3,000 library vendors set up booths in the convention center, and there is really something for everyone. It is mind-boggling. I had preplanned a list of vendors who I wanted to see. So there was an attempt at surgical precision. The preplanning really did pay. ALA had kindly arranged the loan of a wheelchair, which my boyfriend pushed valiantly, as the exhibits floor is the size of three soccer pitches, I am told. The convention center is the size of six soccer pitches.

The wheelchair was quickly renamed "the swag trolley" as vendors vied to give the poor gimp lots of lovely freebies. I tried not to be greedy, but I didn't want to hurt their feelings. We were only half-way through the Graphic Novel Pavillion (yes, Kelly, as much as we could carry) when it was time to go to a session. We shall return!

I attended two good sessions. The first was Workshopping the Future: Libraries in 2010. Actually, we used a forecasting process called Manoa to think about the library in 2036. The trainer, Dr. Wendy Schultz, who was very good, said she would put up her PowerPoint on her web site. She broke us into groups of five to work on scenarios and forecasting. My group came up with an incredible array of possibilities and consequences for libraries in the future. We had a lot of fun, too. The session was hosted by OCLC, and featured beignets and a lovely fruit buffet. Plus I got a very nice OCLC tote bag. Swag!

The second session I attended was Hot Topics in Front-line Reference, hosted by RUSA. Speakers from a variety of mostly academic libraries spoke about using Instant Messaging (IM) and SMS (text messages) to provide reference service. In terms of reference inquiries, most IM sessions are quite short. If a customer has a more complicated query, the librarian may ask them to call by phone or come into the library. There was discussion of Virtual Reference (Ask A Librarian services) vs. IM. The panel mainly concurred that IM software is easier to use in general and familiar to students. Plus it is free and widely supported. An audience member asked about security concerns. A panelist explained that IM can reside behind a library site's portal.

Another audience member questioned how libraries can determine if a user has privileges on their system. Some colleges are not doing IM because of a fear of being flooded with requests from outside their students and staff. Someone from New York Public Library explained that they "threw open their gates" some time ago, and will answer any and all IM requests, from NYC or China. He said that in an era of declining reference statistics, we have to go where our users are, and we should only be so lucky as to have more people using one of our services than we can handle.

There was some discussion of staffing IM reference. A number of the panelists said that they run IM on the reference desk and answer as part of a regular shift. There was a question regarding "who do you help first, the person in front of you or the one on IM?" A panelist answered that an in-person customer would always get priority. He also said that the nature of IM is such that customers don't expect an instant answer--they will pose a question and then hang around a while awaiting an answer. IM lends itself to multi-tasking; in fact, both customer and librarian can be multi-tasking at once.

A representative from an Australian vendor, Altarama Information Systems, explained that they provide a service whereby an incoming IM or SMS reference question is translated into an email to the librarian. The librarian responds by email, which is then translated back to IM or SMS for the customer.

One librarian explained that they are using SMS to allow customers to place requests from their cell phones while they are on the bus on their way to the library.

Trillian software is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.
Trillian also allows tabbed multiple conversations, and global away messages, which are very important to IM courtesy.

A panelist asked "why aren't some libraries using IM for reference? Why not? Answers from the audience included institutional culture, staff resistance, and security issues.

The panel ended by asking what Hot Topics they should address at the Midwinter Meeting. Audience members suggested Google Scholar, social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, and "rethinking reference" on a grand scale.

Panelists included Kenley Neufeld, Santa Barbara Community College, Jeanne Welch, UNC, Russell Hall, Penn State. (Sorry, I couldn't get everyone's name and there was no printed list.)

LKNOLA

I came up with the bright idea of doing a tiny seperate, quickie/ugly blog for New Orleans. This will be fully employer paid (OMG--money for meals! I cannot believe. More proof of my incredible luck.)

I do have to provide reports on the sessions I attend, so this will be an easy way for me to organize. It may be intensely boring to those who don't find libraries just fascinating. But I'll try to spice it up with pictures, and tryto give you a little of the flavor, if I have time!

By the way, had crawfish etouffee for dinner last night--fabulous! My first Cajun food. Today, the search for the perfect praline begins.

OK, time to bond with the Big Easy on the Big Muddy!

On the way!

Just getting ready to leave SD. Will so miss the salt air, and the dog. However, very excited to see New Orleans, and to be going to ALA Annual. VERY grateful to MPOW!