MB Lib Conf 2010: The Power of Lib Partnerships: Collaboration Thoughts...with Stephen Abram

• (the URGENCY for partnerships in a google age
• we need to scale ourselves to leverage what we do well
• we are good at the deeper questions (why, when, how...etc...) and also we're not influenced by google adwords etc...they make *huge* money...their real customer is advertisers, not searches...so NO we do not want our services to work like google!
  
• change is a constant...and only getting faster...
  
• also baby boomers are big whiners!!!...are we ready to deal with even bigger change?
• in June google will launch huge mega (30 million books) ebook collection / store (will be launched at ALA...stay tuned!)...how will we handle that
• what is our competitive advantage over google?...OUR PEEPS!!!...so we need to put them front and centre...put pics of PEOPLE on the web site, with deets re what they do (people all know we have books!!!)
• and that is a very good reason to be on FaceBook (as an individual and a lib)
  
• libs need to scale ourselves up to the level of being there to help peeps with the massage change.."the internet has now progressed to is infancy" (seach, social networks, learning, commerce)...
• ...that is the BIG challenge...and WE (libs) can influence it if we want...or...we can let the internet happen to us
• so what is our plan?...
• what's on our minds?....usually a sense that something is not quite right...questions where a job starts and stops (yeah I can relate!!!)...questions of where work starts and stops...of skills required for jobs...
• we need to get libs to break inertia...in order for libs to remain what they are, they must change...
• the magic sauce is in collaboration
• are you being heard???...
• are you talking???!!!...you have to get out there and do it...
• eg. give library cards to new city councillors...and follow up...be sure they know what you do...get on their radar...
• small communities can serve their peeps in a big way, by finding out what they want / need and meeting their needs
• communicate on many levels (eg not just paper annual report)
• will we find our voice?...bing, google, FB, twitter, social media, libraries
• slide with lots of text (link to it on Stephen's Lighthouse) re diffs btwn private sector and public sector
• libs competitve advantage is having GOOD information and a place where peeps can come to learn
• shift to knowledge based economy...therefore peeps need to know how manage info...we're at a fork in the road...
• are we going to become a nostalgic place, or a dynamic place where you can get prepared for the future...
• who do they think built this stuff?....librarians were KEY in the development of google, yahoo, boole, intranets etc...
• 85 librarians hired at the early development of yahoo
• Boole (as in Boolian logic) self-taught at a lib...wow!...ended up being a prof @ Cambridge and oxford)
• look to the future to see what will make us successful...just b/c legal info is online does not mean we don't need lawyers...just b/c you have a calculator doesn't mean we don't need accountants
• where is the leadership?...
• one eg is Knowledge Ontario...good eg b/c academic / public / school etc
• drivers of change...our future slide...newspapers are dead but news isn't (John Stewart, for eg is the #1 news source for many peeps)
• publishing models are in a huge transformation...what do text books look like in the age of Kindle / iPhone / iPad
• libs won't go away but they will be differnet
• why should there be more than one lib in your city / province?...need to be able to answer that
• question should not be what the future of the book is, it should be what are the behavoiuors and ecology of reading in the future
• human understanding...info + learning = knowledge...your learning style is in your genes
• you want your surgeon to learn like your mechanic...hands on / visual
• libs need to learn to relate to peeps who learn in diff ways...not just by reading
• YouTube is only five years old...wow...and it is the number two search engine!
• what will it look like when all the books are online?
• partnerships...integrated collection development...community / learning / e-learning
• productivity push...the cloud...what is stopping you from using it?
• Canada is the smartest country on earth...WOOT!...why do we want to sleep with the elephant south of us?...will only take us south
• libs need to focus on how we can support all the smarties
• libs critical competitive advantage is the peeps!...we need to be out there...why do libs want to be anonymous?....
• librarians must take personal responsibility for their professional development (YEAH!!!!)
• we must be our own advocates, not victims...no one is going to do it for us
• coll dev must be patron-centric
• re-think ownership
• community eclogy management...lib as social glue...commuicate THAT aspect of libraires...not the *stuff*...goes back to Gerry Meek's SMILE-o-meter...
• the ne
  
• wow...and it is the number two search engine!

what will it look like when all the books are online?

partnerships...integrated collection development...community / learning / e-learning

productivity push...the cloud...what is stopping you from using it?

Canada is the smartest country on earth...WOOT!...why do we want to sleep with the elephant south of us?...will only take us south

libs need to focus on how we can support all the smarties

libs critical competitive advantage

the new normal: fully integrated virtual and physical strategies...

single core community service portal with branch customization

what do your virtual patrons look like (diff from in-lib users)...in-lib users are the needy ones!!!...I need to learn more about our virtual peeps

oops I think I cut and pasted...read over and reorganize!!!

are you ready for real collaboration, beyond cooperation?

some change agent examples...: knowledgeOntario, the Alberta Library, WYLD in Wyoming, infOhio, LYRASIS

innovative audit questions...

(btw 85% of autobiographies have a positive story of librarians in them!!!)

Be important (remember you are...!)...don't be the Star Trek guy in the red shirt!!!

questions for orgs: how should we be organized to best interact with and delight our clients or patrons?...how should we be organized to make the best decisions int he least amout of time? (don't study things to death!!!!...death is not the goal!!!)...learn to be ok with good enough...

small, agile groups move faster than large bureaucracies

***culture kills everything***...wow...is there something about the culture of the lib that squishes innovation...um, yeah...wow...

what IS the lib's main focus?

Galbraith's star model

• it's impartive that we use the devices, and not vice-versa
• I REALLY need to go around and do staff training on downloading ebooks and eAudio...don't set them up for failure
• focus on the issues: uniquness, services, and PEOPLE!!!!
• the tools: wow, social graph platform wars...major slide!!!!
• use tools that support sharing: wiki, tagging, the cloud, blogs, photos, slide share, smart phones
• ***start playing with smart phones...the lib needs to get one*** put in a small cap request (also new chair!!!)
• next up...GeoIPs...FourSquare and Gowalla...TODO: take a look and play around!
  
• how to get there?...play...build a techno sandbox...get a kindle / smart phone / ipod / mp3....develop a culture of experimentation at TBPL...that should be my new GOAL!!!...YEAH!!!!
• also work to collaborate with OPLA???...chat it up...to change the way the dreaded stats are reported / collected...already we know the virtual stats collection system is screwey....how can we measure the satisfaction / smiles?...not the number of steps, but the length of the steps...****...I already feel passionate about this, so work on it...follow it up...poster pres to generate interest?...chat with OPLA peeps / TT / GLF / OLS-n...DO IT...YEAH!!!!
• Stephen A said "we" are working on this...follow up with him...does that mean Gale?
• Gale just bought "encyclopedia.com"...has local access...creating access to the lib so peeps can find it...a way to achieve scale...iPhone ap to find local libs / provides you automatic access to gale databases
• how to build scale
• Gale's goal is to double database use every few months
• be the cute goldfish with a shark fin attached!!! (not the dead fish)
• wow, exciting to focus on satisfaction and not USE...yeah!!!... :)
• love the content, not the container
• see our peeps as human beings
• don't just put a mouse on it
• fab 50 reasons not to change (really excuses)
• the problem is inertia, not money
• good idea for summer reading game: make lib training cards for ALL lib staff...get SRG kids to collect (from all branches / depts...so fun...!) DOIT!!!