Search

The library profession has made big advances in advocating for information literacy. High-profile initiatives, such as ACRL's comprehensive strategies, have helped attract the attention of teachers, administrators, and policy-makers. The University of California Academic Senate recently endorsed information literacy as a vital issue. In this article, the author argues that relationship building is crucial for success in pushing the information literacy paradigm. There are compelling reasons to regard communities of practice as new zones for innovative reference and instruction, particularly as online learning matures within higher education. Just as digital technologies tend to converge, reference and teaching are converging and becoming more immersive. Furthermore, the author provides two strategies which will trigger some strategic thinking that may help immerse oneself in one's user communities--one is new and trendy, the other is old and dull. In summary, the author believes that information literacy as a movement depends just as much on relationships as it does on policy statements and resolutions.

Although it is pretty easy to find colleagues who will express fatigue or frustration about the constant need for libraries to prove their value proposition, there is also an upside to the exercise of crafting a message that justifies librarians' mission. The catch is that however good their crafted message may be, they must forget about ever finishing their dog-and-pony show once and for all. Since information professionals live on the front lines of disruptive technology, they are subject to the force of digital convergence, which is forever pushing knowledge workers closer together and challenging them to rethink what they do. The sheer cascade of new technologies throughout the workplace, the entertainment sphere, and society in general requires constant review of their top goals, how they frame them to their users, and what "deliverables" they rely upon to build an evidence-based record of their relevance. And then there is the future. They must search not only for this year's value proposition but also next year's, and for the year after that. Debating about the profession's value and place in organizations and society is an effort well spent. Indeed, the accumulated wisdom gained from conducting the search for the current value proposition provides foundational learning for a successful library career. With that in mind, the author is going to hearken back to some of his favorite value propositions and see if they retain their rhetorical power. He will conclude with an assessment of the most intriguing strategies librarians might use to craft compelling value points during this digitally accelerated era.

Building a social media profile itself is a rewarding experience for digital librarians, but there is another aspect to social media immersion, and it is a powerful tool for the profession. As librarians establish expert status in the use of popular tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and WordPress, they can add training and even product development to their rosters of services. Three local examples of successful new media endeavors at the author's organization that prove this point are presented. And importantly, they also suggest that, although bold ideas are terrific, they may face a short life span if the new work is unsustainable. As simple and fun as social media is, it does represent another layer of work that goes on top of everything else. Digital librarians have an opportunity to make that workflow manageable--and when they do so, they became organizational change agents on the front lines.

Social media now offer a fresh opportunity to enliven the learning process. But to gain traction, they will have to prove their relevance. Librarians are quite vocal in advocating for the preservation of human interaction around digital media; one might say that it is their charge to be certain that the human factors within digital libraries are not lost. The challenge librarians face is to develop social media applications that will grab the attention of advanced students, increasing the prospects for fellowship and community, instead of operating as distractions. Graduate students learn effective research techniques from their advisors, and they must use widely divergent information resources--many of which are managed by the library. Yet social media are not fully mainstreamed into research portals, even though the liveliness that these media foster could vastly improve the basic research experience. In this article, the author suggests three strategies librarians might try to extend their reach as social media advances within the academy. He follows these with a recent "from the trenches" story that illustrates what librarians have to offer--and why they may find a place at the design table.

The digital era has revolutionized society's perception of space. Even so, against this backdrop, the struggle to preserve and enhance library space is a battle for the hearts and minds of the communities. It is ongoing, and it will never end. In this article, the author explores two characteristics of successful drives to revitalize physical space and offers some strategies for keeping spirits high during the skirmishes libraries are sure to face along the way. He believes that when library physical space is overlaid with a robust digital backbone, it transcends its original purpose and creates endless opportunities for creativity.

Innovations in search and retrieval have provided librarians with some of their most exciting challenges as a profession. Yet even as new tools flood the academic library commons, direct, person-to-person information counseling is still needed, some would say more than ever. Consequently, it can be very useful to study how users conduct new research projects, because such study can help reference providers stay aware of the obstacles that users confront. With that in mind, the author shares a tale of two undergraduate researchers, both very smart and highly engaged, and the paths each took as they conducted large-scale projects in the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) Library. First, the author presents a few general characteristics that are shared by many of the undergraduates he encounters at the University of California-Berkeley.

Successive waves of technology change what is possible in information services, and to stay relevant, information professionals face two challenges. First, they must be willing to learn all about the new tools as they appear. Second, they must learn--or relearn--the crucial characteristics of users. In this article, the author focuses on the second challenge, which is to know how users are adapting, what makes them tick, and what can be done in the local settings to improve their information experience. In the author's opinion, it is equally important to study people as attentively as one studies technology; people are just endlessly fascinating, and the device-technology interface is one of the great stories of one's lifetime. Many people are deeply involved in ongoing survey efforts that may be very large in scale or more focused on local sites. They can draw many conclusions from this growing knowledge base. But despite how useful survey research is, it is no substitute for direct study of the people one works with every day. How can information professionals best expend their energies when it comes to understanding their users? There are many answers to that question, of course. The author has a few favorites that he has grouped into five sections.

The rapidly evolving digital world inspires much use of nautical terminology: (1) navigation; (2) discovery; (3) the voyage; and (4) the new terrain at the end of the journey. Considering how quickly new technologies are arriving on smartphones, the nautical adventure is continuing at an increased pace. Innovations in basic library services follow big successes in the marketplace, such as blogs, microblogs, and social media domains. Although they look much the same as they have for the past 10 years or so, large-scale library utilities include new functionalities and links to worlds of related services (print on demand, book paging, book buying, full text, etc.). As public librarians find themselves sailing through a digital ocean that is awash in new tools, the best rule of navigation is to serve user communities as technology evaluators--applying only the tools that are most appropriate to a given situation. Such critical evaluation helps them stay on course. In this article, the author shares his thoughts on how to use digital tools in creative (and low-cost) ways to create a digital library--or even a full-blown social community--that was built around local history.

New technology appears at a fast pace these days. As individuals people must choose how much technology to allow into their personal worlds. Within organizations, people must collectively decide how to build, sustain, and perhaps jettison new technologies as they consider their long-term value and life span. This requires a collaborative spirit and an open mind, as well as a systematic strategy for studying opportunity. In this article, the author discusses four recipes for success on the cutting edge. Fortunately, the winning recipes for success in the digital sphere have common ingredients: the connections between people, technology, and resources. Add these together and life on the cutting edge can seem far more manageable.

This article discusses three strategies for building a data center or service. These strategies are: (1) "audit" a way to alliances; (2) "share" oversight but "own" the warehouse; and (3) join new professional "cultures." These strategies have more to do with people and organizations than technology since technology mirrors and amplifies what works, or what does not work, between people.

"Embracing the chaos" is an ongoing challenge for librarians. Embracing the chaos means librarians must have a plan for responding to the flood of new products, widgets, web tools, and gizmos that students use daily. In this article, the author argues that library instruction and access services have been grappling with that chaos with some degree of success. He also explores how the library can be a solutions lab for the era of hand-held computing. In his opinion, librarians still have a few library-culture-based tricks up their sleeves that transfer to the mobile (read: chaotic) era. These tricks are library instruction and online reference service. In assessing the library as a solutions lab, the author puts those two roles librarians play to the question and finds out if they are indeed embracing the chaos or if they are squandering a crisis that was tailor-made to enhance an evaluation of their skill sets.

This article discusses Research Blogging, a community-run nonprofit organization that is promoting a suite of blogging software to scholars. Research Blogging itself does two things. First, it extends an invitation to a community, and it is open to anyone. Second, it requires its users to follow guidelines. The combination of rigorous guidelines that conform to scholarly culture with the practices of the blogosphere provides an interesting spin on how science can be done. If the leading minds of any given profession adopted this style of communication, the open dialogue that would follow would strengthen the principles of peer-reviewed research. Research Blogging creates a viable information ecology that can expand the world of science, improve its accessibility and global reach, and assist scientists in the formation of new institutions harnessing new technology. As with all new media, Research Blogging carries upsides and downsides. The good news is that there are many avenues for specialists to find each other and to compare their research progress. On the down side, young scholars have more at stake and more to risk. The author forecasts that user-generated science is new, but it is here to stay.

The future of the publishing industry and the profession of journalism are hot topics these days. Those with intact long-term memory faculties will recall equally heated and ongoing debates about the future of libraries and their own profession, dating as far back as 1994, when the internet captured public imagination. Times have changed a bit since then; readers are evolving and so are the media they are favoring. Innovators are creating new products and strategies that may be useful in the information universe. In this article, the author explores a new publishing tool that may be strategically useful, certainly for publishers but perhaps for libraries too. Printcasting is a concept, but it's also the name of a new product that made some waves in summer 2009. What Printcasting offers is straightforward: provide all of the tools needed to produce a full-scale magazine, which can double as a "webzine." The webzine can be read online just like a website or a blog, but it can also operate as a print-on-demand paper magazine. Printcasting makes it possible for advertisers to place ads and proposes a revenue split among advertisers, editorial staff, and authors. Users of the service can quickly repurpose existing web content for print. The new publishing vehicle is a high-quality journal that not only extends the reach of existing blogs and email news but may also create a new market with income potential. Embedded desktop publishing tools and templates reduce the labor associated with professional-level publishing. This enables the magazine producer to spend more time focusing on content and making it distinctive.

Digital repository is one sector of digital content creation that receives less mainstream attention. Unlike blogs with accretions of documents and commentary or websites with masses of ephemeral pages that come and go, digital repositories have a more plodding pace of development. They conform to demanding standards for metadata and information architecture--and those standards are still evolving. They often operate on open source platforms and are attached to research universities or nonprofit outfits. In this article, the author discusses the surprising impact of digital repositories. He first discusses some technical and design aspects of digital repositories at a very generalized level. He then moves on to the "heart" of the matter: rediscovering new value in old collections. He presents three examples of local development at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) Library that have had a positive impact on their overall success. He believes that success in repository building requires both strong technical know-how and advanced skills in collection management.

A lot of the study about how people use technology focuses on the youngest and swiftest: teens and college students. The revolution of sharing music files confirmed just how powerful this technological "voting bloc" is. Yet the high-tech population is diverse, encompassing seniors, midcareer workers--just about every type of person in every walk of life. Beyond the shores lies the international "mob" of users. This group of global workers is the focus of this article. Rapid cultural change tends to follow technological innovation. Yet for more than a few years, some nations were significantly slower than the U.S. to embrace high-tech work styles. That's history now: From China and South Asia to Europe and beyond, a global culture of basic computer literacy has sprung into being, and offering reference to global workers has become a larger part of people's jobs. In this article, the author shares two stories about international users and how they exposed to him their computer-limiting biases. He concludes with three suggestions for interpersonal strategies to employ when working to change the cultural habits of international visitors.

Nowadays, it's possible to look to the open Web for subscription-based services that allow one to sidestep slow-moving institutions in order to serve one's users. More often than not, systems offices will not interfere, as they're heavily involved in triaging their workload. Happily, taking an active stance in learning a new technology before it receives a formal imprimatur can transform one into an expert, which is a nice way to be known. But life without a systems office has its costs. The author of this article shares his success stories on considering new, technology-intensive services. These stories suggest that a lot can be done on a shoestring, especially if one takes the initiative. He stresses that when it comes to taking a risk on a new or emerging technology, it's better to focus on the core academic goals of the user community.

From blogs to wikis to podcasts to personalized e-mail alerts, there are now more ways to reach people than ever before. However, even with these new outreach pathways, success still depends on knowing your audience and having the ability to see beyond the "buzz" of technology. Best practices for outreach should emphasize a personal touch in the use of these new and powerful tools, enlivening the technology and creating an opportunity to build interpersonal communication with users over the long term. In this article the author suggests the best practices for four popular outreach approaches: (1) Blogs; (2) RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds; (3) SDIs (Selective Dissemination of Information); and (4) E-mail alert services.

Technostress--the challenge of keeping up with changing technology--has been one of the few constants in professional lives for the past 30 or more years. In this paper, the author addresses what constitutes "best practices" for keeping up with rapidly changing technology.

The author of this column describes several instances in which secure data on computers were compromised. In each of these instances, a different route was involved in gaining access to the secure data--one by office-based theft, one by hacking, and one by burglary. Is is proposed that the most difficult factor to guarantee in the protection of secure data is the manner in which we choose to use computers on a daily basis, and that this can only be countered by education and outreach. Outside of just increasing watchfulness (hardware and backup security, schedules and check-ups), the author proposes three additional activities to help protect data security: (1) User orientation; (2) Web and poster news; and (3) Determination of how much information is actually needed and storing as little as possible.

In this column on digital repository management, the author defines three areas within the sphere of digital repositories that need work. The first two pertain to information architecture, while the last one pertains to taking action. The author's first "wish" is for top-notch library Web sites that act as a gateway to any sphere of knowledge. He envisions library Web sites with far more integration of digital content. His second wish is for dynamically generated pages that show related documents or relevant links. Pages that point at related resources would add greater content to each document within its specific contents. Wish number three is for more librarians to get serious about creating and using repositories as key elements in their overall information environments. This is particularly important for archiving "gray literature."

In this column, the author describes three very experimental visual display technologies that will affect library collections and services in the near future. While each of these new display strategies is unique in its technological approach, there is a common denominator to all three: better freedom of mobility that will allow people to interact more closely with online knowledge resources. The first visual display technology described is FogScreen, which utilizes a water vapor technology to project a display field that floats in the air. The vapor is microscopic, but it refracts light very effectively. You can walk through it without getting wet; you only feel a cool sensation. The airborne interface enables you to operate a computer by touching the display zone, and you can write or draw by touching the suspended water vapor. Two related polymer-based technologies that could revolutionize library instructional strategies are also described. The first is organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). This material can be bent or folded, rolled up, or even woven into clothes. The second flexible display technology is light-emitting polymers (LEPs) that can conduct electricity, enabling them to carry light signals and to be programmed like a pixel field. Possible applications of LEPs include roll-up screens, spray-on screens, and hang-on-the-wall screens that will deliver good resolution. The author discusses ways in which these types of new visual display technologies may be used in libraries, particularly digital libraries. He envisions two trends emerging from these new flexible and mobile displays that will affect both instructional and collection work: connecting patrons more creatively with the information they need, and reaching out to the patrons with much more interactivity.

Given the pace of innovation, not only in the gadget market but in how social media is changing society, the future isn't what it used to be, which is to say, it is not that far off, out of reach, and "gee whiz" tomorrow. The planning horizon has moved closer than ever. And far-off eventualities are here and gone before you know it. In this article, the author describes what is unfolding just outside the library walls but may be coming to a library near you. Peter Halacsy, founder of a Budapest-based firm called Prezi (http://prezi.com), has developed an intriguing new approach to information management and retrieval, as reported by "The Economist" in its June 2012 Technology Quarterly. Zoomable user interfaces (ZUIs; pronounced "zoo-ees") take a unique approach to displaying information. Instead of locking resources into files on directories or cramming data and visualizations onto PowerPoint slides, media of all types are placed on an "infinite canvas" that you can scroll over, much like a Ouija board (although that is surely a simplification). For the information professions, ZUIs may open new territory for online teaching and for linking together disparate sources of knowledge that are still--all too often--marooned behind disciplinary boundaries. A more imminent breakthrough may well be print on demand (PoD). In September 2012, "Publisher's Weekly" reported that an agreement was reached between On Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine, and Eastman Kodak Co. to make Espresso on-demand technology available via Kodak Picture Kiosks. The same technology fits very nicely in library settings as an added service. It gives consumers the chance to decide whether to own the print copy, read the ebook, or just browse the stacks.