The next few posts will be about the sessions I attended.
We were greeted by Jeffrey Horrell, College Librarian, who noted that Dartmouth has moved from a collection-centric model to a user-services model.
Keynote Address by: David Seaman, Associate Librarian for Information Management
Library Services in an Age of Superabundant Information
What systems and services do we need in libraries and how can these help us understand our users?
Faculty in different disciplines work very differently.
Students work much differently now than they did 5 years ago.
Presents challenges for libraries
There is a "constant state of partial attention" (Lee Rainie, uncredited)
"Good enough" information is now good enough.
Frustration at the complex information landscape.
Do you have a "systems architecture map"? How complex are your systems and can your users navigate it easily?
What were the major needs identified by the group?
- One search box for all (Google-like)
- filtering results is needed and often complex (WebFeat, for eg); how do we find relevant information
- we must integrate our resources and move away from silos IN ORDER TO help the users get access to information. Would we shelve by publisher?
- Serials Solutions' Summon (beta testing with Dartmouth); works on a principle similar to Google in indexing and delivering data. - More is not always more
- specificity, selectivity and convenience are higher in rank.
- customized feeds of information would help. Take advantage of the expertise that is available in the library (subject expertise, for eg. using Libguides is one way).
- users can add reviews, etc. see Library of Congress Flickr experiment. - Convenience rules
- users will take the path of least resistance
- do we take the same path? When? Why?
- we make our users work too hard. take the services to where they are
- web pages are not destinations. Why leave the catalog to go to an ILL form, for example? Develop widgets or use APIs to embed services where users want them to be. Blackboard, Facebook, wherever. - Access trumps ownership
- question from users become, "when can I get it?"
- current library systems are inventory control systems. We need to move beyond this model and build something that allows access to more resources. - Anonymity is so web 1.0
- users trust us to make good use of data
- personalization is not threatening as long as the users have the options
- can we use this knowledge of our users to personalize services? Using class year, course information, courses in which you are enrolled or are teaching, books your checked out previously? The Amazon model.
- Remember the scholarly primitive.
- discover, gather, create, share is a good model.
- how can we help the process
- we've been good at the discover piece
A multi-dimensional framework for academic support (University of Minnesota: PDF file.) See list of reports and appendices. - Embrace the churn
- we need to have quick, agile, ongoing and iterative processes
- open up beta testing
- when IS good enough good enough? Release early and release often. Google model.
(look at Joyce's Ulysses with map on Google Books; map points to Waterloo, but in Canada; is this good enough for our users to have it released, or should we work on making it perfect before making it available?) - Transform, tailor, embed
- library system needs to be nimble, personalized, relevant and convenient.
- embed services where users are: both places and devices - Select, excite, act
- access, discover, select, filter: we focus on the first two; not so much the second two.
- how do we limit information to that which is relevant
go to part 2
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