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The new library: anywhere and everywhere
July 8, 2008
Isn’t it great to be in the library? (wherever that is) was a program presented by the Library & Information Technology Association at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA.
Joseph Janes, professor at the University of Washington shared his views on how the idea of the library has expanded and moved beyond traditional concepts such as physical spaces. How customers are in the library when they cross the digital threshold to access the online catalogs, library web pages, reference via IM sessions, and renew items online.
Customers can be in the library anywhere and in anyway in which they interact with information organized, provided, and supported by their own community via these resources. Janes emphasized that the library is by implication the place as well as the stuff, the support, the interaction, and the values.
This will imply an extended notion of library and librarianship. A good library is somewhere and everywhere! Libraries have to be accessible where the customers are. Their presence and identity are tied to environments. Customers have various (simultaneous) identities, e.g. IM, texting, Meebo, Twitter, Facebook, in person, and others. Library must be there too.
Libraries have to be wherever the customers are: physically and virtually.
Whatever the customers want to do, or be: we must be available, positioned and ready to support, assist, and participate on their terms with a visible presence in all the various places customers are.
We have to be better online.
Janes compared a negative imprint of hands found in the Altamira Caves with today’s YouTube. Today, libraries must have a presence everywhere customers are. How to get to the library? Moving beyond the library walls.
After attending this program, I confirmed an exciting change my library colleagues from different parts of the globe and I have experienced within the last months while using Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Ustream.tv, slideshare, blogs, Webinar platforms, and other services. Library research, papers, and history is being written using these exciting resources.
Currently, I am investigating how libraries around the globe are using these sources to provide services to their staff and customers. I will present a summary at Online Tools Build Communities at the REFORMA National Conference III (El Paso, Texas: September 18-21, 2008).
Today, I will give you brief examples of how I’ve used the services mentioned above to work with national and international colleagues:
Currently, I am coordinating an in-person workshop in Manila and use google chat to discuss logistics with the on-site and off-site organizers. I will use YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Ustream.tv, and various blogs to enhance my workshop in Manila.
While coordinating a workshop in Colombia, I sent my Power Point slides to the on-site organizers via slideshare, checked arrangements with off-site organizers using hotmail chat, and finally shared the workshop results on my blog.
The future is here. It is time to take the library into the future!
Posted by Loida García-Febo on July 8, 2008 | Comments (3)
In response to: The new library: anywhere and everywhere
Karen commented:
No. Joe Janes comparison of Youtube to cave paintings was not about preserving records. What he said is that both are statements of "I was here, I mattered." He did not say the paintings are a million years old. His LITA address was an Anaheim highlight. I wish I had taped it for Youtube. The historical record of it is already ill preserved.
In response to: The new library: anywhere and everywhere
Loida commented:
Right. and now gone. I did include some of my own comments on my post.
In response to: The new library: anywhere and everywhere
Catherine commented:
What is "I was here, I mattered" if not a preserv[ed] record? Let's not split hairs. Many of us want to know how to use the tools you mention to do what libraries have always done, in new ways. I want to learn about meaningful ways to intersect with community members using these new tools. Then I want to offer them what the library and its staff have. How do we get beyond finding commonalities of taste -- like chatting about books and movies that we enjoy?
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