Exploring tomorrow today

Last week I attended another challenging session at the EBSLG conference at Ashridge , presented by Christine Reid, a member of faculty at the University of Strathclyde as well as its Learning Resource Manager.

Christine presented an incredibly detailed overview of the issues and trends outside the library (and business school) world which will inevitably impact upon what we as librarians will do in the future. She was upfront about the fact that she didn’t pretend to have the answers and was keen to provoke discussion instead.

Highlights:

• The fact that as humans we are conditioned to think that tomorrow will be the same, however, we actually need to expect the unexpected. Christine referred to Bertrand Russell’s turkey: “A turkey is fed evey day. Every single feeding firms up the bird’s belief thta it is the general rule of life to be fed every day by friendly members of the human race. On the afternoon before Christmas Day, however, the turkey is surprised by not being fed. Instead if itself now becomes the food for the Christmas activities.” We as librarians must not suddenly become the equivalent of Christmas dinner!
• Keynes notion that: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas, an in escpaing from old ones.
• Facts about today’s youth: younger than the Internet; never known a mobile-less world; have friends around the world; and one electronic device for everything. 9 out of 10 teenagers have a PC, a mobile phone and a games console. These ‘digital natives’: just do it; like to feel in control; have a short attention span, and are comfortable with media multi-tasking. When they enter higher education they’ll want diferent services to those currently being offered and when they enter the world of work they’ll want the workplace to adapt to them not the other way round.
• Computing power is still doubling every 18 months (Moore’s Law). Technology is key to the development of our library services, but will it ensnare us or free us?
• Significance of the growth of social media. We can now all be publishers, movie makers, artists and storytellers. And we can all influence what happens e.g. return of the Wispa bar. Also directly helping companies to make money – Threadless. The media revolution focuses on the individual – ‘You’ (Time Magazines’ ‘Person of the Year’ in 2006)
• Education is changing – now embracing different types of learning: blended; personalised; participative and activity-based; collaborative; problem-based; and not just in the classroom.
• Business Education/Business School issues: budgets; globalization; partnerships; corporate universities; publish or perish; research assessment; rankings and accreditation; eLearning – the fact that emerging technologies are transforming teaching and learning.
• Relevance of our services is absolutely key.

Closing Thoughts:

• Are we prepared for technological change?
• How much are our future visions based upon invalid assumptions?
• How open are we to having our worldview challenged?
• Are we ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities?

Christine’s session was backed up with some very detailed stats on current trends ensuring that the audience  felt the momentum of the changes she described more keenly. This also helped to make the session specific rather than generic as is so often the case.

After the session I found myself particualrly questioning how open I really am to having my worldview challenged and also how many libraries and librarians in the UK (especially in the business school sector) may become that Christmas Turkey over the next few years.

I like to think that the service I head up is relevant and embracing of change, but will that be enough for us?  Do faculty truly recognise the value of the many services we offer? If it came to the crunch would they rally round and support the cost of the service?

Andy

10 challenges for the library profession

Over the next week or so I’ll be posting summaries and reviews of the many excellent sessions presented at the recent EBSLG conference at Ashridge Management College (5-8 May 2009), The first session was led by Tony Sheehan, Ashridge’s Learning Services Director.

Tony identified 10 challenges that currently face the library profession and which were also intended to answer the increasingly asked question: “Do we need libraries at all?”

Tony’s 10 Challenges:
1. Business
Librarians should be integrating with all parts of their organisation and avoid their library becoming a silo. Collaboration and connectivity are therefore key.
2. Workload
Information has grown exponentially but our capacity to absorb it has not. There is an ever widening zone of ignorance.
3. Search
Librarians are now answering more complex research questions than ever. This shift is important and will help us to erode the zone of ignorance (see above). 
4. Attention
We are now driven  by info-lust and distracted by content and therefore hyperlinking off in our own minds all the time. Mistakes arise from our ‘emotional tagging’ of information and recognising misleading patterns. After Bazerman and Chugh, we need to bring the right information into our conscious awareness at the right time.
5. Complexity
Librarians are now facing brand new problems and the answers are frequently to be found in different disciplines.
6. Connections
The Internet now offers us connections. Shirky: “Each URL is a latent community” – the trigger for richand engaging conversations – the launch point for creativity”. Technology is providing us with connections that should be fully utilised. e.g. the lizard spit that may provide the answers to diabetes.
7. Communities
Networks of knowledge (such as EBSLG) are now more important than ever for librarians. See book: The Wisdom of Crowds and e.g. of checking out TripAdvisor before choosing a hotel.
8. Technology
What we all now experience at home, technology-wise, is setting the standard for our experience at work. We can do almost everything electronically now. e.g. of use of World of Warcraft by CISCO for job selection process!
9. Personalisation
Eagleton refers to the human situation of ”hasty, random choices with little thought and evaluation”, which we’ve arrived at through Google and the search engine revolution. Critical information skills have been lost and librarians have to ensure that they are still on the agenda by providing the best of both worlds (Google and information portals/services).
10. Reflection
We should be spending more time reflecting, thinking and learning and less time doing. Space is important. We need this in order to keep up with the latest trends.
Conclusion:
Libraries and librarians can still be valuable if they can keep up-to-date and respond to organisational, individual and environmental needs. The problem is that many library services are currently invisible.

Although there was nothing particularly groundbreaking about Tony’s presentation, I found it to be both affirming and relevant.
His call for librarians to spend more time relecting and learning in order to keep up-to-date was actually the final catalyst for me to start blogging. As for the invisbility factor – promoting my own library service to make it as visible as possible is easily my number one priority on a day-to-day basis.

Andy

Not just reacting (or why I’m finally blogging)

OK so I’ve finally taken the plunge and begun a blog. Why? Well, for two simple reasons that I could no longer ignore…

For one thing I’ve become a Twitter-addict and wanted to examine some of the fascinating debates that have arisen from that activity in more detail than the 140 characters will allow. For another I wanted to start exploring the many issues that are currently affecting academic business librarianship through a blog format, as my awareness of  the instant – and global - publishing of my words SHOULD ensure that I don’t simply react (a natural tendency of mine) but truly absorb and process before taking action.

So if you’re interested in reading about the challenges faced by a hard-working and enthusiastic Head Librarian at a UK business school (Judge Business School, University of Cambridge) this blog may be for you…

Andy