I CAN DO IT ALL
BY MYSELF : Exploring new roles for libraries and mediating technologies in addressing the DIY mindset of library patrons American Library Association Annual Conference. Anaheim, CA. 2012. Speakers: Bohyun Kim, Patrick T. Colegrove, Jason Clark. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marielamuse/7341089880/

I CAN DO IT ALL
BY MYSELF – part I. : Exploring new roles for libraries and mediating technologies in addressing the DIY mindset of library patrons Bohyun Kim, Digital Access Librarian Florida International University Medical Library http://bohyunkim.net @bohyunkim (Twitter) http://www.slideshare.net/bohyunkim (Slides) American Library Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA. June 23, 2012. #ala12 #diy

Great Library of Alexandria -
Wikipedia Libraries, what has happened to them ?

Open stacks / browsing
/circulation

Library catalog

DIY searching for end-users was
once radical…

DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library
of Univ. of Nevada, Reno - Facebook Library space changed for collaboration

“Using the Self-Checkout machines” –
Multinoma County Library (Flickr) Self-service for convenience

Open library metadata

Patrons, what has happened to
them?

• Information consumers who are
• Smarter • More empowered • More independent • More efficient • More trained • More dedicated • More impatient • More demanding We are now…

What does that mean to
academic libraries?

• “According to the ARL
statistics, the number of reference transactions went down by more than 50-60 % since 1995.” - Anderson, Rick. 2011. “The Crisis in Research Librarianship.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 37 (4): 289-290. Decreasing reference requests

Decreasing circulation

• “Unless current patterns change,
by 2020 university libraries will no longer have circulation desks.” - Kurt, Will. 2012. “The End of Academic Library Circulation?” ACRL TechConnect. http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=233 User behavior has changed

• Ask-an-expert sites (e.g., WikiAnswers)
showed the largest five- year growth—136% increase. The frequency of use increased as well. The majority of college students who used these sites did so on an as- needed basis in 2005; now 30% search for answers at least monthly. • College students are asking experts for help; are they asking librarians? Our survey results indicate that only a few are using online librarian question services— 10% in 2010 vs. 8% in 2005. The number of academic libraries offering online reference services increased more than 10% from 2004 to 2008 (NCES). - OCLC Report - Perceptions of Libraries 2010, pp.52-54. Users prefer self-service even in reference /research

• In the era of
information scarcity • Information was hard to find, obtain, access. • This problem is solved by librarians‟ mediation. • Libraries identify, acquire, organize, and provide access to information. • Mediation by librarians was necessary for identifying and accessing hard-to-find information efficiently. • Great value was created by the mediation between library patrons and library staff. Old paradigm

Traditional library services are designed
to solve information scarcity by mediation.

But now, information is abundant.
And we are so much more capable information consumers with the Web.

• “You‟re pretty good at
helping me, thanks, but I‟d really prefer to do more things by myself- and by the way, you don‟t make that very easy for me.” - Matthews, Brian. 2011. “Helping patrons help themselves,” Chronicle of Higher Education Blog Network. http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/theubiquitouslibrarian/2011/10/13 /are-we-in-the-diy-era-helping-patrons-help-themselves/ DIY – Users’ mindset today

• Not unique to library
use • Common phenomenon influenced by the automation of everyday service that we experience as a consumer. • WWW + Knowledge = DIY • Who knows more about how to best print your digital photo? You or the person at Walgreens photo service? • Can you file tax yourself rather than hiring an accountant? Yes, and it might be faster and more convenient! • The line between experts and hobbyists is becoming more and more blurry. • Example: Etsy, Flickr, Instagram, etc. DIY mindset - background

DIY Internet Radio Station

• Avoiding contact with the
library staff unless necessary • Using an alternative to traditional library services • Giving up on time-consuming procedures • Prefers self-service • Practicing „Satisfice‟ • Wanting to learn by doing, not by sitting and listening • Appreciation for tools that help them do the things that they want to do by themselves (e.g. LibX) DIY user behavior at libraries

• Self-checkout machines • Drive-through
windows • Vending machines with books and DVDs • Self-registration for library cards • Self-scheduling group study room and computer use • Self-pickup of holds • Self-directed printing • Self-service course reserves management by faculty • Convenience and empowerment for patrons • Staff efficiency for libraries Moving in the right direction…

But our main message is
unchanged. “Come to the Library !” “Talk to Librarians !”

• „Ask a Librarian‟ •
Reference desk • Classroom instruction • Literature search • Library workshop “ Let us help you.” (=Go through us/ gatekeeping)

• Attractions to draw more
people to the library? • E-book readers, Starbucks, 3D printer… • Improve the library‟s physical space? • Create more contact opportunities online? • Ask a Librarian, Text a Librarian! • Embedded into the curriculum • Librarian presence in the LMS • More classroom instruction Still operating in the old paradigm

• Help is less and
less sought out where information is abundant. • “Can I just figure thist out by myself?” • ”Do I have time for this?” • “Is this something I must go through?” • “Can I do it later?” • “It sounds boring… ” Lukewarm responses …

• Interaction-oriented service is likely
to to be received poorly because patrons are less likely to initiate it. • Librarians‟ mediation or assistance is often not necessary for library patrons identifying and accessing information. • And if any information system requires human mediation or instruction, that may well make a patron think that the system is inefficient. • Users expect efficient systems that allow them to serve themselves to meet their information needs. Kim (2011b). In spite of our best intentions

Why? Because now, what is
precious and scarce is information people’s time and attention.

• “I don‟t think education
is about centralized instruction anymore; rather, it is the process establishing oneself as a node in a broad network of distributed creativity.” - Ito, Joichi. 2011. “In an Open-Source Society, Innovating by the Seat of our Pants.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/joichi-ito- innovating-by-the-seat-of-our-pants.html?_r=1 Learning is changing…

Now: Mediate when & where?

Library as a warehouse Passive
help center (Kim, 2011a)

Be where people are. Be
sought after; don’t run after. Photo from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810/

Circulate books & journals. Look
up things that are had to find. Help then when asked Teach them proper research resources & methods. Old paradigm: no longer relevant

Let’s show beautiful and awesome
things instead. Photo from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10422334@N08/4548288966/

DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library
of Univ. of Nevada, Reno - Facebook Real people are inside & outside the library space

Digestible bits of knowledge

Enrich everyone’s
information ecosystem

Package info & data as
a meaningful connection

Transform information into meaning &
knowledge

• Part II (Tod): How
can libraries respond to the changing user behavior and expectations to draw in and energize the users of the physical library space ? • Part III (Jason): How to leverage technology to create opportunities for mediation and dis- mediation opportunities that the library users online would welcome ? Examples: physical /virtual

Part II & Part III

• Anderson, Rick. 2011. “The
Crisis in Research Librarianship.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 37 (4): 289-290. • Dempsey, Beth. 2010. "Do-It-Yourself Libraries." Library Journal 135, no. 12: 24-28. • Harvard Library Open Data, http://openmetadata.lib.harvard.edu/ • Hoppenfeld, Jared, and Wendi Arant-Kasper. 2010. "Do-It-Yourself for Course Reserves: A Student-Driven Service in an Academic Library." Journal Of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserves 20, no. 5: 353-361. • Ito, Joichi. 2011. “In an Open-Source Society, Innovating by the Seat of our Pants.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/joichi-ito-innovating- by-the-seat-of-our-pants.html • Kim, Bohyun. 2011a. “Beyond the Middlemen and the Warehouse Business.” Library Hat. http://www.bohyunkim.net/blog/archives/1361 References

• Kim, Bohyun. 2011b. “Research
Librarianship in Crisis: Mediate When, Where, and How?” ACRLog. http://acrlog.org/2011/08/01/research-librarianship-in-crisis- mediate-when-where-and-how • Kurt, Will. 2012. “The End of Academic Library Circulation?” ACRL TechConnect. http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=233 • Matthews, Brian. 2011. “Helping patrons help themselves,” Chronicle of Higher Education Blog Network. http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/theubiquitouslibrarian/2011/10/13 /are-we-in-the-diy-era-helping-patrons-help-themselves/ • NYPL Lab, What‟s on the Menu? http://menus.nypl.org/ • NYPL Lab, Direct Me NYC 1940. http://directme.nypl.org/ • OCLC, 2010. OCLC Report - Perceptions of Libraries. http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htm • Gorae_bot in Twitter. http://twitter.com/gorae_bot References (cont…)

I CAN DO IT ALL
BY MYSELF – part II. Exploring new roles for libraries and mediating technologies in addressing the DIY mindset of library patrons

This was the reality of
DeLaMare Library.

  We simply couldn’t
afford the traditional approach. 1Derived from reports generated June 2, 2012, using the CANID Interactive Reporting System on the University of Nevada, Reno, Institutional Analysis website at

Radical measures?

• “ ” • •
After two years:

Key: relocated staff offices 4.

Positioning staff to “be a
node in their network” 5.

Views from my desk on
the 3 rd floor…

security device: Left behind: a
microkitchen.

A coffee shop?

Fundamental:
“ ”

’ Create and leverage contact
opportunities.

Recent additions:
Sparkfun Inventer kits

Recent additions: 3D printers &
scanner

Recent additions:
button makers

•    •
• • • • • • • • Additional development:

A few of the guidelines6:

Draw in and energize users
of the physical library. Image credit: rumpleteaser, “Kid in a Candy Store”, , licensed under creative commons Attribution2.0 Generic (CC BY). Retrieved June1, 2012, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/rumpleteaser/6062575030/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Added over 2,500 square feet
of whiteboard walls.

Created semi-
private collaboration areas.

A whiteboard wall competition on
FaceBook?

“ ” Going deeper: communities
of practice.

• • • • •
• • Nurture them!

Give them something to talk
to you about.

Could turn into a traditional
library event…

or an outing on the
University Quad...

with several hundred students and
faculty participating.

Rules of engagement:

Expressions of
Homelessness exhibit.

WordPress WordCamp. Image credit: thekevinjones,
(June 5, 2011). Wordamp, Reno 2011. All rights reserved. Retrieved June 5, 2012, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/58403583@N04/sets/72157626772664855/

Pi day.

Rube-Goldberg
machine competition.

Locksport workshop.

“ ” “ ’ ”
The key:

Okay, that’s great – for
the people who come in to the library. What about everyone else?

I CAN DO IT ALL
BY MYSELF – part III. Exploring new roles for libraries and mediating technologies in addressing the DIY mindset of library patrons Jason Clark Head of Digital Access & Web Services Montana State University Library American Library Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA. 2012

pinboard.in/u:jasonclark/t:ala2012-diy
pinboard.in tag for links

• What about users that
don’t come into the building? • Libraries are passive • Users are active • Building engaging tools and online experiences New Paradigm

Traditional library services are designed
to solve information scarcity by mediation.

• In economics, disintermediation is
the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation Disintermediation

DIY – “Do It Yourself”
Ian MacKaye, Punk Rocker and DIY Patron Saint

DIY – “Do It Yourself”

• “…recorded their own music,
produced albums and merchandise, distributed their works and often performed basement shows in residential homes rather than at traditional venues to secure freedom in performance.” • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIY_ethic DIY – “Do It Yourself”

• DIY as part of
Internet Culture • Make Magazine • makezine.com • Skillshare • www.skillshare.com • We work in a medium that facilitates DIY DIY and the Internet

DIY Libraries

What about apps and tools
that create and support DIY behavior?

• WikiAnswers • wiki.answers.com •
Direct Me NYC: 1940 • directme.nypl.org • What's on the Menu? • menus.nypl.org • Patron Driven Acquisition • scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2011/05/31/what-patron- driven-acquisition-pda-does-and-doesnt-mean-an-faq Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing

• The Student Research Pad
(draft) • www.stephenfrancoeur.com/digitalreference/2012/04/02/the- student-research-pad/ • Surfacing scholarly community activity • www.lib.montana.edu/resources/popular.php • realtime.easybib.com • Mendeley, Academia.edu, Zotero, scholr.ly Research & Citation Management

Research & Citation Management

• University of Michigan Library
Bookmarklets • www.lib.umich.edu/mlibrary-labs • LibX toolbar • libx.org • NCSU QuickSearch (metasearch results) • www.lib.ncsu.edu/search/?q=laser • www.lib.ncsu.edu/search/about.html Extending Search

Extending Search

Converting traditional services? What are
the new "app" opportunities?

• twitterbots, chatbots, statbots •
Chatbot - University of Nebraska Library • dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378831211213238 • Statbot - Florida State University Library • journal.code4lib.org/articles/85 (new) Ready Reference

(new) Ready Reference

• Gimme (Scottsdale Public Library)
• gimme.scottsdalelibrary.org • BookMeUp • www.lib.montana.edu/beta/bookme (new) Reader’s Advisory

(new) Reader’s Advisory

• Data mining social media
• andyburkhardt.com/2010/02/12/ambient- awareness-in-twitter-for-reference • andyburkhardt.com/2012/04/25/puppies-in-the- library-and-social-media (new) Outreach

(new) Outreach

• Range Science Information System
(RSIS) • rangescience.info • Experts creating a digital "bookshelf" (new) Digital Collections

(new) Digital Collections

• Patron Driven Acquisition •
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2011/05/31/wha t-patron-driven-acquisition-pda-does-and- doesnt-mean-an-faq (new) Collection Development

(new) Collection Development

• Sorting databases based on
popularity (clickthrough analytics) • www.lib.montana.edu/resources/popular.ph p (new) Content Selection

(new) Content Selection

• Real-time Instruction • bit.ly/zA9DCf
• americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/pra ctice/guide-side • "Guide on the Side", a tutorial created for JSTOR by University of Arizona librarians (new) Instruction

(new) Instruction

• New job duties, New
staffing models • Realignment of personnel • Look for public service + tech service collaborations • This is a great opportunity! • We all have some role to play; it just might be a new role. Takeaways & Next Steps

Takeaways & Next Steps

• Bookmarklets • www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files/bookmark lets
• AskREF • www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files/question- point • BookMeUp • www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files.php Code Samples

Twitter Hashtag
#diy
Questions?