1. Environmental Scanning
and Library 2.0
Computers in Libraries 2006
Marianne E. Giltrud
May 8, 2006

2. Environmental Scanning
Background 2003
“Librarianship had little awareness of the
process and few applications of scanning as
a tool to drive strategic planning”
• Not a body of literature on this topic and how
to begin

3. Key areas to review in order to
effectively plan for the future
• Demographic information, political, economic,
sociocultural, legal, technological trends.
• Synthesis of this information provides a
futuristic view of what the possible outcomes
might be--grounded in statistical analysis and
strategic planning

4. What is an environmental scan?
• “Environmental scanning is the internal
communication of external information about
issues that may potentially influence an
organization's decision making process”
Kendra S. Albright, ‘Environmental
Scanning:Radar for Success”, Information
Management Journal 38 (3),May/June 2004:
p.38)

5. Environmental Scanning Is…
• “Sensing compass” for the organization.
• “Outside-In” view--broad view of the
environment in terms of mega trends
implications on the library world.
• Google’s philosophy “Focus on the user
and all else will follow.”

6. What are key components of an
effective scan--
• Top-level support
• Why do it?
• How it will be done and by whom?
• How will results be communicated?
• Action Plan

7. Characteristics of the team
• See beyond the status quo
• “Big Picture” Ability
• Synthesize disparate information
• Librarian research and bibliographic ability.

8. What Next?
• Environmental scan part of an actionable
document to advance the ability of the
organization to offer services.
• Drive to move information about the collections
and libraries onto the open web.
• Library land needs to be out there where
users/searcher/finders are.

9. Web 2.0 and Library 2.0
What is it?
• The Next Generation of Web and Library
Services.
• Techniques to create more interactive and
easy to use web sites
• Blogs, wikis, social networking,tagging

10. Tails and Clouds
• For Online Retailers--
• Tails represent the infrequently requested
items and reflect the larger volume of sales
• Clouds represent the most popular items on a
site
• Tagging is indexing without controlled vocabulary

11. Information Revolution
• Fast changing environment within libraries.
• Reaching out beyond traditional boundaries.
• Engages an increasingly literate body of
information consumers.
• Opportunities to engage with an
empowered, interested and skilled set of
audiences.

12. Concept of Library Services
• Geared toward the needs and expectations
of today’s and tomorrow’s library users.
• Makes information available whenever and
wherever the user requires it.
• Seeks to ensure that barriers to use and
reuse are removed.

13. Features of Library 2.0
• External Trends
• Services offered within a broad landscape of
free and charged information services
• Related to the way people communicate,
interact, acquire and share knowledge,
search investigate and participate in creation
of and remixing content.

14. Connnectedness
• Broad band connection over dial up.
• “Increasingly available” and “always on”
• Combines the best of the retail world with
services provided by traditional libraries.
• Facilitates “Discovery”.
• “Smart Mobs” interconnectedness, rapid
communcation, mobilizing.

15. Provides Options for Users
• May offer user the option to “buy” book on
Amazon versus waiting to retrieve from
elsewhere.
• Levels the landscape to allow access and
retrieval at the “Choice/Decision” of the
users.
• Increases options and extends collections

16. Examples and Links
• Red Light Green-Research Libraries Group
• Leverages RLG’s Union Catalog allows users
to find books relevant to search
http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/web/workspace.jsp

17. North Carolina State University
• Blends --Browse by Library of Congress
Subject Headings
• Views of Brief Record and Full Record
• Narrowing Search Terms via Thesaurus
• http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/

18. Project Whisper
• “Talis Whisper is a research prototype
application that demonstrates the power of
using Web 2.0 technologies to deliver
innovative solutions in the Library
domain.”
• http://www.talis.com/tdn/whisper

19. Michigan E-Library
• Gateway to accurate, current, free
information 24/7.
• Public Libraries of Michigan
• http://michiganelibrary.org/

20. For Further Information
Environmental Scanning
Session D201 — Scanning for Planning
http://www.infotoday.com/cil2006/presentations/#thursday
Web 2.0 and Library 2.0
Session D302 — Catalogs/OPACs for the Future
Session D304 — The Web 2.0 Challenge to Libraries
Session B205 — The Michigan eLibrary (MeL): Growing Pains
and Gains
http://www.infotoday.com/cil2006/presentations/#thursday

21. More….
Session D304 — The Web 2.0 Challenge to Libraries
http://www.infotoday.com/cil2006/presentations/#friday