This document summarizes Stephen Abram's presentation on trends beyond technology in libraries. It discusses symptoms of dysfunction in libraries, challenges from ebooks and new technology, and the need for libraries to be future ready. It also addresses changing demographics in library staffing, focusing services around user questions rather than collections, and developing knowledge portals rather than focusing on books. The presentation emphasizes the importance of advocacy, analytics, collaboration, and storytelling in demonstrating the value of libraries.

1. The Big Picture
Trends beyond Technology in Libraries
Stephen Abram, MLS
Phoenix Public Library
Dec. 16, 2011
These slides are available at Stephen’s Lighthouse blog

3. Avoid the Climate of Poverty

5. Symptoms of Dysfunction
 Terrible advocacy
 Slow and poor response to the e-Book
challenge
 Generational disrespect and
misunderstanding
 Workplace friction and avoidance
 Too slow technology adoption

7. Is there still life in
libraries in a fully web
world?
Yes, but . . .

9. Change: Are libraries
Future Ready?

11. 1
2.0 Fill That Gap
3

16. What Are Libraries Really For?
• Community
• Learning
• Discovery
• Progress
• Research (Applied and Theoretical)
• Cultural & Knowledge Custody / Conservation
• Economic Impact

17. Smelly Or
Yellow Sex
Liquid Appeal?

19. It’s the Whole Experience

20. News Flash
“The Internet and technology have
now progressed to their infancy”

21. 7 Gifts to Libraries, Publishers & Booksellers
1. The book isn’t dead or dying. It is evolving.
2. Our users/customers are improving.
3. Technology is going social and can support social
acts.
4. The PC isn’t dead, but, again, it’s evolving and more
mobile.
5. We know more about our customers than ever
before.
6. Talent, Insight, Community, have social value.
7. Opportunities always exist more in times of change

30. My son: Zachary

35. NextGen Library Staff
They hate the term ‘NextGen’
(or any label for that matter)

37. Librarians

38. Conan the Librarian

39. Librarians 1918

40. Librarians

41. Don’t piss them off.
Ok, sure. We’ve all got our little preconceived
notions about who librarians are and what they do.
Many people think of librarians as diminutive civil
servants, scuttling about “Sssh-ing” people and
stamping things. Well, think again buster.
Librarians have degrees. They go to graduate school
for Information Science and become masters of data
systems and human/computer interaction. Librarians
can catalog anything from an onion to a dog’s ear.
They could catalog you.
Librarians wield unfathomable power. With a flip of
the wrist they can hide your dissertation behind piles
of old Field and Stream magazines. They can find
data for your term paper that you never knew
existed. They may even point you toward new and
appropriate subject headings.
People become librarians because they know too
much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere
categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines.
Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring
order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the
masses. They preserve every aspect of human
knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the
crap out of anyone who says otherwise.

42. Some hints from the research
 Boomer vs GenY
 Don’t use family metaphors
 Offer non-compensation rewards, flexibility
 Involve them in decision-making
 Offer real development opportunities
 Prioritize social media freedom, device
flexibility, and work mobility over salary
 Listen, both ways – No telling!
 Respect goes a long way. The right to advise
must be earned

43.  “I didn’t quite my job because it was too
hard…I quit my job because it was not the best
use of my short life.”
 Social Responsibility
 Green
 Involvement Programs (YPO)
 Grapevine . . . Versus Control
 Make room for mistakes
 and you or your kids . . . What did you dream?

44. Change can happen very fast

45. What is an EXPERIENCE?
What is a library experience?
What differentiates a library experience from a transaction?
What differentiates public libraries from Google/Bing?

46. Books are a
Poor Branding

47. The Book Comet
 Harper Collins fiasco
 Amazon self-published . . . You?
 Amazon “authors”
 New Google Bookstore
 Amazon Subscriptions and Lending
 24Symbols
 Bookish
 Pottermore
 Recommendation Engines: Books & Authors, Bibliocommons,
LibraryThing . . .
 Apple . . . iStore, iBooks

50. GBS

51. Launched in US on June 30th

53. Expected Launch July 2011
Back Office: Baker & Taylor

54. Expected Launch July 30th
7 books - 15 billion franchise
Back office – Overdrive / Sony

55. What do libraries have?
LibraryThing
BiblioCommons
ChiliFresh
Etc.

58. Fiction
Non-Fiction
Reading

59. What does all this mean?
 The Article level universe
 The Chapter and Paragraph Universe
 eBooks Opportunity: Integrated with Visuals –
graphics and charts, ‘video’, scored, integrated with
Sound and Speech, integrated with social web,
integrated with interaction and not just interactivity
 How would you enhance a book?
 How do Libraries play the game?

60. Can we frame the e-book issue so
that it can be addressed rationally?

61. Why do people read?

62. Why do people read?
1. To learn
2. To engage in hearing other’s opinions (to agree or disagree or understand)
3. To develop more knowledge about myself and develop as a whole person
4. To be entertained and laugh, to engage and interact
5. To address boredom and the inexorable progress of time
6. To research and keep up-to-date
7. To participate well in civil society (everything from news to voting)
8. To be informed (and maybe smarter)
9. To understand others (individually and culturally)
10. To escape our day-to-day lives
11. To stimulate the imagination and be inspired or spiritual
12. To write and communicate better through reading others
13. To teach
14. To have something to talk about
15. To connect with like-minded people

66. The Evolution
of Answers

67. Sensemaking: Too much choice

68. Why do people ask questions?
Is PPL’s library experience conceptually organized around
answers and programs?
Or collections and buildings?

69. Gift:
Content Spam

71. List of content farms and general spammy
user generated content sites:
 All Experts (allexperts.com)  Experts Exchange (experts-exchange.com)
 Answers (answers.com)  eZine Articles (ezinearticles.com)
 Answer Bag (answerbag.com)  Find Articles (findarticles.com)
 Articles Base (articlesbase.com)  FixYa (fixya.com Helium (helium.com)
 Ask (ask.com)  Hub Pages (hubpages.com)
 Associated Content (associatedcontent.com)  InfoBarrel (infobarrel.com)
 BizRate (bizrate.com)  Livestrong (livestrong.com)
 Buzle (buzzle.com)  Mahalo (mahalo.com)
 Brothersoft (brothersoft.com)  Mail Archive (mail-archive.com)
 Bytes (bytes.com)  Question Hub (questionhub.com)
 ChaCha (chacha.com)  Squidoo (squidoo.com)
 eFreedom (efreedom.com)  Suite101 (suite101.com)
 eHow (ehow.com)  Twenga (twenga.com)
 Essortment (essortment.com)  WiseGeek (wisegeek.com)
 Examiner (examiner.com)  Wonder How To (wonderhowto.com)
 Expert Village (expertvillage.com)  Yahoo! Answers (answers.yahoo.com)
 )  Xomba (xomba.com)

72. The nasty facts
about Google &
Bing and
consumer search:
SEO / SMO
Content Farms
Advertiser-driven
Geotagging
Whack-a-Mole:
Farmer
Panda
Panda Silver

73. What are your top 10-20 questions?
What is the service portfolio model
that goes with those?

74. The Baker’s Dozen: LVA Top 13
1. Health and Wellness / Community Health / Nutrition / Diet /
Recovery
2. DIY Do It Yourself Activities and Car Repair
3. Genealogy
4. Test prep (SAT, ACT, occupational tests, etc. etc.)
5. Legal Questions (including family law, divorce, adoption, etc)
6. Hobbies, Games and Gardening
7. Local History
8. Consumer reviews (Choosing a car, appliance, etc.)
9. Homework Help (grade school)
10. Technology Skills (software, hardware, web)
11. Government Programs, Services and Taxation
12. Self-help/personal development
13. Careers (jobs, counselling, etc.)
14. Readers Advisory was 14th

75. Top 12 Patron Hobbies
Recreational Reading
Cooking & Recipes
Computers
Movies & Film
Exercise, Cycling & Walking
Traveling, Tourism & Vacations
Top Hobbies?
Music
Top Homework Questions?
Pets Top Travel Destinations?
Gardening
What do you know?
Television Shows
Arts & Crafts
Knitting & Needlecrafts
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

76. Grocery Stores

78. Grocery Stores

79. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

80. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

81. Meals

82. The new
bibliography and
collection
development
KNOWLEDGE
PORTALS
KNOWLEDGE,
LEARNING,
INFORMATION &
RESEARCH
COMMONS

83. Driving the Knowledge Portal
alignment with User Behaviour

84. How would this look?
 Top Reference and Research Questions
 Do you know them? Or do you know retail
sales numbers or circulation numbers better?
 Role of Encyclopedia
 Shelf Talkers & databases / eBooks
 Being rational about homework role for public
libraries
 Men users – we’re pretty bad at that.
 The new Senior

85. Mobility: Where
the Patron Is

86. Mobility

88. Fun Program Ideas
 Act Like a User Day (signs, sign up, ADD, kids)
 Librarian for a Day – Homework Peer Coaching
 Fraud and ID Theft Prevention
 Facebook for Teens – Study, Sharing and Social Safety
Facebook for Adults – Work, Reputation, Jobs
 Signage
 Top 20 Questions Portals Focus Groups
 eBay (Cameras, How to, Books, etc.)
 Perennial Trade / Garden Days
 Flickr Trading Cards
 Who’s here @the library (photos, FB, tweets, recommenders, talents, etc.)
 Collections Slap Down
 Research Success for Adult Learners
 Download Faire / Digital Days – download to phones, tablets, laptops, e-readers.
 23 Things TNG

91. The Value of Libraries Soundbite
 The Value of Public Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-public-
libraries/
 The Value of School Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-school-
libraries/
 The Value of Academic and College Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-academic-
and-college-libraries/
 The Value of Special Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-special-
libraries/
 Library Advocacy: Save the Library Campaigns
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/01/save-the-library-
campaigns/
 Storytelling…

94. Libraries
Are Social
Institutions

96. Summary
 Respect the generations – learn from eachother
 End User Psychographic Centricity
 Focus on the Questions (Needs, CRM)
 Build or Buy Knowledge Portals (Meals)
 Emphasize Content Quality (not books)
 Expand Social Media Programs on Information Literacy
 Advocate and Align with the Listener
 Tell Stories, Have users tell stories
 Strategic Analytics Investment – Measure Impact, ROI
and Value
 Collaborate vs. socialize

97. News Flash
News Flash
Shift Happens

103. Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
VP strategic partnerships and markets
Cengage Learning (Gale)
Cel: 416-669-4855
stephen.abram@cengage.com
Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.com
Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Plaxo : Stephen Abram
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Twitter, Quora, Yelp, etc.: sabram
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