This document summarizes Stephen Abram's presentation on social institutions and the social web. In 3 sentences: Abram discusses how libraries can leverage social tools like web 2.0 to better engage patrons and focus on questions rather than books/transactions; he advocates building knowledge portals around common questions and emphasizing quality content over quantity; and recommends that libraries measure impact and value through strategic analytics to demonstrate their continued relevance in a digital age.

1. The New Normal:
Social Institutions and the Social Web
Stephen Abram, MLS
San Jose State University SLIS
Library 2.011 Global Conference
These slides are available at Stephen’s Lighthouse blog Nov. 3, 2011

2. It’s just not that old....
“The term "Web 2.0" became synonymous with
the emergence, over 2004-05, of social
services like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook
and Flickr. It was coined in 2004 by O'Reilly
Media for the inaugural Web 2.0 Conference,
held in October 2004. At the time, Web 2.0
was meant to convey the beginning of a
second major era in the Web; after the Dot
Com collapse in 2001.”
“The Web as a ‘platform’.”

4. Is there still life in web
tools for library
strategies?
Yes, but . . .

5. Change: Are libraries
Future Ready?
Reducing Suspense:
And the answer is . . . . MAYBE

6. Strategic Choice
Are there too many choices?
Will disagreements about the
future freeze the process?

7. se·duc·tion (s-dkshn) n.
1. a. The act of seducing.
b. The condition of being seduced.
2. Something that seduces or has the
qualities to seduce; an enticement.
[Latin sducti, sductin-, from sductus, past
participle of sdcere, to lead astray : s-, apart;
see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + dcere, to
lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots.]

8. Smelly Or
Yellow Sex
Liquid Appeal?

9. It’s the Whole Experience

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

13. So, today what do we need to think about?
 What are the real reasons why web 2.0 tools
matter to library land?
 Can we make books more social? How?
 What programs (virtual and in-person) an
libraries create based on these social tools?
 Why do user psychographics / personas
matter even more in this eco-system?
 How do these support the questions space?
 Can we move more clearly from transactions
to transformations? How do we measure?

14. 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

21. Change can happen very fast

22. Gift #1

23. Making
Libraries Social

24. The Evolution
of Books

27. GBS

28. Launched in US on June 30th

30. Expected Launch Fall 2011
Back Office: Baker & Taylor

31. Launched July 2011: Back office is Overdrive & Sony
$15 Billion Franchise

32. Amazon eBook Subscriptions

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

34. Why do people read?
How do we socially aware web 2.0
tools to the experience?

35. 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

38. Borders Kobo, B&N Nook, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Sony Reader, etc. . . .

41. Gift #2

42. How are libraries
different and how do we tell
users? Content Spam

43. Trans-Literacy: Move beyond reading & PC skills
 Reading literacy  News literacy
 Numeracy  Technology literacy
 Critical literacy  Information literacy
 Social literacy  Media literacy
 Computer literacy  Adaptive literacy
 Web literacy  Research literacy
 Content literacy  Academic literacy
 Written literacy  Reputation, Etc.

45. 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)

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

48. Gift #3

49. The Evolution
of Answers

50. Sensemaking: Too much choice

51. Why do people ask questions?

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

53. Driving the Knowledge Portal
alignment with User Behaviour

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

57. What does all this mean?
 The Article level universe
 The Chapter and Paragraph Universe
 Integrated with Visuals – graphics and charts
 Integrated with ‘video’
 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?

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

59. Questions for Libraries & Publishers Today:
1. Are our priorities right?
2. Are learning, research, discovery changing
materially and what is actually changing?
3. Books. Meh.
4. What is the role of information and
recreational reading in the real future (that is
not an extension of the past)?
5. Are we for the 21st Century world that will be
or the 20th Century one that was?

60. Grocery Stores

61. Grocery Stores

62. Grocery Stores

63. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

64. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

65. Meals

66. My Point?
Meals are more social than grocery stores.

67. Gift #4

68. Mobility: Where
the Patron Is

69. Mobility

71. Gift #5

72. Libraries are
Social Institutions

74. The New Social Skills
 Credulity (tricks, SEO, SMO, spam, phish, farms)
 Transparent distrust and radical intellect
 The Filter Bubble
 Finding black hole data (like non-digital)
 Networking with a Closed Circle
 Beyond search to find/discover, choose/use,
understand/internalize and FORGET.
 Tagging and organizing – offline remembering
 Information ethics and creation
 Curation

75. How would this look?
 Top Reference and Research Questions
 Do you know them? Or do you know retail
sales numbers or circulation numbers better?
 Health . . .
 Career Advice and Job Finding
 Genealogy
 Homework
 Etc.

76. Libraries
Are Social
Institutions

78. Summary
 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
 Invest in Strategic Analytics – Measurements of
Impact, ROI and Value
 Collaborate vs. socialize

80. 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 or Google+: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen Abram
Twitter: sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1