Blogging Section of SLA-IT

SLA 2009 Keynote: Colin Powell

Better late than never, that’s my opinion :) Sorry it took me so long to get this summary up.

The keynote talk at SLA 2009 in Washington, DC was made by Colin Powell and I must say it was better than I thought it would be!! :) I need to start by mentioning that my notes will seem like they’re all over the place- but that’s because Colin kept changing directions in his talk (which is what made it so interesting).

The talk started with a quote from a colleague, “There are no secrets to success it is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”

Colin Powell has his own librarians for his special collection. He often sends question to his librarian like – “Do you have a picture of me at age 6″ or “Did I ever say this to anyone?” And even though he pissed us (librarians) off by telling people to go to their offices and throw out their research materials and their books a few years ago – he didn’t mean that he didn’t appreciate librarians and what they did – he did it because he had to make a point – things had changed since his staff had started working – and it was time to catch up with technology.

He said he didn’t want them to abandon the past but to shake them free of the past and build on it. To make this change, he bought over 44 thousand computers (spending several hundred million dollars) – and he put one on every single desk in the embassies and state departments – and told them – now lets get into the information age. He had to change the hardware and the software – and the “brainware.”

Colin said, “We had to change because we’re in a new world – in a world of information explosion – information that needed to be turned into knowledge” – and his staff had to understand that all the boundaries that existed years ago were gone – and he wanted them to move faster and faster – he wanted them to get online.

He asked how can we be an up-to-date organization if the stuff on our website is 2 or 3 years old (he was talking about the state department – but I bet we can find some libraries like this too) – it is a transactional world – it’s no longer a lunar world – we don’t measure in months, years, etc – we measure in transactions. He said “I want to beat Google, i want to beat the CIA – I want to be faster and better” – but his staff kept saying we like the old way – updating once a month – or once a year.

His favorite example to give people about the power of the Internet is a time when someone called and complained about a resolution to the UN. While his colleague was on the phone with him explaining his problem Colin didn’t visit his own site – instead he went to Google – it took him 1 second to find the resolution in question and help the man on the other line. You have to move at the speed of light – you have to be faster than anyone else in the world we’re living in if you’re going to succeed.

He then mentioned Clay Shirky’s Here comes everybody (a book that is still sitting on my wishlist). In the book, Clay mentions that in the old days you got a group together by sending flyers – or calling – but doing all that costs money – but now with the power of the information revolution and the technology we have – the cost of adding people to a group or assembling people is zero. An example of this would be the Flash Mobs that you can find videos of on YouTube.

That said, it’s not just Google that’s making us faster, it’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

He mentioned that his 14-year-old grandchild was born digital whereas he’s analog and got himself a $59 converter to become digital :) His grandchild was 4 1/2 before he would sit to have a book read to him – but he knew how to use the computer at 3. His grandkids won’t answer emails or the phone – he has to tweet or text message them to get them to respond. This is what we’ve been hearing from reports left and right about digital natives.

Much to the dismay of librarians all over (who think Google is evil) Colin mentioned that he looked at SLA’s ClickU, but instead of navigating through the SLA site, he just went to Google. He said he doesn’t use bookmarks anymore because Google knows everything. He said, “I’m peddling as fast as I can to keep up with this stuff – it’s exciting and it’s fascinating” – but what does it mean to us as librarians?

SLA may have had the same title for 100 years – but the association is not the same – we are now working in the electronic world – people want to be able to work at the speed of light and what we do is so important because we keep our companies and businesses informed.

At this point, Colin started jumping all over with his topics (which was fun to watch and listen to). Some great quotes though:

• “I love this new world and I find it so exciting”
• “I always want to see what’s in the front windshield not the rearview mirror”

He talked about the flattening of the world. We’re competing in everything – students don’t need to come to America for superior education anymore – they can get it elsewhere. People aren’t coming to our medical facilities – cause there are great services all over – it’s a flat world. That said, he wants people to come here and stay here – to study because they learn about us – they learn that we’re not a Hollywood sitcom or a Michael Moore book.

He told us to remember that the followers always get the work done – in order to get that work done you have to give the people who work for you a sense of purpose – and that has to come from the leader – and it has to come from a leader or who is passionate – and infectious and they have to see that passion coming out of the leader – you can’t just talk the talk – you have to walk it – you have to invest in your people – that’s why he bought those computers – leaders have to give followers the tools to get the job done – leaders have to compliment – a simple handshake or a handwritten note – it means the world – people thrive on this simple kind of attention – when you show them that you believe in them. A leader also has to be able to prune the organization – because the good followers know who the bad ones are and they’re waiting for a leader to do something.

He mentioned that it may look like nothing is going right in the world right now – but a lot is going right – we just don’t think about it right. More people are living under democracies than ever before – we have fewer enemies – we are now working with many countries that were once our enemies (Russia, China).

In short, he thinks this is a time of great opportunity.

Overall an amazing talk and such an energetic man. I’m very happy that I got to be there for that talk!!

Technorati Tags: colin powell, sla2009, sla09

Abram's article on blogging

In the Conference issue of Information Outlook (otherwise known as Issue 4 of Volume 13), Stephen Abram focuses his column on blogging tips for special librarians. Useful if you're new at it, a good refresher if you're an old-hand.

Bloggers Get Together at SLA Annual

It's that time of year again! Time for the SLA Bloggers group to get together!  Here are the details:

Time : Monday June 15th from 5-7(ish) pm
Details : Reservation made for 12 people (but I expect it to be people rolling in and out like last year) 
Where : Matchbox Bistro Chinatown (http://www.matchboxdc.com)
Host : Nicole C. Engard - Blogging Section Chair
What : Dutch treat happy hour/dinner

If you'd like join us, please drop me an email () so that I can get a general head count and see if I need to book another table.

IT Division at SLA

Just a quick reminder to check out the IT Division's schedule for SLA this year - lots of great CE classes and talks - including mine on Mashups for Libraries.

See you all there!!

does blog design matter?

i was IMing with a good friend about my blog and how since the end of the semester i have had very little time to update it, though i have about 10 posts half-finished. she felt the same way and said that if it weren't for RSS feeds, no one would be reading her blog, because the lack of posts recently would have seriously reduced traffic.

this made me think about a few things:
1. i spend way too much time tweaking the CSS of my blog given the fact that most people read it via RSS feed. (that won't stop me for playing with it, but maybe it will help me prioritize.)
2. if  people are reading blogs using RSS feeds, then elements like the title of your blog, the title of the post even, are much more important than we think they are.

so how do people read your blog?
how many RSS subscribers do you have?
do you offer your full post to RSS readers or simply a snippet (note: offer more than a snippet, plz)?
do your titles make sense (or, if they don't, are they at least amusing)?

Follow SLA IT Division at SLA Annual

This arrived in my inbox recently and I thought you'd all like to be updated.

The IT Division and Dialog/ProQuest are proud to collaborate to give you the latest updates on IT Division programming during the 2009 conference!

During the Expo Hall, visit the Dialog/ProQuest booth (#620) and check out the big screen. You will be able to follow the IT Division Twitter backchannel live, as it happens!

The tweets will be provided by the Division members and conference attendees participating in the Division’s events. See what questions, comments and additional insights program attendees have in real time while they are attending sessions. It’s a different way of keeping abreast, keeping current and keeping engaged, perfect for any info pro!

The screen will also show the backchannels for the @sla2009 and @proquest profiles.

Twitting at the conference? Use the #slait hashtag for everything IT Division and the #sla2009 hashtag for everything conference-wide.

Having to miss the conference? Follow our hashtag on your favorite Twitter app.

Article: Bloggers, ask the right question: ‘What if I’m sued tomorrow?’

This chronicles one person's experience in being sued over a blog post, including why it happened and what she learned from it.  Rather than summarizing it here, go to the article and read it. 

If you have not run into any problems with a blog post, which have caused you to be contacted by someone using stern words, count yourself lucky.  It happens (and has happened to me).  The article provides some things you need to know (and do).  Read them.

Why We Borrow - A talk at NJLA

This morning started with Paco Underhill, Founder, CEO, and President of Envirosell, Inc., a global research and consulting firm. His keynote was amazing!! I just couldn’t stop writing and I hope I got all of the best points he made down. Paco started by explaining why his books exist = “13 years ago i fell in love with the wrong woman - a premier flutist - she worked every night and every weekend” - so he had to come up with something to do to stay out of trouble and that became writing books

He started by listing a few issues that he saw affecting libraries.

The first issue is that our visual language is evolving faster than our written or our spoken word - one of the aspects of our lives is how we communicate visually at our point of contact - “I hate the dewey decimal system - it may have made a lot of sense 50 years ago but it makes a lot less sense today”. One of the visual problems we face is how do we respond to the audience that is walking into our door. As we age we start to see things differently, we have to be cognoscent of who we’re communicating with. We can not just put letters on our pallets - but we can add icons - we can have more fun now.

Next, we live in a world that is owned by men, designed by men, run by men and yet we expect women participate - it doesn’t make any sense. What makes a female friendly library? What makes a female friendly parking lot? All of those are usually painfully simple issues - it’s not about spending money - it’s about thinking through the process. We know that 60% of all books purchased across the board are by women, we know that women are more likely to visit the library. At big events - women take over all of the men’s rooms and re-brand them.

The third issue - is what is global and what is local? We are struggling with what is our local and state-wide identity. How can we recognize the constituent base that we serve. Example: he has just done work for the LA county library - and they have some markets where the immigrant population coming in the door is often more than 65% percent (they don’t speak English as a first language). One of the great things of the American library is that we’re an engine of social progress. We provide things that when people can’t have them at home they can have them in the library (computers, the internet, gaming systems, etc). One of the issues we face in our libraries is how can we be evangelical? Because not everyone knows what we are or how to use us. Being evangelical is understanding the ground you’re standing on and who we’re trying to reach out to.

The final issue is the issue of time. We live in a multi-tasking universe and for every occasion when someone walks in the door, willing to spend an hour or 2 hours or 3 hours in the institution - there is another time when someone is desperate to get in and out as quickly as possible. How do we organize the physical asset that we have to the multi-tasking audience.

It used to be that we thought that polite worked, but we ended up in a 20th-century bar fight - where everyone is fighting for the customer’s dollars and attention. The library is fighting with the movie theater, with book store - etc. When working with zoos what they say is that on animal planet you can’t touch the animals or smell the animals - what zoos offer is magic - the same goes for libraries.

Libraries have become a day care center for kids, elderly, the homeless - we have become a welcoming community like a church or a temple - Paco sees, this and he doesn’t know how to solve that problem except to recognize that it exists and build that into the plan for the future of the library.

Where does you library start? The less you do outside the more you have to do inside - there is a reason why the lions outside of the NY Public library are so popular (For me, Cherry Hill Public Library and Seattle Public Library were like this - pulled me right in with their amazing exteriors) - you want to increase your drive-by power - if someone drives by your library are they tantalized by something that they see? My public library is dull and far back from the road - in fact I drove past it once a week on the way to the grocery store for months before I knew it was there. We often have great spaces and locations - the problem is that we don’t do much with them. We’re not just a dry government building. Instead of a sign that just says ‘Library’ - maybe a sign that says ‘Twilight! It’s here!’ Paco then showed us images from libraries - some with lots of paint on the exterior, some that just have a bench (what he calls - long term parking). With so many libraries you’re dealing with inte-rgenerational families - so if you can park someone at the bench the primary shopper is happy.

Libraries used to be as dull as dishwater (I don’t know about that - even as a kid I was in awe of libraries - but then again I grew up to be a librarian) - for those who think you can get away with something like a pile of books on a book cart - keep dreaming. What do we have that HBO or PS2 doesn’t? We have people - we have things - we have ways of being able to cope in a recession - I don’t have to go to Blockbuster - I don’t have to pay for Tivo - I can get it all for free at the library - does the larger public understand that? Paco (and me) isn’t sure that they do.

We could learn from Wal-Mart and Amoeba Records (a place where they let you bring in your CDs and trade them). Wal-mart as an institution is dedicated to helping the single mother raising her kids and living on a budget. The library is about enriching it’s constituent base - not only in terms of culture, but in terms of money - you don’t have to buy it - you can borrow it - you don’t have to buy it - you can sample it - and you can do it legally!

In the end when we ask library patrons do they understand what the library means and what it’s constituent parts are - it is remarkable the number of people who walk in and don’t know that you lend CDs or DVDs for free. The typical patron who walks in the door only visits one part of the library. If I’m over 50 I go to the books - if I’m under 20 I go to the internet cafe. Our job is to broaden our the pieces of our offerings so that everyone can benefit from them.

Paco insists that librarians “Get our from behind your damn desk and get on the floor … Part of the joy of being a librarian should be the interaction with people - and in that interaction is part of the way that you control some of the abuse that may happen on your floor.” If you’re out there things that you don’t want to happen are less likely to happen because there is a presence on the floor saying ‘this is mine’ - not just a seat behind a desk.

Paco doesn’t want to turn a library into a shopping mall - he’s not telling us to add a Starbucks in our library - but he is saying that we need to secure some other kind of income - other than what our government gives us.

“I love books in the concept of my own home - and nothing is uglier than an empty shelf” — Paco. He has books in every room (so do I ) he thinks they look great (so do I )

How do we celebrate the literary life and the literary appeal - one thing that Paco has noticed and thanks us for - is getting rid of those hard uncomfortable chairs (which my library still has). He loves that there is a comfy place to sit now. He loves a book store in Austin Texas because they sell the books by making it home - in the cooking section there is an old stove. The bookstore is topical and modern - no dewey decimal system - you can set up a section and if it works you know it - and if it doesn’t work - you know it too. There is a section in his bookstore that has books on conspiracy theories. At Waldenbooks when they put self help next to children’s books they saw and increase in sales - we need to organize our libraries for groups - so that people can fan out - so parents can browse while keeping an eye on their kids.

Think about your front desk - the desk in the front of the library drives the paths that patrons take through the library. A library without the desk at the front - has less diversity in their pathways. 80% of people are right handed - in a good store design you look for a counterclockwise shopping pattern. Usually people are carrying with their left hand and reaching with their right. Part of what you want to understand is the nature of sight lines - put things at a distance that tickle their curiosity - so that they’ll walk in and walk through.

Hypothetical situation: I (Paco) live in Brooklyn and I commute to my job in Manhattan on the subway. 3 days a week I see the same woman get on the train at the stop after mine. I think she’s cute and I like what she’s reading on the train. What do you think the chances are that I’ll go up to and tell her I’m interested in her and she’ll respond positively? The chances are slim and none if I do that with nose to nose (my face to her face) interaction. So, how do I get to first base here. What I do is sit down next to her on the train and talk to her about something else that we can see from this angle. I haven’t confronted her - this is hip to hip interaction. You create a sense of intimacy. Then do this over and over a couple of mornings - and each time backing off instead of pushing the subject. By the third time you have formed a connection.

Examples of the hip to hip process can be seen all over these days - sales people not behind the desk anymore - at the Verizon Wireless store there are computers in the middle of the store where sales people can talk to customers side by side - when you go up the ‘info desk’ at Borders you’re actually on the same side of the desk - because it is much friendlier - the same is true at most Apple stores too.

Think about language too - what does a ‘circulation desk’ mean? Why not just call it “checkout”? Think about your communication strategy in the library - the simple act of changing the name of something makes the light bulb go off - makes it clear what is meant. Our desks are covered in signs - we think that if 3 signs work - then maybe 27 will be even better - our circ desks are too cluttered and often have out-of-date notifications up. People shut off with this much information in their face at once. You would rather have people learn 1 thing absolutely than 5 things possibly. And remember to speak the language of the people walking in the door.

If you put a sign on your door with 25 words on it - then it’s slightly more effective that putting that sign in your garage. Start to match the nature of the message to the nature of the opportunity. A sign on a desk where a patron is sitting is maybe more likely to be read if it’s longer - but a sign on the door or down the hallway isn’t going to be read if it’s too long. Also, we want our signs to catch people’s eyes - use shapes and a sense of movement - by having a little more fun we catch people’s eyes. This is a place where we can have fun doing what we want to - and whether it’s odd shapes and sizes or big stacks of books, we can have fun with our displays and our signs. Having fun is what makes our jobs enjoyable - cause we certainly aren’t doing it for the money!!

One of the ongoing problems we have we have to make people feel good at the end of their process at the library - and the checkout process is your chance to teach people to fish (instead of just giving them fish). We want them to make the trip to the public library part of their weekly routine. We want to start them as novice users and move them up the scale. We want them to use us for lectures, books DVDs, CDs, etc - because our future as a public library is in controlled by us being evangelical about what we offer. Often people don’t realize that we’re not just a place but we’re a system - if they can’t find it here we can check other places to get it for you - like you can in retail.

Conclusions

The level to which I understand the needs of my patrons corresponds to my success. The success of my library also depends on my architecture. And lastly the operating culture effects my success. Many of us have gotten very comfortable thinking sitting down - whether it’s around the conference table working out an idea - or staring at my computer with a spreadsheet open - the greatest ideas often fail because no one goes out on the floor to try them out - thinking standing up is a 20th century skill - it’s time to get our from behind our desks and out of our chairs and see the library the way our patrons do - on foot.

Technorati Tags: njlaconf09, njla2009, njla09

Profession: blogger

Very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today April 21st, by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne: "there are almost as many people in the US making their living by being bloggers that there are lawyers."

The best studies we can find say we are a nation of over 20 million bloggers, with 1.7 million profiting from the work ,and 452,000 of those using blogging as their primary source of income. That's almost 2 million Americans getting paid by the word, the post, or the click -- whether on their site or someone else's.

I don't think a great number of them are librarians or information pros though.

Join me at SLA Annual

The next big conference on my travel schedule is SLA Annual in Washington D.C. I will be talking about my new book on Mashups as well as Open Source for Libraries.

If you’re coming to SLA this year, look for me and if you can - make sure to attend one or both of my talks :)

Technorati Tags: sla2009, sla09