Technology Institute: Stephen Abram, Library 2.0

Part One

Stephen Abram: Finding the Future: Library 2.0
Generations... what happened with our grandparents... The enormous changes our grandparents went through. The US and Canada have the worst telecommunications in the world. Are gas prices tied to America's resistance to advances in technological changes?

What's really happening with the millenials? Their IQs are higher than the boomers, although what we see is they can't spell, write, etc.

Losing relevance? Blog: Dangerously Irrelevant. Gwynne Dyer.

50% of all Chinese books are in ebook format...

Now is the best time to be in libraries... We have the opporunity to transform our ibraries. Never underestimate the truths that can happen virtually.

New search engine: ChaCha. Real people assist with the search.

Community experience, learning experience, the interaction. What's your purple cow? What are you doing to differentiate yourself? What is your marketing about? Books? or the experience. Don't choose to be irrelevant. Take the vision of the Emerald City and make it happen--

5 Point increase in student scores when public libraries and schools partner. The only thing that has a higher impact is when parents read to children.

People should realize when you study things to death, death was not the original goal.

How do you deal with the time stressed patron?

Mashups... Ann Arbor incorporates Google books in their catalog.

How many reference librarians keep the transcripts of virtual reference, and meet to discuss the questions?

The devilish dozen worries for libraries...
Is technological change an opportunity or a threat?
Cooperation and collaboration requires standards and regulation: Which ones to we choose?
HOw do we address teh changing landscape of competition and co-opetition?
How do we deal with the changing learning space? (activity based...)
How do we address that siwrling soup that is the changing demographics of our users?
Can we sustain the profession of Librarianship?
How do we deal with the changing vendor landscape?
How do we brand, market, and sell the library and its great services and collections?
How do we energize the entire sector adn avoid polarization: smokestacks and islands?
Can we really sustain advocacy for libraries?
Where will we find new Leadership?
Who is in charge of the Vision?

Worry Tank (cartoon)
What happens if it works... all too well?
What if it doesn't work?
What if it all blows up in our faces?
What if somebody sues?
What happens ten years down the line? Then What?

What questions are you asking yourself? Biggest challenge? Biggest competition? Biggest threat?

End of part one... Stephen continues after the break.