As We Move Toward the Future, How Are We Doing?

As We Move Toward the Future,
How Are We Doing?
Convergence & Sustainability: Why Our
Future Is Bright, Part 2

Jill Hurst-Wahl
@jill_hw
June 7, 2012

NYAC 2011

 Convergence & Sustainability: Why Our Future is
Bright,
http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2011/06/think
ing-20-years-into-future.html
 In 2031:
 Your organization still exists!
 Your organization has built tight collaborations with
other cultural and service institutions.
 Your organization is co-located.
 Your organization will deliver information and content
to users wherever they are.

WHAT DID YOU NEED TO START DOING?

 Expand your definition of "patron".
 Take the limits off of your definition of "virtual".
 Explore new and cutting edge way of delivering
content.
 Enter into collaborative arrangements and find those
that will last.
 Most importantly...start n-o-w!

THRIVING…

 By serving their communities in non-traditional ways.
 By taking over services that others have provided.
 By looking at literacy through many lenses.
 By actively helping people be creators.
 By getting out of their comfort zone.

 They are becoming labs of experimentation.

NYLA & NYS PUBLIC LIBRARIES

 http://diglitny.org/
 NYS Office of Technology
 “In New York State, almost 2.7 million households
are not connected to the Internet."
 In 2010, the US ranked 15th out of the top 31
countries in terms of broadband penetration.
 Among the G7, the US ranks 5th in terms of
broadband penetration.

COLUMBUS (OH) METROPOLITAN LIBRARY

 Opened Job Help Centers
 Served 44,000 people in 2010
 “The library augments the program by bringing in
partners with expertise in
employment, entrepreneurship, and business
development and promotes it to the community and
other libraries through Job Help Week at Your
Library.” (HuffPost)

ALACHUA COUNT Y LIBRARY DISTRICT (FL)

 Created the Library Partnership
 “…residents have access to health and legal services,
rent and utility subsidies, tax assistance, counseling
for substance or domestic abuse, and a host of other
social services.”
 The Partnership “also serves as a distribution point
for book and clothing drives and runs a backpack
program that provides weekend food for children in
the free/reduced lunch program.” (HuffPost)

WEIPPE PUBLIC LIBRARY & DISCOVERY
CENTER (IDAHO)
 Brought high-speed Internet service to the town
 Will be expanding the current library -centered cell
phone service to serve the entire community.
 Helps residents apply for jobs and unemployment
assistance, and learn basic computer skills.

PRINT ON DEMAND
®
(ESPRESSO BOOK MACHINE )
 J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah
 The Brooklyn Public Library
 NYPL’s Science, Industry and Business Library
 Darien Library (Connecticut)
 Michigan State Univ. Library
 Riverside County Library System (Calif.)
 Sacramento Public Library

ACTIVE LEARNING

 Makerspace, hackerspace, tool-lending
library, FabLab, TechShop, art space, craft
studio, digital darkroom, musical instrument lending
library, video recording studio, teaching and
demonstration kitchen.

 Allen County Public Library (Indiana) - Hackerspace
 Fayetteville Free Library (NY) - FabLab
 Palmerston North City Library (NZ) – Recording studio
 Wayne County Public Library (NC) – Community Garden
 North Onondaga Public Library (NY) – Library Garden

WHERE ARE
EXPERIMENTS
HAPPENING?

HARVARD: THE LIBRARY TEST KITCHEN

 http://www.librarytestkitchen.org/
 Goal: “To design, build and deploy products, services
& experiences that model the future of the Harvard
Libraries.”

 A collaboration between the Graduate School of
Design and the Harvard Library.
 A call for students to define new dimensions of the
library experience.

HARVARD LIBRARY INNOVATION
LABORATORY
 http://librarylab.law.harvard.edu/blog /
 Goal: To demonstrate how “the online world – and
offline as well – can derive full benefit from all that
libraries know and know how to do .”

 a small group of librarians and technologists housed
in the basement of the Law School Library.

HARVARD LIBRARY LAB

 http://osc.hul.harvard.edu/liblab
 Goal: “To create better services for students and
faculty and to join with others in fashioning the
information society of the future.”

 “…the Lab offers opportunities for individuals to
innovate, cooperate across projects, and make
original contributions to the way libraries work.”

ALA: LIBRARY BOING BOING
(LIBRARY BOING BOING M.I.B.)
 http://connect.ala.org
 Goals:
 Help find and propose content about libraries that
could be posted to Boing Boing
 Provide active ways for Boing Boing readers to support
and get involved with their local libraries (e.g.,
toolkits, best practices, ideas for local projects)
 Create dynamic programming at library conferences
that Boing Boingers can then take outside of the
library community to promote libraries
 Work together to help Boing Boingers advance our
shared interests (e.g., copyright reform, net neutrality,
etc.)
 Coordinate an international community of librarians
working with their own Boing Boing reader groups

LIBRARIES THRIVING

 http://www.librariesthriving.org
 Goals:
 Help libraries realize their possibility for impact and to
address challenges
 Develop case studies of success that can be replicated
 Resolve key technical issues that limit progress

 “With low usage and shrinking budgets, libraries are
challenged to justify resource investments now more
than ever. At the same time, information users are ill
prepared to navigate the amount and quality of content
on the web. This creates a tremendous opportunity for
libraries to show that they are well equipped to help
users navigate information resources and for users to
benefit from this guidance.”

IS NOW THE TIME FOR LIBRARIANS?

 Is Now the Time for Librarians?
http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2012/05/is -
now-time-for-librarians.html

 Is Now the Time for Librarians? (Continued)
http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2012/05/is-now-
time-for-librarians-continued.html

HUFFINGTON POST: LIBRARIES IN CRISIS

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/libraries -in-
crisis
 Goal: “Like our public parks and museums, libraries
are free, non-commercial gathering places for
everyone, regardless of income. Yet our nation's
public libraries appear to be under threat. This page
is dedicated to understanding why this is the case,
and following what people on all sides are doing
about it.”

As We Move Toward the Future, How Are We Doing?

As We Move Toward the Future, How Are We Doing?

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