Taking the Lead on Strategy

An article in Information Outlook spoke about the need for special librarians to take the led in educating clients and co-workers about how to find information. This applies to traditional sources together with how social data can be used. While this additional responsibility falls on the special librarian, social media--Facebook, Twitter, blogs provides many new ways of getting information. There are 3 real problems with this. The first is that social media is a mess for anyone who tries to analyze it. The second is the overwhelming amount of data....when Bin Laden was killed, there were 4,000 tweets per second. The third is the confirmation bias; people tweet what they often hear, but what if it is wrong information to begin with?

Special librarians need to develop a strategy, tied to the mission of the organization. To develop an effective social media strategy, a good starting point can be to look at places that have successfully adopted one, such as universities, Zappos, Dell Computer and financial groups interested in the Occupy Wall Street movement are other examples. The point is that social media is a untapped source of information that can be put to good us.

Etlinger, S. (2012). Taking the lead on strategy. Information Outlook 16 (12),14-16.

Recognizing innovation

An article by Stephen Abram, Recognizing Innovation gave 10 points on how to recognize innovation in libraries. A few include:

1. If the innovation/change makes you uncomfortable, then it is affecting you at a gut level, and therefore it is a real change.

2.Is the thing, idea, service, process disruptive, then it is most likely innovative, but this doesn't always mean it is good.

3.Does the idea come from inside the organization or from outside sources. Be open to new ideas and playfulness.

4.Does the innovation solve the problem, does it reduce friction or increase it, but don't confuse personal behavior with actual innovation that reduces fiction.

5. Innovation is not necessarily governed by technology, technology often advances change, but it is perceived by humans as worthwhile. Openness is the key to identifying innovations.

It is necessary for libraries to remain innovative to retain relevancy. I think most recognize this, but the big question is always, how to pay for it.

Abram, S. (2011). Recognizing innovation. Computers in Libraries 31(5) 14.

21st Lending Libraries: Books in a Cloud

Publishing is changing, and an article from Searcher 21st Lending Libraries: Books in a Cloud relates that the publishing industry is at a crossroads. "Consumer driven market forces are driving publishers to reduce capital in inventory and infrastructure and concentrate on content development (Herther, 14). Multipublisher ebook vendors, including Overdrive, MyiLibrary, ebray and Net-Library are the clear choice for many libraries to provide ebook content. Some of these use the 'ceiling' model for downloads, rather like Freegal with music downloads or subscription, like Overdrive. The ability to self publish is also a new reality of the publishing industry, where budding authors can totally sidestep the traditional methods and can use the internet and ebook format for their works. The challenge to publishers is shared with libraries, who need to stay current in the reality that people can satisfy their information needs via the internet. Libraries need to stay valuable to the organizations and people they serve.

Herther, N. (2011). 21st Century lending libraries: Books in a cloud. Searcher 19(7),12-13, 48-51.

Employees Social Media Use

In a short article in Information Outlook, Employees Social Media Use has Upsides as Well as Risks notes organizations should evaluate employees use of social media, and that the needs of communication and seamless collaboration conflicts with access management and best practices. Security is major concern, since the information posted on these sites often have considerable information. A Gartner study says that 30% of large organizations will block access to social media sites, although this number is declining. The report also said that use of social media has some positive results such as confirming identities of job candidates and customers.

I believe that most people who use social media are aware of the consequences of their posts, and that a wide number of people can read them. Security of the organizations business, information and products are always a concern, but the advent of instant communication to a vast number is a reality.

something to tweet about

An article in Information Outlook, Something to Tweet About spoke of the need for information professionals to network about the new ideas and challenges of the profession. From the comfort of your laptop or smartphone, you can join conversations on Facebook or Twitter about copyright, social media, or effective powerpoint. These forms of communication make it easier than ever to stay connected to other info professionals in the field. As a coincidence, FLA is hosting a Shadowing event this week where public libraries tweet about a day in the life. The objective is to show students in LIS programs, and those interested in joining the profession what it is like to work in a library.

LaChange, J. (2012). Something to tweet about. Information Outlook 16(2), 2-3.