Here are the Powerpoint presentations from most speakers:
Bernie Sloan - Surviving in a Google Age
Danuta Nitecki - Measurement & Evaluation of Library Services
Stephen Abram - The Social Library: 2.0 in Our World
Andy Rosen - The Rise of Online Education
Wrap it up - Market your message!
(Download the Powerpoint slides)
Kim and Mary both work in marketing at Auto-Graphics, Inc. They closed out the symposium with brief sessions on how to construct a marketing campaign and some information about the LibQUAL evaluation system.
Any marketing campaign should follow the same basic steps:
First, Identify the problem that marketing will address or fix. An example might be low name recognition or users being unaware of what is available to them.
Next, define a target audience. There might in fact be more than one target audience, in which case a tiered approach can be taken - market to each audience in a different way likely to get their specific attention.
Figure out what people already like about what you have to offer, and build on that.
Be sure to set concrete goals for a marketing campaign, and measure against them repeatedly.
Most importantly, get to know your community and make sure the marketing campaign hits where they are. One reason Kim said she loves working in marketing is that it lets you be creative and quirky in the design process. The more fun, a campaign is, the more likely it’ll succeed!
The LibQUAL evaluation system for libraries is designed to measure the gap between where a library desires to be and where they are in reality. We were given a quick overview of how the process works, but the official website for the process will be more thorough than I could be in summarizing. One particular note: Nobody will ever be told that their library has enough content. Users always want more!
Once the evaluation program is completed, address concerns from it with both small and large changes.
The Future of Accredited LIS Programs
(Download the Powerpoint slides)
Andy Dillon is the Dean of the Information School at The University of Texas at Austin.
His talk opened with a discussion of just what accreditation is. In theory, it is a voluntary process. But in reality, it becomes a requirement. Losing accreditation can be a death blow to the entire program. The real motivation to get accredited is simple survival.
The impact of technology on LIS education is a constant issue. We can’t afford to deny that change is happeneing - instead we need to shape it. At this point he showed a slide of Michael Gorman’s comments about a supposed crisis in library education, which advocate a return to the traditional basics of the program. Dillon disagrees.
Users and students are becoming more sophisticated in their use of technology. But this doesn’t mean that LIS schools should dive headlong into meeting these new needs at the expense of ignoring “lifelong learners”. The reality today is that most people will have two or three careers in their lifetime. Educators should be prepared to effectively teach students across a wide range of both age and technical abilities.
The image of a library was pretty stable for hundreds of years. But no longer! Who knows what a library will look like in the future? Dillon believes one thing for sure though: paper is not going away. “Technology has enabled paper use, not replaced it.” Think of how many students prefer to print an article out rather than read it on a monitor.
“Users want self-sucfficient seamless ubiquity.”
Technology has won the battle against tradition. We need to admit that. Now that it is here, how do we deal with it? Libraries and library education can be a social force for balance. Ultimately, what we do is enable discovery of information through organization, presentation, and design.
Even when accepting the new trends in library education, teaching theory does still have a place. Theory is a guide for new ground, and gives a student something to fall back on when confronted with a situation not explicitly covered in class.
The Rise of Online Education
(Download the Powerpoint slides)
Andy Rosen is CEO of Kaplan, Inc. and spoke briefly, giving a lot of statistics about and arguments for online education.
Andy argues that while online degree programs are often looked down on today, this will change with time. Just look at similar examples in history: Land Grant schools were first treated with disdain by more established institutions. The situation was similar when Community Colleges first opened their doors. But both have become fully accepted members of the higher education community. With time, so will online programs. In the end, students are the ones who decide what qualifies as a ‘real’ education.
A key positive effect of online degree programs is that they reach students who are otherwise without any college access at all. They may be geographically distant from physical schools, or have a daily schedule that makes is fundamentally impossible to regularly attend an in-person class.
When Kaplan University opened in January 2001, they had 34 students. By January of this year, they had more than 21,000!
What is driving this massive growth? For one thing, the baby boom echo is increasing the number of high school students graduating and entering college. They have to go somewhere. Meanwhile, traditional universities are becoming more and more selective in their admissions in order to bump up statistics.
Online education is not going away, and will eventually be integrated into today’s methods of instruction. But admittedly, the concept does have some restrictions. For example, science degrees or others with large lab components cannot be fully replicated online at this point in time. In some cases this can be overcome by leveraging local experts to help students, as in the field of nursing.
International Legal Issues: Education in China
Randle Edwards is from the Columbia Law School, where he has an extensive background in dealing with universities and other educational issues in China.
One crucial element of any educational relationship with a school in China is to understand their relevant history and cultural experiences. The Chinese people as a whole have very little legal experience, for example.
But the most important fact to understand is that Mao got rid of a lot of educational institutions while in power. The doors didn’t really open on modern education in China until 1979. So in some cases this is very much a new world to them. Accordingly, it is important to fully think through any plans for a relationship with a Chinese institution and have a long term plan.
Why should we strengthen our ties with China? The most obvious reason is that China is growing more important on the world stage with every moment. We don’t want to be left at a disadvantage. Or even if we don’t forge direct links with China, what about the large numbers of Chinese exchange students in the U.S.? We can better serve them in libraries by understanding their background.
There are also pitfalls to watch for in dealing with Chinese schools. For example, don’t assume that because China is Communist that everything is tightly controlled by the government. In reality schools are not very regulated, and their numbers have exploded in recent years. Be very careful and wary in selecting a school to partner with.
The Social Library: 2.0 in Our World
Stephen is the VP of Innovation at SirsiDynix, among many other titles and positions.
The central assertion of his session is that while most content is becoming social, that of libraries’ is not. We need to change this.
Ultimately, libraries are built to be social - we’re all about the sharing of information. We need to capitalize on that fact with how we make our content available. Community, learning, and interaction are the only three things that matter to library users.
A focus on the end user experience is crucial. Why don’t we design systems from the ground up with that in mind? For example: In the end, an OPAC is really just an internal inventory system that happens to have web access. We can do better.
Don’t make our services opaque to the users - speak their languages. “The user is not broken.” Let them pick the paths they want to take. Massive change is coming in technology, and we need to be ready for how users will adapt to it.
Commercial systems out there today will soon become extremely personalized. Stephen maintains a separate Google account where he pretends to be really interested in Civil War history. Now if he searches for the words Ford and Lincoln on that account, he gets results about Lincoln’s assassination in the Ford theater instead of Ford and Lincoln car sites. And this is only the beginning. Google is building service after service to gather more data about users and be more personalized. The insight they’ll be able to mine from this data will be a huge advantage. And what services aren’t quite there yet today (like Google Scholar) are only going to get better.
We need to be just as personalized if not more - design library education as specifically as possible at the lesson level, not even as broadly as the course level. Libraries have made some process with federated search systems, but need to take them further - make it personalizable, and include content beyond just journal articles.
Services like instant messaging are on the rise among the younger generations, with greater than 80% of them using at least one service. Meanwhile, only 5% of those over 30 use IM. One way to go where the user is is to simply learn to IM.
Other changes impacting our users include sites like Facebook providing a sustainable social network for life, classes meeting in virtual realms like Second Life, etc. Interally, libraries can make massive changes as well. What about a Wiki to organize reference desk knowledge? That way when someone retires, their experience doesn’t go with them. IM programs can also be used internally among staff members. With any new service, internal or external, libraries need to be open to the constructive criticism and feedback which will result.
Libraries might need an official program to bring staff up to date on all this. As an example, check out PLCMC’s “Learning 2.0″ program.
This presentation was a whirlwind, with a ton of content packed in. I know I missed a lot of it, so check out the slides. Stephen has put them on his website in pdf form.
Measurement & Evaluation of Library Services
(Download the Powerpoint slides)
Danuta is the Associate University Librarian at Yale University Library.
Before Danuta took the podium, Pat Sommers of SirsiDynix introduced her. He noted that the topic of measurement of services is particularly important - if you can’t meausure something, you can’t improve it.
Danuta emphasized that measurement of a process can’t be haphazard - it must be systematic if you want truly managed improvement.
Why measure services?
At one end of the spectrum, measurement data provides proof for grants and other requirements. But there is a difference between mere monitoring and true evaluation. Look at the customers or users, they are the best indicator of how well a service or program is going. The best option is to use this qualitative customer-centered approach combined with a quantitative “report card” for them to fill out.
What is measuring and how do we do it?
Measurement of services must have a beginning purpose, defined methodology, and a system for reporting results. The measurement should look at Inputs (resources to run the program), Processes (defining how the program is run), Outputs (quantitative units of service provided) and Outcomes (the impact of the program on those in contact with it). This mix of qualitative and quantitative methods is important to get the full image of a measurement.
Ultimately, it is better to take some action than eternally try to design perfection first. Measurement and improvement is not a one time deal.
One example methodology might be to start with a small focus group discussion. Take them into a survey afterwards, then clarify the survey results in one on one personal interviews. But there is no one single approach to measurement and evaluation.
Why aren’t we always enthusiastic about measurement and evaluations? We might not be trained for it, might be skeptical or have a lack of time, etc. The organization higher-ups need to promote a “culture of assessment”.
Statistics can be used to defend the worth of a program. But in the end, measurement and evaluation processes should focus on the effects on people, not just raw statistics.
Survival in a Google Age
(Download the Powerpoint slides)
Bernie Sloan is the Senior Information Systems Consultant at the Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI).
One of Bernie’s main points is that libraries and librarians can’t expect the users to come running to the library in hordes on their own. We need to “go where the users are”.
89% of searchers start their process with a search engine. 2% start at a library web site.
Bernie has been involved with a few selections and implementations of federated search projects for large library organizations and consortia. While evaluating the options, he always found himself comparing the interfaces to Google’s simplicity. The selection process can be a long one, often taking 1-2 years.
What about library catalogs? There has been a movement in recent years to add new features and methods of searching. See, for example, NCSU’s addition of faceted searching. Even the basics are sometimes in question about a catalog. Should it even be called a catalog? Or a finding aid instead? This debate has been a lively one in places like the NGC4Lib listserv.
Even when we go where the users are, we ultimatesly still have to drag them in. Just creating a Myspace page for your library won’t make users discover it and pay attention - you still have to let them know you are there. Bernie says the various library Myspace web pages out there (SUNY Morrisville, Brooklyn College, etc.) haven’t reached a critical mass of users yet, but still have substantial numbers of students listed as ‘friends’. Beyond Myspace, there are other online places to be - library video tours on Youtube, for example, or the completely virtual Second Life Library.
Users will always take the Path of Least Resistance (Bernie calls this “the POLR principle”). We should make sure that path is ours.
Improving the Design and Usability of Library Websites
Chris Jasek is head of Elsevier’s User-Centered Design Group.
So what is User-Centered Design? The aim of his group is to improve the design and ultimately the usability of Elsevier’s websites for the end user. An example of design that is not user-centered from everyday life is the ceiling fan - how do you know what pull chain does what, or what speed the fan is currently set at?
Being pretty is not the be-all, end-all of web site design. If the prettiest site in the world is hard to use, it has still failed. And 40% of visitors will not return to a web site if their first experience is a negative one.
Chris talked for a bit about ‘featuritis’ - web sites that try to do too many things and end up doing none of them well. Instead, we should focus on a few elements of core functionality. Determining this core functionality can be tricky, particularly because the user does not always know what they want. So how can we figure out what to focus on? Web designers need to actually observe what the users do on a site, not just what they say they do. Set up one on one sessions with a user, where the designer gives them a task and watches what process they use. Afterwards, ask open ended questions about the task and site. It might be particularly helpful to ask about what frustrations the user experienced.
Ultimately, creating a web site with a high level of user-centered design is a continual looping process. First, understand the needs of the user. Next, design a rapid prototype. Then evaluate how well that site accomplishes your goals. Add that evaluation into your understanding, and repeat.
Chris’ group released this pamphlet, titled “How to Design Library Web Sites to Maximize Usability”.
Well, the first E-Info Global Symposium has come to a close!
Over the next few days I’ll be posting summaries of each speaker’s presentation. Unfortunately my camera chose this week to have problems, so I didn’t get any pictures taken. If anybody else did, I’d appreciate getting some copies.
All indications are that the symposium was a great success! We’re investigating our options for another event in the future, but nothing is set for certain yet.
And FYI, I’m going to close off comments on older posts to avoid spam problems.
