10 easy steps to a fantastic future for libraries

10 easy steps to a fantastic future for libraries.
If we can we be:
• leaders in our community
• leading by doing
• proactive and engaged
• listening and forward thinking
• open and communicative
• learning and changing
• trusting and tolerant of failure
• free to experiment and play
• sharing our knowledge and skills
• creative and connected

Maybe easy isn't the right word but IMHO I think it's what we could be doing to create a strong and vibrant future. These 10 easy steps can be applied to any library context and then comes the hard part - where you put it  into practice! This year I've been to a few events focussed on the future of libraries and the future of the profession and reflecting on those events helped me come up with this list. You may agree or disagree, I'd love to hear what you think?

More zombie library games

Image from Matthew Stewart on flickr 

This is a paper that Ashley brought to my attention and I think it's totally awesome! ...

The Library is Undead: Information Seeking During the Zombie Apocalypse

Also, check out Zombie walks! (found this via the flickr image)

Short blog post cause I'm off to Sardinia tomorrow!

The importance of great leadership

While convalescing last week I was thinking about how important it is to have strong, supportive leadership in the workplace. As a newbie in any career, you rely on supervisors, managers and superiors to mentor, guide and lead. Under the right conditions you can flourish in your role and be rewarded. Under not so right conditions your self esteem and sense of purpose can plummet. In my worklife so far I've experienced both. I've worked in places where I didn't feel I could speak up and voice an opinion, where hard work is not acknowledged or rewarded, where new ideas are discouraged, where every move is scrutinised, or worse, where you are completely ignored and disregarded. Luckily those time are behind me because where I am now is the complete opposite. I am so grateful to be in an environment that is supportive, encouraging, innovative and engaging. I feel like I'm part of a team that includes all levels of staff with many different backgrounds, talents and interests. I've learned so much from all my supervisors and managers (and the whole team) about communicating, working together, planning, organising and teaching. I know I might not always be so lucky, but I hope I've learned enough from current and past experiences to realise when I'm not flourishing and to move on before my self esteem plummets. Of course there are good days and bad days in any workplace. But hopefully the good outweigh the bad. If they don't it could be an indication that it's time to spread your wings elsewhere.

Game based learning or how to make learning fun

Last Sunday I wrote a guest post for the ALIA Sydney blog on Game Based Learning. I got quite carried away and still felt I had more to write so I'll try to add more things here as I find them. Here's the post (below) for those who missed it...

Mobile games

Everyone knows the joy of playing a game whether you grew up with board games, marbles, soccer, arcade games, Atari, Gameboy, Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox or Wii. The fun and competitiveness of playing against yourself and others can be addictive! Regardless of whether these are real life or digital games, there are rules and expected outcomes that players must determine and achieve. While concentrating hard on the game, players don’t even realise they’re learning! Recently people of all ages have started gaming like crazy as mobile apps make it easier than ever to play cheaply, anywhere-anytime, alone or with people around the world (if you haven’t heard of Angry Birds you’ve been living under a rock). One of my favourites is Fruit Ninja where you chop fruit with a sword and at the end of every game you get a fruit fact! Games are usually considered a leisure activity but increasingly they’re being used in learning environments to encourage experiential, active learning. For some reason they’ve been more commonly used with younger learners but why should they have all the fun? Just because you’re at high school, Tafe, uni, work or the library doesn’t mean learning has to be boring! Right? In fact, the 2011 Horizon Reportpredicts Game Based Learning will impact education in the next 2 to 3 years.

According to Wikipedia, Game Based Learning is a branch of serious games, which are activities with defined learning outcomes. 10 years ago, people like Prensky started pushing the digital game based learning (DGBL) revolution because of the potential for learning to be fun and engaging for the students, the trainers, parents and administrators. In 2001 Prensky described a tipping point when he believes learners will demand game based learning. Considering the current ubiquity of games and the blurring of the lines between work and play, I think we might have finally reached that tipping point.

Game based learning is certainly not new. Just think about simulation activities and software used for many years with doctors (did anyone play Operation?), nurses, pilots, defence personnel and many, many more. These learning games prepare people for real life situations by allowing them to safely practice and complete expected outcomes. Second life has also been very popular as a learning environment for many years, particularly in tertiary education. It allows geographically dispersed groups to meet up, interact and complete tasks while in the game. It has been particularly useful for the areas of engineering, design and architecture because groups can design and build large scale projects, that in real life would only be scoped as models or prototypes. Check out the Horizon report for many more awesome examples.

So what are libraries doing? Quite a bit actually! With the rise of mobile apps there’s been a move away from entirely online games to a blend of online, mobile and real life. The State Library of Queensland is using a scavenger hunt app to create self guided library tours using geo-location technology. In fact it seems treasure hunts and scavenger hunts are all the rage in libraries at the moment. The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and Charles Darwin University (CDU) libraries are doing treasure hunts with QR code clues to enhance information literacy instruction. These three projects were recently presented about at the 2011 m-libraries conference in Brisbane. The University of Sydney Library ran a scavenger hunt around all campus libraries during orientation this year and the New York Public Library invited 500 people to an overnight library scavenger hunt (particularly awesome) which they describe as an alternate reality app based game.

So what is all this hunting and gaming doing for us? Well, according to the 2011 Horizon report we’re learning by reaching for and achieving goals, problem-solving, collaborating and communicating. We can interact with content in more complex ways and build digital literacies. They also acknowledge that students are more engaged with game based learning because it’s fun! There are some great examples in the report and I think it’s interesting to consider how this links with other trends they predict such as Augmented Reality and Gesture-based Computing. Something to ponder.

Besides ‘hunts’ there are many other library games being developed like augmented reality apps using data mashups by the Bavarian State Library (among others) and a location based checkin and reward game by some people at the University of Huddersfield library (definitely want to know more about this one). There are Fun Days and Flash mobs, flash cards and quizzes, chases and Amazing Races (check out my Game based learning Diigo group for more examples). There is already quite a bit of game based learning going on but if trend predictions are correct it will soon be the norm rather than the interesting exception. How will libraries, museums and organisations rise to the challenge of providing game based learning opportunities? Some of the things I've described require tech skills and money to make possible but others only require a few people and some enthusiasm! It's time to get in the game but just remember it's not about winning it's about having fun!

Now I apologise if any serious gamers are reading this because I'm not one, and I probably haven't used the right lingo to describe things. But that's the point. You don't have to be an expert. You just have to have a go. For those interested, there is a lot of theory behind serious games, gamification and game based learning - if you want to get into that kind of thing. And if you're already into it please share your resources in the Game based learning Diigo group.

Zombie Library Games

Because I'm into games, libraries and zombies (who isn't!), today I googled zombie library games and I discovered so many exciting things I thought I better share with you! Chandler library teens section has a link to many excellent zombie games that are however, not library related. There are in fact many libraries linking to non library related zombie games. There seems to be a lack of library related zombie games! There are also many libraries coming up with brilliant zombie related promotion campaigns.The University of Florida has come up with a clever library promotion disguised as a Zombie survival guide with videos and other support. As well as zombies, libraries and games I'm also into information literacy so I added that to my search. So next I looked for - zombie information literacy and you'd be amazed at what's out there! My favourite is this graphic novel by McPherson College's Miller Library that features students taking cover in the library while zombies run amok on campus, and they quickly learn how to use the library and outsmart the living dead! Please let me know of any other zombie-library related goodness out there! I'll leave you with this video about what makes libraries so great when the zombie apocalypse comes! 

Mobile learning and the future of information literacy

To kick off 30 days of blogging with #blogjune I thought I'd share where I think the future of information literacy is headed. A couple of weeks ago I was in Brisbane for the m-libraries conference and the prezi below is kind of a Wordle of what I think were the major ideas coming out of the conference. Use autoplay for it to scroll through. The main things for me are building mobile and digital literacies, developing game-based learning, connecting/collaborating/co-creating with our clients, utilising geo-location technology and learning by doing. The future of mobile learning and information literacy is something I'm very passionate about and I'll be blogging about these things and more every day of June.

There's a librarian in my pocket! Mobile literacy at UTS Library

This is my presentation from the m-libraries Conference 2011 held in Brisbane from 10-13 May. There was a strong focus on information literacy and game-based learning at the conference and I really got alot out of it. It was an inspiring week in Brisbane with RAILS on the Tuesday followed by m-libraries Wednesday - Friday. I really enjoyed catching up with library peeps from around Australia and the world and meeting some new ones!

There's a librarian in my pocket: mobile information literacy at UTS Library on Prezi

Mobile support for learning, teaching and research

This is the presentation I gave today as part of the m-libraries 101 virtual conference hosted by QUT in Brisbane and organised by the wonderful Kate Davis. Meredith Farkas was the main presenter and gave a fantastic overview of mobile technologies and the way they can be used by libraries. The other speakers were Sarah Steed from ACT libraries and Richard Gray from UNSW. It was a fascinating look at the different ways libraries are investigating, playing and experimenting with mobile technologies. This was my first time participating in a virtual conference using Elluminate and it worked very well! The only problem I had was the lack of audience engagement as I was talking. Ever tried talking to a blank computer screen? It takes getting used to!

Mobile support for learning, teaching and research at UTS Library

View more presentations from Sophie McDonald.

Some of the slides are probably not very self explanatory - I should probably provide commentary. Maybe I'll add the link to audio when I get it. Feel free to ask me questions. Hope you enjoy!

What I learned at Library Camp

from aliaaccess flickr group: snail's trail

On the last day of ALIA access 2010 I joined fellow campers in a great day of participatory library fun. ADHD_librarian, snail and the many other people involved did a fine job of running this unconference and my first ever library camp. They got me in simply by calling it a camp and creating expectations of fun, laughter, noise, stories, games, singalongs, dancing... there was no dancing but I wasn't disappointed. There were very few sit and listen sessions and from the start people were freely calling out thoughts, ideas and opinions. I loved the structured unstructure of it all. The camp wiki was our program for the day and I love that it changed and morphed as ideas for breakout sessions ebbed and flowed. I loved the beanbags but I agree with @dendrea that the room was a bit restrictive and didn't allow much moving about and getting comfortable, camp style. All in all it was alot of fun and there was a great buzz in the room all day. I was telling a friend about library camp this week and they asked 'did you actually camp there'?

So what did I learn at Library Camp? I loved Stephen Abram's presentation "Not the Keynote" (on slideshare) which described the internet and ebooks as in their 'infancy'. Such a good analogy. Both still have such a long way to go to reach maturity with great changes expected to continue for many years. There was alot of talk at the conference and camp about the future of reading and books with regard to personalisaton and digital rights management (DRM). 'Read how you want' was a trend that came up many times and applied to both print and digital formats. In Abrams unkeynote I tweeted 'we love books but we don't care about the container'. I also tweeted 'I'm excited about the 21stC book experience' with the possibility of Harry Potters spellbook becoming a reality! While I'm excited about how books will change and become more interactive, I actually do care about the container. I think it was flexnib and katiedavis who tweeted that they care about the container when they can't get the content they want on their container. I agree wholeheartedly, this is a very annoying DRM issue - which became a late addition to the final camp breakout sessions. You can have a great container but what is the use if you can't get what you want on it? Publishers need a more open and flexible approach that allows users to 'read how they want'. I was on a 'Loungin around' panel session after lunch and one of the questions was about print on demand books. I suggested that currently ebooks supplied to academic libraries are so restrictive that they can't be downloaded to a mobile device for better screen reading and often only one page or one chapter can be printed to allow mobility. This needs to change. However, this could take a while and in the meantime print on demand will allow users to print the chapter they need, 24/7 so they can read anywhere anytime. Printing allows mobility just like any other mobile device and until publishers change the way they allow their content to be used, print on demand will be necessary.

There's another reason why I care about the container. I recently acquired an iPad and really enjoyed reading on it however, I've discovered that I still desire of the object, I miss the physical book (I'm a bit of a collector). I love to hold the book, absorb the cover, and see it on my shelf as a reminder of how it affected me and shaped my thoughts. Now my ebooks are on my iPad shelf and it's not the same. So I think, if I'm reading something trashy that I don't really want on my physical shelf, I'll go for the ebook but if I think I'm gonna love it and want to hold it and gaze at it I'm gonna buy the paper book. So for me, the container does matter. IMHO I think it matters to other people too and I think ebooks and print books will coexist happily for a long time.

So that was one thing I learned at Library Camp and there were many others... I'll try to be more succinct. I loved that Abrams said we need to consider the community, learning, entertainment, social and research purpose of the library - it's not just about books. He also said we need to be present in social spaces of our clients so we can collaborate in their learning.

After Abrams we had a great talk by 2010 Library Journal 'Mover & Shaker' Paul Hagon from the NLA who debunked mobile myths and talked about that fast paced changes that have occurred in the online and tech worlds in the last 5 years. Interesting that only 4% of Aussie kids use a mobile to access the web (much lower than USA) and most of them are just accessing Facebook. Also interesting is that most people access the web on their mobile to find simple info such as directions, restaurants, weather, movie times etc. He noted that the NLA website gets only about 0.5% of its traffic from mobile devices. Best of all Hagon encouraged us all to think small, get dirty, experiment and play to learn about new tech and see what the potential is. I'm not being very succinct am I? There's more...

I loved all the lightening talks and found these little snippets really got the mind juices flowing and I was wishing I could hear more - so tantalising. I'm excited about the ALIA sustainable libraries group, enthused about social media in libraries, excited by the future of personalisation and impressed by the use of an iPad to give a presentation on how awesome the iPad is. That was my lightening paragraph on the lightening talks. I haven't even started on the breakout sessions! But me thinks that is enough for now. I certainly have a lot to ponder and will try to share more of my thoughts on Library Camp soon. Can't wait for the next one!

Librarians on tour at ALIAaccess

Last week I attended ALIA access 2010 in sunny Brisbane and the first day kicked off with various site visits to Brisbane area libraries. I was on the Brisbane city walking tour with a great bunch of people and we visited QUT library, Brisbane City Square Library, State Library of QLD and Southbank Institute Library. I was wearing my pedometer because I'm doing 10,000 steps with some colleagues at the moment and by the end of the day I'd walked well over 20, 000 steps! Yes, we were a tired bunch of librarians by the end of the day but totally excited and blown away by all the things going on in the libraries we visited. I got into quite a frenzy taking photos which I've put on flickr and embedded below. You can see from the photos what I was most excited about but overall I think there were a few trends:

• More support for multi-media in terms of consuming and creating e.g. there were listening stations, media lounges, digital story pods, editing suites, COWS (computers on wheels) and more!
• Open learning spaces with natural light and creative use of space, technology and furnishings
• Creativity in the library - displays of library community art, design, objects, crafts, jewelery, etc.
• Library as social and community hub with a range of related support and assistance available such as IT, photocopying, city council offices, academic literacy support

Enjoy!

Information literacy in context

Today I'm considering what information literacy in context means and why it is important. I believe first and foremost that it's important because information is experienced in socio-cultural context and outside this information has no meaning. I work in an academic library which means the context of IL I'm dealing with is a tertiary education setting in which information literacy instruction is delivered in accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework with the aim of enabling individuals to know when information is needed and identify, locate, evaluate, organise and effectively use the information to help resolve personal, job related or broader social issues and problems (Bundy, 2004: 3). However, most of the time in academic libraries those wider contexts are forgotten and all that is addressed in instruction is the immediate context of formal education. By that I mean IL instruction that transfers generic skills and attributes such as how to find a book or use a database. Those skills are necessary in a formal educational setting but are they transferable to wider contexts? Possibly, however the context in which learning these skills occurs could dramatically influence the outcome. What I mean by that is the p word, 'pedegogy'. If academic libraries consider IL instruction in the context of everyday life information seeking rather than purely in the context of formal education then we have a real chance of achieving the goal of creating lifelong learners.

Web 2.0 has created a blurring of the lines between formalised learning and informal play. That means curriculum has changed and now learners are expected to be active content creators engaged in collaborative projects in both physical and digital space. Is our information literacy instruction supporting learners in this context? Does the framework apply? Traditionally, IL instruction would provide learners with the skills to find information relating to the content they need to create but I believe we have an opportunity to move beyond that and provide skills in how to create and share content collaboratively. Lee Rainie considers so called 'digital natives' to be networked learners who embrace new technology, mobile devices, gaming and social media as part of their information landscape. If we want to support learners in the 21stC we should take up the challenge and provide new IL programs supporting this changing information landscape.

Getting back to context. I believe IL instruction should be situated in an everyday life context so learners can apply their experiences to formal and informal educational settings. If learners can apply IL instruction to formal and informal learning environments we may be able to achieve the elusive goal of creating lifelong learners. For example, there is an abundance of literature about students prolific searching of google over library resources. Why not teach them to use google more effectively so they can evaluate results and find more scholarly resources? (In doing so they may better understand the weaknesses of google and the strengths of library databases.) This provides them with skills they can apply in formal and informal contexts in everyday life.

I also believe there is context within context. (Has anyone seen Inception?) Within an everyday life information seeking context there are socio-cultural contexts to consider when planning IL training. For example, an academic library IL program might be three tiered consisting of: generic skills, subject specific skills, assignment specific skills. When teaching subject or assignment specific skills is there a way to apply an everyday life lens so the experiences can be applied to formal and informal settings? I believe we can achieve this by understanding the needs of learners and the socio-cultural context of their learning.

Summing up. Learning occurs through formal and informal means knowingly and unknowingly throughout life. If we embed IL training in an everyday life context learners can apply these experiences to formal and informal settings and perhaps achieve the goal of lifelong learning.

Response to the future of libraries RN interview

Today I listened to the Radio National interview on the future of libraries with Dr. Ian McShane and Kathryn Greenhill. A few things stood out for me that I'd like to share with you (hope you don't mind me paraphrasing). Here's the link to the radio show.

Kathryn,
What the library opened up for me was boundless...

Ian,
The library did open a world for me that continues to fascinate and engage me...

Kathryn,
The real value of the library, just having a place to go and connect with your community is valuable

Ian,
The library model based on the concept of acquiring a collection has come to the end of it's life. At the same time the concept of the library is a very trusted one and not to be discarded lightly.

Kathryn,
The fundamental role of the library hasn't changed, "we connect people and information... You've got to love and know about people you've got to love and know about information and the cultural history and find new and different ways to put them together".

Ian,
Traditionally the measure of success for libraries has been gate counts and often directly linked to funding. The library of the future should have different measures of success: the extent to which they can demonstrate they're preserving the memory, the way they engage with informal education and literacy and changing literacies and finally the citizenship and community aspect.(great but how can these things be measured?)

Kathryn,
The new library aims to be the community lounge room, a space where you can be yourself.

Ian,
New technologies have led to a rise in the potential of peer-to-peer learning. Librarians can't be everywhere all the time and know everything about everything (although we try - sm).

Kathryn,
We need to understand transliteracy and the new way of understanding imagined worlds that have traditionally been available only through books. For example, the world of Harry Potter can be accessed through books, gaming, movies, online, Lego and more. Reading is only one part of this information/sense-making world.

Kathryn,
We need to position ourselves as an asset to our community when it comes to ebooks and related issues like copyright, formats, what to read, etc.

IMHO to conclude I think libraries are still boundless and continue to inspire and engage us. Libraries are now vibrant social spaces that are so important to the community they support. The interview  within the interview demonstrated some of the many social functions the library performs. A place to work alone while surrounded by others doing the same. A place to get away from distractions. A place to learn from others. A place for serious study. A place to have fun. Great interview!

p.s. the photo above is of a plane I jumped out of in April!

Are you a library genius?

My first attempt at glogging! I must admit it was a bit complicated. I hope they streamline the interface and tools a bit to make it easier to use. But overall, much fun!

The future learning hub

If the library is the current learing hub, what will the learning hub be in the future? Will the library be at the centre of a giant student mall with services, shops, cafes and IT centres instead of Myer and K-Mart?

I've just been to a workshop on how to create a future learning hub that the library will be a part of. Of course I think the library should BE the learning hub but then I'm a library evangelist. The participants of this workshop were mostly big wigs so I'm not sure how I wangled my way in but it was interesting to look outside my little bubble world for a while. What I discovered (as if I didn't already know) is that the library is way ahead in all the areas that were being discussed; already providing the kinds of spaces students like and already experimenting with new ideas for the future. Research was shown that students like a safe and secure, scholarly space to work individually or in groups, that is clean, light, quiet but not too quiet and with support available. Does such a place exist? Yes! It's the library! And what do you know? The library is always full because people like studying there for all those reasons. It seemed to me like the other participants hadn't been to the library or didn't know we already have a learning hub (aka. the library). I guess they just wanted to take a bigger picture view, get everyone up to speed and see it in the context of the future of education, learning and changing learner demographics (seems reasonable).

There was some discussion about the kinds of behaviour we want our hub to encourage. Some of the ideas were collaboration, spirit of enquiry, peer-to-peer learning, communication, etc. There was some confusion about how that translates into physical space. Library people know all about this. For example, if you want to create quiet areas you have individual desks and if you want noisy group areas you have comfortable, flexible, group seating. We have group study rooms for collaborative work, we have silent rooms or super quiet stuff. We recently introduced a new space called 'create space' (see photo above) that has an interactive teamboard, a data projector, 7 computers, 2 whiteboard walls, funky desks on wheels and really funky chairs. I wrote a post about it a while ago. The room encourages collaboration, is usually a bit noisy but always full by groups practicing their presentations, individual studiers, the lot! Interestingly we find students are very good at self managing these spaces. For example, too much noise is frowned upon by neighbouring students and quickly squashed or reported to us. I think this happens when students appreciate a space enough to feel ownership or pride in the space. If we provide spaces students 'like' they'll care enough to want to keep it 'nice'.

Random thoughts: does the campus need to be 'sticky'? should we be designing for the ones for whom it is sticky rather then everyone? e.g. full-time students rather than part-time? How do we create a welcoming atmosphere while providing a secure, managed space? How can it be sustainable?

I look forward to experimenting with new spaces, furniture, design etc. as we continue on our path to the Library of the Future!

Getting to know our clients on 'wallwisher'

A few months ago we installed a 'wallwisher' suggestion board in our foyer for client comments and feedback. It replaced an antiquated system of pen on paper comments posted on a notice board. It's caused quite a stir among clients and staff and some of  the comments are hilarious. I particularly like the ongoing discussion about our Kenny G elevator music and the problem it's causing... clients ask our advice because they start to feel a bit romantic in the lift and they're worried one thing might lead to another... I've wanted to blog about this for a while but I've asked the wonderful Ashley to be my guest blogger for  this post because she's more involved than me and quite the comedian. I hope you enjoy.

~

Serious Asks: Does the Library have plans for response on a wizard attack on Blake Library?
Library: The Library has plans for earthquakes, fire, wizard and zombie attacks. However no one can stop Godzilla; except maybe ninja. Please dial 6 in an emergency.

Anon asks: this wall is amazing, I bet the person who set this up is amazing too. And handsome.
Library: We suspect this was put up by a member of our IT Staff.
Library (aka PinkFairaeDust): If you think the IT guys are cute, you should see the Librarians who write on this wall ;)

I suppose you realise by now that this is not one of lovely Sophie’s clever posts. She has asked me to write something about our Brilliant Library Suggestion Board. I am not entirely sure she has picked the right person. I am generally known for doing silly things like naming my lemon tree Fredrick, or asking my boss’ boss’ boss if the new ASRS will be pretty. Ah well here goes!

Above you can see me in front of our gorgeous suggestion board. I am one of the people who respond to students comments and have fallen head over heels in love with the process. They have surprised and thrilled me with their comments and general Geekery.

I guess what I really enjoy are the cheeky comments designed to test our boundaries. Most of the time they are not testing our boundaries by being bad or rude. I guess I can only describe it was testing out how human we are and if we have a sense of humour. So far, we have only had to moderate them lightly, taking down one racist comment and another with a naughty word in it. Actually, we really wanted to leave the latter one up due to its pertinence to the student experience. Shall we play Blankety blanks? “Life is like a sometimes it gets hard for no reason.” True in oh so many ways. Alas we do have to draw a line somewhere. You can see some of the initial comments in our Facebook Photo Gallery.
 
Some of you might be wondering what this has to do with providing Library Services. Not everyone probably agrees with me, but I represent the silly 25-year-old new graduates and I think it is a crucial step in engaging with students. Sure some of the comments are silly; sure some of them have nothing to do with traditional Library business. That doesn’t bother me at all. Anything that engages students and makes library staff appear less stern and more approachable is fine by me. One bad Library experience will turn you away from Libraries and Librarians for good. Secretly, between you and me, Librarians still petrify me. I was far too scared to approach Librarians in both my degrees – even when I was studying to be one!
 
What matters to me is that our students (patrons? Researchers? Learners?) feel comfortable talking to us no matter how silly the question may seem and know that we are interested in helping them solve their problems. Even if it is only to suggest a game of rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock to settle who gets to use the computers first (then point out our Online computer availability system). 



Yours, @pinkfairaedust

Response to the future of libraries and librarians debate

Yesterday all my posts about the future of information literacy seemed to come to a head and cause some heated debate in the comments of yesterday's post. Two opposing sides seemed to form: the optimistic and the pessimistic view of the future. Let's be clear, I'm on the optimistic side and I have to say the pessimistic side really baffles and confounds me! I think this debate is fantastic because it really makes us think about where we stand on these issues. Even though I disagree with everything the pessimistic view says, this debate makes me ask 'why'. Today I thought I'd post a response to yesterday and look forward to your thoughts.

OK pessimist, I suppose you think in this future of yours that we’ll have robots to create and manage these entirely online libraries, automated response systems to manage virtual reference (or no need for reference at all) and all our clients will be studying as individuals from home, Mars or wherever else they exist with no need for social interaction? I just can’t see any signs that the future you imagine is even remotely possible. Have you not seen how vibrant and social the library is? Most people don’t want to study at home alone all the time – why do you think the library is so busy?!? Not because people come here ‘just for the books’ or even ‘just for the computers’ it’s because they like the social space the library provides. It gives them somewhere to meet up, see and be seen, a sense of community, a place they feel they belong and belongs to them! And as more and more of our lives is spent online the desire to spend time online together increases. As long as this trend continues I can't see people suddenly not coming to the library which is what you're saying will happen. As long as students continue to flock to the library - libraries will continue to be vibrant social spaces.

As for your notion that the future for librarians lies in collection development - maybe I should change professions now! I really can't see where that idea comes from. We already have approval plans for much of our collection development as a way to automate the system so we 'librarians' can spend our time on other things. What are those other things and what will they be in the future? I think we spend out time trying to engage with clients in more collaborative ways. Embed ourselves in their study and research practices (online and physical). The thing is they 'don't know what they don't know' so we need to find ways to connect with clients and join them as active content creators, advocates of a social approach to information seeking and use, mentors in evaluating, synthesising, analysing and ethically reusing information. I'm sure more and more of our library services will be online, librarians will be able to work from home but I don't think we'll be less visible - I think we need to be more visible - regardless of physical or digital space. Another whole can of worms would be to bring up the ever growing digital divide - how can you assume all clients will stop needing our help?

To sum up, I think in 100 years from now libraries will be very different but only because of changes to sociocultural practices surrounding technology which I think will bring us all closer together not further apart. As I've said before: the future is what we make it, there is no truth, reality is socially constructed and I'm proud to be a librarian.

Information literacy thoughts of the day

Today I was feeling a bit brain fried from all this blogging so for a bit of fun I was messing around with our new mac and decided to make a little vodcast of what I've been thinking about today. This was unrehearsed and unscripted so please be kind. This is in no way a comprehensive overview of all my thoughts but simply a glimpse inside my brain in a short moment of time. enjoy

Information literacy 2.0

Although I'm not sure how I feel about anything '2.0' it gives us a point of reference so I'm using it for now, ok... Following on from yesterday I thought I'd look more closely at how web 2.0 has impacted on information literacy (IL) programs.

Web 2.0 initiatives have been implemented across libraries in many ways and there is a growing amount of literature dealing with how libraries are using blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasting and other tools to communicate with clients in new ways. There is a smaller amount of literature that evaluates client use of these tools and services with an emphasis on vague "what if" type questions that provide little insight into user experience. The smallest section of this literature pie is dealing with the point of intersection between Web 2.0 and information literacy instruction and in particular evaluation of such programs.  

In much of the literature there is an emphasis on the problem learners have with evaluating information and understanding how to manage it's ethical reuse. This is seen as one of the biggest problems facing IL instructors. So how can Web 2.0 help address this issue? Many libraries now teach clients how to make better use of google, RSS feeds, collaborative software etc. but we need to embed this training within the context those tools are used in so clients can learn to evaluate information and ethically apply its reuse? Godwin (2007) suggests web 2.0 is not about technology but a "state of mind" that needs to be reflected in our IL training. Thus, web 2.0 can help but, it's not about the tools... it's about what you do with them...

Luo claims web 2.0 is blurring the "boundaries between formalised learning and informalised play" (p.33) in a way that encourages learners to integrate their sense of self into their learning. Her research examines how web 2.0 is being used in IL instruction and how effective it is. Findings suggest IL instructors who are proactive and creative in their approach to integrating web 2.0 into their teaching are effective in helping students master IL concepts and skills through enhanced interaction and collaboration (p.39). Staying current, experimentation and creativity are seen as very important if trainers are to cope with the constantly evolving web 2.0 world (Godwin, 2007). 

To achieve IL 2.0 success Williams suggests a hybrid model (just like the prius) of IL instruction that combines online and face-to-face learning. Most libraries have already taken on this model by providing face-to-face and online training however, can we bring the two closer together so they are more of a complimentary pair rather than competing individuals. A convergence of physical and digital IL programs can enhance the learning environment by providing multiple learning pathways, 'just in time' access and revision of training. Williams also suggests web 2.0 has enabled IL training to encompass multi-media and gaming which ultimately means FUN!

In general the debate seems to be divided over how we can use web 2.0 to enhance our IL instruction delivery versus how we can do that and also teach how to use web.2.0 to effectively organise, evaluate, create and reuse information. Quite different perspectives. In case you can't tell I'm for the latter.   

Overall, the literature emphasizes four main points:

• teaching critical thinking skills so clients can effectively evaluate the validity and authority of information
• develop an understanding of ethical issues relating to reuse, copyright and correct attribution
• constant experimentation by educators in the face of a rapidly evolving 2.0 world
• more emphasis on evaluation of these new programs

That's enough for now. Maybe tomorrow I'll do away with the serious stuff and tell ya'll about all the cool innovative IL 2.0 training going on out there. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Some light reading:
Luo, 2010. Web 2.0 integration in information literacy instruction: An overview
Williams, 2010. New tools for online information literacy instruction
Godwin, 2007. Information literacy meets web 2.0: how new tools affect our own training and our teaching

Reinventing information literacy

Two things happened this week relating to information literacy that made me go 'efgweifbbfmmmeh' (loosely interpreted that's the noise in my head when I have too many things to say at once). One was @flexnib asking on twitter "librarians, what are ur thoughts on info lit in the 21st century? scrap the concept, start again? broaden it? swap it (eg dig lit)? #lazyweb

The other thing was a meeting of my pod/vodcasting community where one of the academics asked me, "do you think the library will exist in the future or just be virtual"? I actually laughed in his face! I know that might seem harsh and some of you would probably say he asked a valid question but seriously... (so many responses were forming that I heard that noise in my head again and had a hard time answering him)! Immediate thoughts: assumptions, change, social, personal, skills, multi modal...

Before I start to rant I'll try to sum up all my thoughts in one pithy sentence, here goes: Information literacy is dead, long live information literacy.

We make so many assumptions about so called digital natives but just because they want geospatial tagging and they want it now doesn't mean they know how to find academic resources for their assignments!!!!!!! Information overload = librarians needed more than ever! At best these 'digital natives' can do a basic google search, use the first few results that look OK and wonder why they're asked to resubmit an assignment (to grossly generalise). That's when the light bulb goes on and they think 'maybe I should go to the library and ask a librarian'? I see this all the time on the reference desk and it's amazing to see their faces light up when you show them a few tips and tricks to easily finding what they need. One girl I helped was so impressed, when the lecturer asked in class how she found her sources, she replied 'I asked the librarian' and they all went 'oooooooh'.

I think the way we define and teach information literacy needs to change to reflect client needs. I know this is the most obvious statement in the world but this should be a constantly evolving process, why does it seem to stop/start sporadically?  Curriculum is changing and drawing on new ways of communicating through the use of blogs, wikis, multimedia and user created content. This means a whole new set of skills is needed to find this kind of information and then know how to create your own. Information is no longer just in books, journals or printed form. We need to understand the multi modal approach learners are facing and equip them with skills to understand, find, use and create all forms of information. In addition we need to take a multi modal approach to our teaching. This is already the case with online and face-to-face information literacy programs but more can and must be done.

The library plays a vital social role in our university community. It's a place to see and be seen. As more and more of our lives are spent online, physical social spaces to gather, share and engage are very important. Personally, I can't imagine a future where social engagement disappears and we all work/study from home sitting at our desks alone all day/night. BORING! We need libraries and other cultural institutions to gather, work together, share experiences and feel a part of a community. Related to this is the importance of personal face-to-face help. We can provide dozens of virtual reference options but for some people actually talking to a person is really important. And I must say I find it a very satisfying part of my job.

No matter what you call it, what's currently known as information literacy needs to change but continue to exist. That's my rant for now. Much more to come on this throughout the week.

p.s. the photo above is of Bronte pool yesterday during a brief break in Sydney's ongoing bleak weather.

Library knit-in: where creativity and sustainability meet

Yesterday I helped out with our first ever Library knit-in! @malbooth has already got in before me blogging about it (very briefly) at frommelbin.blogspot.com but I thought I definitely had more to add. In particular, since I actually knitted and he merely took photos and made witty remarks from the sidelines!

I wanted to be involved in the day for two reasons. 1. Promoting sustainability. The idea for the day came from an Earth Hour competition we ran to come up with ways to be more green/sustainable. The winner suggested we "rug up for winter, don't turn up the heater"! What a great message! (Last year I was the winner of the same competition with my idea 'pedal power' which I might have to blog about another time!)

2. Connecting with my roots. The idea of knitting seems to interest and terrify me in equal measures. Growing up with an award winning crafter for a nanna was intimidating to a youngster trying to knit for the first time, especially when you're constantly measuring yourself up to her high standards! Now fully grown, I seem to take up the task of knitting every few of years or so and have a bag full of unfinished projects (mostly scarves) in the back of a cupboard somewhere. Two years ago I asked nanna to help me start a beanie, which she did and I told her I'd bring it next time I visited so she could check up on my progress. Unfortunately, my interest waned and I never got past 6 rows (of admittedly tough stitches). Last year my beloved nanna passed away and with her all that expertise and knowledge of all matters craft related. So yesterday I brought in that unfinished beanie and felt like I was reconnecting with my nanna and paying tribute to her knowledge and passion as a knitter. I was told by the expert that the beanie was a pipedream, so I unpicked it and started a neck warmer (small scarf) because it was manageable and I really want to finish this one for my nanna.

Overall, I found the day very enjoyable with a great sustainability message while managing to rekindle a flame for knitting. It was a rare informal meeting of staff from all over the uni and students from all levels and backgrounds. I thought it was great to be able to mix informally with students and perhaps change perceptions they might have about libraries and librarians. Libraries can be creative spaces and even the people walking past the knit-in yesterday must have been intrigued by the unusual event. I think more creativity and events like this should be encouraged in academic libraries that can seem utilitarian in purpose but can be so much more. Most importantly, the day has inspired me to get that bag of unfinished projects out of the cupboard and give them another go! I'll let you know when I finish my neck warmer!

p.s. This final photo is of the State Library of NSW which is being lit up for the Vivid Sydney festival.