Monday, April 07, 2014

#CILDC : Libraries & the Big Picture: Facts, Trends, & Next! - Kathryn Zickuhr, Marydee Ojala, & Stephen Abram

Marydee OjalaDescription: The Pew Research Center’s next report on public libraries in the digital age is being released in March—an in-depth analysis of library users and non-users’s habits and attitudes. Zickuhr explains the findings and their implications for libraries as they plan for the future. The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) recently talked to key players (including Pew Internet Director Lee Rainie) in the information and technology industries and came up with key trends. Hear about the report as well as other trends our industry watchers see things we need to pay attention to as we plan for our communities in the future. Includes discussion time with colleagues about what they see as well and what it means for libraries and their strategies going forward.

Session Notes

Kathryn Zickuhr, @kzickuhr, http://libraries.pewinternet.org, @pewresearch @pewinternet
New data from the Pew Research Center on public library engagement

Pew Internet - how people use technology in their lives and the focus on libraries grew out of that.  Three phases:
State of reading
Library services
Typology

They do nationally representative telephone surveys with Americans ages 16 and older.  Surveys are done in English and Spanish.

New findings: library engagement typology.  Looked specifically at library users.
Based in library use, experience at libraries, views/perceptions of libraries.
Broader context - info and tech habits, other community activities
Gathered information on people's information habits.
Gathered information that could provide some correlations.

Level of library engagement:
High - library lovers (30% - library lovers, 10% & information omnivores, 20%)
Medium - solid center.  Traditionalists.
Low - young and restless
None - off the grid.  Distant admirers

High -
Library lovers - tend to be younger with higher level of education
Information omnivores - they don't visit the library as often as library lovers.  Highest rate of tech usage.  Highest level of education, employment, and household income.  Library are important, but not as important to them.

Medium - solid center (30%). Core of library support.  About 50% use age a library in a year.  Print traditionalists (9%) - mor rural.  More likely to be southern / white.

Low engagement -
Rooted and road blocked (7%) - tend to be older.  Generally have positive views of libraries.  They face hurdles in their lives.  Many have a disability or have experienced a recent illness in their family.  May have difficulty using technology.
Young and restless (7%) - median age is 33. Few have lived in their communities for a long time.  Few do not know where their library is located.  Libraries are not on their radar.
Not for me (4%) -  don't like libraries that much.  Likely to have had a negative experience at a library.  This is not a group that has high access to information. They could use a library if they needed to.

No engagement -
Distant admirers (10%) - no perineal library use, but a family member has.  Tend to be older.  Most view libraries positively.
Off the grid (4%) - have little exposure to libraries in any way.  Many live in rural areas. 56% use the internet. Low household income.  1 in 10 has graduated from college.

Relationships to libraries does not exist in a vacuum.

Library use vs. importance

Coming soon - customizable library engagement quiz.  What kind of library user are you? Will go live this summer.  To be notified, sign up for the Pew Internet newsletter.  Libraries will be able to use this quiz with their communities.  This will help people to get local data and spot local trends.

What do Americans want from  libraries?
More activities, more separate spaces...and print books, quiet.
Convenience and tech...and closer relationships with librarians.

Marydee Ojala -
IFLA Trends Report, http://trends.ifla.org
Many institutions and associations below to IFLA
newsbreaks.infotoday.com contains a story on the report last September (2013).
The report started with a literature review.  Experts commented and discuses.  There was an insights report in July 2013.

Trend #1
New technologies will both expand and limit who has access to information.  Issues, questions, concerns:
Information literacy
Mobile access
Information providers' business models
Copyright

The world's information at your fingertips, but what can you do with it?

Trend #2
Online education will democratize and disrupt global learning.
Issues, questions, concerns:
MOOCs
Non-formal and informal learning pathways
Open access
Network effects

If online education is free, how much is it really worth?

Trend #3
The boundaries of privacy and data protection will be redefined.
Issues, questions, concerns:
Global border less internet
Profiling of individuals and groups
Government pressure and intervention
Level softest
Permanent digital footprint

Who's profiting from your personal information?

Trend #4
Hyper-connected societies will listen to and empower new voices and groups.
Issues, questions, concerns:
Traditional political parties weakened
Status of women
Empower diaspora, migrant communities
Simulated virtual environments
Evidence-based policy-making

Are you ready for cyber-politics.

Trend #5
The global information environment will be transformed by new technologies.
Issues, questions, concerns:
Mobile devices
Artificial intelligence
3D printing
Global information economy
Urban population
Internet of things

When the phone, your car and your wristwatch know where you are at all times, who runs your life?

Implications:
For libraries
For information providers
For you personally

Stephen Abram @sabram
Intense pressure to change copyright law worldwide.  Are those big donors to political campaigns really people interested in copyright?

Look at the data and what does it really tell you?  Does the data refute your assumptions?

What are the economic decisions that people are making?  Those that we want to serve?

Are the heaviest users of MOOCs from Asia?

BTW why do libraries/librarians engage with MOOCs so much?  Interesting question.

If the person isn't sitting in front of you, then that person is distant.

Who will be successful in this new economy?  It isn't a digital divide; it is an access divide.

95% of American newspapers are owned by 6 Republican families.  (Wonder where Abram got this statistics?)

Are the people that currently own the information working to eliminate libraries?

Abram claims that every envelope has been photocopied and OCRd for over 30 years and store by the NSA.  Given how USPS mail is sorted, I can imagine that this is true on some level.

People are willing to give up something in order to have a good online experience.  Libraries preserve privacy and then deliver inadequate experiences.

How do you know when what is happening is true?  Does social media always tell the truth?

Who will be the independent bookstores of the future?

"3D printing and ethics" at Univ. of Toronto iSchool

Given the current state of technology, how do we ensure people's privacy (e.g., the use of Google glasses in libraries)?

Can MRI books and then slice the MRIs so you can see the pages, then OCR the pages.








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