Libraries and the Cognitive Surplus

I just spent an hour writing a post about this amazing video featuring Clay Shirky, and then lost it due to some mysterious glitch! Now I need to try to recreate my "brilliant" thoughts!

For some reason the video won't embed in my post, so here's the link to the DonorPower blog post where I found it.  Take a look...it's well worth the 15 minutes or so.

As I watched it I kept thinking about the implications for libraries.

Libraries originated as essentially repositories of content (think the great library at Alexandria or the monks preserving their manuscripts during the middle ages), and have evolved into institutions focused largely on content delivery.  Its interesting that some of our most "innovative" service models (and sources of heated debate) are largely about how we get better at delivering content. Think about the current debate about the limitations of the Dewey Decimal System, or the move towards "merchandising" our collections, or the often heated discussions about whether we should more heavily emphasize customer demand or professional judgement when selecting materials.  All are about more effectively connecting our customers with our collections....i.e. content delivery.

Now think about the world that Mr. Shirky describes in the video.  A world in which people expect to participate in the creation and sharing of content, not just to consume it.  A world in which an individual, using low cost technologies, can participate in the domain of content organization and delivery that has traditionally been the domain of libraries and well-capitalized businesses.  A world in which the 200 billion hours/year that has been spent watching television can be redirected to the creation and sharing of content.

I think this shift from passive consumption to participatory creation and sharing will render our current delivery-based library service models obsolete.  The challenge for librarians and library institutions is to transform ourselves so that we become active participants in this new world.

What does this mean?  Some thoughts -

Librarians need to shift from being organizers of and gatekeepers to information and content to designers of the systems that allow people to actively participate in the creation and sharing of content and the design of library services.

The boundary between the "library" and the community will become increasingly permeable.  Our staff will need to have the deep knowledge of the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve that only active engagement outside the four walls of the library can provide.  As a young library school graduate and job applicant I interviewed the other day put it - "We need to have the kind of community involvement that means that wherever we go in the community we meet people we know, and we need to develop services based on real understanding of community needs not what we pretend to know."

Our internal boundaries will also become more permeable as we rapidly reconfigure our organizations and services to adapt to changing community needs. 

Our library buildings will become just one service point in an array that spans the virtual world and the physical communities we serve.  Web-based services, cell-phone based services, widgets on the websites of others, "pop ups" at community events, micro-services at locations throughout the community (mini-collections? kiosks? book-dispensing machines?) will become the norm.

The library buildings themselves need to be redesigned to foster participation and engagement.  Service desks that have staff and customers working side by side to collaborate on solving the customer's problem? Replacement of the discreet and somewhat secretive suggestion box with white boards (physical or virtual) where customers can share their thoughts about library services and build on the ideas of others?  Spaces where staff and customers come together on a regular basis to discuss library and community issues?

Our catalogs need to move beyond inventory management systems to platforms for users to share information, make connections with people of similar interests,  and help one another find the resources that are most relevent for their needs in their particular contexts. (See my previous post on the Social Catalog and Bibliocommons)

We need to build deep and broad institutional knowledge of emerging technologies and business/service models and skill in the rapid deployment of new technologies and models.  Technology-based innovation can no longer be the sole responsibility of the IT staff.

We need to stop viewing volunteers as supplemental labor and find ways to engage the full array of talents, experiences, and knowledge that our volunteers bring to us (See Boomer Volunteers)

Most of all we need to build library cultures that encourage and respect the participation of our communities and organizational designs that foster experimentation and learning.

There is a huge store of intellectual capital waiting to be tapped - in our communities and within our institutions.  Let's tap it!

Those are some of my thoughts...what are yours?

Comments

[Louise]

I was doing some research for a grant application and found your recent blog post on the library in Holland (which I was looking for!) and as I followed that trail, I came across an article on the library which had the following section:

Thinking and Acting Beyond Library Walls
Cooperation and guts may be the keys to the success of the unusual ventures we undertake here at DOK. Don’t think budgets; think ideas and think beyond the library walls. Together with many partners, we are able to come up with new services or better ways to present the library to the people. A good example of this is the Tank U, a download station that uses Bluetooth. Content that our librarians select, such as a library magazine, an agenda of activities, or an audio book, can be installed onto these Tank stations, which can then be placed in different locations outside the library. Think of the promotional possibilities when you place the Tank U in railway stations, hospitals, cinemas, theaters, and so on. People with Bluetooth applications on their cell phones can download content to their phones and play it on the train or wherever they want. Once their interest is aroused, they are sure to come and visit the library.

Together with Octopus, a children’s daycare center, DOK organizes a summer camp. The idea for this camp came when we first realized that the library of the future needs to think beyond walls and reach out to the people. What better means to do this than through a summer camp for children? While playing in the country and having lots of fun, the children learn how to make a newspaper or a television show or how to become an “idol” (as in the American Idol TV show), with workshops in singing, acting, and dancing.

The entire article can be seen here:

http://www.infotoday.com/mls/mar08/Boekesteijn.shtml

There is more interesting stuff that relates directly to your post.

[Ali]

I can imagine having a physical white board at the entrance of the library where everyone (kids, teens, adults, staff) could share their thoughts about the library. Even if we just did this for 1 week, I think we would get some very interesting results.

Having a white board in the staff area would be an interesting project as well. Or a virtual one where all staff could comment together.

Regarding going places in the community and meeting people we know: I have been to 3 schools in the last week and I've seen students I recognize and school staff with whom I've developed relationships. I make an effort to talk to students and tell them, "Hey I know you, you come to the Miraleste library. I'm Ali." Establishing relationships takes time and effort - but it is rewarding and helps us network in our community.

[Genesis]

Excellent thoughts. Read Shirky's book (Here Comes Everybody). It's one of the best, most challenging books I've read in recent memory. It contains a little harsh reality for librarians, but also a lot of food for thought and some excellent ideas for moving forward. I originally checked it out from the library, but ended up buying my own copy because there was so much I wanted to mark up and annotate. And wouldn't it be awesome if we were providing digital versions of books and materials that allowed our customers to carry on ongoing conversations about the content within the document itself (without having to move to a different medium or forum)?

[Melissa]

I love Ali's idea of having a space for patrons to share their feelings about the library. What about starting the experiment by putting a sheet of newsprint on the bulletin board as you enter the YR area and invite our youngest patrons to share their thoughts...or doing the same in the Annex.