1. Stephen Abram
Gale Cengage Learning
METRO Nov. 15, 2012

5. My external perspective on priorities
 Staff Development (soft skills, consulting skills, CRM Liaison, teaching,
Technology, common core, human development)
 Staff Positioning (social media strategy, liaison, discovery of expertise)
 eLearning strategy (scalable, LMS development, copyright)
 Fluency (search, discover, find, tools, use)
 Analytics (research, proofs, analysis, etc.)
 Repositories (discovery, Linked Data, OCLC, DPLA, etc.)
 Mobile (the whole mosaic, device agnostic, eBooks, seamless)
 Experience Portals (high value, political, and repetitive interventions)
 New Spaces
 ‘Alternative funding sources’

6. Library Megatrends

8. Trends Differ by Library Sector
All will be affected to a greater or lesser degree by these trends and the
impact will be different but all are relevant to:
• Public Libraries
• Academic Research Libraries
• Community College Libraries
• School Libraries
• Specialized Libraries and embedding
• Consortia
But they all share more in common that they are unique or different.

9. Content Fragmentation
Digitization’s real impact – non-fiction
Format
Print, ePUB, PDF, Kindle, etc. etc.
CD, DVD, USB, etc. etc.
Streaming
Licenses, Open Access, Creative Commons, etc. etc.
eBooks
eJournals
eContent
Copyright Issues (NatGeo, Tasini, TPP, ACTA, SOPA, etc. etc.)
Author Lawsuits
Citation fragmentation (Thomson new initiative)

10. Beyond Text
Big challenges to the collection mindset:
• Text
• Graphics & Charts
• Formulae
• Pictures
• Maps
• Video
• Audio
• Gamification
• Deep Data Mining
• Sharing – notes, highlights, reviews, opinions, correcti0ns, commentary
• Assessments
• Soundtracks
• Etc. etc.

11. Walled Gardens
ILS
CMS
Cloud(s)
Device dependencies
Format dependencies (e.g. Kindle or PDF)
Amazon
Apple
ADVICE . . .

12. Learning Object Diversification
and Fragmentation
Textbooks
eLearning
Learning Management Systems
Cohort Learning Environments
Presentation Systems
Virtual Conference Environment
Personal Learning Environments
Collaboration Software
MOOCs
Agnostic object integration

13. End User Fragmentation
Teens / Post-Millennials
Millennials
Intellectual versus physical access paradigm
Other demographics
Business versus Consumer
The Device Divide (and not among the users)
Mobility
Haves and Have-nots

14. Search Fragmentation
Consumer Search
Specialized Search
Professional Search
Semantic, Sentiment, Suggestion Search, image search, etc.
Mobile search
Social search
Augmented Reality
SEO, SMO, Content Spam
Geo-location

15. Technology Fragmentation
Feature Phones
Smartphones
Tablets
Laptops
Desktops
Gaming stations
Television
E-Readers
Internet of Things
Browsers

18. The polarization of discussion
Dogmatic vs. Professional positions
on: eBooks, access, copyright, etc.

19. Black & White

24. Recognize key shifts

25. Academic Research Libraries
eLearning
Repositories
Content Archipelagos
LibGuides
Patron-driven acquisitions
Information Fluency
Demarcation between Undergrad, Grad and Faculty/Staff strategies
Administration outliers
Copyright compliance
E-Coursepacks and e-Reserves
Gamification
Strategic budgeting
Partnerships
Organization development and retirements

26. Community College and Undergrad
Information Literacy / Fluency
Distance education and eLearning
Textbooks, Reserves, Coursepacks, e-all
MOOCs as threat and opportunity
Mobility
Gamification
Collections for new degrees and certifications
New regulations

27. School Libraries
Common Core
21st Century Learning
Future of the textbook
Scaffolded Information Literacy / Fluency
Filters
Staff and Faculty relationships and development
Classroom pages
Integrating the newest research insights
Retirements and physical plant
The parent . . .Teacher … Educrat . . . Bureaucrat . . . Student . . .voter divide

28. Specialized Libraries
Intranets
MS SharePoint
Relationship building
Embedded Librarianship
Knowledge ecologies
Indoctrination of new employees

29. Public Libraries
Recommendations (LibraryThing for Libraries, BiblioCommons, BookPsychic
(Portland (Maine) PL)
eBook issues and device training
Community Glue
Economic Impact
Patron-driven acquisitions
Experience Portals
Programs (esp. teen, distance ed, business, career, health, makerspace)
Partnerships
Education and Learning
Literacy of all kinds

30. Consortia: Next Step Cooperation
DPLA
Library Renewal
EveryLibrary Advocacy PAC
OCLC Linked Data
CULC eBook Project
3M e-books (CALIFA / Douglas County initiatives)
Cloud initiatives
National (e.g. Canada, France…)

31. So what is the answer?
Where are the real pain points?

33. Grocery Stores

34. Grocery Stores

35. Grocery Stores

36. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

37. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

38. Meals

39. What is an
EXPERIENCE?
What is a library experience?
What differentiates a library experience from a transaction?
What differentiates academic libraries from Google/Bing?

40. The Evolution
of Answers

41. Why do people ask
questions?
Is your library experience conceptually organized around target groups, answers and programs?
Or collections, technology and buildings?

42. Why do people ask questions?
 Who, What, When, Where
 How & Why
 Data – Information – Knowledge - Behavior
 To Learn or to Know, to Discover
 To Acquire Information, Clarify, Tune
 To Decide, to Solve, to Choose, to Delay
 To Interview, Delve, Interact, Progress
 To Entertain or Socialize
 To Reduce Fear
 To Help, Aid, Cure, Be a Friend
 To Win A Bet

43. Carl Grant’s Differentiators
• Access to the library collections and services from any device, at any time from
anywhere. (mobile)
• Massive aggregates of information that have been selected for inclusion because of
their quality by either: a) librarians, or b) filtered by communities of users through
ranking systems and ultimately reviewed and signed-off by librarians for final inclusion
in those aggregates. (cloud computing)
• Discovery workbenches or platforms that allow the users to discover existing
knowledge and build new knowledge in highly personalized manners. (discovery
products with new extensions)
• Easy access and integration of the full range of library services into other products they
use frequently, such as course or learning management systems, social networking,
discussion forums, etc. (rich API's, extensive support of Apps and standards to support
other extensions) [Linked Data]
• Contextual support, i.e. the ability for librarianship to help members understand the
environment in which a particular piece of work was generated (for instance, Mark
Twain's writings, or scientific research-is this a peer reviewed publication? (new
products needed)
• Unbiased information. (start conveying the distinction, a huge differentiator)
• Pro-active services. Get out in front. Someone up for tenure? Go to their office. Find out
what they need and get it to them. (analytic tools, coupled with massive aggregates of
data)

44. Stephen Abram’s Key Differentiators
Sustainability versus digital evolution
• Our people are our brand – not information, databases, technology or books.
Staff deliver the service. A service devoid of staff promotion is a recipe for failure
or outsourcing.
• Question improvement
• Predictive service through excellent contextual relationships
• Copyright knowledge and compliance
• Service, professional service not good and efficient step&fetchit servitude
• Information fluency professional development – not mere training, literacy, …
• Special and unique collections curated in context and pruned as needed
• Curriculum, discovery, teaching and research alignment
• Visibility where the users are, not a destination strategy
• eLearning development teams, MOOCs, eTextbooks, eReserves, eServices, etc.
• Developing rubrics, measurements and proofs of impact

45. What are your top 10-20
questions?
What is the service
portfolio model that goes
with those?

46. Reference Facets of the
Library of Virginia Story
September 2010 Survey Data
62 of 91 LVA library systems (68%)

47. Relative Patron Interest in Various Areas
Finding People / Biographies
Choosing a School, Program/Degree, College or University / College Planning
History Studies (Civil War, WW2, etc.)
World Cultures/Understanding Our World
Small and Medium-sized Business Support
Entrepreneurship and Consulting
Adult Literacy / ESL
Parenting and Child Development
Business. Leadership and Management
Book Clubs / Community Reading / Summer Reading
Coming to America or our Community (Immigration, Moving)
General Reference / Quick Answer Questions (e.g. telephone …
Retirement and Seniors Services
Religion and spirituality
Personal Finance and Investments / Financial Literacy
Supporting College credits, Distance Education, and Adult Continuing Education
Travel and Vacation, Tourism Support
Reading Choices and recommendations, books & authors
Careers (jobs, counseling, etc.)
Self-help/personal development
Government Programs, Services and Taxation
Technology Skills (software, hardware, web) Top 13
Homework Help (grade school)
Consumer reviews (Choosing a car, appliance, etc.)
Local History
Hobbies, Games and Gardening
Legal Questions (including family law, divorce, adoption, etc)
Test prep (SAT, ACT, occupational tests, etc. etc.)
Genealogy
DIY Do It Yourself Activities and Car Repair
Health and Wellness / Community Health / Nutrition / Diet / Recovery
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20

48. What are your
Research Priorities?
What is your meal in library end-user or
research, and learning terms?
Programs, collections, services . . . Portfolio

49. Let’s think
What is a meal in library end-user or
research, and learning terms?
Think: Are you thinking
food, courses, days, weekly plan, or
nutrition overall?

50. The new
bibliography and
collection
development
KNOWLEDGE
PORTALS
KNOWLEDGE,
LEARNING,
INFORMATION &
RESEARCH
COMMONS

51. Library Space

52. Library “Experience” Space Concerns
First Impressions: Security, Circ Desks, Signage
Cleanliness
Retail models
Displays (return carts, colour blocking, …)
Signage
Community Commons
Boundaries
Parking lots and the skirts as public programming space
Street fairs
Partnerships
Gardens
Wireless
Technology commons . . . Smart Rooms

53. What are the real issues?
Craft versus Industrial Strength
Pilot, Project, Initiative versus Portfolio Strategy
Hand knitted prototypes versus Production
e.g. Information Literacy initiatives
Discovery versus Search versus Deep Search
eLearning units
Strategic Analytics
Value measures
Behaviours

54. What We Never Really Knew Before (US/Canada)
 27% of our users are under 18.
 59% are female. We often
 29% are college students. believe a lot
 5% are professors and 6% are teachers.isn’t
that
true.
 On any given day, 35% of our users are there for the very
first time!
 Only 29% found the databases via the library website.
 59% found what they were looking for on their first search.
 72% trusted our content more than Google.
 But, 81% still use Google.

55. 2010 Eduventures Research on Investments
 58% of instructors believe that technology in courses positively impacts student engagement.
 71% of instructors that rated student engagement levels as “high” as a result of using technology in courses.
 71% of students who are employed full-time and 77% of students who are employed part-time prefer more
technology-based tools in the classroom.
 79% of instructors and 86 percent of students have seen the average level of engagement improve over the
last year as they have increased their use of digital educational tools.
 87% of students believe online libraries and databases have had the most significant impact on their
overall learning.
 62% identify blogs, wikis, and other online authoring tools while 59% identify YouTube and recorded
lectures.
 E-books and e-textbooks impact overall learning among 50% of students surveyed, while 42% of students
identify online portals.
 44% of instructors believe that online libraries and databases will have the greatest impact on student
engagement.
 32% of instructors identify e-textbooks and 30% identify interactive homework solutions as having the
potential to improve engagement and learning outcomes. (e-readers was 11%)
 49% of students believe that online libraries and databases will have the greatest impact on student
engagement.
 Students are more optimistic about the potential for technology.

56. What we know is POWERFUL! Facts + Stories
Via Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
“Curb Your Librarian Frustration in 8 Easy Steps”
New York State 2012 Summary of School Library Research
Ken Haycock OLA Summary of School Library Impact Studies
Advance: McKinley HS Study by Project Tomorrow
Project Tomorrow reports to Congress
Alison Head and Information Fluency research
Foresee Data and Overall Usage Data
Pew Internet & American Life reports
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation studies
IMLS, NCES, ARL, ACRL, ALA, LJ, etc.
5
6

58. The Value of Libraries Soundbite
 The Value of Public Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-public-libraries/
 The Value of School Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-school-libraries/
 The Value of Academic and College Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-academic-and-
college-libraries/
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/11/01/the-value-of-academic-
libraries-redux-acrl/
 The Value of Special Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-special-libraries/
 Library Advocacy: Save the Library Campaigns
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/01/save-the-library-campaigns/
 Storytelling…

59. The Value of Libraries Soundbite
 The Value of Academic and College Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-academic-and-
college-libraries/
 ACRL The Value of Academic Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/11/01/the-value-of-academic-
libraries-redux-acrl/
 VALUE OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES TOOLKIT
http://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/value/valueofacademiclibrariestoolkit
• Working Together: Evolving Value for Academic Libraries
http://libraryvalue.wordpress.com/report/

62. Analytics Driven
COUNTER Sushi
Vendor statistics
Foresee
Google Analytics
Social Analytics
Gate Count
Circulation
Web site stats
Programs
Research projects and samples
Visuals and Infographics

63. Be More Open to the Users’ Path

64. What Would You Attempt If
You Knew You Would Not
Fail?

65. My Humble Recommendations
 Focus on the user, I mean really
 Pilot and experiment with mobile social cohorts
 Classes (mobile training or extended learning)
 Reading cohorts and book clubs
 Patron-driven strategies first
 Associations
 Fundraising
 Meetings
 Teams (business or sport)

66. My Humble Recommendations
Actively lobby and educate to ensure that the emerging mobile
ecosystem supports the values and principles of librarianship for
balance in the rights of end users for use, access, learning and
research.
 Support vendors and laws to be as agnostic as possible by ensuring
that, as far as possible your services and content offerings support the
widest range of devices, formats, browsers, and platforms.

67. Get to where the user
is.
eLearning
Mobile
Distant
Tools

68. My Humble Recommendations
 Design for frictionless access using such opportunities
as geo-IP and mobile ready websites
 Test everything in all browsers – mobile or not – all
devices.
 Invest in usability research aimed at the user experience
and test and learn from it and share your learning.
 Don’t prioritize the librarian experience first
 Watch key developments in major publishing spaces –
retail, kiddy lit, textbooks, e-learning, fiction, etc. Sport
the differences and opportunities

69. My Personal Hobby Horses
 This is an evolution not a revolution
 The REAL revolution was the Internet and the Web.
 The hybrid ecology is winning in the near term for
operating systems and content formats.
 This is good since competition drives innovation and
we’re in a Renaissance not an end game right now.
 Engage in critical thinking not raw criticism. Be
constructive.
 Critical thinking is not part of dogma or religious fervor
or fan boy behavior.

70. My Personal Hobby Horses
 This is an evolution not a revolution
 Perfectionism will not move us forward at this juncture.
 Really understand the digital divide and remove your
economic and social class blinkers
 Get real about teens and Boomers
 Get over library obsession with statistics and
comprehensiveness.
 Get excellent at real measurements, sampling and
understanding impact and satisfaction.
(Analytics, Foresee, Pew)

71. My Personal Hobby Horses
 This is an evolution not a revolution
 We need to revisit the concept of
preservation, archives, repositories, and
conservation from an access and linked data view.
 Check out new publishing models like Flipboard.
 Watch for emerging book enhancements and
other features that will challenge library
metadata, selection policies, and collection
development.

73. A Third Path

76. Smelly Or
Yellow Sex
Liquid Appeal?

77. Consider the Whole Experience

80. Until the lion learns to write her own story, the
story will always be from the perspective of the
hunter not the hunted.

82. Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
VP strategic partnerships and markets
Cengage Learning (Gale)
Cel: 416-669-4855
stephen.abram@cengage.com
Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.com
Facebook, Pinterest: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen Abram
Twitter: @sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1