Introduction | History | Present | Future
David: *singing* “Library 101!”
Michael: *screaming off key* “The basics have changed!!”
David: “Cut”
Michael: “Sorry..I got a little excited there.”
David: “No worries, my man, this is pretty exciting stuff. We’ve got the song, the video…”
Michael: “The essays from a ton of cool, smart library folks…”
David: “The web site, the buttons, the shirts…”
Michael: “The Library 101 Project presentation, oh, and the debut of the Project, which is most of this all wrapped into one!”
David: “Yep, that’s about it”
Michael: “Well, for this time anyway. For now, we have our “Library 101 RTK” document to write.
David: “Resources and Things to Know…” Yeah, I’m gonna be sure and tell everyone that calling it “Library 101 RTK” was YOUR idea!
Michael: *gulp* Well, ok, but the point is, here on the RTK page, you and I have 101 resources and things to share with all the folks visiting and joining in the Library 101 Project fun.
David: Exactly, and we both believe that if library staff read this list and used some of the tips and resources it contains that libraries and library staff will be closer to making it through and succeeding during the social and technological change we are seeing today … and will see more of in the coming decades.
Michael: “You said it, brother. Now, let’s get to it!”
David: “Ok, you go first.”
Michael: “Ok. This first thing is that we’ll include a number in parenthesis every time we list a RTK item, so watch for those. Many will be hyperlinked and we encourage you to explore to your hearts content. When you are done reading, please send us feedback, or an essay on Library 101 or an item we missed, or…whatever! We want to hear from you! Really!”
David: “The second thing is that from here on out we aren’t going to write this like a play. 101 things is a LOT, even though we’ll do our best to make it fun and interesting to read. Let’s jump in!”
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What happened that made NOW such a critical, rare time for libraries?
Libraries have always done important work and returned value to the communities they serve. For many years, few deeply significant things changed in libraries. There certainly were changes, but these were not the major shifts to the profession that we have seen in the last few years, and will continue to experience. Even so, there are some Library 101 skills that have ALWAYS been part of libraries. These are general life skills that librarians seem to have in droves, like creativity (1), or being lifelong learners (2). Many of us have always scanned the horizon (3), looking out for what the future holds and being able to pick out the good stuff we saw and not be afraid to try new things (4). And of course, always working with the public has provided much experience for us in regards to people skills (5) and customer service (6).
As technology changed, we did adapt - for example, we learned some basic business skills, like how to type (7), how to handle ourselves during a conference call (8), and how to create an interesting presentation (9). As computer technology became practical to use in everyday business, libraries started expanding onto PCs and servers, and we started adapting the budding technology of the time to our purposes. We started creating and buying ILS systems (10), for example. We did a remarkable job of adapting new tools to our library world.
In the last 10 years we have seen another huge shift, possibly even more significant. With the relatively affordable availability of home computers connected to the web and the development and wide adoption of search tools like Google (11), the perception of need for traditional reference services (one of the more highly valued library services) started to change. We learned advanced search syntax (12) - first in tools like Dialog, then in the 1990s in search engines.
Soon, email (13) and shopping online were no longer novelties - they became mainstays for many. But even more important is this: for the first time since the advent of the telephone, television, and radio, we have a new set of electronic communication tools. And these tools started to have a huge impact on people. Finding a deal online felt GOOD! Reading email each day (usually) made us more productive … it certainly kept us in closer touch with our family and friends.
People wanted more - more processing power, more bandwidth, more ways to connect to each other. This lead us to Web 2.0, and to our set of present Library 101 skills! Read on!
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What to know and do now to remain relevant
Today, technology is a powerful driver of change in libraries, and it will stay that way for the rest of your career. So what do we do NOW? Well, for starters, there are a whole new slew of general Library 101 skills to polish up. These skills include: learning to scan the technology horizon (14), basic project management skills (15), and strategic planning (16) with technology as a major component of those strategies. And don’t get us wrong - we much prefer to focus on goals rather than on the coolness factor (17) of a shiny new tool!
Because of the new tools mentioned next, librarians need the ability to change (18). That’s probably one of our most important Library 101’s on this list! With that goes a sister skill - time management (19). Anyone got that one down yet? If so, schedule us in for a training session! Many of us are turning into people- or project-managers, so we need to learn some basic management skills (20). With that comes the ability to focus on long range planning (21), rather than on putting out fires. That’s no fun at all, and doesn’t ever really reach anyone’s goals.
Before we get to the shiny 2.0 skills, we need some basic, current, yet still-relevant-to-the-discussion PC skills! Does everyone in your library (and yes, we mean EVERYONE) know how to do basic PC troubleshooting (22)? If someone brought a laptop into your library, could you connect it to your library’s wifi network (23) without a hitch (on your end, anyway)? Not all of us have those skills yet. Can everyone in your library adequately navigate more than one open window on their computer screens (24)? How about saving documents to your library’s network (25)? Personally, can they save things to a cloud-based service (26) like Dropbox or box.net? Is everyone even familiar with those tools?
Does everyone have the ability to manage multiple account usernames/passwords without using stickynotes on the computer monitor (27)? Is everyone OS Agnostic (28), meaning that we can do simple stuff like type and save a document online, on a Mac, or on a PC without too much trouble? Here’s one of David’s little pet-peeves… can everyone use their PC’s presentation software … while presenting in front of people (29) without blaming the PC if we forget how to hit arrow keys and spacebars?
There’s also some basic website building skills that all librarians should know, like basic HTML (30) and the basics of usability testing (31). Why know these? Because you will need to use these skills when troubleshooting content on your library’s CMS (32).
OK - I said we’d need to talk 2.0 tools. Yes, you need to know the basics of emerging 2.0 tools, like Flickr (33), MySpace (34), Google Docs (35), wikis (36), and Google Maps (37). With Google Maps, you should know how to create a mashup using Google Maps and your library’s data (38). There are 3rd party tools that make this a breeze. You should be acquainted with Mint and other online banking and finance tools (39) and location-aware apps like Loopt or BrightKite (40)? We should at least read about them and check out their respective websites. Can we all buy things online (41)? Most likely - but it’s still worth mentioning, because Aunt Marge is sure to ask for help buying that sweater off eBay … when she’s at the library.
Understanding the basics of RSS (42) is also something good to know, and will translate to practically all of the current 2.0 tools. Learn it.
But let’s not stop there. How about community-building tools like Twitter (43), Facebook (44), or Linked In (45)? These are great to use. Even better is understanding the difference between Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In (46)! Why learn these tools? Well - because there’s an explosion of traffic around your digital branch (47), and these 2.0 outposts are part of that explosion. It also means that you need to get a handle on social network privacy options (48), and have a grasp of when it’s good to keep personal and work social network accounts separate (49) and when it’s not.
What do most of these emerging community-based tools have in common? They’re all about communicating! They use more Library 101’s, like IM (50) and text messaging (51). This, of course, means that u n33d the ability 2 read & comprehend txt msgs, kthxbye (52). You also need to know how to remotely collaborate with others (53) using tools like online conference calling services (54) or Skype (55). Let’s throw livestreaming (56) into the mix as well here (but only because it’s an extremely useful and cheap videoconferencing solution). And of course, using these tools means that you have to learn to communicate well - by email, txting, phone, audio, and video (57).
Heard of new media tools and services, like iTunes (58), Netflix (59), Amazon (60), Hulu (61), and YouTube (62)? Yep - if you haven’t already, be sure to learn them like the back of your hand. Because you WILL be (more likely, ARE) getting questions about them! Even better, gain some in-depth understanding of these services so you, say, know the difference between YouTube and Blip.tv (63), for example. While you’re at it, learn to actually create content and post to some of these services. Gain the ability to create a video (64) and upload it to YouTube or blip.tv, and pick up the ability to create a podcast (65) as well.
Talking about videos and podcasts leads us to content. And there are a LOT of Library 101’s related to content! Libraries now have digital audiobooks (66) and text-based ebooks (67). Librarians are writing and posting to blogs (68). We are reading them, too. Just a tiny few of our dozens of favorites include chrisbrogan.com, readwriteweb.com, walkingpaper.org, librarianinblack.net, and librarianbyday.com. Which means we need to know how a feed reader like Google Reader (69) works. But let’s not stop there. Since we are writing blog posts, we need to know how to write for the web (70) and how to write for participation (71). And that’s just when we’re playing around with text! We’re also making videos and snapping photos, right? So we need some basic photography (72) and basic photo editing skills (73). And we probably need to know how to make a video - but not just any video. We need to know how to make a good, interesting, fun video that clocks in at 2 minutes or less (74). And as we soak up this knowledge about content, let’s not forget that we need to know the difference between a format (i.e., a book) and the content housed within the format (i.e., a mystery novel) (75).
And when it comes to content, we need ways to find it. When it come to items in library specific catalogs and databases, that “way” can be via an emerging ILS tool/service (76) like SOPAC II, VuFind, Koha, or WorldCat Local (and a host of similar tools - how cool is that?).
That was a fairly hefty list of ways to create and consume content, but there is something between our patrons and the consuming of that content, right? We have to search for content and be able to find it! Search engine skills were already named in the Past section above … but there are some other search-related skills you should know about in this day and age. You should know what a vanity search (77) is, and how to set up alerts via RSS and email (78) for those vanity searches. You should also be familiar with a couple of good urban myth-busting sites (79), and know how to not be taken in by an online scam (80).
Mobile technology is both interesting and wildly popular across the entire globe and there is a very real mobile revolution going on right now. Libraries have to know about it, understand the current and impending implications, and then makes choices about how to best engage with this type of information access and interaction. We certainly need to at least go play with an iPhone (81) and compare it with other cell phones/hand held computers to see where mobile tech is headed. In fact, we should do the same with pretty much any cool new smart phone (82). And knowing how to access the app stores (83) for each of them (because your patrons might, and should really, be coming to us for help with exactly this sort of situation!). While we’re at it, figuring out the basics of a variety of ipod/mp3 players (84) that your local community uses is another Library 101.
As is clear to most folks reading this, there is an online revolution going on right now that is unlike any in human history. We are connecting, consuming, and creating like never before. Some of us are “connected” and online almost all the time … and while this next item might seem like an abrupt jump to some, given the level of connectedness we have today, we desperately need to learn the basics of marketing and promotion (85). But in order to do that, we first need to be able to find our local online community (86), don’t we? We might even need to teach social tools and online social skills to our local community (87). Online and offline, we also need to develop the ability to mingle with our local community (88). We’ve been doing that in our library buildings for ages. Now we need to learn to do this outside of our buildings, be that physically or digitally outside.
One last thing for the present. All those tools your library uses? All those databases, catalogs, and social networking tools? All that software you offer on your public PCs for patrons? Yep, you guessed it. You need to be able to use all the tools in your library (89), so you can teach patrons how to use them.
We have an amazing opportunity, and a wild ride before us in, the Future…
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What to expect in the next 10-30 years
Hi-fi Sci-fi Library!
The changes libraries might see in the next 10-30 years will be unlike any other. The changes will be even more dramatic than what we saw when electronic cataloging, electronic interlibrary loan, online document retrieval and web-based searching appeared on our horizons. Future library service models and interactions will, with very rare exceptions, ALL have electronic communication as part of the transaction (which is why we mentioned all those tools earlier!).
How about the future of content? Is your library ready for primarily online news (93), and a shift to online books, music, and videos (94)? Have you thought about how on-demand printing (95) of books might impact your library’s public printers? And that’s not even touching the surface of augmented reality (96), which might be mobile, wifi-enabled, and will shift as you move down the street. Screens will be evolving (97), too. Look out for more projector-based touch screens (like the Microsoft Surface) and foldable e-paper, for example. But even more important is this: right now, most of our favorite online community and content tools are run by corporations. Those corporations aren’t really thinking about us libraries. Are we ready to start figuring out how to navigate those huge shifts (98)?
The level of care almost all library professionals put into their work and community is here to stay. The core values of libraries and librarianship are here to stay. The larger mission and noble principles of librarianship are here to stay as well. But, if the library of the future is to succeed, thrive and achieve its larger mission and goals, there is actually very little room for much of what is thought of as traditional librarianship.
Stereotypes will fade away in the library of the future. Like what? We’re talking about things like this: the librarian sitting behind a desk much of the day, using primarily in-house, offline resources, relying mostly on books and letting books be our primary “brand” association for our users; shushing; largely letting people come to us rather than being where our users are; often resisting emerging technology due to expense, fear or the much-used “That’s not the way we’ve always done it” excuse. Making these things go away now is a choice for us; eventually, they will be thrust upon us in often unpleasant ways.
While the future is impossible to actually predict, there are powerful hints out there, many of which are linked on this Library 101 RTK page. We can see these clues to the future continually pop up as we become more deeply engaged with meshing technology and libraries to accomplish our ultimate goals of information access and community improvement.
Look no further than emerging tools like the beta invite of Google Wave (90), which combines familiar tools like wikis, IM, and real time updates (91) in a new and engaging way. Your server room might just be shrinking, with the realization of enterprise cloud computing (92). These developments, to many, may seem disconnected from how we serve the public directly in the library or how our future will evolve for us as library professionals - but watch carefully, keep scanning and learning. As more of us are realizing, the fairly near future is going to be full of the most powerful, and potentially positive changes that libraries have, and maybe ever will face.
Wow. Some of our jobs might be disappearing while other, still-emerging jobs and job skills will be created (99). Are you ready to navigate the unknown (100)? Are you ready to … add to this list (101)? OK - that last one might seem like, “Aww, man. They just did that ’cause they ran out of stuff to talk about!” Not really - given about 20 minutes and a good cup of coffee, we could easily come up with another set of 100 things we think librarians should know, and at least some of you would agree with us!
But reason 101 IS important. Because YOU will be creating the future. For yourselves. For us (David and Michael say, “Please make it a good one!”). For your patrons. For our world! So please - go and make your Library 101!
History
1. creativity
2. lifelong learning
3. scanning the horizon
4. try new things
5. people skills
6. customer service
7. how to type
8. conference call tips
9. how to create presentations
10. ILS systems
11. online search tools
12. advanced search syntax
13. email
Present
14. scan the technology horizon
15. project management
16. strategic planning
17. able to focus on system-wide goals
18. ability to change
19. time management
20. basic management skills
21. ability to focus on long range planning
22. basic PC troubleshooting
23. able to connect to wifi networks
24. able to navigate multiple open windows on a PC
25. saving documents to library’s network
26. saving to a cloud-based service
27. manage multiple account usernames/passwords
28. OS Agnostic
29. able to use presentation software
30. basic HTML
31. basics of usability testing
32. CMS
33. Flickr
34. MySpace
35. Google Docs
36. wikis
37. Google Maps
38. able to create a mashup using Google Maps and library data
39. online banking and finance tools
40. Location-aware apps
41. buy things online
42. RSS
43. Twitter
44. Facebook
45. Linked In
46. understanding the difference between Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In
47. digital branch
48. social network privacy options
49. know when it’s good to keep personal and work social network accounts separate
50. IM
51. text messaging
52. read & comprehend text messages
53. remotely collaborate with others
54. online conference calling services
55. Skype
56. livestreaming
57. communicate well by email, txting, phone, audio, and video
58. iTunes
59. Netflix
60. Amazon
61. Hulu
62. YouTube
63. know the difference between YouTube and Blip.tv
64. ability to create a video
65. ability to create a podcast
66. digital audiobooks
67. text-based ebooks
68. blogs
69. Google Reader
70. how to write for the web
71. how to write for participation
72. basic photography
73. basic photo editing skills
74. how to make a good, interesting, fun video
75. know the difference between a format and the content housed within the format
76. emerging ILS tools and services
77. vanity searches
78. alerts via RSS and email
79. urban myth-busting sites
80. how to not be taken in by an online scam
81. iPhones
82. new smart phones
83. app stores
84. basics of a variety of ipod/mp3 players
85. marketing and promotion
86. able to find our local online community
87. teach social tools and online social skills to our local community
88. ability to mingle with our local community
89. able to use all library tools
Future
90. Google Wave
91. real time updates
92. realization of enterprise cloud computing
93. primarily online news
94. online books, music, and videos
95. on-demand printing
96. augmented reality
97. Basic grasp of evolving electronic screen and monitor options
98. Figure out how to deal with media corporations that steal market share from libraries
99. changing job market
100. ready to navigate the unknown
101. Ready to add to this list
Hi! Thank you so much for reading this - you don’t know how much we appreciate you for it!
But Michael and I know that this list is … well … OUR list. You guys have great ideas, too! And that’s why we want to hear from you.
What would you add to this list? What’s a “Library 101″ to you? Please let us know in the comments, and add to this list - let’s make it Library 201/301/401/etc.
What’s YOUR Library 101?
Great job on 101! Loved the presentation, and this is an incredibly AWESOME idea!
That’s a lot of food for the mind, yummy. Being a librarian I’m always hungry for this kind of food. Let’s eat!
Maybe I would add something like educational/instructional skills. Better teach the user to fish than to give him fish.
That will make more fisherman, ergo more fish, ergo more food, ergo more eating!
[…] what to keep and what to change. The Library 101 site , also launched this morning has a section of Resources and Things to Know plus a collection of 24 essays around the theme. David and Michael “asked some widely known […]
Great list - I am excited to click the links and learn. At my school library we are now starting to teach about Creative Commons. I think that librarians need to be clear on copyright and they should know how to use the creative commons. I’d add that to your list.
[…] From the Web Site: We both believe that if library staff read this list and used some of the tips and resources it contains that libraries and library staff will be closer to making it through and succeeding during the social and technological change we are seeing today … and will see more of in the coming decades. […]
[…] This post was Twitted by ljodoin […]
David and Michael, This is an excellent list.
[…] from some of the greatest minds in Libraryland (and David King and I too;)? Have you looked at the carefully selected list of 101 hyperlinked resources that share critically important things to think about and know in order to ensure a vibrant future […]
I love it! The AALL core competencies are just theory. This puts theory into practice. I’m going to make sure I am familar with everything on the list.
My brain just exploded when I looked at the list of things we librarian are supposed to know.
The list is plenty ambitious! If this is “101″, I shudder to think what “201″, “301″ includes
My concern is that it is just too overwhelming.
There’s also a mix of items listed from broad attributes like “creativity”, to skill sets that range from the broad “people skills” to narrower skill sets like “basic photography”.
Then there are “fact/knowledge” items like “know the difference between”…
Still nice list, there are some on the list that I always wanted to work on, but haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet.
To the list of future skills, I’d add understanding the basics of the semantic web and what linked data is. Not that you need to know how to build triple stores and encode in RDFa, but just know the basic about the technology and the affordances it may offer information online.
[…] mellett itt az idĹ‘ a cserĂ©re. Ehhez nyĂşjt segĂtsĂ©get a Library 101, többek közt egy 101 elemes listával (RTK – Resources and Things to Know), amelynek segĂtsĂ©gĂ©vel szĂ©pen fel lehet Ă©pĂteni a […]
[…] addition to the video, there is a skills list and a collection of essays. (David and Michael kindly asked me to contribute one, so if you’d […]
Would be interested in writing about ISEN as an emerging LIS standard and the jobs it creates for librarians and the new skills it requires.
[…] quem nĂŁo sabe exatamente do que se trata, o tĂtulo do projeto implica que existe um conjunto fundamental de habilidades e conhecimentos que todos os bibliotecários deveriam ter, e esse projeto Ă© baseado na definição/redefinição desse […]
How is a link to the iPhone page a Library 101 Skill? I think it would be more helpful to link to an article that talks about library approaches to cell phones/the iPhone. A cursory search pulled up an article infinitely more helpful:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6667421.html
I bring this up not to be snotty, but to make a point. Just offering links to Youtube or Google Wave don’t do anything to prepare librarians for technological innovation. In fact, landing on a near-empty Google page might be a deterrent to those interested in learning more. If you’re going to bring up a specific service or product, please link to a more insightful resource.
Darren,
This is exactly why we wanted comments on this page. We certainly know it isn’t perfect and that there are many, many ways to make and refine such a list. So thanks! I like the link you sent more myself too. Keep ‘em coming!
[…] Library 101 is more than just a video, it’s a project with a website that includes essays from libraryland leaders about what Library 101 means to them. Â It also has a great source page that lists 101 Things to Know. […]
Just to put this out there: I have found www.trendwatching.com to be invaluable in predicting what is coming in marketing ideas. I can often clearly see the things we need to know as librarians and library marketers in there. I found this month’s issue to particularly push me out of my complacency.
Hope this is a springboard for someone!
Michael,
Thanks for your thorough and thoughtful comments on my blog re:Library101. Look, I’m a long time reader of your blog and find you very humorous and incredibly eager to enact change, two things I greatly admire. And yes, the shark story is not only true, but probably one of the least gross events I dealt with in that job.
Reading your comments I thought I had a realization that you guys are concentrating on public libraries and therefore perhaps I, who had long since moved out of the public library system, did not see this properly. But I’m, still having some issues.
I think my focusing in on Hulu and the like (and I know I’m not the only one) is because I see it as somewhat of a cop-out. You give examples of specific apps to which you even comment on my blog, “I clearly understand many of the reasons *why* this service isn’t offered though a library channel of some sort, but to me, it typifies how far from the mark we have becoming in providing some types of access to electronic content.”
Yes, very true. But what I really think is missing is strong examples in other libraries.
The question I’m most often asked is “How did I do it?” How did I go from a music librarian in a public library to being a big wig library director in multi-national companies? How did you manage to create certain consortia? And part of that is a willingness to be open, to learn, to sell yourself, and to network.
THESE things should be listed to make libraries survive, with specific examples. Obviously that includes knowing current tech trends, but just listing this stuff simplifies it way too much.
And the point is it’s NOT easy. Sure, it’s easy to learn how to tweet or vlog, but it takes work to make it happen for your organization. I find this the most frustrating aspect of this.
You guys make a very dire threat, which I can buy into, that libraries need to be better at things. I just don’t think it’s as simple as picking up the 101 things here.
This is the same issue I had with a lot of 2.0 folk. Show relevant examples of libraries that HAVE done this. Show that it took time and work and show them how it was done. It should be a learning experience.
If it was so easy, libraries wouldn’t be in the trouble we are in now!
Best,
Dan
Dan - Thanks for the comments! Good stuff.
Michael and I are both pretty focused on the more online aspects of librarianship at the moment, so that’s admittedly where the things on that list came from. And yes, I work in a public library, so if the list reads public-library-centric, it’s probably my fault.
More on Hulu - I don’t see including it as a cop-out. It’s quite possible we could have been clearer with out 101 article (after all, a post with 101 things on our library 101 site is highly contrived). But still - we never said “all librarians have to learn to use Hulu.” Instead, we said (in the section on Present skills) librarians should be familiar with multimedia content tools LIKE Hulu. Why? The low-hanging fruit is that of a useful multimedia search and content tool.
But more importantly, emerging services like Hulu, iTunes, or Netflix represent a potential subscription-based future for multimedia content, and libraries need to start thinking about licensing issues for that stuff now. Are they ready to move to an all-digital model? Do they know where to start and who to call? I’m not thinking so.
Another example - yes, we listed Facebook. But the larger issue (also listed) is being able to discern the difference in social media services, enough that you can guide library users to appropriate tools. And knowing where best to plant your own content, depending on what’s used in your user community.
And YES - I very much agree with you that “the willingness to be open, to learn, to sell yourself, and to network” should be included (we actually did include some of this - lifelong learning (2), marketing and promotion (85 - I’m equating that to your “learn to sell yourself” - is that what you meant there?), #86 and #88 cover networking in your community). But we didn’t include Opennness - and we certainly should have.
So I could be wrong here, but I think we sort of agree - but maybe we’re coming at it from two different angles?
Again - thanks for commenting, both here and on your blog. We asked for discussion, and you provided some great points to think about - so thanks!
So…Library 101 is just core competencies renamed? Although I appreciate the nostalgic value of trying to make everything look like 1983, this page (and the L101 video) are quite frankly painful to view and vague about what they hope to accomplish. There’s a difference between being campy and embarrassing yourself.
I’m having a hard time thinking of anybody I know in a library profession that isn’t already technologically competent and/or willing to learn any new technology the minute one single patron has a question about it. I know Luddite librarians exist, but how likely are they to ever discover or care about the Library 101 gestalt much less follow it? I mean, since this thing has been all over library-oriented social media the last couple of days aren’t you preaching to the choir?
I work in a large urban library. My fellow adult reference librarians can search like nobody’s business. They have now all mastered our recent switch from text-based to i-notes email.
They can often type a word document. A couple have overcome their fear of spreadsheets. About 3 have made power point presentations.
Many visit websites daily to look for information or read posts. Very few of them know what a newsreader is. Fewer still understand why they might ever need one.
Connect anybody’s computer to our wifi? Most of our staff throw their hands over their heads and run in terror to the troubleshooting handout we have and thrust it in the customer’s face.
Facebook? Social Networking? Not on City time. Forbidden, not by the library but by it’s governing body - The City. Our library technical staff are all over this. They’re ready to go. What they can do they are not allowed to do.
We have one city employee allowed to twitter. And we are a large city. That employee can only twitter announcements for unique programs. Not daily storytime. Unique one-time-only programs. And that is an experiment.
What we have here is a huge gap that libraryland alone can not fill. 101 and competencies are great. We can’t all get to them until old fears are eased and our governing bodies understand why we need to be using these tools. Urgently.
How do we create that urgent need among our City Tech people, library managers, and immovable colleagues?
J- Not sure how to productively respond to your comment other than to say that I’m glad you took the time to say what you thought. We expected that not everyone would enjoy or appreciate the way Library 101 has been presented. All David and I can promise you and everyone reading this is that we worked as hard as we could to be as useful and practical and appropriate as we could be. We are grateful that the large majority of folks reading this appreciate that and expect that some will disagree. As long as constructive, useful, mutually respectful dialogue comes from this, we are deeply grateful for it. Regarding your “trying to make everything look like 1983″ comment goes, that was, as I imagine you clearly know, not our intent. That you read it as such is something we will pay attention to in our similar future endeavors. David and I both thank you for taking the time you did to leave a comment. We would also like to make note to everyone that “J” left their comment without clearly identifying who they were, even in private to us, which is something that could make anonymous, unproductive and potentially destructive comments easier to make. At this point will are happy to assume positive intentions, J, but in future will be watching more closely for potentially unproductive or even flat out mean, destructive comments. We don’t take this task lightly and promise to respond as best we can to all comments, either here or via our own private email accounts if you leave your contact info.
J - No, not really competencies, though that’s certainly part of it. And sorry you weren’t able to understand what the site’s about!
Embarrassing ourselves? We weren’t embarrassed.
As to the last part of your comment - take a peek at the comment right below yours, by Anne. I can vouch for her viewpoint, too - I speak at quite a few staff days and conferences, and have found that Anne is pretty much describing staff at an average library.
So yeah - it IS a huge problem, and one we’re hoping to start tackling with this project. Any helpful ideas?
Anne - thanks for your comment! And you are SO right - for many public libraries at least, fear and misguided city administrators are a hard hurdle to leap.
How can we get past that? Good questions - and ones I don’t have easy answers to. I certainly have some thoughts on it, but I’ll have to ponder that a bit, and get back to you. It might actually make a good blog post - one I can start, and have others chime in on.
Okay - so I blogged a bit about this last week. I figured I’d put my two cents’ worth here.
I really like the concept of Library 101 - although I also think that it’s handling an area that SHOULD have already been covered through the qualification and continuing professional development of library professionals through your professional association, whether it be ALA, CILIP, etc. I have a few misgivings about the basis for our professional practice being set through online collaboration, and whilst it’s great for discussion and sharing ideas, if we’re really serious about progressing our profession in terms of skills, competencies, knowledge, etc then we should aim for more of an evidence-based approach and get the backing of our professional associations in terms of course accreditation. Without that, this will be seen by many professionals as simply hype or “televangelistic” library science.
I would also suggest considering having different streams of “Library 101″. For example, “Public Library 101″ would be quite different to “Academic Library 101″, and equally so with “School Library 101″, “Health Library 101″, “Law Library 101″ and so on. Whilst they have some elements in common, the context of the work dictates so much. In some areas, such as public libraries, Web 2.0 might be a priority, whereas in a school library it’s more about teaching methods and child psychology, or in an academic library you need a strong knowledge of scholarly conventions and academic databases. Similarly, areas such as copyright, reader development, metadata standards, database architecture, etc are all somewhat complex areas which would be essential knowledge in some library environments, but completely unnecessary in other library environments. And they are ALL changing with the times, so the argument for Library 101 is equally as valid across the spectrum. I think that this kind of “streamed” approach might also help head-off the argument that the project is only relevant to certain areas of librarianship.
Anyway, all the best. I’ll keep an eye on the page and keep throwing some ideas into the mix.
I apologize for excessive snarkiness. However…
Libraries provide access to information. You’ve listed 101 of the thousands of types of information available. Yes, these are some of the most relevant–this month. Some will inevitably disappear (remember GeoCities?) and others will shift function or focus (like MySpace concentrating on music). I guess I’m still just missing the purpose of ennumerating them at all.
Maybe there will be converts. I hope so, but so far most sentiments seem to be essentially “thank you for making a big production about something I already know and support.”
I wish I did have constructive suggestions. Maybe consider adding some of the following:
*Copier/printer troubleshooting.
*Grantwriting to pay for hardware and software.
*Digital and print copyright issues (Creative Commons licensing, DRM, etc.).
“How do we create that urgent need among our City Tech people, library managers, and immovable colleagues?”
That is an excellent and highly relevant question, but somehow I doubt the answer is a video that looks like a clip from Between the Lions or “Shiny Happy People” without the irony. I do sympathize with your plight, Anne, but isn’t begging the city for adequate funding a higher priority than begging for permission to tweet? If you get either, let us all know how.
Oh, and since an email address is required to post a comment I did leave contact info, just not publicly in order to avoid the pitchforks and torches.
The tweet comment was an example. An example of how current popular technologies are not being used to build community.
You tweet, you’re in that community. People are learning of your services through the social media they now use to receive such information - twitter is just one example of how that social media.
If you’re participating in the social networking community, the community listens and responds. Conversation results. Conversation creates support of libraries and knowledge of the needs of the library.
Posters, newsletters, newspaper ads,email reference and other current technologies used by libraries to promote services are good. But do they easily allow for community-creating conversation?
Email reference can be useful for this. Our traditional in-person service is terrific for this. The other ones, not so much.
By not participating in that social exchange, we are missing a large and growing demographic. We are missing a way to get our message out, get feedback, and gain support.
The kicker? Twitter is free to use. It will take an hour’s investment each day to start to enter into the conversation. This hour could be spread among many staff so it has low impact. I’ve heard rumors of ways to auto-twitter so even less time is spent looking for things that need response.
Let me be clear, there is no doubt in my mind that we must focus on funding at this point. We received a message today about the next budget cuts that I never thought I’d see in the 22 years I’ve been a librarian.
Both quantitative measures and subjective observations must be used to support funding requests. No question there.
What I am seeing, what is happening here, is that low and no-cost effective technology is being ignored because of fear.
It’s as frustrating as when we first got email and it scared the pants of City IT because we might spend hours on it instead of “working.”
A 101 that puts a spin on Michael’s inclusion of Hulu, David suggested I post here after putting this on my blog (quote from Michael about the rationale behind including Hulu and other media delivery services is linked on the blog) -
I wholeheartedly agree that we need legal and technical skills not only to make such content available in libraries, as Michael says, but also the skill, will, and momentum to advocate successfully to challenge licensing and contractual agreements that currently prevent or curtail libraries from making electronic content available.
I’m a bit surprised to not see anything about Readers Advisory, both old school (I like Nora Roberts and hate romance, what other books do you have) and with all the new shiny tech tools (nings, blogs, twitter, trailers, etc.)
I’d also add an understanding of copyright and libraries.
What else? The ability to interact with all patrons, of all ages and abilities including developmental abilities.
And to quasi plug my employer, an awareness of the non-commercial audiobooks and Braille available through the National Library Services for the Blind & Physically Handicapped & also Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic.
Liz, good points all around. David and I made *our* library 101 knowing other folks would put different things on their Library 101 lists (not that we really think people will do this, but you know, its a conversation starter/thought exercise anyway). One things I wish is that we had made this more clear so that some folks wouldn’t think we actually though *we* could make everybody’s 101 basics. Well, that and we wish a handful of people out there would have read things more carefully to know this, but I digress..
I totally agree that the things you listed are quite important and I’m glad you mentioned them. The disability issues are really important too, and while David and I didn’t mention it in our 101 list, hope that technology continues to help libraries serve members of our communities that deal with these types of issues in their day to day lives.
We appreciate your additions and the additions made by the other folks so far. Please keep them coming! Whats missing from this list for you?
Some very good points here - but if this is a webpage which is aimed at the improvement of global librarianship, then it’s important to try and say ‘your mileage may vary’. In the UK, for example, most librarians will not be allowed near a CMS, and some libraries no longer input metadata at all…
In this vein, then, it’s also vital to try and address the ‘dark side’ of Librarianship 101 - what are our restrictions? What should we be aware of that may limit our choices for a new frontier in librarianship? As well as ‘being aware of frauds’, we need to be aware of restrictive practices (such as leaving library stock choice to a company, rather than hand-picking items for a collection of books); of practices that end with hard copy and do not extend into the digital realm (the management of serials, or, what to do when the subscriptions run out); and of the pitfalls of becoming ‘just another store’. We are librarians, and we should be proud of what we do - and if that means a defence of how we work with books AS WELL AS digital media, I’m all for it.
Miles,
EXCELLENT points. Part of why David and I wanted to do this was so we could hear what other people had to say…and your response here typifies what we had hoped we might be able to hear…and learn from. You make most excellent points and agree that what you mention is critical.
We’ve been wondering how to manage the next iteration of the “101 RTK” (an admittedly fussy acronym) and as comments like yours come in it seems that there will clearly be myriad 101’s which are dependent on each library staff members professional coverage. In think about this though, the issues you bring up do seem to be larger, yes? More of a core set of key things to be aware of. Certainly 101’s…at least in my estimation.
Thanks so much fro adding you comments and thoughts…and thank you for learning here with us all!
Hi Michael and David Lee,
I was doing some brainstorming on the internet for my Intro to library and Info Services class when I came upon your site. I have just scratched the surface of your RTK and I think it is fantastic. Thanks for doing all the legwork. This is a great resource.
Warmest regards,
Barbara J
[…] calling himself "Libraryman" has a Complete List of Library 101 Skills for those without the tolerance to sit through the excruciating video. Among the "skills" […]
Yes, you have a good point here. Now I have some knowledge about the concept of library 101. I’ve bookmarked this post for future references. Thanks man.
[…] a look at Library 101. No, go look. It’s “101 Resources & Things to Know.” Great list, right? Makes you really think about your own skills, and patrons, and what your […]
[…] a look at Library 101. No, go look. It’s “101 Resources & Things to Know.” Great list, right? Makes you really think about your own skills, and patrons, and what your […]