Idaho Commission for Libraries

Over 100 people gathered Tuesday evening to hear Stephen Abram talk about the “Information Tornado.” The group included the 90 participants registered for the full conference, a Representative from the Idaho Legislature, and about 11 others that were interested in hear what Mr. Abram had to say about the future of library services.

After a brief delay due to a technical difficulty (the microphone wasn’t functioning), we were well under way. State Librarian Ann Joslin provided an overview of how we got to this point. From the 1998 Futures Conference to the 2020 Vision Think Tank held in August of 2005, the Idaho Commission for the Libraries (ICFL) is now working with the 2020 Vision that provides a number of strategies to help the Idaho library community achieve that Vision. After a brief introduction, Stephen Abram took the stage.

Stephen is, by far, one of the most engaging and entertaining speakers I have had the opportunity to hear. The information came fast and furiously. I found myself often grateful for knowing his presentation was being videotaped. Once available on the ICFL webpage, I’m sure I will watch it repeatedly in order to soak up all the great information.

I went home later in the evening mulling over the exciting possibilities of developing new skills and hopeful for all the opportunities ahead for Idaho libraries. Here are a few of things that me thinking long into the night:

First, we talk about Dorothy (a la Wizard of Oz). Why, oy why, did this young girl want to go home? An orphan, locked out of her home during a storm, a mean lady threatening to kill her dog… who DESIRES that? Do we librarians have the tendancy to want to “go home” like Dorothy did? Do we long for the simple days of filing catalog cards? As someone who once filed catalog cards, I can tell you that I do not wish to return there. This is something I need to remind myself when I find myself wishing for “simple” during those times when the technology is challenging me. And, believe me, there are times the technology is just overwhelming to me.

Stephen said that people who borrow books read different books than those who buy books.

Why are we promoting the availability of best sellers when there’s a waiting line with 40-100 people in order to check out that best seller from the library? We have strength in the Long Tail.

Online gaming: it’s where learning is happening. How can we deliver services in a way that appeals to gamers?

Books via Google: We are 4 years away from Google having 15 million books online. How many libraries have that many books? What will we do when our customers can find those 15 million books online, for free? What is our plan to deal with this? Will we put the records (and links) for those books in our OPACs?

What will libraries do if what happened to music happens with books and articles? That is, what will we do when a customer can buy a chapter or an article for 99 cents online? I wonder: where is our market?

MySpace - is 45% of all Internet traffic. That’s more than Google. Will we ban it’s use? Will we teach people how to safely and effectively use it?

The CD and DVD formats will retire by 2012. Things are going digital. Almost half of public library circulation is those formats. Are we prepared to circulate digital?

My Golden Nugget from Stephen: Take 15 minutes a day to learn something new. It’s not a huge commitment and you add up a huge list of new skills. It only takes 15 minutes (or less) to create a blog, to add photos to Flickr, to read about RSS (or set up your own feed), to learn about new social networking site, etc…

I’m writing this 24 hours after Stephen’s presentation. I decided to see if it was true. In less than 15 minutes I created a Flickr account and uploaded pictures from the Conference. Less than 15 minutes. And I have a new skill to add to my skill set. Check one thing off the list!