When SEMLS offers its Basic Library Techniques (BLT) Administration class for directors of small public libraries, our Assistant Administrator for Continuing Education and Consulting, Cheryl Bryan, asks that I prepare a presentation on major technology trends that are impacting our users and/or should be incorporated into public library service.
I often attend workshops and read articles about new technologies being implemented at large academic institutions or other technologies that are in the distant future. However, the trends I'm highlighting when I pull this list together are ones that are already making major inroads with our user populations. These are trends to which libraries should be paying attention now, not in some far distant future.
In fact, the list doesn't just highlight technology. In some cases, the trends I identified were really shifts in the way libraries are delivering service. Technology is just a root cause of this change.
I identified the following five trends in my Technology Trends for Libraries PowerPoint for this year's class:
- Mobility Now - We've been talking about handheld devices for years, but we've reached the point where we need to stop talking about mobile devices and start providing services to users of these devices. The use of smartphones and other mobile devices has led to dramatic changes in user expectations for the way they access and use information. The July 2009 Wireless Internet Use report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that one-third of Americans has used a cellphone or smartphone to access the Internet, up one-third since December 2007. For some, the use of a mobile device is the primary means of accessing the Internet.
How are libraries responding to this shift? Some, like Falmouth Public Library and Memorial Hall Library in Andover, are providing text reference services. Others are building mobile-friendly Web sites and developing library apps for smartphones. You can learn more about mobile library services at the upcoming SEMLS workshop, the Mobile Library. SEMLS is also planning to do a group registration for the Handheld Librarian Online Conference II. More details will be available in the forthcoming SEMLS CE calendar. - Meeting the Customer on Their Turf - We can no longer expect library users to meet us in our space. Most users will only visit your Web site when they have a need to use library services. They may not visit at the time you are promoting that great new program they may be interested in. Online, we need to reach out to these users in their spaces, using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In the physical world, we can set up lockers in convenient locations where users can pick up and drop off their library materials. Maybe we can start delivering materials to their doorsteps as well.
- Year of the e-Reader - After many stabs at introducing devices to support e-Books, the market is finally offering devices that people are using. In addition to the Kindle, we have current and forthcoming e-Readers from Sony, Barnes and Noble, and Asus. Libraries should be trying out this new technology and offering readers for their patrons to borrow. It not only gives staff and patrons an opportunity to try a new technology, but it can also be a means to providing a book that may not be on the shelf at the time a patron needs it. Give staff the authority to purchase and download those books at the point of request.
- Cloud computing - Cloud computing is the practice of taking tasks that were traditionally done on a desktop computer or server and doing them with a Web-based service instead. Cloud computing can relieve staff time that is used to install and maintain these programs locally. It also allows users to access their information from any computer, not just the one computer where the program is installed. Some ways you can use cloud computing is to start backing up your data to mozy.com, backblaze.com or carbonite.com. You can also use a site like Delicious to save your bookmarks. For writing and sharing documents, use Google Docs or Zoho. No software installation is required, and those documents are accessible from any computer with Internet access.
- Technology Competencies - Technology competencies are the core technology skills and knowledge library staff need to provide effective library service in 2009. Technology is not something that staff just needs to learn once so that they can get back to the work of providing library service. It is an ongoing learning process that needs to be part of the daily work culture of your library. The California Library Association has developed a list of technology core competencies for California library workers. Use this list as a checklist with library staff to see if they are meeting the minimum technology skills that are required in a modern library. SEMLS provides On the Road workshops that can address those areas where staff skills are weak.
These competencies from California are already four years old, and if staff are still struggling with these skills, they will not be able to deal with the new skills that are required to work with the other trends in this list. The longer it takes to bring staff up to speed with these technology skills, the further your library will fall behind in providing relevant services to your users.
What a Difference Three Years Makes
The last time I identified technology trends for the BLT Administration class was in November 2005. The trends I identified at that time were:
- Wireless networks
- RFID
- Gadgets (mobile devices, eBooks and flash drives)
- Making Your Web Site the Electronic Branch of Your Library
- RSS
- New Ways of Communication (IM, text messaging, VOIP)
- Collaboration with Web Conferencing and Wikis
