I will attempt to distill what amounted to a full day jam-packed with information. With fellow librarians, we gathered in Devens to hear keynote speakers, network, and check out vendors.
The first speaker was John Carroll, a WUBR radio personality, who talked about “Mess Media” – and how the media has gone from being a horizontal, locally run set of entities, to a vertical, major network owned body. Most of today’s media is owned by one of the 5 huge networks, and is so cross promoted, that TV show premiers are being treated as news, and news is being sensationalized into entertainment. He ended his talk questioning when the backlash will occur, when the masses tire of American Idol and Twitter, where will they turn for substance? Libraries.
Christopher Mackie, of the Mellon Foundation, called his talk “Doing More with Less” – everyone knows the economy has hurt libraries, causing them to slash budgets, lay off workers, shorten business hours, and in some cases, close branches. Mackie suggested that collaboration is how libraries are going to weather the storm. Open source software, working with consortia, and using tools like OLE – which stands for Open Library Environment, where librarians can share openly, knowledge with 120+ other institutions instantly – helping to absolve the dichotomy between traditional and e-libraries – are all examples Mackie used as examples of collaboration.
The last speaker was Steve Coffman, VP of LSSI. He suggested a “Library as a Bookstore” model for some libraries. Mentioning that when big box stores started looking at designs/merchandising, they took many notes from libraries. Comfy chairs and study areas, programs and readings, and providing access to lots and lots of books. Coffman suggests it is time for libraries to look at what makes large chain bookstores so successful and possibly adopt some of their business models – such as being open more hours per day, hiring more part-time workers (who aren’t professionals, but rather book lovers), place emphasis on self-service. Perhaps what he is suggesting is the libraries of the future.
As a side note – Nelinet did spend some time presenting it’s proposed merger with Lyrasis – another large consortium. If the vote (which is active from June 2-16) passes, Lyrasis will encompass approximately 1/3 of the US – streamlining collaboration, best practices, and media transfers between these libraries.
