Finding the right stuff – Google v libraries – the users choice SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886 Elaine Fulton Director Scottish Library and Information Council and CILIP in Scotland

What might the future look like? SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

What do we need to consider? What is the user of the future going to be like? The challenges public libraries and others face to compete with search engines What are the unique selling points which libraries have? How do we reach communities with the right information? What does the library and information professional of the future need to provide? SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

Finding the right stuff- creating information literate society Quality Versus Quantity Information is free Make do society Google Still Not Indexing Hidden Web URLs (D-Lib Magazine July/August 2008, Volume 14 Number 7/8 ISSN ) Information behaviour of the Researcher of the Future- UCL/British Library Report, Jan 2008

The future – The Digital Native SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886 Next 20 years period of transition “Luddites” “Digital Immigrants” “Digital Natives “Digitally excluded”

Reality Check – what are the characteristics of digital natives? FT Digital Business Supplement 21/9/2007 They are video gamers with different expectations about how to learn, work and pursue careers. They are technology literate, but that does not make the media literate( or information literate). They are content creator and that shapes their notions about privacy and property. They are product and people rankers and that informs their notions of propriety. They are multi-taskers often living in a state of “continuous partial attention”, where the boundary between work and leisure is quite permeable.

The Google Generation Information literacy has not improved by widening access to technology Internet research shows that the speed of web searching means there is little time for evaluating content for relevance, accuracy or authority Young people and others have a poor understanding of their information needs – result is poor search strategies Faced with a long list of search hits they find it difficult to assess relevance and print it without reading it or worse cut and paste without regard to Copyright, IPR or Plagiarism. Huge amounts of text turns them off – increasingly click and point

What are the challenges? Power of Google – search, Google books Wikipedia Assumptions Product placement Politics – national v local priority Funding Reducing staff numbers Who cares? SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

What are our unique selling points in this increasingly virtual world? Staff knowledge of collections, learning resources and global information landscape Ubiquitous infrastructure Information mediator/Educator Collections Information Literacy Skills SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

What do we have? Scottish context IT infrastructure CAIRNS – Scotland’s Catalogues on stop search SCONE – Scottish Collections Online – local regional and global collections Cultural heritage - Scottish Collections Policy (NLS, SCURL, SLIC and Heads of PLS) Shared resources through National Procurement – e.g Know UK, Newspaper SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

What about the staff? Have the staff got the right attitude? Do we really manage them and our expectations? Do they have the right skills? How do we ensure that they do? What about the profession – cognate professional skills SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

How can public libraries compete with search engines, and should they try? Developing relevant digital content which is user focused Translate the physical library experience into a virtual one Minimise impact of IT departments within institution and at user level Enhanced on-line customer care, net navigator, educator Support information literacy programmes Change focus from service being about buildings to being about the user SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

How can libraries compete with search engines, and should they try? Interaction between People, content and finding stuff – crowd sourcing Sectoral Networks and collaboration Exposing community resources via web, subscription resources or VLEs Virtual Mitchell Glasgow Digital Library JTOR Institutional repositories JISC learning resources Mandate Innovation to create engagement and community resources. Services in the hands of the user SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886

So what are you going to do? Staff and workforce development Digital content Engaging communities Gather evidence of value added and impact on learner. Product Placement – Web2 SLIC: Company Limited by Guarantee/ Registered in Scotland No /Scottish Charity No.SC17886