1. The Future:
FrankenLibraries or Librarytopia?
Stephen Abram, MLS
Frisco Texas Public Library
Frisco, TX
These slides are available at Stephen’s Lighthouse blog Nov. 11, 2011

2. Avoid the Climate of Poverty

8. Top-Level Benchmarks
Gale-Cengage Browse Survey
August 01, 2010 - August 31, 2010
90 90 90 89 90 90 90 90 90
88 87 87
85 84
78 77
71 75 76
73 74 74
71 72 72 72
70 70 69
68
65
62
59 59
48 48
41
37
33
30 30 30 30 30
0

9. Is there still life in
libraries in a web world?
Yes, but . . .

10. Change: Are libraries
Future Ready?

11. Strategic Choice
Are there too many choices?
Will disagreements about the
future freeze the process?

12. 1
2.0 Fill That Gap
3

13. se·duc·tion (s-dkshn) n.
1. a. The act of seducing.
b. The condition of being seduced.
2. Something that seduces or has the
qualities to seduce; an enticement.
[Latin sducti, sductin-, from sductus, past
participle of sdcere, to lead astray : s-, apart;
see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + dcere, to
lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots.]

14. Smelly Or
Yellow Sex
Liquid Appeal?

15. It’s the Whole Experience

16. News Flash
“The Internet and technology have
now progressed to their infancy”

17. 7 Gifts to Libraries, Publishers & Booksellers
1. The book isn’t dead or dying. It is evolving.
2. Our users/customers are improving.
3. Technology is going social and can support social
acts.
4. The PC isn’t dead, but, again, it’s evolving and more
mobile.
5. We know more about our customers than ever
before.
6. Talent, Insight, Community, have social value.
7. Opportunities always exist more in times of change

24. Change can happen very fast

25. Gift #1

26. The Evolution
of Books

28. GBS

29. Launched in US on June 30th

31. Expected Launch Fall 2011
Back Office: Baker & Taylor

32. Launched July 2011
$15 Billion Franchise

33. Amazon eBook Subscriptions

34. Can we frame the e-book issue so
that it can be addressed rationally?

35. Why do people read?

36. Why do people read?
1. To learn
2. To engage in hearing other’s opinions (to agree or disagree or understand)
3. To develop more knowledge about myself and develop as a whole person
4. To be entertained and laugh, to engage and interact
5. To address boredom and the inexorable progress of time
6. To research and keep up-to-date
7. To participate well in civil society (everything from news to voting)
8. To be informed (and maybe smarter)
9. To understand others (individually and culturally)
10. To escape our day-to-day lives
11. To stimulate the imagination and be inspired or spiritual
12. To write and communicate better through reading others
13. To teach
14. To have something to talk about
15. To connect with like-minded people

37. Fiction

38. Non-Fiction

41. Borders Kobo, B&N Nook, Amazon Kindle/Fire, Apple iPad, Sony Reader, etc. . . .

44. Gift #2

45. Content Spam

46. Trans-Literacy: Move beyond reading & PC skills
 Reading literacy  News literacy
 Numeracy  Technology literacy
 Critical literacy  Information literacy
 Social literacy  Media literacy
 Computer literacy  Adaptive literacy
 Web literacy  Research literacy
 Content literacy  Academic literacy
 Written literacy  Reputation, Etc.

48. List of content farms and general spammy
user generated content sites:
 All Experts (allexperts.com)  Experts Exchange (experts-exchange.com)
 Answers (answers.com)  eZine Articles (ezinearticles.com)
 Answer Bag (answerbag.com)  Find Articles (findarticles.com)
 Articles Base (articlesbase.com)  FixYa (fixya.com Helium (helium.com)
 Ask (ask.com)  Hub Pages (hubpages.com)
 Associated Content (associatedcontent.com)  InfoBarrel (infobarrel.com)
 BizRate (bizrate.com)  Livestrong (livestrong.com)
 Buzle (buzzle.com)  Mahalo (mahalo.com)
 Brothersoft (brothersoft.com)  Mail Archive (mail-archive.com)
 Bytes (bytes.com)  Question Hub (questionhub.com)
 ChaCha (chacha.com)  Squidoo (squidoo.com)
 eFreedom (efreedom.com)  Suite101 (suite101.com)
 eHow (ehow.com)  Twenga (twenga.com)
 Essortment (essortment.com)  WiseGeek (wisegeek.com)
 Examiner (examiner.com)  Wonder How To (wonderhowto.com)
 Expert Village (expertvillage.com)  Yahoo! Answers (answers.yahoo.com)
 )  Xomba (xomba.com)

52. The nasty facts
about Google &
Bing and
consumer search:
SEO / SMO
Content Farms
Advertiser-driven
Geotagging
Whack-a-Mole:
Farmer
Panda
Panda Silver

53. Gift #3

54. The Evolution
of Answers

55. Sensemaking: Too much choice

56. Why do people ask questions?

57. What are your top 10-20 questions?
What is the service portfolio model
that goes with those?

58. The Baker’s Dozen: LVA Top 13
1. Health and Wellness / Community Health / Nutrition / Diet /
Recovery
2. DIY Do It Yourself Activities and Car Repair
3. Genealogy
4. Test prep (SAT, ACT, occupational tests, etc. etc.)
5. Legal Questions (including family law, divorce, adoption, etc)
6. Hobbies, Games and Gardening
7. Local History
8. Consumer reviews (Choosing a car, appliance, etc.)
9. Homework Help (grade school)
10. Technology Skills (software, hardware, web)
11. Government Programs, Services and Taxation
12. Self-help/personal development
13. Careers (jobs, counselling, etc.)
14. Readers Advisory was 14th

59. Top 12 Patron Hobbies
Recreational Reading
Cooking & Recipes
Computers
Movies & Film
Exercise, Cycling & Walking
Traveling, Tourism & Vacations
Music
Pets
Gardening
Television Shows
Arts & Crafts
Knitting & Needlecrafts
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

60. Grocery Stores

61. Grocery Stores

62. Grocery Stores

63. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

64. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

65. Meals

66. The new
bibliography and
collection
development
KNOWLEDGE
PORTALS
KNOWLEDGE,
LEARNING,
INFORMATION &
RESEARCH
COMMONS

67. Driving the Knowledge Portal
alignment with User Behaviour

69. What does all this mean?
 The Article level universe
 The Chapter and Paragraph Universe
 Integrated with Visuals – graphics and charts
 Integrated with ‘video’
 Integrated with Sound and Speech
 Integrated with social web
 Integrated with interaction and not just interactivity
 How would you enhance a book?
 How do Libraries play the game?

70. What Are Libraries Really For?
• Community
• Learning
• Discovery
• Progress
• Research (Applied and Theoretical)
• Cultural & Knowledge Custody / Conservation
• Economic Impact

71. Questions for Libraries & Publishers Today:
1. Are our priorities right?
2. Are learning, research, discovery changing
materially and what is actually changing?
3. Books. Meh.
4. What is the role of information and
recreational reading in the real future (that is
not an extension of the past)?
5. Are we for the 21st Century world that will be
or the 20th Century one that was?

72. Gift #4

73. Mobility: Where
the Patron Is

74. Mobility

76. Gift #5

77. Libraries are
Social Institutions

78. Fun Program Ideas
 Act Like a User Day (signs, sign up, ADD, kids)
 Librarian for a Day – Homework Peer Coaching
 Fraud and ID Theft Prevention
 Facebook for Teens – Study, Sharing and Social Safety
Facebook for Adults – Work, Reputation, Jobs
 Top 20 Questions Portals Focus Groups
 eBay (Cameras, How to, Books, etc.)
 Perennial Trade / Garden Days
 Collections Slap Down
 Research Success for Adult Learners
 Download Faire / Digital Days
 23 Things TNG

82. The Virtual Handout
 The Value of Public Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-
public-libraries/
 The Value of School Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-
school-libraries/
 The Value of Academic and College Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-
academic-and-college-libraries/
 The Value of Special Libraries
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-
special-libraries/
 Library Advocacy: Save the Library Campaigns
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/01/save-the-
library-campaigns/

89. Speak Out!

90. Surprise Them!

91. toon Che
Shelfdesc
Trust Experiments!

94. The New Social Skills
 Credulity (tricks, SEO, SMO, spam, phish, farms)
 Transparent distrust and radical intellect
 The Filter Bubble
 Finding black hole data (like non-digital)
 Networking with a Closed Circle
 Beyond search to find/discover, choose/use,
understand/internalize and FORGET.
 Tagging and organizing – offline remembering
 Information ethics and creation
 Curation

95. How would this look?
 Top Reference and Research Questions
 Do you know them? Or do you know retail
sales numbers or circulation numbers better?
 Health . . .
 Career Advice and Job Finding
 Genealogy
 Homework
 Etc.

96. Chefs, counsellors, teachers, magicians
Librarians, Publishers and Booksellers play a
vital role in building the critical connections
between information , knowledge & learning.

98. Libraries
Are Social
Institutions

101. Summary
 End User Psychographic Centricity
 Focus on the Questions (Needs, CRM)
 Build or Buy Knowledge Portals (Meals)
 Emphasize Content Quality (not books)
 Expand Social Media Programs on Information
Literacy
 Advocate and Align with the Listener
Tell Stories, Have users tell stories
 Invest in Strategic Analytics – Measurements of
Impact, ROI and Value
 Collaborate vs. socialize

102. News Flash
News Flash
Shift Happens

103. Focus on the Shifts
And Innovate THERE
The biggest shift from the internet and the
web has been the social web.

105. Learn to tell a
story for
influence and
not just
Information
and
entertainment

107. Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
VP strategic partnerships and markets
Cengage Learning (Gale)
Cel: 416-669-4855
stephen.abram@cengage.com
Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.com
Facebook or Google+: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen Abram
Twitter: sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1

108. In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae