Libraries Should Become Better with Use. One indication that something is well made is that it becomes better with use.
Think about your favorite pair of jeans or a leather briefcase handed down from a father to his son. These things might not necessarily appreciate in actual monetary value but they’re nicer to use than when they were brand new. In this way, libraries should be like a nice leather briefcase. However we conceive of them a bit differently right now.
Disposable Goods Things that get better with use have to last a long time. I realize I’m a bit of a pinko and live in People’s Republic of Portland but I don’t think it takes a tremendous amount of insight to realize that such growth isn’t sustainable in the long term. Economists & Librarians: Peas in a GDPod What do consumer spending habits have to do with libraries? And just like continual increases in GDP aren’t sustainable, libraries can only optimize their operations and collection development strategies so much. We’re not at a crisis point yet. Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’ As part of the JISC funded Isthmus project we have been taking a close look not at whattechnologies our students use but at how our they use them.
We found that our students could not be usefully categorised as Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants. I.e. This distinction does not help guide the implementation of technologies it simply provides the excuse that “some people ‘just don’t get it’ which is why your new approach has failed so badly…” Anyway, our students appropriation of online services did not seem to follow a simple pattern based on skill level. It seemed to depend on if they saw the web as a ‘place to live’ or as a collection of useful tools.
The ‘Resident’ The resident is an individual who lives a percentage of their life online. The ‘Visitor’ The Visitor is an individual who uses the web as a tool in an organised manner whenever the need arises. This is of course not a polar distinction. Some of you might also be interested in our paper on Visitors and Residents: Marketing Trends To Watch - Alison Circle, Library Journal October 2009. Value Propositions That Work. By Anthony K.
Tjan | 8:15 AM September 14, 2009 In my last post, I highlighted the fact that most people can’t explain what their company does — its value proposition. The best way to start getting employees and management aligned is to understand the benefit the company is trying to deliver to its customers. Consider that there are only four types of consumer benefits that matter and by extension only four categories of value propositions that work. 1. 2. 4. Does your company’s value proposition fit in one or more of the categories above? The Disadvantage of Twitter and Facebook - Conversation Starter - HarvardBusiness.org. By Michael Schrage | 5:15 PM September 8, 2009 A single question haunts me as I write this: Will you forward this post to someone you respect?
Every day, people I like and respect — and quite a few I don’t — take a quick moment of their digital time to forward me an article, a blog post, a link, a chart, a URL, a review, a YouTube Q&A that they think I will find of interest. I confess I’m frequently astonished — both pleasantly and not — by who sends me what. When more than two people send me the same thing, I know to pay attention. I send them too, and whenever browsing online, I always make the effort to find and forward at least a couple of compelling clips and links to colleagues and clients.
Yes, I know that Facebook and other social networking platforms change the posting paradigm and render practices like forwarding a digital anachronism. I like those feelings, sure; but it’s also good business practice. Balanced Scorecard, UVa Library.