Tag Archives: future

The Next Chapter: A Look into the Library Future

by Jessica Posted on April 23, 2012

TBLC is proud to announce two sessions with library futurist Joan Frye Williams entitled The Next Chapter: A Look into the Library Future, News of Successful Changes, and a Preview of Opportunities for Moving Forward.  

Every day brings news about one trend or another: print books are on the way out, people under thirty conduct their entire lives on their smart phones, social media are replacing traditional advertising, and the Baby Boomers are trying to prove that 70 is the new 50. OK, fine but which of these stories have real relevance for libraries? And what are we supposed to DO about them?

According to library consultant and futurist Joan Frye Williams, we won’t keep libraries strong in a changing world just by chasing the latest trends. On the other hand, we won’t fulfill our mission by hanging back, content to rest on our laurels. To keep our work focused and meaningful, we’ll need to ask new questions, set new priorities, exploit new techniques, and renegotiate our relationships with the communities we serve.

Fortunately, the prospects for this kind of transformation are quite hopeful. Joan will share her insights about

  • Emerging and submerging roles for libraries
  • Promising tools and technologies
  • Opportunities for innovation and collaboration
  • What we can stop doing and what it’s safe to ignore
  • How to stop worrying about doing more with less and start thinking about doing different with less

Be prepared for a lively discussion, a few surprises, and lots of ideas about how we can focus our energies to do the right work, get credit for doing it, and maybe even have a little fun in the process! Whatever your view of the future, you won’t want to miss this workshop.

Please plan to attend one of these two opportunities:

June 18, 2012, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at SouthShore Regional Library in Ruskin 

June 19, 2012, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at Orlando Public Library in Downtown Orlando

You can register using the links below:

June 18th at SouthShore Regional Library, Ruskin

June 19th at Orlando Public Library, Downtown Orlando

Posted in Conferences/events, Continuing Education, Education, General interest, News, TBLC news | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Are you ready? The Florida Visioning Challenge

by Jessica Posted on February 8, 2012

Florida’s libraries need a vision for the future.  In fact, they need several. And we think that you may have one of them.  If you do, you can help Florida’s libraries identify their vision and become the great 21st Century organizations they deserve to be.  And you can win fabulous prizes. The Tampa Bay Library Consortium wants to hear from you! 

Here’s what you do:

Put your creative hat on and write up a vision for library service.  It can be for library service overall, or for some thinner slice of the big picture, such as Mobile or Video Reference, or Academic Study Groups, or E-books and Adolescents, or whatever you get excited about.  

The Accomplishment:

Our (ahem!) distinguished Panel of Judges will rate the incoming ideas, pick a winner, and announce her or him (which could be you!) at the FLA Conference in April.  You’ll get a certificate, a trophy, and a celebrity poster with your face on it. (And possibly job offers from all over, but we can’t promise that.)

Here are some guidelines:  

Come up with a positive vision, something we can get excited about. A vision of “Omigod!  Icebergs! Turn back!” is not likely to win. Technology and the way libraries thrive is changing everyday. As librarians we have to adapt with those changes and make them reality! 

Here are the rules:  Articulate your vision in 100 words or less.  Give us permission to share your vision with others during and after the contest. Even if your vision doesn’t win the grand prize, it may still inspire a library in the state to take on a service they’d never thought of before.    

Submit it to Jessie Riggins (rigginsj@tblc.org) at the Tampa Bay Library Consortium by Friday March 9th. We want the visions you submit to be practical as well as, um, VISIONARY.  So our judges will look at the nuts and bolts as well as the soaring rhetoric.  They’ll use the traditional rating scale for this kind of competition, and each submission will get one of these ratings:

As if!

Good luck with that!

Hmmm.  Not bad.

That could totally work!

Awesome!

We’re confident that your vision will fall into one of the top two categories.

Got all that?  Good!  Gentlemen–and ladies–start your brains!

Questions? Call or email us! 813-622-8252 

Al Carlson or Jessie Riggins

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Visioning – the Future of Libraries

by Jessica Posted on January 11, 2012

mobile booksWow!  These have been an exciting last couple of years!  Budgets and staffing have been slashed for all types of libraries.  Library use is up and the public loves them.  Pads are replacing laptops which replaced desktops.  University libraries are packed with over caffeinated students and the tables have wheels.  Bestselling authors are  bypassing publishers, publishers are terrified.  Popular ebook users love libraries because we provide free ebooks – even if some publishers are reluctant to take our money – wha???. 95 people show up virtually for an ebook seminar.  TBLC does webinars on side-loading a Nook – huh? OCLC’s Cathy De Rosa goes all Twilight Zone on us, telling us “we are all people of the screen.”   K-12 students (some) are getting text books on Kindles and iPads,  All libraries have apps – don’t they?  Librarians argue about whose library has the most Facebook likes – TBLC has 232 likes.  Public libraries have battles of the bands and rock bands in their teen rooms.  Children’s librarians are reading synaptogenecists and work with brain neuroplasticity.   Anyone tired?

The TBLC Board is crying enough!  It’s time to stop, take a look around, get our heads around things, and come up with a new vision for area libraries.  Yes we’re going to conduct a visioning process and you’re invited to participate.  We haven’t worked out the details yet but we are looking around for articles and sources that help describe developments and issues that we will need to take a look at and we would like your help in identifying more.  Here is my list, please help us by sharing yours by emailing me at cparker@tblc.org.

Visioning Articles & Resources

§  Publishers vs. Libraries: An E-Book Tug of War, New York Times, 12/24/11 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/for-libraries-and-publishers-an-e-book-tug-of-war.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ebooks%20and%20libraries&st=cse

§  YouMediaLab – Chicago Public Libraryhttp://youmediachicago.org/

§  Redefining the Academic Library: Managing the Migration to Digital Information Service, University Leadership Council http://www.educationadvisoryboard.com/pdf/23634-EAB-Redefining-the-Academic-Library.pdf

§  Quiet no longer required in some libraries around the countryhttp://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_769306.html

§  Libraries as Journal Publishershttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:139298

§  From Service Providers to Content Producers: New Opportunities for Libraries in Collaborative Open Access book Publishinghttp://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=55603e94-cad1-4778-b48a-4bced9691491%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=122

§  The Collapse of Complex Business Models, Clay Shirkyhttp://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/04/the-collapse-of-complex-business-models/

§  Tablets & a World in Transition, Marc Herman, EBN: Premier Online Community for Global Supply Chain Professionals, 11/29/11http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=1098&doc_id=236202&itc=ebnonline_gnews

§  For Reading and Learning, Kids Prefer E-Books to Print Books Jeremy Greenfield, DBW – Digital Book World,  1/09/12 http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/for-reading-and-learning-kids-prefer-e-books-to-print-books/

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