Whats New From Internet Librarian 2005

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Whats New From Internet Librarian 2005

• Marilyn R. Pukkila
• Head of Instructional Services, Colby College
  Libraries
• Presented to ColbyRef/Inst Librarians Meeting
  11/3/05

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Patron Trends

• Pew Internet American Life Project
• Lee Rainie, part of the Project
• 1/5 of U.S. adults never use the Net
• Chat room use declining
• Less friendly, blogs/IM/listservs instead
• 12-17 year olds redefining what it means to be
  present with others (IM, cell)

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Patron Trends

• Continuous partial attention
• Linda Stone, Microsoft exec
• Beyond multitasking like a radar sweeping the
  horizon, Generation M media teens are always
  looking for something more interesting to focus
  on
• 8.5 hours of media exposure compressed into 6.5
  hours per day

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The Long Tail

• of Sales/Hits/Uses

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The Long Tail

• The bulk of the information, links, titles, etc.,
  resides in the long tail on the right of the
  graph, not in the few blockbusters on the far
  left of the graph
• Search engines that deliver the most popular hits
  first miss the most interesting and useful
  material, because its buried in page 10 of the
  returned links, citations, etc.

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Smart mobbing

• Flexible communicationflexible responses
• WTO protest in Seattle 1999 cell phone users
  could call up small groups to respond quickly to
  incidents as circumstances changed
• GWB at a Broadway show all the cell phones were
  out at once, and when the show let out, an
  organized protest was on the sidewalk ready to
  confront Bush when he left the theater
• Fluid approach to action, communication

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Librarys Function?

• People NEED spaces and places for reflection,
  leisure to absorb, contemplate, and discuss the
  information and communication they experience
  with such intensity and to such a level

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Patron Trends

• Stephen Abraham, Dynex/SIRSI
• 85 of 15-25 year olds have IM accounts
• They consider e-mail as communication to use with
  elders and mentors IM and cell are for peers
• They start with IM, but then move on to better
  tools

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Patron Trends

• Generation M are visual learners were
  text-based learners
• Grokker
• Searches Yahoo content (and some other sources)
  and returns results in graphic that groups like
  sites together and represents relationships
  between sites

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Patron Trends Grokker

• Each group contains links and/or subgroups mouse
  over the circle for more information
• Brings the long tail of the search up to where
  it is easily visible
• Allows patrons to focus on what they really want,
  not whats most popular
• A public library overlaid Grokker onto their
  subject headings in their catalog info fluency
  skills increased by hundreds of percentage points
• Its not just in beta its in pre-pre-pre-alpha!
• Was well-received by ED 215 class on 11/3/05

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Social Computing

• Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Rochester I.T.
• Currently on sabbatical working at Microsoft
• Delicious
• Public bookmarks through any Web browser not
  restricted to one machine
• Le Grange Park P.L. staff put their bookmarks on
  del.icio.us so everyone can use them
• Can search bookmarks posted by others and allow
  others to search mine
• Tagging people choosing OWN keywords to
  describe their links lowest common denominator

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Search Behavior Federated Search Engines

• Frank Cervone, Northwestern U.
• FSE VERY complicated and confusing
• People want it to be Google, but it isnt
• What is the goal?
• Users prefer alphabetical lists to subject
  groupings
• They dont like using complex searches as long
  as they get something, they feel successful
• They want display by relevance, full text, and
  peer-review
• Do usability studies and ask them what to call
  it BEFORE going public

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Search Behavior Subject Guides

• Darlene Fichter, U. Saskatchewan
• Most users give up after THREE minutes if they
  cant find what they want
• Only 33 could ID databases by topic they prefer
  alphabetical lists
• Design pages for recognition, not recall give
  LESS information dont make me think
• Use tabs, not TOC design but we cant in Common
  Spot!
• Use familiar language (Journal Articles not
  Indexes Best Bets to identify most relevant
  databases)

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Something Fun from Google

• Google Definition
• Type definition word in Google and get
  multiple definitions from various sites
  (Wikipedia, Answer.com, subject Web pages)

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And Thats Just the Beginning!

• Future presentations
• Marketing
• Google Print
• Social Computing Blogs and Wikis
• Search Engines