NEO REFERENCE : Getting ready for real change

Susan Beatty Head Information Commons sdbeatty@ucalgary.ca

Helen Clarke Head Collections Services hclarke@ucalgary.ca

LIBRARIES AND CULTURAL RESOURCES

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Discussion Points

Disjunctive Change

Future of Reference Collections

Future environment—Taylor Family Digital Library

Future of Reference Service

Environmental Scan

JISC Libraries of the Future http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjoJd_uN-7M

Environmental Scan: blogosphere

The Past is Gone

The Future is Digital

Learners still need help

Staying relevant means changing

Try to imagine

“when a profession has been created as a result of some scarcity, as with librarians…, the professionals are often the last ones to see it when that scarcity goes away. It is easier to understand that you face competition than obsolescence” Shirky, Here comes everybody. p. 59

Disjunctive Change

TraditionPrint Desk Gatekeeper

Tradition

Shelves Filled With Secret Lore

A Desk to Mark the Entrance A Gatekeeper To Interrogate

Empty Library Syndrome

• What was hard is now easy

• Generalized tools replace specialized lore

• Gatekeeper doesn’t get many visitors anymore

Off campus use of Electronic Resources Rises

Disjunctive Change Some Interesting Numbers

Reference Statistics Fall in Canadian Academic

Libraries

The future of reference collections

My Assertions Digital is better A digital reference collection is not needed We should focus on what is hard to find/use but of

high valueWhat do I mean by reference tools * Procedures or Techniques Factual Descriptions Properties/Characteristics Facts Enumeration—lists, statistics

* Not including citation lookup tools

Mediation

Units

Aggregation

Independence

Patterns of Use: Individual e-Reference

34 Titles individually catalogued $153.98 per session

Top Two Chicago Manual of Style

9,100 sessions, 32% of sessions, $0.42 per session Oxford English Dictionary 11,694 sessions, 41% of sessions, $0.59 per session

Patterns of Use: Specialized Aggregator

•11 titles, all used at least once• $.47 per use and $1044 per title

•96% of the use was concentrated in one title

Handbook of Chemistry and Physics

Patterns of use: General Aggregator

•Most titles used at least once•Use concentrated in a few titles•$.47 per use and $21 per title•heavily used title 7% of use “Guide to Seashells of the World”

Practical Tips

Brand Name Subscriptions can be cost effective Google + Catalogue discovery is useful

Anonymous but Useful Aggregators can distribute costs so that less frequently used titles are still offered Subscriptions to individual titles not cost effective Google + Catalogue discovery can help but less so than with Brand Name products

Essential but Obscure One time payment is best Need to consider long term stability May opt for print as a backup

THINK BEFORE YOU BUY! Do I really need this.

Challenges for the future

Challenge Collections Reference Service

Provision Identifying and acquiring Just in time service for complex questions

Discovery Metadata Identifying the right resources and experts

Creation Build advanced aids to research via digitization, indexing, distribution

New models for service and for supporting creative outcomes

Expertise Specialized skills to assess and utilize

Specialized skills to support learning

Preservation Stability of resource over generations

Support the output and reuse of creative work

Disjunctive ChangeTaylor Family Digital Library

Resulting in new ways of learning... Multi-disciplinary study Experiential learning Active and collaborative learning Problem and inquiry-based learning Mentorship opportunities Classroom use of manuscripts and

original art Collaborative learning

opportunities with faculty, archivists, librarians, and curators

Opportunities for social and academic debate. http://

tfdl.ucalgary.ca/

What is the Taylor?

Special Collections

Museum

Archives

Multimedia Centre

Visualization Room

Classrooms

WorkroomsCafe

Texts (e and

p)

GalleryLearning

Commons

Pcs, Macs, laptops, ipods….

Who is the Taylor

Curation Experts

Archives Experts

Library Experts

Data Experts

Learning Support Experts

Media Experts

Technology Experts

Instructional Design Experts?

Experts…

Who is using the Taylor?

StudentsInstructors

Researchers

Virtual

Visiting ScholarsCommunity

Experts

Novices

In person

From knowledge transfer to knowledge creation

Requires greatly increased level of Knowledge and Skills

Service is more individual and non-standard– more awareness of user needs and responsiveness

Diversity of complex interactions – from mashups to deep discipline research

Collaboration with other experts becomes the norm

How is the Taylor Different?

Seamless integration and delivery of services across many ways of knowing

Knowledge creation

Just in time not just in case

Bring users and experts together

Create the tools for service providers and users

New reference predictions

Collections not about volume counts, but about organization and functionality

Staff become learning experts Staff with a complex array of backgrounds and

skills Less about schedules more about interaction

Reference service evolves as a multi-layered, helping, ubiquitous service Reference as a discrete service entity

increasingly less important

Past and Future of Reference

LESS MORE

Face to Face VirtualWalk up Scheduled

Print Digital

Full Service Desk Multiple Points

Instant messaging Full Virtual Environment

Way Finding Knowledge Creation

Just in Case Just in Time

Definition of reference

Draft Definition Developed by RSS Evaluation of Reference and User Services Committee, January 22, 2006

“Reference Work includes activities that involve the creation, management, and assessment of reference resources, tools, and services, as well as reference transactions and liaison activities.

The creation and management of information resources includes the development and maintenance of reference collections, print and electronic research guides, catalogs, databases, web sites, search engines, etc. that patrons can use independently, in-house or remotely, to satisfy their information needs

Example of a new skill: become learning literate

Learn how people learn Why? So that you can assist learners in taking next

steps How?

Be where the user is Learn the skills of instruction and instructional design Organize your space for the learner Understand there is not one approach for all

Example of a new skillCreation of Tools and Services

Search for new tools and ways to be involved Organize and describe information to suit

the user Let users contribute knowledge Expect to work with other experts

Example: National Singapore library - tool to aggregate and organize email exchanges and enabling collective knowledge , knowledge management and collective learning.

Conclusions

The Past is Gone

The Future is Digital

Learners still need help

Staying relevant means changing

What do you think?

… in the future

Reference will be /will not be...

The collections will be /will not be…

The service will be/ will not be ....

Your next steps are ….