I was recently walking with my two year old daughter, as we were walking she began to follow her shadow. After a few minutes of this she began chasing her shadow. It was just out of reach, no matter how fast she ran she couldn’t catch it. That futility did not diminish her fun or her determination. She was having a blast!
Later, at work I was thinking about this and it dawned on me that I was doing a similar exercise at work. I am chasing the shadow of libraries and how they can make lives better. I know I will never be able to fully comprehend everything related to libraries. I won’t be able to catch that shadow. But that won’t stop me from trying.
It’s an exciting time and I have every intention of enjoying my work. While I’m busy chasing my shadow I get the opportunity to learn new things and help other people learn at the same time. I do love my job.
My first session of the day and I feel that it was a great way to begin.Helen Blowersdiscussed some things that I have been reading/thinking about recently and her presentation helped get me focused on what I wanted to get from my day.Unfortunately my notes do not do her presentation justice so I’ve embedded her slideshow here.
What is a digital native?Anyone born after 1980
There have always been computers, cell phones, and internet
Digital Pioneers/Digital Immigrants = anyone born before 1980
Web 1.0 = Find –> Built on accessing information
Web 2.0 = Connect –> The ability to engage and share information
We don’t (shouldn’t) chase information anymore; we have the ability to make it come to us (RSS)
Engagement is the web now
9 Digital Native Realities
Digital Identity
For many Digital Natives their online ID is the same as their ‘real’ ID.
Their digital identity is how they influence their authority online
“We leave our digital footprints out there to be discovered”
Digital Creativity
The ability to create and leave your imprint.
Content Creation
Digital Information Quality
There is a shift from authoritative control to collaborative control
How do we enable our information to get to the users?
Encyclopedia Britannica has recently added a wiki layer so users can do some editing.
Digital Safety
DNs have grown up in a ‘safe’ world
Only .08% have actually met someone in person that they met online
DNs are smart, they know how to judge safety
Digital Opportunity
The world is more accessable
Digitally…
There are no barriers
Playing field is leveled
Access in universal
Connection is ubiquitous
All about me
= Opportunites
Digital Piracy
Is sharing piracy?
There is influence through sharing
DNs come from a world of creative commons (copying and remixing are ways to create and make new things from other things)
Digital Privacy
There is none
Life streaming
Digital Advocacy
The voice you create can make a difference
Creating their leadership potential
What does this mean for libraries?
What elements need to be present in order for our strategies to support our users?
Engagement –> How –> Enable customers to connect with library and each other
(People want to feel connected)
Enrich –> Provide a rich online experience that enhances their local branch & lives
We want people to feel they are getting value
Empower –> Personalize & add value to their library experience & celebrate themselves
Want people to feel good about themselves
When considering a new tool or service (especially online) we should ask the following questions
Does ___ engage/enrich/empower our users?
How does ___ engage/enrich/empower our users?
We should look for tools that meet the needs of Digital Natives.
I really enjoyed this session and wish I could remember everything she said. This is a relevant discussion for libraries and as we move forward in librayland we should consider the Digital Native more and more. Not only with our online presence but with what we offer in our facilities.
Some other good notes on this session can be found at these sites:
My library system is about to undergo a major overhaul of it’s online presence in the next few months and I have been asked to help with this process. I’m very honored and happy to be apart of this! I think I’ll use this space as a way to keep myself up to date with all that we’re doing and chronicle our progress.
Part of our mission is to incorporate more 2.0 things into our website. (I really dislike the whole “2.0″ tag and will instead use the term “beta” for for what libraries are going thru these days) Another part of what we are tasked to do is to educate our staff on this new webware so they will be more knowledgeable about what we will be doing once our new site is rolled out. It’s a large undertaking, thankfully we have a good IT team who are good to work with and a committee of people who are curious about new technology and willing to try the new things out. We will be borrowing from other library sytsems who have done this already but not without giving proper credit. (Why re-invnet the wheel…right?)
I would love to be able to tell you what library system I work for but until everything works out I won’t because administration, while not frowning on things like this, doesn’t really want us telling the world what we do at work. So because I REALLY love my job I think I’ll just use the generic “My library” for now.
I was recently walking with my two year old daughter, as we were walking she began to follow her shadow. After a few minutes of this she began chasing her shadow. It was just out of reach, no matter how fast she ran she couldn’t catch it. That futility did not diminish her fun or her determination. She was having a blast!
