“Finding the Phoenix” at the GOLD/GALILEO User Group Conference
Helene Blowers, keynote speaker for the 2009 GOLD/GALILEO User Group Conference, called for libraries to become more than knowledge providers; we need to become partners with our communities to become knowledge producers. Blowers said, “A lot of what we offer is for knowledge consumption. Libraries can start to shift; shift from knowledge consumption to knowledge production.”
Blowers, director of digital strategy at Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio, is known throughout the library world for developing the discovery learning program “Learning 2.0: 23 Things.” Trends and change were the substance of her keynote address.
The e-book race is re-kindled by Kindle
Amazon’s Kindle sales were 32% greater in 2008 than were iPods in their debut year. The old debate about format (print vs. electronic) is becoming less pertinent as e-book readers improve and new generations of users grow up with different expectations and habits. Blowers says it’s not about the death of the book but death of dependency on specific formats.
Mobile builds bridges faster
Blowers quoted a 2009 UN report indicating that 60% of people around the world now have cell phone contracts. More and more people look to their cell phones for information gathering, keeping up with the news, and even reading novels.
Buffy Hamilton, a media specialist/teacher-librarian at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia, said, “Helene reinforced my belief that we as school librarians need to start exploring ways to tap into the power of cell phones and other mobile devices.” (http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/?s=blowers)
Community-created content
And not only are people reading novels on cell phones, they are creating novels on cell phones. Blowers gave many examples in which communities are creators and producers of content in blogs, photograph collections, and of course, in libraries.
Blowers encouraged librarians to be a part of the shift from knowledge consumption to knowledge production by becoming “change agents.” Examples of ways libraries do this include providing a rich online experience through the library website where customers can contribute and collaborate and use volunteers to provide programs and services.
For Helen Blowers’ keynote go to http://georgialibraries.org/lib/gold/ggugc2009/presentations.php
To access LibraryBytes, Helen Blowers’ blog, go to http://www.librarybytes.com
