Saturday 13 October 2012

Thanks to @kevupnorth for these fantastic pics. Here’s Kev’s Flickr photostream.

Thanks to everyone who helped with #libcampls @pacowacoworld @tea_sparkle @millieshoes, @ian_nipper, @leedslibraries, @JohnAudsley , Carol, @richardveevers, all the bakers and cooks and the Sand Bar in Horsforth for a top day. 

Access, schmaccess: libraries in the Age of Information Ubiquity

Access, schmaccess: libraries in the Age of Information Ubiquity

I really enjoyed Eli Neiburger’s presentation about information, the interwebs, Reddit Scholar, digital content, memes, ebooks, Metallica, sharing, intellectual propery, nyan cat, DRM, Louis CK…and what it could all mean for libraries. If you’ve got a spare hour give it a watch. Please.

“In the 20th century libraries brought the world to their communities. In the 21st century libraries bring the information of their communities to the world.”

“What would the library look like if you spent half as much on experiences as you do on collections? The reality is we’re probably going to run out out of stuff to buy over the next ten years…”

The official introduction from the VALA website: The 21st century isn’t just here, it’s already 12% over. The presence of ubiquitous access to a global information network, and the cultures that flourish on that network, change everything about Libraries… or do they? Eli will highlight some of the contrasts between the Web Culture of this Century, and the Broadcast Culture of the last century, exploring how the value, mission, and focus of libraries are impacted by this cultural change, which has still barely begun. Maybe the library of the future is not really so different from the library of the past… from a certain point of view.

Envisioning the library of the future. The Bond, Birmingham, 15/05/12

Thanks to a combination of: the traffic, traffic wardens, cheery Brummie engineers, Google’s navigation app and my appalling sense of direction, I managed to arrive at The Bond for the ACE event a half hour later than I’d expected, but well in time.

If I was disappointed by the lack of library assistants (I wondered how many of the guests had shelved a book in the past week) I was heartened by the sight of familiar faces in the welcoming surroundings. I waved at a few, introduced my physical self to digital friends, said a quick “Hello” to Mr J. Dolan, my landlord for the coming night, then plonked myself down by Sue Lawson and poured over the itinerary for the day.

I was a little concerned by the mornings’ talks, I’d been promised an opening to listen to my own voice, not to put up with listening to other people! Fortunately all the speakers seemed to understand this and explained the morning was to be an introduction to the afternoon session where the hard work (of listening to me ramble on) would occur.

And ramble on I did. And hard work it was.

I was aware of a continual pattern emerging. The crowd were silent when the speakers: Phil Swann, Nicky Morgan, Ben Lee, first asked a question, or for questions. As soon as the first person spoke, the atmosphere changed, hands were raised and the attendee either disagreed with or continued the theme.

Open Space Technology lived up to its’ promise: coaxing conversation and opinion, often disagrements, always interesting. As ever, the initially reticent soon opened up and revealed a plethora of imaginative ideas and pent up passions waiting to be released. I was in my element, espousing my opinion on anyone who’d listen and many who didn’t want to, I wondered once more, why it has taken so long for this methodology to come to the fore;)

Similar themes to other library un-conferences cropped up: the affection with which libraries are held by the public, the lack of use, of libraries, by these same members of the public. The ways different councils are tackling these issues. Our continuing failure to engage with majority of the public who don’t use the service, the continuing mis-engagement with the minority of public who are library users.

The pattern of silences continued after lunch. When asked who would host a session on a particular subject, the same difficult silence broached the crowd. They were equally as quiet when asked who was interested in discussing the subject. At this point I began thinking I really was going to be listening to myself all afternoon.

This reticence seems to drive unconferences. Unfulfilled desire to be heard, to be taken seriously, powers’ the conversation. The first couple of minutes of the conversation, after splitting into smaller groups were awkward. Often filled by a sole loudmouth willing to be entertained by the sound of their own voice. *ahem*

Eventually, inevitably the wave of silence breaks. In its wake the debate lurches forward, accelerating towards the end of the session. Beyond which time, many will continue their conversation, caught in an undertow, only saved by the desire for coffee, tea, micturition or some combination.

After a short break we were asked for opinions about the topics to be debated in the last session. This time I was convinced I would be centre stage “surely the crowd cannot still be coy”? I thought. It was, the collective mind stared blankly at its shoelaces and rubbed the toe of its shoes on the floor, in an attempt to ignore the request. Yet once again the shy retiring spinster, quickly became a girl gone wild.

I have deliberately ignored the details of the sessions. I know that in blogs and in the effort put in by the Shared Intelligence team, as many as possible of the ideas generated were collected and will be presented. I will give a particular mention to the tales from 2022. Offered to us as starting points for our divination. I’ll unashamedly thank Ben Lee for those. Unashamedly, because 1: I was initially wary but won over by them, I’m having nightmares about the poor woman from the 3rd. 2: I want to thank Ben personally for the help and time he has offered, above and beyond what I expected.

At the next ACE event, according to the tweets,  Ed Vaizey MP caused something of fracas with a late cancellation and a member of the audience walked out. I can’t say I think that would make for a better event. I am secretly delighted in the anger generated by libraries. As Mr Lydon and Public Image Ltd told us: Anger is an energy, Anger is an energy, Anger is…..

Did you notice anything different?

We’re delighted to reveal our new logo….s

In the end we couldn’t decide between Lee Farrow’s campsite sign and Rory Martin’s tent. So we cheated and are using Lee’s rectangular design for website headers and Rory’s much squarer (geometrically not funkily) image for profile images.

As the designers offered their time for free, it is befitting the general good nature of Library Camp if they could benefit from this exposure. We have invited both to Library Camp UK12 where we’ll wish them all the best.

Another creative chap invited and expected is Tony Beckwith. I met MI Society, Tony and Steven A McLean, in that most cultural of venues, the pub. The Post Office Vaults, Birmingham to be precise. I’m not going to attempt to describe Tony or Steve. I’ll offer some of their work and say that I think they’ll bring a challenging and unique perspective to The Signing Tree.

http://www.misociety.me/

LoGO!

Our logo, well loved by us, OK most of us (@shedsue what were your exact words?) is having a makeover. After the success of crowd sourcing a potential venue. We tweeted our intentions to change the logo and politely enquired if anyone knew a designer who could help us out. We were once again delighted by the response. Several companies picked up on us and offered their services, as did Lee Farrow and Rory Miles Martin who donated their time and gave us the designs free of charge. 

Here are the designs

#libcamplogo1

Lee Farrow:@shifts001

An opened book in the guise of a tent is depicted in this design so to illustrate both elements of the venture clearly and concisely in the most minimal way achievable. The colour orange is associated with thoughtful energy and increasing creativity which is representative of Library Camps values.

#libcamplogo2

Lee Farrow:@shifts001 

Using the commonly recognised icon for campsite to replace the letter ‘A’ in both words (and the horizontal lines to represent a bookshelf) subtly modifies a simple text based logo in to a design that relates closely with the brand. Including the loose books on the lower shelf not only balances the design but creates a sense of nostalgia found in a library environment. Calm and concentration are associated with the use of the turquoise background colour.

#libcamplogo3

Lee Farrow:@shifts001 

Placing the obvious library icon inside the campsite icon results in an instantly recognisable symbol, that once more established, could be used alone if fit for purpose. Using the place of interest or attraction street furniture layout as the body generates curiosity from an object most people are familiar with on a daily basis.

#Libcamplogo4

Logo design by Rory Miles Martin Design.

Twitter @rorymm

After a discussion with the designers we agreed to let Twitter and Facebook decide which would be used. We’re hoping this will raise the profile of Library Camp and of both designers. The chosen designer will be credited on the web site and on future literature.

Library You and Skokie Stories

Aaron Schmidt features two great examples of libraries collecting and showcasing content created by and with their communities…

Quite A Lot Happening

Events over the past month since my last post are some of the most fortuitous I have ever experienced. There been an almost audible click, as seemingly random occurrences joined together to form a spectacular whole. From a sunny day out at Horsforth planning Library Camp Leeds, to a fantastic day out walking along the canal, between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, with my little boy and a fellow camper. 

As a consequence of the post for the Arts Council, Library Camp was approached with a significant offer of sponsorship. Significant enough to allow me to confirm our booking of The Signing Tree Conference Centre as the venue for this years event.

The Signing Tree was a Twitter recommendation, as will be, the designer of our new logo. The logo, swiftly assembled last year, was never meant to be a permanent fixture. We now have an opportunity to adopt a shiny new logo and promote some great talent. When I tweeted for help with our logo I had some commercial suggestions and some genuine offers asking only to be credited. How could I refuse. We’ve agreed to let the social media world decide which of the ideas will be adopted. Hopefully this should generate some interest in all concerned.

Facebook

Let’s socialise \(-x-)/

Envisioning the library of the future: Creating curiosity for young and old alike

This is the text of my post for The Arts Council.

http://librariesconversation.wordpress.com/

I’ve worked with scores of people in our library who’ve never used a computer. Whilst the majority are retired, we see an encouraging number of younger folk. Scared or brave enough, they ask for help. Some we’ll see once, some twice and some stay.

Whilst trying to explain about the reach of technology, I often find that one piece of information becomes a tipping point in their understanding. That is to say they start to want to know.  Some undergo a revelation when trying to comprehend the number of zeros and ones involved in computing.  Others find the concepts of a virtual Second Life or buying virtual money, to be their tipping point. They begin to want to understand. Their fear of the unknown is replaced, not by understanding, by curiosity.

If we can help someone, get past that tipping point, into curiosity, we have succeeded. How do we define success? Is our success, not to be needed, to do ourselves out of a job? The curious student will continue to study with or without attention.

Fortunately, for us, students are not in short supply. Every Friday I see a constantly regenerating line of these students.

Every Friday for five years, I have been paid £8ph to act like a 3 yr old; or to have as much fun as I had when I was 3. I’m encouraged to regress my behaviour; to sing, to laugh and giggle, to dance, to make dubious comments about biological functions.

We have drawn stern looks, not just from the librarians.

Some disappointed taxpayers have voiced their concerns at the suitability of the volume of noise generated by our Baby-Bounce, in the corner of the main lending library. A complaint from a customer is as important as a compliment and should treated so. My response: “can they think of a better free advert?”

To our concerned citizen: I’d ask them about their library experiences as a child. I’ve found that however much they loved their library, they inevitably had a tale about The Library Policeman™; a story about how they were made to feel terrible by a figure so terrifying it seared itself into their memory. Whilst these experiences didn’t stop our tenacious public from coming to the library, I like to think if they’d been to a few Baby-Bounces in their infancy, they think differently about the noise being created.

I would ask them to come along to Accrington Library on a Friday or Thursday, or Monday and Tuesday if I’m at Burnley Campus.

And if any councillor wants to do a half hour in front of a group of 30 infants, (from a few weeks old to 5 or 6 years old, and their parents, grand-parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, relatives, friends….) I’d be delighted to arrange a slot for them too, we always give our volunteers a warm welcome.

Creating the Library of Tomorrow

“We do need to promote modern, relevant services in our current libraries, says Rob Bruijnzeels, founder and rector of the Dutch LibrarySchool. For the long term, however, Bruijnzeels believes that libraries need more than modernizing: They need rethinking, and they need librarians who think differently.”

“We can’t just refresh the library of the twentieth century anymore. There is so much more going on now,” says Bruijnzeels. “We think we need a new kind of public library, a new process for public libraries. We need something completely different. What it is, we don’t know for sure, but let’s have a try.”

Read on http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/01/creating-the-library-of-tomorrow-from-the-ground-up/

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