If We Did Not Have Libraries, Would Someone Invent Them?Chris BattSenior Research FellowUniversity College London

Will the Internet kill institutions like libraries? Nature and scope of my research

Some thoughts on what it all might meanThen let’s talk

Agenda

1.

4.

3.

2.

Who was I?

Once upon a time, a librarian

Director of Cultural Services

Libraries

Museum and archive

Performing arts and cinema

Parks and open spaces

Sport

1991 - First public access to the Internet

1991 - First public access to the Internet

Who was I?

Once upon a time, a librarian

Director of Cultural Services

4,300 public libraries

20,000 terminals ($150m)

30,000 library staff trained ($30m)

$75m to create digital services

www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk

Director of People’s Network Programme

Who was I?

Once upon a time, a librarian

Director of Cultural Services

New strategic government agency

www.mla.gov.uk

Director of People’s Network Programme

Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

Who am I now?

Occasional consultant

Who am I now?

Occasional consultant

www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber

Senior Research Fellow

“CIBER research tells us the world as we knew it is being shattered and reassembled by the digital transition, and many of the existing paradigms are bust.”

“It seeks to inform by countering idle speculation, PowerPoint puff and uninformed opinion with the evidence and facts.”

Who am I now?

Occasional consultant

Senior Research Fellow

Knowledge strategy in the networked society

Chrisbatt.wordpress.com/

PhD student

Will the increasing importance of digital technologies and networks across society require new approaches to public policy formulation, implementation and delivery?

New architecturesNew policy frameworks

New professionals

Knowledge and learning in 2050

Digital determinism

Fragmentation

Disintermediation

Participatory culture

One-stop 24/7

Digital determinism

Music, media, newspapers

Utopia or dystopia?

Professional uncertainty or professional protectionism?

Digital determinism

Widely accessible

Highly successful

Valued by users

Library: the Traditional

model

Unique tools of public policy

Looking forward, not backwards

Willing to try new ideas

Adopted and adapted to technology

UK public libraries

SkylineSkyline

STATUS QUO PLUSSTATUS QUO PLUS

CompetitionAmazon/Abe

iTunesOn demand

WikipediaGoogle

TechnologyOn the moveSocial networkingeBooksBandwidthAggregation

Public PolicyLearning

Knowledge economyGlobalisation

Funding pressures

SocietyFragmentationThe crowdWeb has the answer24/7

STATUS QUO 2.0STATUS QUO 2.0

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

60 hours

1,700

0

20 minutes

200,000+

+300

1850 2005

Cost of a bookPeriodicals

Other media

If we did not

have libraries,

would

someone

invent them?Straw man argument

How would you sell the idea of a library

to the people who have the money?

Museums

Libraries

Archives

Universities

Colleges

Schools

Public service broadcasters

COLLECTING, CURATING,

DISCLOSING

CREATING SKILLING

CONNECTING

INTERPRETING CONNECTING

POPULARISING

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTIONS

Museums

Libraries

Archives

Universities

Colleges

Schools

Public service broadcasters

COLLECTING, CURATING,

DISCLOSING

CREATING SKILLING

CONNECTING

INTERPRETING CONNECTING

POPULARISING

Individuals and communities

That the delivery of public value through knowledge and learning based on the binary relationship between institution and user will become more and more ineffective and expensive as online channels become the preferred user choice.

PROPOSITION ONE

“Megaphones of informal learning”Martin Bean

Convergence = competition

Who owns the third place?

What is a museum

website for?

That public value will best be achieved by strategic policies that treat end user value as the product of managed flows across institutions rather than as actions based on classes of institutions: the integration of unrelated institutions into a co-ordinated strategy.

PROPOSITION TWO

Institutional architecure

Value flows

Exchange relationships

Public policy

Knowledge

processes

Boundaryexchange

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGEResources that enable people to

understand and learn more about themselves and the world

LEARNINGThe apprehension of knowledge to advantage

Methodology

Museums

Libraries

Archives

Universities

Colleges

Schools

Public service broadcasters

COLLECTING, CURATING,

DISCLOSING

CREATING SKILLING

CONNECTING

INTERPRETING CONNECTING

POPULARISING

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTIONS

How to st

art a colle

ctive debate

about knowledge in

stitutio

ns in

2050

PEST/SWOT TRIANGLEPEST/SWOT TRIANGLE

Shared value flowsShared value flows

Boundary exchangesBoundary exchanges

Target audiencesTarget audiences

Common policy and outcomesCommon policy and outcomesPartnerships already in playPartnerships already in play

Mission overlapMission overlap

NEW PARTNERSHIPSNEW PARTNERSHIPS

Your PaintingsYour Paintings

Public Catalogue Foundation

Public knowledge ecosystem model

Public knowledge ecosystem model

PUBLIC NETWORK THEORY

Organisation theory

Policy science

Political science

Policy networksPolicy communities

Public network management

Hypothesis

Ecosystem model

Experiment

Evaluation/outcomes

Networking tool

Network theory

The future value of libraries depends on much more than their relationship with

technology

Citizens and technology

Other knowledge institutions

Status within information society policy

The coming revolution

Public value not recognised

Lack of national coherencePrivate sector creep

Failure to plan for radical change

Immediate risks

From reactive to proactive

1. From technician to strategist

From reactive to proactive

1. From technician to strategist2. The elevator pitch

From reactive to proactive

1. From technician to strategist2. The elevator pitch

3. New partners, new approaches

From reactive to proactive

1. From technician to strategist2. The elevator pitch

3. New partners, new approaches

4. USP that fits in with other components of the ecosystem

The knowledge revolution

1. KNOWLEDGE: the raw material of the future

Economy development

Personal well-being/happiness

Creativity and imagination

Social capital

Discovery and understanding

The knowledge revolution

1. KNOWLEDGE: the raw material of the future

Education is not enough

Informal learning is lifelong

Learning to cope and survive

Learning just for fun

2. LEARNING: the engine of progress

The knowledge revolution

1. KNOWLEDGE: the raw material of the future

Content first, institution secondPartnering the crowd

Inclusion and special needs

2. LEARNING the engine of progress

3. Knowledge must be presented to meet people’s learning needs

Engaging individuals and communitiesKnowledge strategy driving

government

Shared mission and values

Inter-institutional architectures

2050: the Post-Digital Future

From librarian to knowledge

warrior

Leaders of the wider knowledge sectorA mission to break down barriers to accessDefining, managing, mediating

Integrating knowledge and learning into everyday life, every day!

Leadership

Vision

Passion

Let’s talkcbatt@mac.com

www.chrisbattconsulting.com/resourceshttp://www.slideshare.net/Chris_Batt

chrisbatt.wordpress.comTwitter: @chrisbatt