The Power of Trust:Forging Interconnections Between the Physical and

Virtual Worlds

SEFLIN Conference July 16 2008

José-Marie Griffiths

Dean and Professor

School of Information and Library Science

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Power of Trust

Trust

• "an individual's belief in, and willingness to act on the basis of, the words, actions, and decisions of another" Lewicki & Wiethoff (2000)

• The need for trust arises from our interdependence with others. We often depend on other people and organizations to help us obtain, or at least not to frustrate, the outcomes we value. Lewicki and Tomlinson 2005

• Our trust in another is grounded in our evaluation of their:

– Ability

– Integrity

– Benevolence

• The more we observe these charact-eristics in another, our level of trust in that person or organization is likely to grow. Lewicki and Tomlinson 2005

Libraries & Museums as Trusted Institutions

Interconnections

“Creating something new is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment.”

- Albert Einstein

IMLS Interconnections Study

• Conduct national survey of information needs of users and potential users of online information

• Primary focus on museums, public libraries and the Internet as sources

• Telephone surveys of adults (18 and over)

Surveys

The Power of Trust

Conclusion 1:Libraries and museums

evoke consistent, extraordinary public trust

among diverse adult users.

Libraries and museums are the most trusted sources of information

according to a survey of over 1,700 adults.

Conclusion #2:Internet use is positively

related to in-person visits to museums and libraries.

The Internet Does Not Kill Libraries and

Museums

Adults Who Use the Internet are More Likely to Visit Libraries and Museums

66.4%

38.3%

73.3%

66.7%

47.4%

71.0%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Proportion of Adult Visitors

Museums

PublicLibraries

Proportion of Public Library and Museum Visitors Who Use or Do Not Use the Internet

Internet users

Non-users of the Internet

All adults

Adults Who Use the Internet Visit Libraries and Museums

More Often

3.14

1.34

3.46

3.42

3.36

3.44

1 2 3 4 5

Number of visits per adult

Museums

PublicLibraries

Average Number of Public Library and Museum Visits by Those Who Use and Do Not Use the Internet

Internet users

Non-users of the Internet

All adults

Amount of use of the Internet is positively correlated with the number of in-person visits to museums and has a positive effect on in-person visits to public libraries.

Trends in increased in-person visits to museums and public libraries are much more positive with adults who use the Internet than with those who do not.

Total Number of Visits to Museums by Adults, 2006

In-Person Visits 701 million Remote Online Visits 542 million

Total Visits 1.2 billion

Total Number of Visits to Public Libraries by Adults, 2006

In-Person Visits 762 million Remote Online Visits 558 million

Total Visits 1.3 billion

The number of remote online visits positively correlates with the number of in-person visits to museums and public libraries.

Conclusion #3:Museums and public libraries

in-person and online serve important and complementary roles in supporting a wide variety of

information needs.

Q. Why do we need museums and libraries if we have the Internet?A. Interconnections

To fulfill their need for information, most adults use museums, public libraries, and the Internet. Museums and public libraries are used by 70%, the Internet is used by 83%, and nearly half (47%) use all three. Only 7% of adults do not use any of the three sources.

The vast majority of visitors to museums (95%) and public libraries (96%) visit in-person; 45% of museum visitors visit online and in-person and 42% of public library visitors visit online and in-person.

Interconnections

Both in-person and remote visits to museums are learning experiences. Adults indicated they learned something new in 87% of in-person visits and 86% of remote visits.

The different modes of access to public libraries tend to address very different distributions of information needs.

Online visits (both remote and in-library) are used much more for formal education and work-related needs than other in-person visits which are used much more for recreation or entertainment purposes.

Different Access/Different Needs

The power of trust can

interconnect the physical and virtual information

worlds…

and create strong bridges of knowledge we can travel together.

José-Marie Griffiths, PhDDean and Professor

• School of Information and Library ScienceUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Email: jmgriff@unc.edu • phone: (919)962-8366

fax: (919)962-8071

• www.interconnectionsreport.org