On 07/30/2010,
in A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, copyright/ownership/NFTs, digital video, faculty/staff, IT in HE, library / librarians, media/film,
by Daniel Christian
On 07/21/2010,
in future, library / librarians,
by Daniel Christian
The Future of Libraries: Interview with Thomas Frey — from Thomas Frey, Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, and Google’s top-rated futurist speaker
Example questions include:
Sloan – Unlike many futurists, you have stated that “libraries are here to stay.” Why?
Sloan – You’ve said that within 10 years the ink-on-paper publishing industry will not be a sustainable economic model. What will the new business model be?
Sloan – You have written and spoken about libraries becoming “Electronic Outposts.” What is an Electronic Outpost library?
Sloan – What is the “Empire of One” business model and why should libraries be interested in this trend?
Sloan – In the 2006 book The Long Tail, Wired magazine Editor Chris Anderson said, “When the tools of production are available to everyone, everyone becomes a producer.” What new roles and functions can libraries adopt to support producers?
Sloan – In addition to libraries, you write and speak about the future of business, education, government, and transportation. What trends in these areas do you think will have the greatest impact on the future of libraries?
The future of education will revolve around hyper-individualized learning, self-paced, organically generated content that is modality diverse, and available on-demand 24/7. Any topic, anywhere, anytime … it will be less dependent on teachers, less dependent on schools, and offer more personal control. Libraries have the potential for becoming the working laboratories for people creating new courseware.
Sloan – Over the past few years you have visited hundreds of libraries and spoken to many library groups across the country. What have you learned about libraries that you didn’t know prior to your visits?
On 07/16/2010,
in library / librarians,
by Daniel Christian
On 07/16/2010,
in blended learning, collaboration, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, design, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, library / librarians, multimedia, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, teaching & learning, training / L&D, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
For those of you involved with creating learning labs, smart classrooms, group study areas, etc. — or for those who want to enable more efficient group collaboration within your classrooms — you need to check out Steelcase’s Media:Scape product line.
One of the pieces of this configuration that I love is that they have created an easy-to-use interface in a puck-like device. What I want to see happen is for students to pull up to a movable/reconfigurable table, connect their device, and click the puck to “play” their media for the class (without interrupting the flow of the class).
Also, one monitor on the “totem” can be used for one set of information/data — or even a remote speaker via videoconferencing for example — and the other monitor can be used for someone else’s data/desktop.
Here are some images for you:
Also see the Media:Scape ad/video:
This product line is also available through Custer Workplace Interiors.
Futures thinking for academic librarians: Higher education in 2025
Prepared by:
Dr. David J. Staley
Director of the Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching in the History Department of Ohio State University
Kara J. Malenfant
ACRL Scholarly Communications and Government Relations Specialist
June 2010
Executive Summary
For academic librarians seeking to demonstrate the value of their libraries to their parent institutions, it is important to understand not only the current climate. We must also know what will be valued in the future so that we can begin to take appropriate action now. This document presents 26 possible scenarios based on an implications assessment of current trends, which may have an impact on all types of academic and research libraries over the next 15 years. The scenarios represent themes relating to academic culture, demographics, distance education, funding, globalization, infrastructure/facilities, libraries, political climate, publishing industry, societal values, students/learning, and technology. They are organized in a “scenario space” visualization tool, reflecting the expert judgment of ACRL members as to their expectations and perceptions about the probability, impact, speed of change, and threat/opportunity potential of each scenario. Finally, the study draws out implications for academic libraries.
For scenarios which have been identified as high impact with a high probability of occurring, it is incumbent upon library directors and those who set strategic agendas for academic libraries to plan to act now upon these scenarios. This report reinforces the notion that academic libraries are part of a larger ecosystem, and librarians should be consistently scanning the environment to look for signs of the changes that may come. It includes an appendix with a suggested activity to engage library colleagues in stretching your imaginations and considering possible futures. This can build capacity to engage in strategic thinking and planning, supporting librarians in making better decisions now that can address a variety of possible futures.
On 06/23/2010,
in library / librarians, trends,
by Daniel Christian
2010 top ten trends in academic libraries
The ACRL Research, Planning and Review Committee, a component of the Research Coordinating Committee, is responsible for creating and updating a continuous and dynamic environmental scan for the association that encompasses trends in academic librarianship, higher education, and the broader environment. As a part of this effort, the committee develops a list of the top ten trends that are affecting academic libraries now and in the near future. This list was compiled based on an extensive review of current literature (see selected bibliography at the end of this article). The committee also developed an e-mail survey that was sent to 9,812 ACRL members in February 2010. Although the response rate was small (about five percent), it helped to clarify the trends.
The trends are listed in alphabetical order…
On 06/22/2010,
in business side of he, digital textbooks, future of higher education, game-changing environment, library / librarians, textbooks, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
Reflections on The E-Book Sector — from InsideHigherEd.com
First of all, some excerpts (with emphasis from DSC):
E-textbooks might be the most-talked about and least-used learning tools in traditional higher education. Campus libraries and e-reader manufacturers are betting on electronic learning materials to overtake traditional textbooks in the foreseeable future, but very few students at traditional institutions are currently using e-textbooks, according to recent surveys.
Not so in the world of for-profit online education.
For-profit institutions in general are moving toward wider e-textbook use than other sectors of higher education, Stielow says. “I think a great many [for-profits] are certainly trying to move toward this model,” agrees Bickford. And the ones that have appear to be succeeding.
Why is that?
John Bourne, executive director of the Sloan Consortium, which studies online learning, posits that it might be a function of the more centralized administrative structures at for-profit institutions. “For-profits do things like provide lesson plans for instructors, provide you with what you’re supposed to do; they hire all these adjuncts to deliver all these things that have been sculpted by instructional designers,” says Bourne. Being able to dictate to the faculty what text format they should assign to their students probably makes it easier to implement e-textbook adoption across the institution, he says.
It is more difficult to engineer change at such scale at nonprofits, because of their more distributed governance models. At those colleges, faculty control of curricular texts — including mode of delivery — is “sacred,” Bourne says.
Manny Rivera, a spokesman for Phoenix, says that the online giant’s centralized administration does indeed allow it to make sweeping changes without many hang-ups. “The university is set up to be more nimble to confront market forces,” Rivera says. “So we’re able to innovate more quickly.”
From DSC:
To be more nimble…to confront market forces…to be able to innovate more quickly…to use materials created by teams of specialists…hmmm….sounds like a solid position to be in as the bubble continues to expand (and may even be beginning to slowly burst based upon where students are going — more community colleges, more state/public schools, lower-cost alternatives, etc.)
On 04/28/2010,
in blogs / blogging / vlogging, library / librarians, lifelong learning, writing,
by Daniel Christian
On 03/26/2010,
in copyright/ownership/NFTs, library / librarians,
by Daniel Christian
New online curriculum on copyright law for librarians — from spotlight.macfound.org on 3/25
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society has launched Copyright for Librarians, an online, open-access curriculum on copyright law, developed in conjunction with eIFL.net (Electronic Information for Libraries).
The site aims to inform librarians about copyright law in general, as well as the aspects of copyright law that most affect libraries, especially those in developing and transition countries.
Also see:
eIFL.net’s press release