RELEVANCE
Tefko Saracevic, PhD
Tefko Saracevic
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States
License
1
ToC
What should keep you up at night?
 What keeps me up at night?


Things that go bump at night*
* URLs, citations, and inspirations are in Notes
Tefko Saracevic
2
Relevance
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online
“1
a: relation to the matter at hand (emphasis added)
b: practical and especially social applicability :
pertinence <giving relevance to college courses>
2
: the ability (as of an information retrieval system)
to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the
user.”
Tefko Saracevic
3
What is “matter at hand”?
In relation to what are librarians, libraries worried?
Among others:
 Budgets
 eBooks
 ...
 but a lot now: LOSING RELEVANCE
Tefko Saracevic
4
Losing RELEVANCE to what?
Community
 Information sources
 Technology
 Competence
 ...

Tefko Saracevic
5
Debate

Issues are vigorously discussed and addressed
in literature - large and growing
 at conferences and meetings
 at water coolers

Tefko Saracevic
6
Topics of debates
Behavior – mostly of young
 Digital – demise of print
 Doomsday scenarios
 Prescriptive, re-:

reimagining
 reinvigorating
 renewing

Tefko Saracevic
7
Behavior

Young people read fewer & fewer books


but: Kids are actually reading more than they used to;
it’s just more than books—Web sites, online gaming ...
Libraries are losing relevance as the world becomes
more and more digitized

but: If libraries learn to be more interactive and
innovative, they will have a very positive future
Tefko Saracevic
8
Digital - books

Books & printing have been the most successful user
interface ever for a couple thousand years


but: As they have evolved & gotten cheaper, books have
evolved into a communications channel & less of a
broadcast channel.
One thinking: Digital media and books are opposed
to each other

but: Digital media can & do enhance book reading.
Tefko Saracevic
9
Digital - information

Everything is on Google, indexed by Google (and other
search engines)
even scholarly info is on Google Scholar
 but: It simply is not so ... no matter what believed


e.g. you cannot find most of my stuff there, or most medical stuff
Tefko Saracevic
10
Doomsday scenarios

Coffman, S. (2012). The decline and fall of the
library empire. Searcher, 20(3), 14-47.
Tefko Saracevic
11
A vision for “New librarianship”
Libraries have existed for millennia, but today the library field is searching for solid footing in an
increasingly fragmented (and increasingly digital) information environment.
What is librarianship when it is unmoored from cataloging, books, buildings, and committees? In
The Atlas of New Librarianship, R. David Lankes offers a guide to this new landscape for
practitioners. He describes a new librarianship based not on books and artifacts but on
knowledge and learning; and he suggests a new mission for librarians: to improve society
through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities. The vision for a new librarianship
must go beyond finding library-related uses for information technology and the Internet; it must
provide a durable foundation for the field. Lankes recasts librarianship and library practice using
the fundamental concept that knowledge is created though conversation. New librarians
approach their work as facilitators of conversation; they seek to enrich, capture, store, and
disseminate the conversations of their communities. To help librarians navigate this new terrain,
Lankes offers a map, a visual representation of the field that can guide explorations of it; more
than 140 Agreements, statements about librarianship that range from relevant theories to
examples of practice; and Threads, arrangements of Agreements to explain key ideas, covering
such topics as conceptual foundations and skills and values. Agreement Supplements at the end
of the book offer expanded discussions. Although it touches on theory as well as practice, the
Atlas is meant to be a tool: textbook, conversation guide, platform for social networking, and call
to action.Copublished with the Association of College & Research Libraries.
Tefko Saracevic
12
Constant values for libraries & librarienship

Credibility - trust
Tefko Saracevic
13
Technology & users
World of learning, libraries, & technology are
merging their ideas of the people who take advantage
of their services
 Information users:

1. information consumers
 2. information creators and producers

Tefko Saracevic
14
Laptop lending kiosks San Francisco Public Library
Tefko Saracevic
15
Innovation ... as well ... not all are digital
Tefko Saracevic
16
and here is its use
Tefko Saracevic
17
Unusual services: Library therapy dogs
U Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Shapiro Library
Tefko Saracevic
18
Seed lending at public libraries
Tefko Saracevic
19
How thinking about trends is established
Tefko Saracevic
20
Futurists
Some are envisioning the future
professionally e.g.
Thomas Frey (Executive Director and

Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute):
The Future of Libraries
Beginning the Great
Transformation
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic


But we will not “futurize”
Here we will examine some
immediate things that affect
digital libraries from the
viewpoint of their


general (macro) environment &
specific (micro) environment
21
ToC
Six trends in general digital information
environment
 Four changes in specific environment

With implications for digital libraries
throughout
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
22
Digital information:
General trends & mutual effects
Proliferation of
digital information
Changing role & needs
for information
Increase in
cooperation
Increased competition
in providing digital
information
Increased focus on
measuring value,
justifications
Development of
new or improved
services
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
23
Digital libraries:
Plus changes in specific environments
Changes in immediate
institution or community
Changes in D-lib
users & uses
Changes in legal, policy
& political contexts
Changes in D-lib
technology developments
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
24
Summary: Effects of trends in
D-lib environments (plural)

D-libs are affected by trends in
digital information in general:
proliferation of digital
information
 changes in needs for & role of dinformation
 increased competition
 new services
 measuring, justification
 cooperative activities
as listed in the first slide

Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic

Plus they are affected by specific
changes in their




immediate institutional or
community environment
users & use
technology developments
legal, policy and political contexts
as listed in the second slide
25
Effects on D-libs of

Proliferation of
digital information
Everything about digital information follows
Moore’s law (which is not about information but computer hardware: capacity of
chips doubles every two years)
Seems that digital information is also growing
exponentially
 Many implications for digital libraries


among important ones are $$$$
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
26
… effects of proliferation (cont.)

As budgets of libraries are not increasing, higher &
higher proportions will go for digital resources &
services
necessitating cuts for others
 & changes in professional deployment of librarians
 somebody has to run and manage these things - YOU

Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
27
… effects of proliferation (cont.)

Many libraries are increasing own digitization &
playing an active role in proliferation
digitization of heritage (old stuff) & outputs of own
institutions (new stuff) will increase
 born digital from libraries will go up as well


Many libraries are joining & even leading in
preservation of digital records

& with it libraries are becoming an important social &
cultural player in information society
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
28
… effects of proliferation (cont.)

In turn these trends are creating needs for properly
educated and trained digital librarians
curricula, distant (online, webinars) education,
workshops … are adjusting to those needs & will adjust
even more
 professional life-long learning becomes imperative
 you will constantly need to change & increase your
professional competencies & keep up


this is a 100% sure trend
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
29
Effects on D-libs of

Digital information is also distributed (role of the
Internet) and accessed & used in a number of differing
ways (role of the Web)


Changing role & needs
for information
plus creation became relatively easy & sharable
All continue to affect what information is needed
and how it is used
the study of these needs & uses are proliferating in
many fields & commercially
 important for finding ways & means to satisfy
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
changing needs & uses

30
… effects of changing use, needs (cont.)

D-libs are being accessed & used by users that are
never setting a foot in the library physically, only
virtually



inspiring studies (or guessing) of needs and access ways of these virtual
users
users studies of digital libraries & resources are on the rise & more are
under way
involvement of librarians in such studies and in interpretation &
translation of findings should become a trend


(but will it?)
to translate into appropriate responses
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
31
Effects on D-libs of

Increased competition
in providing digital
information
A number of players got involved in digital
information taking advantage of technology
many new ones (Google, Amazon…) many old ones
reconfigured (publishers e.g. Elsevier)
 stakes are enormous & increasing
 a major & rapidly growing industry


Competition is cutthroat
national & global
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
 with strategic significance for all

32
… effects of competition (cont.)

Libraries are finding themselves in unfamiliar
territory – never had such competition

positive trend: increasingly searching for and defining
a constructive (and winning) role in that environment
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
33
… effects of competition (cont.)

Negative contrast: gloomy pronouncements on
increased irrelevance of libraries (or books, or
print, or newspapers, or …)


percent of people reading any book or newspapers a year is
falling – one trend
yet more books and a variety of magazines are made and
sold a year then ever before – another trend
Talking about books (one of the mainstreams of
Tefko Saracevic
libraries)

Tefko Saracevic
34
Books & the old assumptions:
Are they under siege?

A lot of stuff is read now from the screen
so far books not that much
 paper for books (i.e. analog) is still high


However, will that change?
with a lot of digitization – ever more books are digital –
effect of scale & variety
 with new digital reader technology – ever more user
friendly (e.g. Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iPad)
 with new downloading & charging methods (e.g. Amazon, iBooks,

ebrary for books, magazines, newspapers)
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
35
Effects: New digital book & libraries

Doomsday scenario:
users will bypass libraries in getting books
 libraries will slowly get irrelevant as book holders


Rethinking doomsday scenario:
libraries will adjust digital collections & services & offer
“circulation” of digital books in new ways – value is
added
 services are free to own patrons – others are not


Libraries will get a new and different life
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic

if they adjust
36
Effects on D-libs of
Development of
new or improved
services
On the Web new services, capabilities, products
related to e-information are mushrooming
 Even established ones are improving & evolving in
new directions


just think of paths taken by digitization of books by
Google & others
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
37
… effects of new services (cont.)

Libraries are participating in a number of new Web
services
e.g. Google book digitization involves many libraries,
even national ones … going up & up
 library catalogs & circulations are becoming a part of
search engines


getting integrated into the online search experiences
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
38
… effects of new services (cont.)

Also developing own new services, e.g.
e-reference: ask-a-librarian; chat reference
 searching: incorporation of cross-database searching;
filter options for refining searches; advanced searching
by place, time, broad subject, & category; recommender
services



geared toward “Less Searching, More Finding.”
offering access to bibliography management software (e.g.
RefWorks at RUL)
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
39
Effects on D-libs of

For commercial organizations measuring exchange
value fairly straight forward: Return on investment
(ROI), profits


Increased focus on
measuring value,
justifications
even willing to take long term gamble, losses
But indicators of use value new & in flux
tracking online visits: clicks, what words, phrases used
most, (“bangs for the buck”), from where use came
(addresses…); ranks in visits …
Tefko
Saracevic of subscriptions measure downloads
instead
Tefko
Saracevic

40
… effects of measuring (cont.)

Measuring & interpreting access & use in digital
libraries is complex

standards slowly developing


ROI & value in exchange not appropriate
Use measures are often equated with value in use –
similarly as circulation measures

statistics measures used as performance measures
e.g.: visits; fill rate; downloads; percent of population
(students, patrons) actually using; use level for titles
Tefko Saracevic

Tefko Saracevic
41
… effects of measuring (cont.)

New measures of value are constantly sought

some are user-centric


some within broader economic theory



e.g. experiences; outcomes - what did the user get out of the service;
impact; scorecards
considering libraries as social capital
some with arguments of value added by libraries to
information & inf. objects
Pressure to justify is rising & rising
yet actually finding ways to do so is not
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko
Saracevic
42
Effects on D-libs of

Connectivity coupled with cooperation becoming a
major aspect of e-information


Increase in
cooperation
benefit of feedback & contributions from a community “wisdom-of-the-crowds”
Besides blogs & Wikipedia many examples
arts and sciences collaboration
 bookmarks with folksonomy: delicious
 many cooperative activities involving libraries

Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
43
… effects of cooperation (cont.)

Libraries have a long history of cooperation –
continues in d-libraries
e.g. cataloging, consortia, OCLC, networks
 cooperation on the rise because of necessity


But there is also library type cooperation aimed at
general public

all about books: cataloging your books, recommendations
… LibraryThing


e.g. their entry for Librarians who LibraryThing
More like that are appearing involving public
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
44
Digital libraries & changes in specific
environments

Role of changes in immediate context





institution or community
users & use
technology
legal, policy, politics
Several large gravitational hubs of information
infrastructure dominate

Google, Amazon, Yahoo…
Trends in these environments impact digital
 Saracevic
Tefko
Tefko Saracevic
45
Effects on D-libs of

Educational institutions

trend: searching for role in digital environment


e.g. online offerings, open course materials (MIT)
Public communities & governments


Changes in immediate
institution or community
trend: e-government, e-communication
Commercial organization

trend: increased participation in digital anything
Libraries are trying to increase their participation in
new or changing aspects of their institution,
organization,
community
Tefko
Saracevic

Tefko Saracevic
46
Effects on D-libs of

In many areas substantive changes


significant support but also opposition rising
Social connections on the Web – big (for now)



e.g. tools & ways of research are changing dramatically
Open access movement continues to gain ground – but
not without struggle


Changes in D-lib
users & uses
social media – libraries are joining them in droves
but also individualization - myXXXX
This keeps effecting d-libraries

expectations & requirement of users changing
Tefko
Saracevic

e.g. full texts required & expected
Tefko Saracevic
47
Effects on D-libs of

Changes in D-lib
technology developments
Technologies have reconstructed or changed social
structures including institutions – libraries as well –
think of digital libraries

& have a potential to do so further
In turn, social structures shape how we think about &
use technology – digital libraries are a part of that as
well
 Technologies change stuff & the changed stuff affects how
we use & consider technology

 derived
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
somewhat from Giddens' structuration theory
48
Effects on D-libs of technology (cont.)
Constant appearance of new technologies – hardware
& software – is a constant trend
 D-libraries are totally technology dependent & their
users are becoming so


and will constantly keep chasing it


interaction with technology suppliers particularly of
integrative & advanced software is becoming more
sophisticated & knowledgeable on part of libraries
new access methods, hardware on the horizon
 libraries
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
& iPads or some such & users will probably expect
that they can get to library that way
49
Effects on D-libs of
Changes in legal, policy
& political contexts
New forms of intellectual property rights for
emergent information architectures of the 21st
century are needed & sought
 Significant asymmetries in access to information
have socioeconomic consequences – remedies are
sought
 D-libraries (as libraries in general) will continue to
try to affect these changes

voicing through a number of channels
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
50
Conclusion on d-lib trends

A proper borrowing on how to act:
“Think globally, act locally.”
an environmentalist slogan
 coined by David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth

Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
51
But then …
“I only use email to get a hold of old people like you”
Email is for old people…new
generations need
something else!
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
52
On a different note not connected to d-libraries, but to all of us
The last lecture -
Randy Pausch
1960-2008
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
53
Bye for the lecture & for the course
Tefko
Saracevic
Tefko Saracevic
54