IMPACT OF THE INTERNET AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES ON LIBRARIES

Libraries of all types are facing the immense and escalating impact of:

• the Internet, changing forms of content, user preference for easy access to seamless information, the association of libraries as book warehouses, and the need for libraries to change (OCLC, “2003: Environmental Scan);

• the multi-faceted search capabilities from commercial search engines like Google and online vendors like Amazon.com;

• the growing plethora of participatory web applications, or “social software,” associated with Web 2.0, such as SMS and IM, podcasting, Wikis, RSS, blogs, user-provided tags/tag clouds, and other technologies on libraries and library services (Farkas, “Social Software Metapost”)

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php.

Social Software/Web 2.0 applications include:

• Social bookmarking/tagging; de.lioro.us: http://de.lirio.us/rubric; Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/; Blinklist http://www.blinklist.com/

• Blogs (Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com; FaganFinder: http://www.faganfinder.com/blogs/

• Group mapping: Frapper: http://www.frappr.com/

• Individual and group profiles/blogs, web spaces, personal portals: MySpace: http://myspace.com/; MyJournal.com: http://www.livejournal.com/); Goowy: http://webserver001.goowy.com/); Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com/); SuprGlu: http://www.suprglu.com/

• Photo sharing: Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/

• Wikis: Media Wiki: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki; Schtuff.com: http://www.schtuff.com/); pbwiki: http://pbwiki.com/;

• RSS: Kick RSS: http://www.kickrss.com/

• Phone and IM: (Skype: http://www.skype.com/; Meebo: http://www10.meebo.com/);

• For an ongoing update on new Web 2.0 services see TechCruch (http://www.techcrunch.com/)

Preference of Google for research and information searching due to high brand recognition of Google, fast search capability, preference to search one source, ease of use, advanced search capabilities, and growing capabilities to search the deep web (OCLC,Perceptions; Hodges).

http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/Percept_all.pdf

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2005/June05/ntlconfrpts.htm

Users are using a variety of mobile and computer devices to access unbundled content, a growing amount of which is born digital, and moving away from print resources (OCLC, “2004 Information Format Trends”).

http://www.oclc.org/reports/2004format.htm

Three types of information service, e-mail, search engines, and instant messaging, are the most frequently used, according to a recent OCLC study of 3,300 consumers around the world. Moreover, 84 percent begin their searches for information with a search engine, while only one percent begins with an online database or library web site (Perceptions 1-1,1-17).

http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/Percept_all.pdf

The OCLC Perceptions study also found:

• Over 96 percent of the respondents had visited a library; 72 percent have library cards; but less than 30 percent have used a library’s web site (1-2).

• College students use libraries, public and academic, more frequently than other age/user groups; 65 percent of college students use their academic library monthly; 44 percent say their library use has increased over the past 3-5 years, and 61 percent use a library web site; as a group, they are more like to use online resources, magazines/journals and databases; however, 89 percent begin a search with a search engine (1-3, 1-4, 1-11, 1-17).

• More than 60 percent of the respondents are familiar or very familiar with search engines; Google is by far the most widely used and recognized search engine (62 percent using it); 80 percent would pick a search engine as their first choice for their next information search, while 11 percent would pick a library (1-7, 1-26); 69 percent believe the information from a search engine is equal to the trustworthiness of information from a library (3-6); search engines fit the modern lifestyle for more than half the respondents (3-28).

• Most respondents have positive associations of libraries, particularly for products and offerings (3-21); however, the library brand is overwhelmingly association with books (3-34).

Google is entering the library realm with its Library Project (http://print.google.com/googleprint/library.html), which it dubs “an enhanced card catalog of the world’s books,” and Book Search (http://print.google.com/googlebooks/about.html), which it says will allow users to find books to buy or borrow (Google Library Project; Google Book Search).

http://print.google.com/googleprint/library.html

http://print.google.com/googlebooks/about.html

More books, potentially millions, are being scanned and made searchable by commercial search engines like Google and Yahoo; although copyright issues persist in Google’s project, Yahoo’s plans involved the digitization of full-text of copyright-free books for placement on the Internet Archive (Carlson and Young).

http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005100301t.htm

Amazon.com is developing a pay-per-page project, as well as pay service to confer digital access to books (Graham).

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-11-03-amazon-pages_x.htm

Yahoo has launched a new “Yahoo Answers” service, where users pose and answer each other’s questions on a wide range of topics (Yahoo Answers).

http://answers.yahoo.com/;_ylt=AuEjYRGLfzZ8hRMNe4a0hKwezKIX

The “Long Tail” theory of digital abundance, allowing users to find and access lesser known works that provides authors with ongoing demand for their products, could create an increased demand for library’s niche-oriented holdings that are available on-demand (Storey, “The Long Tail”).

http://www.oclc.org/news/publications/newsletters/oclc/2005/268/thelongtail.htm

Wide use of gaming and visual stimuli on millennial generation will impact the way these users seek and understand information, and the way that services will need to be designed to meet their needs (Storey “The Big Bang”; “Staying in the Game”).

http://www.oclc.org/news/publications/newsletters/oclc/2005/267/stayinthegame.htm

http://www.oclc.org/news/publications/newsletters/oclc/2005/267/thebigbang.htm.

Boomers and gamers forming the largest segments of public library users; services, resources, and library spaces must accommodate each group’s needs and preferences (Storey “The Big Bang”; “Staying in the Game”).

http://www.oclc.org/news/publications/newsletters/oclc/2005/267/thebigbang.htm

A small, but growing, number of articles are describing how new social software, like wikis, create the ability to easily post false or unreliable information (Steelye).

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/business/media/11web.html