The Network, Library Boundaries, and

Systemwide Organization

Lorcan Dempsey

OCLC

Keynote at Seek, Explore, Discover. The Midwest Chapter MLA Conference 2009Columbus, OH, 5 October

overview

what I know about medical libraries

prelude

our libraries are a product of an

earlier network era

Institution scale

speculations about the future

speculations about the future

The network has reconfiguredwhole industries …

TravelNewsBook retail

We have yet to work throughwhat systemwide reconfigurationmeans for libraries …

transaction costs: why are things changing?

scalar emphasis and sourcing: who does what?

boundaries: where will libraries focus?

transaction costs

Ronald CoaseFirms exist because of ….

Transaction costs help determine the boundaries of the firm:• Delineation between activities that are conducted internally and those that are transacted for externally• Higher the transaction costs, more likely an activity will be internalized within the firm

Firm: Manufacturing R&D Human Resources Finance

Call center

Supply chain

Plants/grounds

a Coasian view of the academic library

Universities find it useful andeconomical to internalize a bundle of library-related activities

As the pattern of transaction costs change, so too will the boundaries of the library.

Bangor University, Wales“searching has been deskilled”

Boundaries

University: Library Teaching Research Administration Laboratories Sports facilities

Google

Bangor

Instititutional support for research and learning

Cataloging

A&I/E-journals

JSTOR/Portico

Resource sharing

boundaries and focus

Unbundling the corporation

Harvard Business Review (1999)

Core components of a firm

CustomerRelationshipManagement

Product Innovation

Infrastructure

Back office capacities thatsupport day-to-day operations“Routinized” workflowsEconomies of scale important

Develop new products andservices and bring them tomarketSpeed/flexibility important

Attracting and building relationships with customers“Service-oriented”, customizationEconomies of scope important

Libraries

CustomerRelationshipManagement

Product Innovation

InfrastructurePhysical space,Physical inventory, RepositorySystems infrastructure

Online services, etc.

Acquire/develop new information resources and services to supportevolving research and learningworkflows

Provision of study & social spacesInterpret learning and research needs Personalized research assistanceMarketing and assessmentCustomization/personalization

infrastructure

Space: Infrastructure Customer relationship

Print collections:Print shared infrastructure?Licensed

Systems:Local cloudThe library network?

space a flashpoint

Valuable

Opportunity costs

Social lives and learning

Micro-coordination and ad hoc rendezvous

Colocation with cognate units

Added value activity

customer relationship management

… what are the appropriate intersection points between library staff and systems, and the research and learning behaviors of students, faculty, and clinicians and how do those need to change …

some environmental issues

discovery happens elsewhere

community is the new content …

library must build around workflow: can’t expect workflows to be built around library

Information abundant; attention scarce

‘people are entry points’ d chudnov

customer relationship management

1. Demonstrating Value2. Perception and Aesthetics3. Collaboration4. Innovation

Bangor. John Wright. http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/assets/inuls2007/johnwright-fri0945.ppt

a multiscalar library

repository

social networking

digitization

mobilization copyright

data curation

unified discoveryescholarship

SEO

“We librarians are so willing to stretch ourselves thin trying to do more with less that eventually, the less really does become too little.” Quote from unattrib comment on blog

Anne Kenneyhttp://www.oclc.org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney.pdf

Anne Kenneyhttp://www.oclc.org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney.pdf

Anne Kenneyhttp://www.oclc.org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney.pdf

IndividualDepartmental

Collaboratively sourcedHathi trustOrbis Cascade Alliance

Public support …OhioLinkJISC

Commercial

Web-scaleGoogleAmazon

Disciplinary ..

multiscalar confusion?

Institutional intellectual assets …

Institutional repository?Supra-Institutional repository?

Webscale repository?Disciplinary repository?

Distinctive scope of the institutional?

Rescaling the uniform?Developing the unique?

So …

From institution to multiscalar

Institutional no longer the appropriate scale for many things

Supra-institutional institutions:legacy and immature

But …

Understand what should be done locally

Don’t spread too thinly

Be more strongly instrumental with affiliations

Innovate around institutional configurations

Pool uncertainty!

Thank you

Lorcan DempseyOCLC

http://orweblog.oclc.orghttp://www.twitter.com/lorcanD