Restructuring Our Thinking:

New Mindsets for Librarianship in a

Radically
Changed Information Environment

Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
Univ. of Nevada, Reno Libraries
rickand@unr.edu
 Basic Assumptions

1. Things are not okay

2. Fundamental change calls for
fundamental change
3. We’re lecturing our patrons and
missing opportunities
Changing Information Economy

 Scarcity  Abundance
 Permanent ownership  Leased
access
 Physical  “Virtual”

 Monopoly  Competition

 “Just in case”  “Just in time”

 What Kind of Mindset Do We
Need?

1. Less religious and more skeptical

2. Less idealistic and more pragmatic
3. Less instructive and more helpful
 Three Ways Our Profession Is
Broken

1. Too many rule-followers, not

enough problem-solvers
2. The “Teach a Man to Fish” fallacy
3. Too much self-congratulation, too
little progress
 Four Ways to Fix It

1. Question (not celebrate) our “core

values”
2. Give up on the educator function
3. Stop talking to ourselves; start
listening to patrons
4. Abandon print
 The Three Terrible Questions

 What’s the Internet got that we ain’t

got?
 When is good enough good enough?

 Why do we think we’re so much

smarter than our patrons?
 Ways to Think About Patron
Behavior

 Efficiency is not laziness

 As a matter of fact, online IS better
than print
 Don’t try to think like a good
librarian; try to think like a bad
patron
 Ways to Think About Patron
Behavior

 Efficiency is not laziness

 As a matter of fact, online IS better
than print
 Don’t try to think like a good
librarian; try to think like a bad
patron
 Google rules. Deal with it.
 Strategies for Adapting to Patron
Behavior

 Three words: online, online, online

 Put inertia on your side

 Embrace risk; celebrate failure

 More fish; fewer peas

 Celebrate efficiency

 Focus on speed-to-stacks
 Contact

Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
Univ. of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 682-5664
rickand@unr.edu