Trendspotting in the 21st Century: The OCLC Environmental Scan

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Trendspotting in the 21st Century The
OCLCEnvironmental Scan

• Presented by George Needham, VP for Member
  Services, OCLC
• The CLC Fall Symposium / University of Hartford /
  October 21, 2005

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The Scan
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The Landscapes
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Three dominant patterns
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Three dominant patterns
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Three dominant patterns
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Self-service
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A great library mission

• to organize the world's information and make
  it universally accessible and useful.

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from a great library (?)
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Ten things Google has found to be true

• Focus on the user and all else will follow.
• It's best to do one thing really, really
  well.
• Fast is better than slow.
• Democracy on the web works.
• You don't need to be at your desk to need an
  answer.
• You can make money without doing evil.
• There's always more information out there.
• The need for information crosses all borders.
• You can be serious without a suit.
• Great just isn't good enough.

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The Google Effect
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Terse conclusions
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Disaggregation
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Disaggregation
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Collaboration

• Collaboration is an unnatural act committed by
  non-consenting adults.
• Robert Martin
• Former Director of the Institute for Museum and
  Library Services

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Three trends in one example
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Social software
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Library social software

• QuestionPoint
• WebJunction

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The Gathering Place
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So, what next?

• Reform the environment stop trying to reform
  the people. They will reform themselves if the
  environment is right.

attributed toBuckminster Fuller
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Preparing for the Future
Nothing is built on stone all is built on
sand, but we must build as if the sand were
stone. Jorge Luis Borges "Fragments from an
Apocryphal Gospel," In Praise of Darkness
(Dutton, 1974)
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Thank you!