Professional Development

Opening address by Rick Luce
Vice-provost and Director of Libraries, Emory University
Former Director of the Research Library at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Working from his knowledge of the changing horizon of scientific research, Luce attempted to draw a picture of how information services will evolve. His argument is that science is changing the way we “know” things—and thereby changing the foundation of information, knowledge, and even culture itself. Some new science research techniques or technologies (e.g., triple-blind studies, multiple hypothesis matrices, adaptive real-time experiments, wikiscience, nanobiotics) are not only changing the types of information researchers expect but also, more generally and more importantly, changing our understanding of what information is.

Because of this information evolution, Luce argued that libraries must employ a new definition of success:

Success = adding value and providing a compelling experience for our users.

One way that we add value is to become data curation experts.

Another way that libraries add value is for librarians to take responsibility for finding, collating, and presenting information in a coherent and instantaneous manner. That is, if librarians are currently morphing into information professionals, then we need to continue that evolution: we need to become channel editors. A channel editor fulfills a certain role: It’s not about locating separate sources anymore; it’s not about reading “everything” anymore; it’s about integration—collecting relevant information on- and off-line and then machine-collating this information and presenting it in a manner which allows users to manipulate it as their needs demand. This is the task of the channel editor, and if we fulfill this role, then we will have successfully adapted to the new research and knowledge paradigms.

His five primary pieces of advice for building a successful library:

1. Focus on cell phones (or whatever handheld mobile devices replace cell phones) as the means by which patrons will expect to meet their information needs in the not-to-distant future.
2. Dismantle information silos, especially those which dominate our libraries today and prevent the efficient presentation of information.
3. Imagine that you had the power to go to sleep one night and know that the following day you would wake up and work in the perfect library. What would that place be? Then ask yourself what you can do to make that happen.
4. Focus on users’ needs. Why is there disconnect between the library world and the web world?
5. Cultivate customer loyalty by improving the quality of your product and processes.