Ann Caputo, Director of Learning & Infopro Programs, Dow Jones and SLA President 2010, gave a talk about “Living in the new normal” where she addressed global trends that knowledge professionals should understand. The talk was held at Li Ka Shing Library, Singapore Management University on 17 February 2011.

Ann told the story of how she got her first job fresh out of library school at Dialog. The job market for librarians was not good when she was graduating and her advisor suggested she apply for an opening at Lockheed for a project they were starting. She went for the interview and was offered the job. Out of curiosity, she asked why they pick her for the position. The reasons they gave were that she was a woman (they needed a woman representative on their project), but more importantly because she was previously a high school debater and high school teacher. They felt that she would have good public speaking skills with the ability to teach and to build a curriculum. She stayed with Lockheed Dialog for 22 years and her subsequent jobs were also never in libraries.

Ann highlighted five trends that she felt was important for knowledge professionals to be aware of:

1. Globalization: where financial, economic and political events have an impact not just locally but also globally; where the digital word of mouth recommendations and referrals have become increasingly important; 78% of purchases were made because of recommendations and only 14% of purchases were made because of advertising.
2. Distressed markets: the current global economy is uncertain and seem to be in a state of contraction; this increases the need to prove your value add especially as we are in an industry that does not create but enhance and provide access; Accenture had done a study to show that the ROI on knowledge management is 1:20.
3. Disintermediation: where more people are going direct and cutting out the “middle man” or the traditional store; examples are banks and ATMs, Borders and Amazon; on the positive side people are able to help themselves when they need it and at their convenience; there is also a trend of “re-intermediation” where people come back for the complex tasks that they had difficulty with; for libraries with users who are Millennials and who often think all information is good, they are coming back to the library to help them evaluate information.
4. Disruptive technology: coined by Clayton M. Christensen, technology can have ripple effects on consumers, businesses and even related businesses; for example Dow Jones user training used to take place face-to-face over 2-days and this has now become a short video uploaded on YouTube.
5. Intense competition: competition comes not just from external sources but also increasingly from internal sources.

Ann feels that we can succeed in the new normal as:

• we are a global profession
• we add value in lean times
• we are highly skilled researchers
• we understand tools
• we have a competitive edge

In the discussion that followed, the audience contributed their own experiences with technology; keeping in touch with their child the whole day via SMS as compared to face-to-face contact only in the morning and evening; learning how to play a particular drum piece from YouTube that supplements in-person drum lessons. Students were reported to be coming back to the librarians to verify information that they found on Wikipedia as an example of re-intermediation.

We have lessons to learn from Borders being on the verge of bankruptcy and public libraries on the decline in London. Ann reminded us that we are good at choosing the best information, guiding users to the right information, negotiating for information, organising, collecting and archiving information. However, we need to get better at asserting ourselves and articulating our value.

Will libraries be needed in the future? Will libraries close as our users no longer borrow books? Are library schools addressing these issues? Some participants responded that library schools can focus on teaching the basic principles, that librarians focus on their core skills, that libraries adapt to provides services that their users need, if they do not come to borrow books, the library can still provide services and as a space for interaction.

In conclusion, Ann reminded us that it is content that matters, and the tools to access information will change. We need to learn to use the new tools to get the right information to the right users so that we can continue to do well in the new normal.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin