How do Special Libraries Compare with Uber?

Quick. Easy. Seamless. Simple. Words that come to mind when ordering a gift from Amazon.com or hailing a ride through Uber, but not necessarily when trying to find and use information from a library or information center.

Mobile ride sharing 2

What do rising consumer expectations (fueled in part by the growing use of mobile technologies) portend for special libraries and librarians? Britt Mueller, principal at Liquidity, and Cindy Shamel, head of Shamel Information Services, will address this and related questions when they present their contributed paper, “Mind the Gap: Delivering Library Services and Content to Mobile-Savvy Consumers,” on Monday, June 13, at the SLA 2016 Annual Conference.

“Library services are centralized by definition,” they wrote in the paper’s abstract. “The underlying library requirements of delivering content to an unidentified population, whether an enterprise, a university, or specific interest group, make the delivery level more challenging. Providing access in such an environment that mimics the individual user experience can be challenging and even impossible. Add to this a fractured information ecosystem and much smaller budgets, and it is easy to see that this is a very large challenge, but one that is not going away.”

Three other contributed papers will also be presented on June 13:

  • “Academic? Corporate? Public? All of the Above! A Preliminary Look at Librarianship Career Path Movement,” Tina Franks
  • “CALiO™: Cornerstone of Evidence-Based Practice for Nationally Dispersed Field Professionals,” David King and Muriel Wells
  • “Levels of Engagement: Moving from Transactional to Impactful,” Kelly Bergman and Angela Pagliaro

These papers are proof that research is alive and well in the special library profession, and they’re just four of dozens of good reasons to attend SLA 2016. To register for the SLA 2016 Annual Conference, click here. To learn more about the contributed papers, click here.

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