Eli, Ann Neiburger

DELTA AHEAD: Diversifying the Value of Libraries for the 21st Century

Neiburger, Eli, Ann Arbor District Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

The information revolution is sweeping through every institution, disrupting and devaluing long-established systems and collections. As demand for some media falls and others rise, it might seem like a time of transition for libraries… but the change brought by ubiquitous networked information is more than a just a format shift. Libraries need new and expanded ways to provide value to the communities they serve, beyond a pass-through for published products. Libraries are poised to skip over the current dead-end, transitional formats and establish a new value proposition, based more on what our communities create for us than on what we procure for our communities.

Eli Neiburger, Associate Director for IT & Production at the Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan, where they’re building a future for their community through collaboration, content creation, and something that’s a lot like journalism. From circulating scopes and fossils, to podcasts and minecraft, to a digital licensing model that rooted in the future instead of the past, AADL is leading the way on many fronts, and maybe that’s the future of libraries; not to see the web as a bend in the river, but as a river delta, fanning out into a new sea of information.

Audience: Staff, Librarians, Managers, and Leaders at libraries of all types.