OCLC Report: Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers

This article, a report, was generated by the Online Computer Library Center. It found the most significant trend was "the rapid 'unbundling' of content from traditional containers such as books, journals, and cds, has had a significant impact on the self-search/find/obtain process."

It claims that most consumers of unbundled content are middle aged "format agnostics" who, as I understand this, don't care if a movie they want to see is on dvd or bluray at their local library, but they will gladly order it on demand from their cable company for twice as much money. (Especially because that movie can be downloaded to their cell phone so they can watch it on the plane.) Or they don't care if the book they are currently reading can only be downloaded from the Internet as an ebook.

As Marshall McLuhan stated in 1964 "The medium is the message." Changes in how content is made available, accessed and consumed have created a new message which is an effect of Internet access expanding. "Books, radios, VCRs, telephones, or tv are no longer sacred objects" as "the format of the content becomes less important than its ability to be delivered via a low cost convenient channel to the consumer."

It was estimated at the time of the report that 2 billion text messages and 16 billion emails were sent per day, as opposed to 51,000 interlibrary loans.

"Cell phone ringtones, wallpaper, single tracks of music...are now part of a $3.2 billion microcontent industry" which libraries see no parts of, since microcontent is not available from them. The report suggested libraries need to find a way to provide microcontent in order to be competitive, as well as the incorporation of Open Content such as a wiki or blog, to reach their patrons.

At the time of the report, 4 million blogs existed. The magazine publishing industry reported a net loss in 2003, ebooks were the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry, and on-demand services appeared to be the future of the entertainment industry.

It is estimated libraries spent 20% in 2002 on packaged, distributed electronic resources for their collections.

According to the report, libraries not only need to adjust to "Everything, everywhere, when I want it, the way I want it" they also must "move beyond the role of collector and organizer of content to one that establishes authenticity and provenance of content and provides the imprintur of quality in an info-rich but content-poor world."

In other words, we are awash in information. We lack context in which to place all of the new content. This is where librarians should step in.