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ACRL in Anaheim ACRL Programs at the ALA Annual Conference conference circuit ACRL in Anaheim ACRL programs at the ALA Annual Conference LA’s 127th Annual Conference was The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions,” Aheld June 26–July 2, 2008, in Anaheim, with an hour of delightful illustrations of these California. Approximately 22,047 librarians, reasoning glitches, revealing their predictabil- library support staff, exhibitors, writers, edu- ity and suggesting the principles behind some cators, publishers, and special guests added of them. Chief among these principles is that the conference. Ed. note: Thanks to the ACRL we do not have an internalized objective scale members who summarized programs to make for most choices: we choose options based this report possible. on their value relative to the other options presented. People’s responses can be strong- Predictably ly influenced irrational by whether We are not as a question is rational as we phrased with tend to assume an opt-in or we are. Early opt-out de- in his talk, Dan fault, whether Ariely projected or not the of- Roger Shepard’s fer of some- optical illusion thing “free” is “Turning the involved in a Tables.” Sev- choice, or the eral visual cues number of op- in the image tions presented. lead viewers The 2008 President’s Program Speakers (left to right): Mario For example, to quickly con- Ascencio, George Mason University and REFORMA president; people proved clude that one Ellie Collier, Austin Community College­South Austin; 2007–08 ten times more ACRL President Julie B. Todaro; Marla E. Peppers, Occidental of the tables likely to buy College; Brett Bonfield, Collingswood Public Library. presented is an unusual jam longer than the other. The surprising, and flavor from a display of six jams than from a measurable, truth is that the tables are the display of 24 jams; 24 is too many to compare. same length. Just as optical illusions such Similarly, if two relatively equivalent options as Shepard’s highlight predictable mistakes are made available, the propensity to choose hardwired into our visual system, Ariely’s one over the other will dramatically increase work in behavioral economics highlights if a slightly defective version of that one (a mistakes we make with similarly consistency “decoy,” in marketing terms) is added to the when it comes to rational decisions. list of options (our comparison of the two Ariely regaled the audience at the ACRL initial options is unbalanced by the weight President’s Program, “Predictably Irrational: of the decoy). The lesson: we do not know C&RL News September 2008 442 our own preferences in every context, and Ariely also made suggestions for con- decisions we make are often infl uenced by veying the value of libraries outside of the forces we fail to consider. For illustrations of traditionally collected statistics. First, he these forces at work (and how to contend recommended coming up with other forms with them), see Ariely’s best-selling book of “value” and changing the role of the li- Predictably Irrational. brary. For example, experts tend to create After his talk, the audience and a panel knowledge that is not easily digested by lay- of librarians had the opportunity to discuss persons, so perhaps a value libraries could with Ariely some of the implications of his add would be to “repackage” this knowledge theories and findings for libraries. Panelists into more accessible and usable forms. He sought his advice on how libraries can better continued to propose that academic libraries communicate and leverage the quality and should play a larger role in the intellectual value libraries possess to the communities life of a university and should think about they serve. and prepare staff for what a good library of In response, Ariely described the notion the future will be. that products or services of “unknown value” When asked, Ariely indicated supervisory do not result in regret if the user does not take staff could instill purpose and meaning in advantage of them. He posed the question, employees’ work without fi nancial benefi ts “What is the quality of something we don’t by offering transparency of process, plan- pay for?” In response, ning, and intent. Offering panelists wondered if employees a say in things librarians should explic- can replace their external itly inform their users motives (i.e., a paycheck) they indeed are paying with internal motives (i.e., for library resources (via desire to assist in plan- tuition, taxes, etc.) as ning a program for library one means of beginning users), while affirming to communicate their their roles within the or- worth. Ariely indicated ganization. doing so would be a On the larger ques- start because empha- tion of whether libraries sizing the real costs of in higher education in products or services the United States today results in feelings of re- Dan Ariely of MIT’s Sloan School of Manage­ should increase spending ment and Media Laboratory. gret if one has not made or advocate for changing use of them. the social norm, Ariely responded by describ- One panelist noted librarians may also ing how he feels the No Child Left Behind Act create Ariely’s notion of the “optimal hard has decreased the desire to learn. Government decision scenario” by offering users too funding is not a proper incentive for motivat- many information resources, leaving them ing learning, since it demonstrably results in feeling overwhelmed and unlikely to use organizations developing workarounds to al- library resources at all. When asked how ter their data and receive the funding anyhow. librarians could learn about our own deci- Replacing internal motives (desire to learn) sion processes in order to help users identify with external motives (government funding) their own, Ariely suggested being open is not a good model for improving higher to and conducting simple experiments to education, either.—Leslie Bussert and Danielle begin identifying user preferences in vari- Rowland, University of Washington­Bothell/ ous situations and developing solutions in Cascadia Community College, lbussert@uwb. response. edu and [email protected] September 2008 443 C&RL News Global scholarly communication (A Middle Eastern Electronic Library), which More than 70 people attended the 2008 is in partnership with several universities, AAMES annual program, entitled “Global global publishers, and the Bibliotheca Alex- Scholarly Communication: International andrina (Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s Access and Accessibility.” One moderator, visionary creation on the site of the ancient five speakers, and two reactors formed the library). panel and discussed the issues, challenges, The second presentation, titled “Two- and solutions librarians encounter and seek Way Scholarly Communication between the in assisting scholarly research in an environ- United States and China,” by Hong Cheng ment that is becoming more interdependent (UCLA), raised interesting questions: How and global in outlook. does global scholarly communication affect The general moderator, Jim Cogswell our services in academic libraries, and how (University of Missouri), pointed out in do we respond to it? In an attempt to answer his introduction that scholarly research is these questions, Cheng presented the results increasingly becoming global with Internet of a survey conducted among Chinese and connectivity and growing interdisciplinarity. American scholars. His presentation covered It is obvious now that academic research and several interesting points: 1) Global scholarly global communication mutually affect and communication is transforming from one-way reinforce each other. to two-way, and even to multidirectional In her presentation, titled “Overview of traffic. Researchers in all international study Global Scholarly Communication Issues,” Ann fields are becoming more dependent than Okerson (Yale University) considered some ever on global scholarly communication. 2) of the influences that impact the libraries of International studies scholars in the United the 21st century and scholarly communica- States and China widely accept some new tion, such as the transforming information concepts of global scholarly communication, economy in global settings that is creating such as international publishing, borderless a new generation of technology-savvy audi- service, and cyberianship. Scholars support ences, and the evolving global economy that the concept of open access, a key element of is closely related to information-economy scholarly communication, as well. However, fueled innovation and prompts libraries to there are a few concerns over the actual rethink their business plans and revenue practice, such as tenure/promotion in faculty streams. status and the role of professional associa- Okerson emphasized that technology tions, which are the main issues librarians gadgets are creating a large audience for the have to consider in promoting global schol- next information revolution. “Librarians need arly communication. to think about how to reach marginalized Cheng’s surveys and interviews revealed that and under-supported populations around the the Internet and related information technology world, people with perhaps no fi xed address, allow scholars in international studies to share or people unable to leave their residence or many common thoughts; however, notable fishing boat or market stall to find a build- differences still exist. It seems that Chinese re- ing with computers and network connec- searchers are more in favor of global scholarly tions.” Okerson went on to offer examples communication than
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