CSMI Nexus and Libraries

[Wilfred Drew]

I just wrote this post on my blog.  I thought it mught be of interest here.

“Cloud is the means of delivery. Social is the behavioral style, the interaction styles. Mobile is the access mechanism. Information is the analytical foundation on which you figure out what decisions to make. You have to build a philosophy around that." -- Daryl Plummer, Managing VP , Gartner Inc. & Gartner Fellow

The quote above is about the new driving force behind information technology. Gartner calls it the “CSMI Nexus” — comprising cloud, social, mobile and information. The CSMI Nexus is part and parcel of most innovative and forward thinking libraries these days. It might be considered as the next big thing including and going beyond Library 2.0. Lets look at the various components of the CSMI Nexus in terms of libraries.

nexus [ˈnɛksəs]

n pl nexus
1. a means of connection between members of a group or things in a series; link; bond
2. a connected group or series
[from Latin: a binding together, from nectere to bind]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Cloud

The cloud is referring to cloud computing. This has been going on for many years if not for a couple of decades in Libraryland. At TC3 this would be all of the remote services we use including our catalog, OCLC, services we use to order books, eBook delivery systems , and much more. Most tech gurus and pundits point this out as the biggest area of growth in the tech sector for the near future. Elyzabeth Kroski has a great slide share about cloud computing in libraries.



Social

Social is about social networking and social media. It is all about how we interact with our patrons and each other in the 21st Century. Much has been written about social networking and libraries. I have posted often about it. The Social Networking Librarian blogs has many great posts focused on it.

Mobile

Mobile refers to mobile technology and computing as well as smart phones and much more. Remember "ubiquitous computing" from the late 20th and very early 21st Centuries? I wrote about it in an article in the Journal of Academic Librarianship about Wi-Fi in academic libraries. It has now gone far beyond that and will continue to grow. Before too long most of our users will be accessing our libraries via mobile devices and not desktops computers. Much has been written and will be written about libraries and mobile "stuff."

Information

Information is what we are all about no matter what we call ourselves. We also need to use information and data to improve our operations and services. I see no need to say any more about that.



What is brand new in all of this is the nexus, the coming together these four areas. This present a big opportunity for us as librarians and information professionals. Are you ready?
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Wilfred (Bill) Drew, M.S., B.S., A.S.
Assistant Professor
Librarian, Systems and Tech Services
Tompkins Cortland Community College  (TC3) Library: http://www.tc3.edu/library/
Dryden, N.Y. 13053-0139
E-mail: dreww at tc3.edu
Phone: 607-844-8222 ext.4406
AOL Instant Messenger:BillDrew4
Online Identity: http://claimID.com/billdrew
StrengthsQuest: Ideation, Input, Learner, Activator, Communication
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill_Drew/
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