Confronting Shiny Object Syndrome in Libraries

In product development, there’s a concept we refer to as “Shiny Object Syndrome,” described in Forbes as “the phenomenon of being distracted by new and exciting opportunities” (Cook, 2023).

A similar cultural norm can be found in the library profession. Every few years a new shiny object takes over calls for proposals, grant application themes, and social media commentary. Some last longer than others, while some quickly fade from memory.

I understand why organizations focus on developing skill areas that are en vogue. Consensus building is straightforward. References are readily available. And consultants are seemingly everywhere to advise on the latest trend. Skilltype training data—compiled from the industry’s largest training database of 11,000 hours’ worth of training, along with usage statistics including views, bookmarks, completions, and shares—suggests a current list of priorities something like the following:

1. Artificial Intelligence
2. Political Advocacy
3. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
4. Digital Literacy
5. Talent Management
6. User Research and User Experience
7. Accessibility
8. Customer Service
9. Cybersecurity
10. Revenue Generation

While popular skill areas may deserve some degree of attention, focus on the shiny new objects of AI, political advocacy, and DEI has occurred at the expense of skills that more fundamentally affect the organization’s ability to address stakeholder needs. A reordering of current priorities based on their level of importance would resemble the following:

1. Talent Management
2. Customer Service
3. Cybersecurity
4. Accessibility
5. User Research and User Experience
6. Revenue Generation
7. Digital Literacy
8. Political Advocacy
9. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
10. Artificial Intelligence

In this article, I will make the argument for the risk-based prioritization listed above.

1. Talent Management

We hear it said all the time: “People are our most important asset.” Or the other popular refrain: “A library without librarians is just a warehouse.” But the general sentiment among our colleagues is that their needs—as employees and as people—are not being taken care of.

This boils down to a leadership problem—not one caused by any one person within an organization, but a more systemic issue stemming from how we accredit libraries and how we credential our practitioners. While we will need more time and space to unpack the problems with accreditation and credentialing, the short version is that we train library professionals to manage information, not to manage people.

Most talent management expertise is either gained on the job, trial by fire, or on the manager’s own dime. As the root cause for many of the challenges libraries face today (from economic to political, technological, and beyond), people-development should be the highest priority. This includes, but is not limited to, leadership development and management training, as well as training employees how to work with people from diverse backgrounds, how to set people up for success, how to increase engagement among employees, how to incentivize teams to collaborate, and more.

2. Customer Service

At the end of the day, the library is a customer service organization. Perhaps when people argue that libraries should exist as an end unto themselves, they’re envisioning a collection of books thoughtfully placed in a beautifully designed room, or a student losing themselves in the never-ending stacks. But that image does not support today’s reality.

Whether an academic library funded by tuition payers, or a public library funded by taxpayers, both are cost centers that exist to meet the needs of a customer base. Without patrons, researchers, and other members of the community deriving value from its services, the library cannot justify its existence. Investing in AI, DEI, leadership development, or any other priority is in vain if voters decide not to continue funding the library. Customer approval and satisfaction must be prioritized before any other agenda. The rest will come if customers are major fans of the library’s work.

3. Cybersecurity

In order to provide a best-in-class customer service experience and maintain the trust of your community, the services you provide must be available when expected. The data you store and maintain for users must also be protected and safeguarded. Since most traffic to libraries today is digital, a robust cybersecurity strategy is a priority for any leadership team, no matter how large or small. Since threats to the library’s services can come from many “vectors,” including an employee’s email inbox, training staff and patrons on how to avoid ransom attacks should be a top priority. There is no shortage of stories in the news of libraries large and small whose services have been interrupted indefinitely due to an honest mistake of an employee not trained to protect the library’s digital properties.

4. Accessibility

Part of the library’s mission is to provide access to its information and services to all members of its community. This includes patrons who have impairments to their vision, hearing, or physical mobility. Aside from the moral imperative to ensure equal access to people regardless of their ability, legally, libraries must comply with state and federal regulations passed to support these members of our community.

Many web platforms and interfaces the library subscribes to or creates fail to meet modern accessibility standards. Without staff trained in accessibility, dollars and time can be wasted on services that increase the reputational and legal risk of the library rather than reduce it.

5. User Research

A large problem with prioritizing initiatives and talent needs based on shiny new objects is that rarely does one size fit all. Just because one organization is focused on DEI or AI doesn’t mean all libraries should be. Following the argument that customer service is the foundational goal of the library, and that all employees regardless of rank or station should operate with a customer service orientation, research must be done on a continual basis to ensure the services being provided remain relevant to the community as it evolves.

User research could take the shape of a simple survey gauging patrons’ information needs, or more comprehensive strategies like focus groups, analysis of usage statistics, user behavior interviews, and more. Larger organizations would benefit from hiring a user researcher, while for smaller libraries, simply training current staff on user research may suffice. The main takeaway is that providing good customer service requires an understanding of who your users are, what their needs entail, and how those needs evolve over time.

6. Revenue Generation

While libraries are by and large nonprofit organizations, one of the biggest errors is the conflation of profit and revenue. Unlike most tax-exempt organizations, libraries don’t focus sufficiently on diversifying revenue streams, primarily because this is a skill omitted from most library schools. The uncertainty of today’s budgetary environment for libraries of all types requires a long-overdue rethinking of how money flows into the organization, how it flows out, and what alternatives exist to fund the services required.

7. Digital Literacy

The library’s audience today is primarily digital, with a subset of its visitors and patrons physically utilizing its spaces and services. This, coupled with society’s continued rapid adoption of technology, means there’s an ongoing and growing need to onboard people to new technologies. This is where digital literacy comes into play. As a customer service provider, the library exists to meet the information needs of its customers. Today, a large portion of information needs are less centered on what information is consumed, and more on how it is consumed. As a result, the skills necessary to effectively use software platforms and new devices are a core part of librarianship, more important than many trends.

8. Political Advocacy

Social media posts and conference themes suggest that libraries should focus their advocacy and investment primarily on the fight against book banning. Materials challenges—or attempts to remove certain materials from a library’s collection—have spiked in recent years, according to the ALA (ALA, 2024).

But from another perspective, this activity also suggests that usage, community engagement, and overall awareness are increasing. It would be one problem if parents, advocacy groups, community organizers and the like had no idea what the collection held, or what programming was being offered to their communities. But, although some materials challenges are organized by advocates without a relationship to the libraries they target, we should be encouraging the community to be involved, knowledgeable, and have opinions about the collection development strategy, whether we disagree with them or not.

While advocating for library funding and support is a skill that should be taught to certain staff facing real challenges that threaten the library’s existence, I would argue that it is not as urgent a priority as social media would suggest, given the systemic issues all libraries face regardless of the political environment they operate in.

9. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Prior to the latest shiny object of AI, DEI (sometimes referred to as DEIAB–diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging) was the most popular area of discussion within libraries. While many people came to these discussions with sincere intentions, this priority was misplaced, primarily for two reasons. One, rather than focusing on diversifying library collections, or creating services to support the needs of diverse communities, the majority of DEI initiatives have largely focused on problems outside the library’s purview. Two, discrimination and inequity are not issues appropriately handled by library staff, but, rather, our partners in human resources. Asking experts within our broader organizations for assistance and support is far different than the issues dominating our dialogue. But libraries have committed limited staff resources and budget towards DEI roles to address issues that are largely out of their control or influence.

10. Artificial Intelligence

Despite the hype about AI, there are far more questions than answers regarding how it fits into library collections, library services, and library staffing. While it never hurts to stay abreast of developments, to prioritize something our staff have no expertise in is more of a distraction than anything else. The fact of the matter is that there isn’t much regarding AI that is in the library’s control. Regarding AI for operations, many of the decisions made regarding its implementation in the library will happen at the university level, or at the city level (e.g., enterprise software decisions made by campus IT or the county CIO). From a collections perspective, vendors are actively working to integrate AI into their products and services. Library staff will be trained on these new versions no differently than how they are trained on current software. Those interested in learning about some of the consumer-facing applications—like ChatGPT or Perplexity—could begin to use them similarly to how they use Google or Wikipedia. But much of them are hype, and hysteria is a major distraction, siphoning critical attention away from key areas that do require library attention and investment.

References

ALA. (2024, August 20). Censorship by the Numbers. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/censorship-numbers

Cook, J. (2023, February 20). Shiny Object Syndrome: The Biggest Problem for Today’s Entrepreneurs. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jodiecook/2023/02/20/shiny-object-syndrome-the-biggest-problem-for-todays-entrepreneurs/