Monday, January 24, 2011

Snow drifts

Venturing away from sleep on a late snowy evening to plow the piles of email and revisit the new book I purchased to read awhile before donating to Milne; Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur - what caught my eye was the style it was written. Seems like the authors worked hard to put the web in print, nice to also see how it was co-created by 470 practitioners from 45 countries. Collaborative writing styles are growing nicely these days.

So too the blurring among publishing and internet forms, fascinating evolution, imagine how within 5 year sprints... how many new forms are created, some take off, and others fade away.

In this handbook, the challenge is to provide practical help for change agents...

business models & higher education may not as easily blur, but the notions of model canvas are nicely composed to visualize key terms like; customer segments, value proposition, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships and cost structure. The concept map as seen as a jigsaw puzzle nicely reinforces the text. More important are the questions that frame each section; customer segments - for whom are we creating value? I wonder how similarly designed this notion is with ACRL value report: http://www.acrl.ala.org/value/ "Purpose – The following review and report is intended to provide Association of College
and Research Libraries (ACRL) leaders and the academic community with 1) a clear
view of the current state of the literature on value of libraries within an institutional context, 2) suggestions for immediate “Next Steps” in the demonstration of academic library value, and 3) a “Research Agenda” for articulating academic library value. It strives to help librarians understand, based on professional literature, the current answer to the question, “How does the library advance the missions of the institution?” "

The value we deliver to customers or value proposition (bundle of products and services) and "reason why customers turn to one company over another" is an interesting read. While being a host of Q/A, Instruction, Access and Delivery, and IT/Info products and services, I find that one of the greatest values of libraries is their cooperative and engaging ways of innovation and problem-solving that leads end-user and colleagues alike to transformation. The stacks, study carrels, and classrooms frame what is happening. Univ. of Virginia libraries called it crossroads, which reminded me of the old roads in Brittany France; I imagine it to be more like all the sparkling of neurons in a brain - if we look for synergies, I think we often see them starting in libraries - is that a business model?

Well, got to the section on Newspapers: free or not free, and realize it's time for plowing through more emails with my snow shovel.