September 2007 Archives

Laura Cohen's A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto should be required reading for everyone working in an academic library. Looking around my library I see that we are busy attending meetings, scheduling appointments, and trouble-shooting problems. Some of us are already over-extended with time-sensitive projects. But here are just a couple of statements from the Manifesto. I think you will find that they are simple and straightforward, yet profound.

I will recognize that the universe of information culture is changing fast and that libraries need to respond positively to these changes to provide resources and services that users need and want.

I will recognize that libraries change slowly, and will work with my colleagues to expedite our responsiveness to change.

I will be courageous about proposing new services and new ways of providing services, even though some of my colleagues will be resistant.

I will validate, through my actions, librarians' vital and relevant professional role in any type of information culture that evolves.

As someone that works to provide information via the web I not only need to "talk the talk", but also "walk the walk" by incorporating these concepts into both my ideas and my actions. Try starting your next meeting or conversation with this Manifesto and see what happens!

I am currently gearing up for the 2007 LITA Forum and saw this announcement come across my RSS feeder this morning. It is a survey about technology conferences posted on Michelle Boule's A Wandering Eyre blog where she writes that she is a member of "an ALA LITA Committee that is trying to design a better technology conference". Here, here!

While ALA conferences seem to provide a smattering of "technology in libraries overviews", they often focus on trends without providing practical information. I've notice that many of my colleagues find conferences like Internet Librarian to be more relevant to what they are actually doing day to day. In my own experience, I feel that user group meetings (like the CONTENTdm Western Users Group) have been the most helpful to getting hand-on training, answers to specific questions, and insights from librarians and programmers working on specific applications, solutions, or enhancements. If you have opinions on technology conferences, this is a opportunity to share your opinion and hopefully squeeze a bit more out of your hard-to-come by travel funding.