Book Discussion: Traits for the 21st century Librarian

Last night was our book discussion in one of my LIS701 classes. The group read one of the following:

Anderson, Chris. (2006) The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is selling Less of More. Hyperion.

Beck, John and Wade, Mitchell. (2004) Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is reshaping Business Forever. HBS Press.

Friedman, Thomas. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Godin, Seth, and the Group of 33 (2005). The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable. Portfolio.

Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Riverhead Books.

Surowiecki, James. (2005) The Wisdom of Crowds. Anchor Books.

After two discussion groups, we came together to talk about what traits and skills they would want to take into their careers. Here’s the what they said:

• Not afraid of change & technology
• User-centered focus
• Spot trends and market them!
• Plugged in & using new tools to communicate
• Be a Maven/be a Connector
• Listen to users
• Don’t judge interest
• Gather lots of input & diverse opinions
• Learn from Games-leadership, teamwork, and strategies
• Leave your comfort zone
• Remove barriers – too many roles
• Provide opportunities to flatten the world
• Communicate regularly with users
• PLAY
• Travel & learn
• Create networks for discussion
• Create change from the bottom up – and make CEO fulfill interests of User!

(Thanks to Lavonia for transcribing our flipcharts!)

UPDATE: From my Tuesday night class:

• Adapts to the new technological age
• Uses niche markets and give people access…
• Fills the need immediately
• Is a risk taker, older, broader in services
• Strives for continuous lifelong learning and education
• Is creative and innovates
• Fosters production in the library for collection building; content creation
• Has human skills…
• Is an expert thinker…
• problem solves in new and different ways…
• Is no longer rigid of mind
• Has better focus on the human aspects
• Tells Stories
• Promotes collaboration on many levels