Library Innovators*: McMaster University Press Coverage

Forget the card catalogue. McMaster’s new librarian is talking blog, wiki and gaming. He’s even giving the university an alternative life on a popular online world.

Library Innovators

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I had the pleasure of presenting the kickoff for McMaster University library’s Learning 2.0 program last week and I had the distinct pleasure of dining with University Librarian Jeff Trzeciak and User Experience Librarian Amanda Etches-Johnson.

Our lunch disciussion was incredible and I felt I was truely in the presence of Innovators. Want proof? Check out the Hamilton Spectator article above.

When McMaster University hailed the hiring of a new chief librarian last year, then-provost Ken Norrie called the arrival of the new man a “coup.”

Now, just seven months into the job, Jeffrey Trzeciak is shedding parts of the old regime and changing the basic mission of the library.

Forget resorting the card catalogue — his “transformation” is all about Second Life, blogs, wikis and the hiring of what’s likely the first gaming librarian at a university library.

“We are trying to go where students are,” says Trzeciak, a young 40-year- old who plays multiplayer online video game World of Warcraft — a lot. He speaks quickly, like a rapid-fire barrage, even before his large afternoon coffee. “So, we just opened a reference service in Second Life.”

Watch this university library closely folks… their innovations today will set the standards for excellence in library services for the future.

*This is a new category at TTW…I like it. 🙂