Michael Casey and I have some good news. We’ll be writing a monthly column in Library Journal starting next week. It’s called “The Transparent Library”, a title we like a lot. We’ll be applying some of our thinking and inspiration to organizational culture and libraries, with a slant towards technology as well. We’re very happy to be in LJ because each month the columns will be made freely available on web for easy linking.
Here’s just a bit from the first one:
The cultural and social shift we’ve observed, highlighted by Wade
Roush’s idea of continuous computing and the advent of blogs, wikis,
and the rise of the citizen journalist, armed with a cellphone camera
and a desire for fairness and openness, has created a great stir in
business and the non-profit sector. How can businesses, now blogged
about and scrutinized by a thousand plus blogging voices, respond in
such an open, online environment? The Cluetrain Manifesto, published
in 1999 urged business to speak with a human voice online. In 2007,
the social world of “continuous computing” demands it.
So to help set the path for this column we’d like to briefly examine
the four key components of the transparent library; open
communications, learning to learn, adapting to change, and scanning
the horizon. What prevents a library from being transparent?
Barriers. Roadblocks. Inability to change. The Culture of perfect. In
future columns we’ll explore these ideas and offer solutions for
those struggling with new models of service, technology and a
decidedly opaque climate.