Note from Michael – I just found this as a draft in the TTW dashboard from 2007. I must have forgotten to publish it…
Librarians & the Heart (the Emotional part of this post)
Putting the personal into what we do! I honestly believe the best libraries of the future will encourgae the heart and librarians will put humanity into the library’s virtual presence.
Stephen Abram noted that libraries are innovating yes but many are not yet moving in a new direction: “However, too many haven’t moved into the next generation strategies. Many fail to recognize that the majority of their use is often coming in virtually and they haven’t rebalanced their strategic efforts. Too many haven’t put the librarian and personal services into their virtual environments.”
Think of your favorite blogs? Don’t they have a bit of that human, emotional element? Do your favorite library authors inspire you with feeling as well as biblio-hotness? This should carry to conferences as well. What presentations really got you going at the last conference you attended? Was there an emotional component?
Ponder this: “The Sound of One Room Napping” : Conference speakers need to appeal to the rational side of their audience, of course. Humans are rational beings after all. But our evidence, proof and “facts” need to be placed in context and need to connect and appeal to the emotional too. Some argue that emotion is not necessarily irrational, that intelligence and emotion go hand in hand. And that may be. My point is that facts alone are rarely a sufficient condition for change or impact (though they are a necessary condition).