About a week after I got the offer for my current job, and ten days or so before I started, I went to my future workplace and walked in the front door. I did not tell anyone who I was or why I was there. I just puttered around, getting a sense of the place and how it felt to be a patron there, how intuitive it was, how welcoming. Where people clustered, and for what purposes. What self-services were available, and how navigational information was arranged, and how readily staff made themselves visible and available to help. What I saw […]
Monthly Archives: August 2017
6 posts
My new Library Journal column is all about the Next Library experience. Please take a look. Next Library enhanced the global perspective that I’d argue benefits all information professionals. Over fifty Ignite sessions gave participants a sampling of innovation in libraries around the globe. Petar Luka?i?, Head of Adult department in Fran Galovic Public Library in Croatia and a scholarship winner to attend the conference, told me “I realize that our core value is the same all around the world: see what your community needs and react. If you talk to someone from Denmark or Ghana, it’s the same problem, […]
As libraries anticipate and explore new possibilities for the future, there are three areas that should be focused on for a successful transition; people, places, and objects. Libraries have always desired to reach out to their users, but in the past this involved library buildings that had to be visited in person which were filled with row after row of books and little space left for anything other than reading. With advances in technology libraries have the opportunity to meet user needs in interesting and varied ways. People Technology has and will continue to transform people’s lives. Libraries have a […]
I must admit my eyebrows raised when one of my students in the Hyperlinked Library class shared a job description in our discussion devoted to emerging ideas and trends. Trenton Public Library (TPL), NJ, was looking for an “Innovation Catalyst Librarian.” The interest grew as my students dissected the duties and requirements, comparing their own experiences and suitability for such a position. I have seen a lot of cutting-edge job descriptions before, but this one was different. Merriam-Webster defines a catalyst as “an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action.” TPL was searching for “a passionate, creative, type-A […]
A new way of professional learning may be replacing the “filling a ballroom and quietly taking notes as a speaker speaks” model and seems to have its genesis in a more localized fashion. At a state meeting last spring, a library administrator noted, “My new professional hires are much more interested in doing regional and state stuff—super into the state stuff.” Is this the rise of locavore learning? Budgets may be more robust for travel closer to home. There’s something wonderful about meeting up with colleagues once a year (or more) and commiserating. As a friend said at CALCON, “I’m […]
Has this ever happened to you? A meeting is going along swimmingly. Decisions are being made. Paths forward seem clearly defined. Action items are doled out to key players around the table. And then, a voice pipes up: “I’ll play devil’s advocate and….” Cue the sound of wheels screeching to a halt, or perhaps the collective, weary exhale of the group. The term devil’s advocate is defined as a role meant to encourage discussion of an issue from all sides by taking an unpopular approach. However, I fear it’s become something different. Many have come to understand that when we […]