Track F today is somewhat of an unconference track. In this session, we're able to digger deeper into a topic. Our table's topic is "Hey, that's not a library!"
- The community of users should decide what the library is.
- But in an academic library represented at the table, they don't allow their users to define anything!
- One mayor being discussed doesn't understand any of the underlying philosophical ideas of libraries.
- Defining libraries through the lens of collections vs. the lens of community.
- Is a library about knowledge? About information?
- Libraries are at the nexus of people and information.
- Will people drive/fly to visit a library? If they have a special need.
- One person's director (academic) is anti-digitization. Wants people to come to the library.
- Digitization acts like gravity. Digital collections pull people toward them.
- Keeping collections in paper means that you only want intent researchers to use the collections.
- If a library loans non-books things (e.g., tools), is it still a library?
- Librarians as facilitators. Helping people to be connected to information sources (even if the information is in another person).
- If you were looking for the ideal librarian, what qualities would that person have?
- Customer oriented
- Facilitator
- Engaged - an engaged person will do the right things
- Commitment to specific beliefs
- Librarianship is less about methodology than cultural orientation.
- Software people are more optimistic about what they can do/build. Blind to people's needs (those outside of their immediate circle). Know that things can't be perfect.
Other tables:
- Navigation the future of libraries
- Library services in challenged areas
- BTW Marshall Breeding is doing work in Columbia
- Even serving users at a U.S.university can be challenging because people come with different capabilities.
- Social media
- Some people do not have social media defined as part of their jobs.
- How do you measure the services?
- Could Twitter be the front end of an information desk service?
- What is a library for?
- Lending devices & challenges
- What to lend? How?
- Getting institutional buy-in.
- The importance of training staff.
- Staff capacity
- Shifting from what they are doing now to what they need to do in the future.
- Learning commons
- Here to stay
- Communication needed if you set rules
- Can person have a pizza delivered to the library?
- Hoe do you train personnel to operate in a learning commons?
- Paperless libraries
- Mobile content
- Redefining space
- What needs to remain in paper?
- Maker space
- Managing technology changes
- Training
- Communication
- Chocolate (the "carrot" for training and communications)
- Urban libraries
1 comment:
Some very interesting thoughts here. I'll need to take some time and see how I feel about a lot of this. I wish we'd had questions like this last month when doing our strategic planning sessions.
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