#RSQ12: Gondolas and airplanes

One of the joys of the Telluride and Mountain Village communities is the free gondola that connects them.  Rather than driving from the hotel (Mountain Lodge) to the convention center or to Telluride proper,  we took the gondola.  The gondola is fast and efficient!  It is also a challenge for those of us with a fear of heights, like me.  I've been on a gondola before at Masada and liked it, so I was looking forward to the gondola in Telluride.  What I didn't expect was that the gondola would go over a particularly high  mountain and an area called St. Sophia.  The St. Sophia gondola station is at 10,500 feet above sea level.  Going from St.Sophia down into Telluride (8,700 feet above sea level) provides a beautiful view, in the daytime, at night, and even when it is foggy!  I must admit that the first five seconds descending from St. Sophia provide an OMG moment for me and I had to close my eyes, but after two times, it all seemed normal. (BTW in contrast, Syracuse, NY is at 380 feet above sea level.)

Part of R-Squared was about getting outside of your comfort zone.  For some, that meant petting worms and snakes.  For others, it was the 19 seat aircraft from Denver to Telluride (and what a gorgeous view of the world!).  And for some, it was asking strangers on the street about their skills and passions.  I feel as if you didn't get outside your comfort zone during this conference, that you missed an opportunity to do it in a safe and supportive environment.

Getting to Telluride meant a long flight for me, with three segments each way.  Going and coming were both "adventures."  (I suffered a slight delay on my flight to Telluride, but had an overnight delay on my return to Syracuse.)  If this has not been such a phenomenal conference, I would be gripping more about the travel than I am.  It is a testament to the conference organizers and their vision that ~350 people figured out how to get to Telluride and were willing to put up with the conference hassles. 

It would be interesting if airlines used creativity exercises to re-think what they do and their customer interactions.  What if they - and the airline industry - created a new vision of what their services are and how they delivered them?  What if they put aside their assumptions? I could only hope that it would improve our flight experiences.

#RSQ12: R2 Voices > Jill Hurst-Wahl

Chris Enjy did a series of interviews with Risk and Reward Conference participants, including me. This will give you an idea of what was on my mind as the conference was coming to a close. 5.35 minutes.

#RSQ12: Doing the right things differently

Last night and today, I have spent time walking about both Telluride and Mountain Village, and one thing stands out to me - This is an area that believes in doing the right thing.  For example:

• There are recycling containers everywhere.
• There are places for disposing of dog waste everywhere, too.
• They have tried to limit people's use of cars by having free public transportation. The area is also geared for the use of bicycles.
• There is an emphasis on sustainability.
• There is an emphasis on being environmentally friendly.

Lots of areas believe in those things, but this area is putting its beliefs into action.

So let's think about libraries.  Are we willing to truly live our values?  I can hear you yelling, "Jill, we do!"  Consider these questions:

• Has your library documented its values using terms that your community members can understand? 
• Are your activities aligned with your values?
• If your library is talking about topics such as sustainability and entrepreneurship, does your collection reflect those conversations?  Do your actions reflect those conversations? 

You might want to take these questions to a staff meeting or to a conversation around the coffee machine and discuss them.  If you're not living your values, now is the time to change that.

#RSQ12: The Risk and Reward Conference

As the third week of the semester begins, I am at a new conference, rather than on campus.  Those who conceived of this conference wanted it to be different that a normal library conference and it is.  Each participant was  asked to select an "experience."  We might envision each experience as being a conference track, but with no moving between tracks.  Some tracks had prework!  We've been told to dress comfortably and to be ready to "do." One of the tracks reportedly will have an "amazing race " like component to it.  Pretty cool!  

Why is this the Risk and Reward Conference (or R-Squared) and what does that have to do with libraries? We need to get out of our element and out of the echo chambers that exist in our organizations and in regular conferences...and into environments that help us think about innovation.  Innovation comes with both risks and rewards.  We don't cultivate risk taking, rather we often want to play it safe.  This conference hopes to spark innovative thinking and activities, through its different activities.  To that end, there will be a pitch-fest on Tuesday night, where conference participants will be encouraged to pitch new ideas and find collaborators.

The evening events are quite interesting and have a bit of self-organizing to them.  There is a happy hour on Monday evening (something that most library conference have!).  Tuesday we are all seeing a special showing of a documentary  (I am) that should spark interesting ideas about making a difference in the world.  After that, there is a happy hour and the pitch-fest, which will happen at midnight.  I  imagine that at midnight our inhibitions will be low and the ideas will flow more freely.  

So why am I here? While this is focused on libraries being innovators, my hope is that I will  learn things that I can bring into the classroom for our future library professionals.  I may also learn things to discuss and implement with the faculty.  But I must admit that it feels odd to be heading to an event without knowing exactly what I will be learning or what might be transferable to others.  However, I am sure this conference will not disappoint.

This conference is in Telluride, CO which is a bit out of the way.  

(Ah yes, three flights and new stories about airlines.)  The conference organizers select this location for a variety of reasons, including that the environment should inspire us.  With these views, who couldn't be inspired!

I'll be sharing what I learn at this conference as quickly as I can, here and through Twitter.  You can follow the conference happenings on Twitter with the  hashtag #rsq12. 

Open access and the cost of academic journals

ABC Radio National in Australia did a 30 minute radio program in June (2012) entitled "Academic journals and the price of knowledge."  This podcast does an excellent job getting at the heart of the debate over journal prices and the responses from both sides about what to do.  Obviously open access can play a huge part in creating a solution, and that is addressed in the podcast. 

I do not believe that the podcast uses the word "copyright" at all, but clearly the licensing of content is a key part of the discussion.