Joyce Valenza’s Neverending Search

I am just back from Toronto where I spoke at Ontario’s Superconference. Its right-brained, Monty Python, what’s-coming-down-the-road theme made me feel right at home. I also felt comfortable, at this smaller conference, mingling around the workshops of the various divisions.  The book cart races were a hoot.

Thanks to Marian Poyner for organizing our LM_NET lunch and thanks to my many new OSLA friends who made me feel so welcome!

Dear friend and fellow cohort member, Michael Stephens, presented his research on blogging and libraries. I see more clearly where Library 2.0 could take us.  I got to meet one of my heroes, Jenny Levine. 

Steve Abram urged a huge morning crowd to consider, “Are libraries innovative enough? Can we find our power? Can we use it for good?”

Concerned about our relevance if we don’t find our power–”What’s about to happen is HUGE!”–Steve recommends a provocative 12-step program for all libraries and librarians. He helped me put the advice I prepared for school librarians earlier that morning in much larger context.

Among the pieces of advice I was able to catch, though he pitched them really fast:

Recognize that there is a problem–the future isn’t what it used to be.

Not to be afraid of the big Google gorilla.

We need to find better ways to connect users to experts and communities of practice.

Don’t kill the babies–remember that some of the projects we discuss (perhaps dismiss) daily are just fledglings. For instance, it may be easy to criticize Google Scholar, but let’s remember it is only six months old. 

We need to understand the wisdom of the crowd–know our users at deeper levels, not just their points and clicks.

We need to be where the user is when the user is there.

We need to follow well, be more supportive of our own, we need to seek experiences outside our boundaries.

We need to blog both ways.

We need to try something new everyday (For ideas, see 43things.com).

We need to lead and we need to share.

We need to stay positive. (Is happiness genetic?)

Question everything.

Believe in yourself.

No PUNY visions; big hunking visions only!

I am missing so much here, but Steve’s message clearly resonates for school librarians. How can we be transformational in ever-shifting landscapes?

I love the image of downloadable library content–”Is that the LC in your pocket or are your just really intelligent?”