I’m in a meeting as I write this. (It happens; don’t tell anybody I work with, okay?) Don’t get the wrong idea … all of our meetings are vital and gripping, and everybody looks forward to them. Just like yours, right? In all seriousness, though, as I sit here, I’m struck by the various roles … Continue reading Leading from All Sides
These are the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders of 2014. Initiated in 1997 as a one-year program under former ALA President Mary R. Somerville and revived in 2006 under former ALA President Leslie Burger, the Emerging Leaders program recognizes the best and brightest new leaders in our industry. It’s open to librarians under 35 years … Continue reading Emerging Leaders
Can you provide excellent readers’ advisory without reading widely yourself? This question, posed to my Twitter followers (whose replies shared a refrain of “No way”), led me to rethink the way I train my staff on readers’ advisory. Of course there are ways to become familiar with books without actually reading entire works—reviews, first chapters, reliance on … Continue reading Reading Wildly
Last August, 40 librarians gathered at the Eaglewood Resort and Spa in Itasca, Illinois, to participate in the first ALA Leadership Institute. Facilitated by ALA past-president Maureen Sullivan and Association of College and Research Libraries content strategist Kathryn Deiss, the group learned about models of leadership and group dynamics, and shared ideas and research. They … Continue reading ALA Leadership Institute Participants Continue to Benefit
During Women’s History Month, it’s become traditional to celebrate the contributions of deceased women to scholarship and society. American Libraries has certainly done its share of articles about historic library figures over the years such as Mary Letitia Jones and Sadie Peterson Delaney (PDF files). The Women of Library History tumblr has taken a refreshing approach … Continue reading Women Making Library History
Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library Director Sari Feldman and Multnomah County (Oreg.) Library Director Vailey Oehlke represented ALA’s Digital Content Working Group (DCWG) at last week’s Public Library Association Conference in Indianapolis. One of DCWG’s major activities at the conference was to host a session titled “Public Libraries in the Marketplace: The Business of Digital Content.” This … Continue reading DCWG at PLA
In his keynote speech, “Steal Like an Artist,” author Austin Kleon referenced Brian Eno's concept that creative ideas are birthed in a network, an ecology of talent known as a scenius. The scenius runs contrary to the myth of the lone genius. Rather than subscribing to the notion that people are born with creativity in … Continue reading I Came, I Saw, I Was Part of the Scenius at SXSW
Anyone who attends any of the many engaging library conferences understands the value of immersing oneself in our professional culture, attending inspiring and engaging presentations, and learning from those outside of one’s own library system. Yet, except for some of the keynotes, we don’t often hear from those outside our field. At SXSW on the … Continue reading SXSW upon Reflection
Sometimes the best way to think outside the box is to look inside other people’s boxes. So I participated in a session titled “Library Machines: A Lo-Fi Design Conversation,” with presenters Jeff Goldenson, a designer in Harvard Library’s Innovation Lab, and Sidsel Bech-Petersen of Aarhus Public Library in Denmark. A library machine is “a mechanically or … Continue reading SXSW Day Two: Conversing in Lo-Fi
Drumbot and interactive two-way art wall. Interactive light peg exhibit. … Continue reading Hands-on Fun at SXSW 2014
A superior way to innovate is to gather a varied mix of people to think about problems and solutions in much the same way that variety enhances a species gene pool. But getting everyone from frontline staff up to administrators on board and actively innovating is time-consuming and could disrupt the daily functions of a … Continue reading The Constant Innovator
On the eve of SXSW, a group of librarians and I attended a maker meetup hosted by the Austin Mini Maker Faire at the Thinkery, an Austin children’s museum. Adults of all ages engaged in crafts, water exhibits, shadow art, and oversized Lite Brite–like designs before listening to a brief address by Dale Dougherty, founder … Continue reading Maker Meetup at SXSW
