Comments on: The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?

By: crowdsourcing the modern library « infomational

crowdsourcing the modern library « infomational — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:23:52 +0000

[...] desiredÂ change. It also offers a productive platform from which to challenge the subjective and oft-debated “librarians don’t innovate” adage.Â Finally, any venue that allows information [...]

By: ALA’s 2007 Annual Conference « Information Obliteracy

ALA’s 2007 Annual Conference « Information Obliteracy — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:47:13 +0000

[...] also we went to the Do Libraries Innovate? session. I have to admit, I was hoping for a livelier session. For the most part everybody was on [...]

By: Do Libraries Innovate « Library 2.0

Do Libraries Innovate « Library 2.0 — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:43:17 +0000

[...] http://litablog.org/2007/06/26/the-ultimate-debate-do-libraries-innovate/ [...]

By: Joe Davis

Joe Davis — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:51:58 +0000

Way to innovate, Julia! I agree with Karen.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:59:02 +0000

Ok, I listened to the podcast, and someone from the audience talked about younger people innovating, not I. Whew!

By: Lisa Horowitz

Lisa Horowitz — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:18:39 +0000

The quorum quote was just Joe Janes way of talking, if I remember correctly. I think he was sarcastically commenting that fewer and fewer people are needed these days to constitute a quorum in ALA (because the by-laws are continually rewritten and approved to have fewer and fewer people in a quorum), but I don’t believe that the figure is anywhere near that low.

By: Kevin Rogers

Kevin Rogers — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:01:45 +0000

I agree w/ Eliza. I am a manager at a small rural library and the computers really tax our time here, but the technology is helping us stay connected to the public. I work in the Jackson County Library system in Michigan and we, if I may say so, innovate: computer classes, we have a HUGE selection of reference data bases that patrons can axcess at home via internet; we really strive to meet the needs of the community.

We also have a cat wash every summer. Have you ever seen a mad-wet cat tangled in a librarian’s eyeglasses chain?

Our web site is http://www.jackson.lib.mi.us

By: Karen Munro

Karen Munro — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:30:00 +0000

Thanks for posting this! It’s great to get a sense of what was said, and there are some very interesting points of view here. Long live conference blogging!

By: Do Libraries Innovate: Blogging at ALA « [ArLiSNAP]

Do Libraries Innovate: Blogging at ALA « [ArLiSNAP] — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:18:28 +0000

[...] by mmacken on June 27th, 2007 Check out this quasi-transcript (and this one too) of the session “The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?” Topics [...]

By: John Marquette

John Marquette — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:40:41 +0000

Innovation REQUIRES youth. Youth, or rather young BAs, need to have compelling reasons to select library and information science as their master’s degree.

Young(er) people often offer creative approaches to daily tasks. They also come equipped with skill sets which match our true target market – the computer-literate.

New MLIS holders should be welcomed into our systems because they have the education and new expertise to help anyone evaluate a possible reference source (i.e., a Google page), and more importantly, offer options which are more in depth and more comprehensive. Young librarians can help established libraries design and implement service models.

I still don’t know what all of the options are on my Treo 700p (a PDA/smartphone). It has a crippled web browser. The new Apple iPhone has a real browser, if the ads are accurate, and its competitors are going to provide true online experiences in a Library 2.0/Web 2.0 environment.

Seasoned librarians should seek out every opportunity to partner with younger ones. Younger librarians can help older ones over technological humps, and older librarians can help younger ones understand how to serve their communities.

By: Lisa Gieskes

Lisa Gieskes — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:25:03 +0000

Thanks Julia Bauder!! I could not attend The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate? but I feel like I did after reading this blog.

I’ll be working on a quorum (hopefully we can do this virtually) too.

Any takers?

By: Eric Lease Morgan

Eric Lease Morgan — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:10:36 +0000

Regarding the “bookstore-style” approach to shelving, I advocated something similar for the organization of electronic materials in 1994. I called it the “used bookstore model”. See the archives of PACS-L (http://tinyurl.com/29s2mb).

BTW, I sincerely believe innovation happens in libraries, albeit slowly. Innovation requires creativity and the ability to think outside the established norms. Almost by definition, these sorts of activities are shunned by institutions. Innovation starts with individuals. In an an environment of intellectual and/or technological turbulence, it is increasingly important to spend resources on innovation in order to learn how to adapt to the impending changes.

–
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:23:05 +0000

“Karen wondered if age is one of the problems that keeps us from innovating. She noted that she was more of an innovator when she was younger, but she now finds herself defending the status quo more than she thought she would…”

wow, I said that? I’d like to hear the podcast. I think I remember saying younger people bring energy. If I said that, geeze, that’s like saying I can’t innovate because i’m old. Eek. Verification, anyone?

I also very strongly agreed on the issue of “victimization.” I believe I only mentioned cost issues once.

I think that quorum comment is all wrong. Could use a little fact-checking.

Whatever. Thanks for blogging this.

By: Eliza

Eliza — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:47:53 +0000

In many small rural library systems, reference librarians do spend hours re-booting systems, explaining to people how to “sign on” the public computers, picking up trash, sometimes breaking up fights, collecting money for prints, trading for dimes for the ancient copy coin box which only takes dimes, working on the circulation desk, hardly ever leaving the desk and doing anything I need to do from the desk and that is the rare day that we are fully staffed.

It is not age. It is not lack of curiosity. It is not that I am not willing to try new things. It is time. There is only one of me and not enough time. I bet I am not alone.