Connecting Librarian

I have finally caught up on all my reading, amongst which was a very thought provoking post by John Blyberg entitled “Library 2.0 Debased“, which in turn was inspired by Kate Sheehan’s post “Are librarians culturally self-aware“. I recommend you check out both posts as well as the comments, there is some interesting reading there.

Anyway, the biblioblogosphere was buzzing over John’s post and I had read quite a few posts about it before I actually read the original. Normally I wouldn’t necessarily blog about the same thing, especially when there are so many others who have already done so, but after reading the post for a second time, then on reading some indirectly related content and mulling over it a bit more, I felt I had something more to contribute to the discussion.

Just as I was getting started, more came in that added to the mix - The essence of Library 2.0 from Meredith Farkas at Information Wants to be Free, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0: Its’ all about the stuff from Philip Bradley at Phil Bradley’s Weblog and Nobody ever said from Walt Crawford at Walt at Random. Again, I recommend you check them all out.

As a result, I am rethinking my whole attitude to Library 2.0. There has been a lot of difficulty in defining it, mainly because the term and the attitude it is supposed to define (user-centric, meeting them where they are at, etc) has come at the same time as the tools and many have been unable to separate the two or see that there has been any distinction between them. My overriding thought is whose fault is it that the message got lost? I know that I have been leading that bandwagon from my small perch and so I have some responsibility in that blame.

It has become cool, hip, its cutting edge, so if you are a happening library, you are doing Library 2.0. Understandable. The tools are ubiquitous, easy to use, are being used by our users and are mostly free. How can you not want to be all over them?

A lot of talk in the above mentioned blog posts is about vendors jumping on the bandwagon - which is understandable from their viewpoint - they’re giving libraries what they are asking for, whether they really know what they want or not. Is this a bad thing?

John Blyberg talked about how SOPAC hasn’t worked as he planned, but that’s part of being in libraries and in cutting edge stuff. As he says, we have to take risks and try things, some will work, some won’t and we will learn and move on to other things. Doesn’t mean we stop experimenting. As Meredith points out, just because it doesn’t work in one library, doesn’t mean it won’t work in another. Unfortunately, it usually takes time and resources which are in short supply in most libraries, making them reluctant to allocate them to things that may not work. Which makes me think that is why library vendors have such interest in their new Library 2.0 services - pay someone else to do all the work, cheaper and quicker. (questionable, but I am sure there are people out there who would think that way).

Which brings me back to the heading of this post. Ryan Deschamps at The Other Librarian posted We asked for Library 2. 0 and got Librarians 2.0. At the time I posted on it - Library 2.0 - its far from over, but now I think Ryan was right, to a certain extent it is, even here in Australia where it is still relatively new. If we want to stop the bandwagon leading our libraries astray and see them focussed on users and services, then maybe as individuals we need to drop the Library 2.0 and focus on being Librarian 2.0’s - at work and outside of it and just help our libraries to utilise and adapt the Web 2.0 tools that are appropriate for our users and our services. Our libraries should always have that focus anyway - regardless of what tools are available - its not one size fits all.

So my part will be to drop Library 2.0, but continue to be a Librarian 2.0, instituting Web 2.0 tools in my library as our users needs are assessed and I find that Web 2.0 is the best option. If Web 2.0 tools are not the best option, then we wont’ go there - at least I will try to make sure that doesn’t happen. As Phil Bradley said, they’re just stuff.

These are exciting times, with exciting new tools to play with. So I will continue having fun with them, inside and outside of work. However, I will also keep my focus on our users and do my best as a public librarian to provide them with best service possible - whatever means that will require - Web 2.0 or not.

There’s more in this discussion, but can’t get my head around it all at this time. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. For those of you going to VALA, hope to see you there!

Whilst I catch up on quite a bit of reading and get my head around my next planned post, whilst also getting my children ready for school (with my son starting Grade Prep) I thought I would point out a great resource.

Many of you would already have seen at least some of these, but they are all well worth a look. The videos are all quite short (3 to 4 minutes generally) and do a good job of explaining the topic at hand in layman’s terms. Kind of like a video dummies guide.

From Common Craft - “We produce short videos that make complex subjects easier to understand.” The Common Craft Show is a series of free videos on social media topics, which also help them to showcase their work.

Anyway, the ones most of interest to me and I will assume will be of some interest to you are:
Video: Google Docs in Plain English
Video: Online Photo Sharing in Plain English
Video: Blogs in Plain English
Video: Social Bookmarking in Plain English
Video: Wikis in Plain English
RSS in Plain English

I would also recommend them as ones to show others who may be struggling with the particular idea being discussed. They are brief, easy to understand, user friendly and even a little bit of fun. Take some time to check them out and enjoy!

I have been reading some great memes and reviews of people’s 2007 in various library blogs and was going to do the same for my first post.  However, my Christmas and New Year were nothing to write home about and I find myself more and more looking to the future in a wide variety of areas, so decided to do the same here.

I have been working in public libraries since I graduated from university in 1985 (just need a Bachelor’s degree in Australia to work as a librarian).  Of my 22 years in libraries, I have worked full-time for 13 and now half-time for 9 since I had my children.  Now that my youngest is about to start school, I am thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my career, which until the last year or so was on cruise control.

I spoke to my Library Director seeking advice about working towards my future and he asked me to consider what I wanted to  do.  I have some thoughts about where I would like to go, but the one thing I am sure of is that it will involve leadership in some form.

I have been a leader of some sort throughout my career.  I have not always lead well as some of my past co-workers could well testify, but I have learnt well.  I am not officially a manager at this stage of my career, but have been so long with my library and in a wide variety of roles, including managerial, that I take on an unofficial leadership role and am sought for advice, opinions, assistance on a regular basis.  Not that I do anything to undermine the existing leadership.

So I got to thinking about what I should do to develop my leadership skills, which got me thinking more about leadership.  What is it?  What skills make a good leader and what extras make them great? Having said that, I think that it would be awesome beyond all belief to be considered a good leader, I have no illusions about being great.

Then, whilst watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a favourite of my kids and I, my daughter asked me if Leonardo was the leader because he was the eldest brother.  A natural assumption from my 8 year old.  However, he is leader because of other abilities, including recognising and utilising the skills of his brothers.  As his brother Michelangelo pointed out, he also had the hardest job because Raphael could leave the thinking to Leonardo, Donatello was free to dream and Michelangelo was free to clown because their big brother Leonardo took on all that responsibility.  If you know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you will understand.  Wow, wisdom on leadership from a kid’s cartoon!

I have also learnt much from my friends in the blogosphere, musing about their leadership experiences.  They are far too many to list here, but to you all I give thanks - you have given me a great start.

So what have I been learning about leadership from all these musings?  Here’s the very shortest beginnings of what I know will be an ever growing list, from which I hope to keep learning.

A good leader:

• knows people
• is able to follow
• is able to take the lead when required
• is able to motivate those being lead
• is able to lead without being obvious about it most of the time
• never asks staff to do something they wouldn’t do
• sees the big picture
• is able to dream
• gets the job done
• brings the best out of the people they lead
• can utilise the people they have for the best results for everyone
• is responsible
• takes pride in their team
• gives credit where credit is due
• is always learning
• adapts to change
• is able to inspire people
• takes risks
• is committed (or ought to be )
• also serves
• has integrity

And why do I need to know this?  Because I plan to be working in libraries for another 30 years or so and can’t and won’t stay at this level for the rest of those days.  For me to progress further, leadership is one of the skill sets I will need to develop further.  I have a good foundation, built on pain, experience and the patience and teaching of many good staff and managers - all to whom I give my sincere apologies for my mistakes and my heartfelt thanks for the lessons they taught me - many without knowing they were doing so.

And knowing the pain that can be and is involved in leadership, why would I want to go down that path?  Because of the great satisfaction that also comes out of doing it and doing it well.  It truly is a joy to lead a team who works well, beyond expectations and enjoys doing so.  That’s not easy to come by, takes a lot of hard work but is so worth it in the end, when you see the awesome results that can be achieved.

And so I look to you now too, to add to my short list.  What leadership skills or abilities do you see as being key to a good or great leader.  I am sure that you have also had some inspirational leaders in your lives, what lessons did they teach you about doing it right?  Can it be done right?  Can it be learnt or is it inherent?  Please contribute your thoughts in a comment and we will see how this list develops.