I have returned from the annual BCLA Conference in Burnaby full of thoughts, ideas, and a desire to help cultivate change and innovation at work. Conferences are good for that; it's really inspiring to see/hear what other library systems (of all kinds) and librarians are doing to connect with the world and their users.
It started with a bang at the Friday morning plenary session with Michael Stephens, he of Tame the Web fame, as he talked about "The Hyperlinked Library"--essentially using web 2.0 tools to effectively communicate with users as well as to make our libraries more participatory, all of which is right up my alley. My supervisor looked over at me a few times during the plenary address and smiled because she knew that Stephens was speaking my language and touching a nerve. It felt good to know that some of the ideas I'd had before the conference were being articulated by this guy and that I really wasn't crazy after all!
Another great session was put on by Canadian Library Association President/Hamilton Public Library Director Ken Roberts and Daphne Wood, who facilitated the leadership thing I attended here in Victoria a few months back, that was about establishing (or re-establishing, as the case may be) the library brand and positioning ourselves uniquely in the 'marketplace' to meet people's needs. It was highly beneficial for me because: it re-affirmed my belief in why we need libraries and demonstrated that they are vital aspects of a healthy community.
After thinking I had a pretty good handle on Google and Google products, two librarians from Vancouver Public Library delivered a session called the "Google Toolkit" and aptly demonstrated that I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did--always a humbling experience! It was fascinating and there are a number of products that I know I will be using in the future, if I haven't started already. There's a reason that some of my co-workers call me Dr. Google...
The other sessions three I attended were also informative and interesting, but the ones I mentioned really made me sit up and take notice as well as providing me the impetus to be proactive and innovative in my work. I know that most of my readers are not librarians, but I figured I'd blog this stuff anyway in case other people were interested in what I do and what aspects of librarianship I enjoy the most.
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2 comments:
Thanks for the mention. Kay and I had fun, despite the wireless problems. We try to cover enough tools that everyone should get something new from the session, but the early adopters often have as good a handle on these things as we do!
The Google Toolkit session actually originated at Netspeed (the Alberta Library conference) last year, and we updated it for BCLA. We'll be back at Netspeed in October presenting the followup, "What Google Did Next," so there should be more wiki updates after that...
That's awesome! I really enjoyed the session and I've got the wiki bookmarked, so I'll be checking back with eager anticipation!
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