A podcast from my old Alma Mater. The Conviction of Michael Gorman: “Michael Gorman is a cultured and accomplished man who dares to speak his mind. Are his views intolerable?”
Month: August 2006
on success
I read Seth Godin’s books when I see them around. It was fun to see this little blurb by him on Library Garden discussing what makes him successful: “I do things where I actually think I’m right, as opposed to where I think succeeding will make me successful. When you think you’re right, it’s more fun and your passion shows through.”
When I was speaking in Australia in 2004 about the USA PATRIOT Act and CIPA and HIPAA, someone asked the question “How do you keep going? How do you face each day with all these difficult tasks ahead of you?” And my answer was then, as it is now, that I think I’m right. I don’t kid myself that other people also think I’m right, but I enjoy talking to them just the same. It’s easy to be relaxed about your approach when you feel it deep in your bones and aren’t just talking about what people want you to talk about to make rent or get a promotion. We’re all motivated by different things, naturally, and I’d hate the world if it were filled with 6 billion Jessamyns, but it’s fun and inspiring to interact with people who are passionate about their work.
a few photos, since I am still on the road
It occurs to me that when I travel I do an awful lot of linking to Flickr pix. This time I’ve decided to actually include some of them right here, in case you’re like me and don’t follow links half the time. Part of my trips is always a certain amount of library evangelism. I always ask my hosts whether they use their local library and what they think of it. I was pleased to be able to tell my Baltimore host about the totally excellent pamphlet file and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and extra happy that he found the idea as delightful as I did. Here are a few photos, click through for slightly more detail & others.
I looked for love in the pamphlet file
I looked for sex in the pamphlet file
DOPA, you are on notice
I talked with the Library 2.0 gang about DOPA yesterday [updated to include link], trying to figure out strategies and talking points for helping librarians deal with the full court press that is this legislation + the media onslaught about the evils of social software. I learned a lot more about Second Life than I knew previously and came away feeling like I could go back to my libraries and make a good case for why they should pay attention to DOPA and what they’d be missing if it passed.
This is just all an intro to this “On Notice” image posted by Michael Stephens. Perhaps not as funny if you don’t already watch the Colbert Report, but I think you can get a lot of it via context.
DC Public
I’ll put up some pictures later but I’m using the wifi in DC Public before heading out to hang out with my pal Chris from Libraryola. Yesterday I went to a tasty and fun lunch with Dorothea and then had a great chat with Ron (who I met on MetaFilter) who works at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Library. After the conference I also got to hang out with my friend Tom Hyry who was on the SAA Program Committee who is the reason I was in DC in the first place. I’ve got a list of libraries I’d like to hit in Baltimore and then I have to find a place to stock up on books for the trip home.
I have this to say about DC Public: it’s all true. I had been reading about the sorry state of the library system here for a while but I don’t think I’d ever been to the big downtown branch. It’s hot here, and dirty here. One bank of elevators isn’t working and I have yet to see a staff person who isn’t reading a book or idly surfing the web. There are a lot of people here, though they tend towards the middle-aged men demographic. There are no families, no older people that I’ve seen, and no people my age. This place is the place that time forgot. I had to go through a metal detector and empty my pockets before I could even come inside. I like being able to use the wifi but I only discovered it because I opened up my laptop, not because it’s advertised or publicized in any way. I’m the only person here using a laptop, I think in the entire library but I won’t be using it much longer because there is barely any air conditioning and the sweat is affecting my typing accuracy. The lobby smells like diapers and disinfectant. Everyone I have talked to that lives in DC doesn’t use the library, they either buy books or find a way to use the suburban libraries or ones at the local schools. This is a big problem, and it’s still unclear what is being done to straighten it out.