MLA in Sturbridge MA, anyone going?

I’ll be giving a talk in Massachusetts on Wednesday afternoon about technology tips for tiny libraries at the MLA Conference. I’ll be getting in late on Tuesday and staying until early on Thursday. MLA is one of those conferences that only pays your registration for the day you are scheduled to speak so I’m not sure how much other MLA stuff I’ll be doing but this is just to say that 1) I’ll be there if folks want to come to my talk, get some lunch or walk around in the exhibit hall 2) I’ll be attending the dinner Wednesday night and would probably love company so look for me 3) I’ll be missing all the cool stuff later in the week (trivia, Keith Michael Fiels, Michael and Jenny and Jessa) because I have to get back home and staff my drop-in time, but I hope it’s great.

libraries are not support systems for staff – Blyberg on “innovation”

We’re going through some growing pains at the Vermont Library Association requiring a lot of email, extended explanations and apologies, and a revisting of what is and is not “normal” for libraries and library associations to do and to know. I’ve been quoting John Blyberg quite a bit.

Some people also just don’t like to step out of their comfort zone. They don’t want to absorb new things. I was on a top technology trends panel at OLA last January when someone asked, “what if we don’t want to learn about all these new technologies?” (paraphrase). I don’t think I was in the mood for hand-holding because my answer was, “it’s your job.” Really. I don’t believe libraries are life support systems for staff. We need to work for our bread. That means that we have so stop bunting and try to knock it out of the park every single time. That takes passion, and too many people in every industry, including libraries, lack it.

My 2.0 Talk at the LARC meeting

I have a talk today at the Library Association of Rockland County meeting today in Suffern New York. I gave a variant of the 2.0 talk I have been giving lately. This one is called Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Librarian 2.0. Good news about what you are already doing. The funny thing is, while it looks similar to my other talks, every talk on this same topic winds up being totally different. Same loose outline, almost all new words.

When I gave a version of this talk in Kansas, it was much lower tech, a lot more focused on rural and local issues. When I talked to the people in New York I talked more about cell phones and the ideas that libraries have already been doing a lot of 2.0-ish stuff and not even knowing it. Also since I knew Steven Cohen was speaking in the afternoon about specific technologies, I did a lot less show and tell and a lot more big picture talking. I showed off more stuff, and especially more local stuff, when I was speaking in Kansas.