“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

-Robert Browning, from “Andrea del Sarto”

That is one of the most famous lines in all of literature, but what does it mean? To me, it means that  you should always strive for more than you can accomplish at a given moment. You have to go too far before you know you’ve gone far enough. It is easier to edit too many words than it is to add more.

I believe in that line from Browning’s poem. I believe that men and women both should have a reach that exceeds their grasp. I also believe that organizations and institutions have the same obligation.

In graduate school, a phrase I heard assiduously was “change agent“, a six-sigma buzz-word that has permeated many professional cultures in recent years. In almost every class I took, my professors charged me and my classmates with the task of being change agents in our future or present libraries. In one class, Information Ethics, I was encouraged to have ethical courage*–the courage to speak out when I felt something was ethically wrong, whether in a personal or professional context. In almost every class I took, our heads were filled with images of ideal libraries– paragons of intellectual freedom, teamwork, innovation and exploration.

In reality, libraries are just like any other workplace. The confluence of myriad generations, backgrounds, cultural and social norms, work experiences, professional philosophies, and educations in an organization can either lead to tremendous conflict or amazing growth. I believe that this conflict or growth is a choice that the leaders of any given institution must make.

I believe that change agents can either be seen by their organizations as troublemakers and rebels dissatisfied with the status quo, who voice their opinions simply for the sake of being combative, or they can be seen as catalysts (in the figurative sense of the term) eager to spark change for the betterment of the organization and all the people that comprise it (in the case of libraries, both employees and patrons).

You might say that ethical courage seems like an overblown phrase+ to use when it comes to libraries. I suppose you could see it that way. I believe that depends on how important you believe your work to be. I think everyone in every workplace, from cashiers at Wal-mart to librarians to teachers to senators, needs to value themselves and their work enough that they won’t flinch at using words such as ethics and courage. Would the housing crisis and recession have happened if people had the ethical courage to speak out against questionable practices? Would Fritzl have managed to rape his daughter in a dungeon for over twenty years if one of his neighbors had had the courage to tell someone that they felt in their gut that something was not quite right at the house next door?

I believe that my work is important. I believe that my coworkers are important. I believe that my patrons are important. I believe that all of them deserve the best that can be achieved–better materials, better facilities, better service. Achievement cannot happen without change, and change cannot happen without a catalyst, and catalysts will not exist if their hunger for change that they are instilled with during their graduate work isn’t fed.

Yet the enthusiasm of change agents often needs to be tempered, just as the ethical courage of less vocal employees needs to be encouraged to flourish. This is where skilled managers come into play. I have been told more than once in my brief career as a librarian that I could be a manager, at this very moment, and I respectfully disagree. I do not have the skill or talent to negotiate the extreme differences that exist in the standard workplace.

If I were a manger, I would probably charge about like a bull in a china shop, rearranging the mental and physical furniture of the workplace until it was unrecognizable. I am a change agent that needs to be skillfully reigned in. I can either be seen as a positive force that can encourage growth, or I can be seen as a threat. My actions can be interpreted as either positive or negative, and that interpretation needs to be informed by my intentions (which are good, but very often misunderstood).

*“Ethical courage is the strength to act appropriately in questionable situations.“

+ I’ve also been told that using the term “censorship” when a librarian refuses to order books because of their content, even when those books have been requested by patrons. I believed it to be accurate. But that is another post for another time.

The Valdez High School Library has a new look.  Construction is wrapping up and VHS staff and students will be introduced this week to the new “Digital Media Center”. The DMC.

The Valdez High School DMC is in phase one of a three-year growth plan implementing a variety of online resources based on student, teacher, and curriculum needs. Important still is ready access to quality reference books and popular leisure reading for students.  VHS Librarian Sandy Crump, emphasizes, “We’re not throwing the baby out with the bath water.”

In order to address the needs of staff and students the VHS Library is shifting from the traditional book-based resource center, to a gathering place that promotes collaborative learning and easy access to a variety of information formats, including the traditional books.

Monday morning Ms Crump gave a presentation to staff members on Safari Montage.  This exciting digital media storage system allows on demand access to a variety of media formats such as video, audio, and image clips. Teachers will be able to access media to enhance lessons based on subject as well as the Alaska State Standards.

Ms Crump hopes the Valdez High School DMC becomes a place that students and staff can come together to read a good book, exchange ideas, and explore the world through a variety of formats.

The future of libraries, with or without books – CNN.com.

Another OH NOES article about the future of libraries. Another reason that librarians who work with children are extremely important. If we don’t capture the imagination of these children today, we won’t have any library supporters (and tax payers) in the future.

This is a interesting approach. I don’t believe it will be successful, but I’m eager to see the experiment unfold.

A library without the books – The Boston Globe.

JISC inspires UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in education. JISC provides:

• A world-class network – JANET
• Access to electronic resources
• New environments for learning, teaching and research
• Guidance on institutional change
• Advisory and consultancy services
• Regional support for FE colleges – RSCs
  [ข้อมูลจาก : http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus.aspx]

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Students and researchers expect to be able to access information around the clock from almost anywhere in the world. Libraries are at a turning point. As technology rapidly transforms the way we access information, and resources are increasingly available online and in digital formats, the established role of the library as a physical space housing racks of books is looking increasingly out of step with the needs of students and researchers.

JISC’s ‘Libraries of the Future‘ debate has gone digital, with a specially-commissioned documentary.  Over 200 people have already viewed the ten minute video, which marks the culmination of a year long campaign.

The Libraries of the Future campaign stimulated debate among librarians, information professionals and academics on the issues surrounding technology’s impact on the emerging role of the academic library in the 21st century through a series of events, printed resources and podcast interviews.

The Libraries of the Future publication explores the issues surrounding Libraries of the Future, showcases the events and activities of the campaign and looks forward to some possible solutions.

Download the Libraries of the Future Brochure.

This documentary showcases interviews with leaders from JISC, Oxford University and LSE as well as students and academics who discuss what the library of the future will look like.

The editorial in the latest Listener is about the wisdom of spending $70 million on revamping the National Library to be an attraction on the scale of Te Papa.

That being a tourist attraction has become a leading ambition for the National Library is both alarming and bizarre. As former Alexander Turnbull librarian Jim Traue recently pointed out, the library’s role has never been that of a street-front library, but as a national backstop for the whole library system. It is equivalent to the Reserve Bank, as opposed to a retail bank touting for customers.

It is desirable that the library’s collections be made accessible to all New Zealanders. But “accessible” does not require the whole ground floor to be turned into a digital penny arcade with banks of high-tech equipment, a Kids’ Zone and al-Jazeera flashing, housed in a contemporary architectural extravaganza.

That would be to Adam’s mind a Nightmare on Molesworth Street, not the treasure house that it should be.

The idea of Disneyland on Molesworth St is pure folly. The library’s senior management have failed to grasp that the whole point of the digital age is it happens on a screen in someone’s home on their laptop. Google and Facebook need no buildings or buses of tourists to draw people into their world.

Misguided extravagance is only the half of it. The National Library has failed to provide convincing assurances that the plans will not compromise its core function as an intellectual storehouse for researchers and historians.

Clearly as the extract above indicates something seems amiss. Adam believes our National Library is a great insitution, but he would rather the budget went on digitizing more of the collections to make them accessible throughout NZ and the world.

Therefore he agrees with the editorial’s conclusion:-

The National Government has made less than enthusiastic noises about the proposal. It should ask for an independent assessment, including whether it would represent value for money, and whether it is the best way to meet the library’s primary purpose.

If the redevelopment goes ahead as currently proposed, it will not be the blueprint for the protection and enhancement of New Zealand’s documented heritage. Rather, it will stand proud as a monument to an era of spending decisions made with a cavalier disregard for the people who pay the bill.

Is it possible that some parts of the public service have yet to catch up with the new world we live in today.

See also this article by Jim Traue, a former Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Libray at the NZ Herald. Mr Traue was critical of the proposals. The Herald ran a response from the current head of the Turnbull. In Adam’s view it did not really address a number of the issues raised by Traue and The Listener.

Gänget barkom JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) presenterar en webbplats Libariers of the Future för att indersöka förutsättningarna för framtidens bibliotek. Iofs handlar det mest om forsknings- och högskolebibliotek men frågeställningarna borde vara relevanta för alla:

“In an information world in which Google apparently offers us everything, what place is there for the traditional, and even the digital, library? In a library environment which is increasingly moving to the delivery of online rather than print resources, what of the academic library’s traditional place at the heart of campus life? “

Här finns en lista över framtida events och en intressant blogg att följa.