Category: New Librarianship

“Reinventing Library Services and Librarians in the Digital Age” University of Pittsburgh Staff Development Participatory Librarianship: A Vital Conversation about Librarianship and its Future, Pittsburgh, PA.

Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Pitt-Library.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2011/PittLibrary.mp3

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“Fulfilling the Potential: Digital Libraries and The Future” Visiting Lecture, Digital Library Learning (DILL) International Masters Program, Florence, Italy.

Abstract: The following screencast is a pretty long (2 hours and 45 minutes) lecture on ideas from the Atlas of New Librarianship and how they relate to digital libraries.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Florence-DLL.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2011/Florence.mp3

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“Reinventing Librarianship” Keynote ALA 2011 Virtual Conference.

The session was recorded by ALA and should be available soon (I will update this post).

Excerpts: “This then is your collection and what a truly awesome collection it is: more massive and sprawling than anything in ancient Alexandria. It is composed of seniors have seen their expected lifespan nearly double from 40 to 70 over the past century. Imagine that vast sea of experience and unbridled talent and seeking impact and legacy.

Our collection is in children; realizing that our concept of a childhood was only truly born with the labor laws of the 1800’s and the rise of a middle class that did not depend upon the income of youth.

We see the power in the woman of our community collection. From the right to vote to the majority of college degrees including doctorates in under 100 years.

Our collection is in minorities too long ignored and now actively enriching and expanding a culture of opportunity. Minorities that will soon actually make up the majority of US citizens.

This is your collection this is your business.

And what’s more, this collection doesn’t come with a 28 circulation limit. It isn’t beholden to outdated concepts of intellectual property. And, on the bright side, no one will ever question if this collection is becoming obsolete.”

“At the center of all of this richness and amazing diversity of community lies the facilitating role of librarians. Doing as they have done throughout history: helping communities and members make better decisions, to learn and grow their knowledge. For at the root is learning.”

“The time for introspection is done. The time for trivia is done. The time for looking for the future of libraries in catalogs, and strategic plans is done. The need of our communities is too great, and our promise for improvement too large. Our families worry about jobs and the ability to fight their way into a shrinking middle class. Our education system is broken – students unable to learn, or drowning under crushing debt. Our system of government increasingly polarized, our appetites for energy unsustainable, and the very memory of our society eroding behind walls of commerce and false scarcity. These then are our grand challenges, and just as the physicians before us, if we rise to meet them, we too shall be rewarded.

And I know what you are thinking. I know that tomorrow you’ll be dealing with broken printers, and shelving backlogs, and the rising costs of subscriptions. But you must look up. You must never make what you do replace why you do it. And if you can’t link broken printers and shelving to the grand challenges of our society, then you ought to ask why you are doing them. We must stop reacting to the world around us and start inspiring it!

Now these are just words. If all I do is preach them and return to the ivory tower I have committed the sins of hypocrisy and vanity. But you if you cry hallelujah and wait to seize the opportunity than you have committed an equally great sin. The sin of omission. If you stay silent, or wait for change, or take the easy path or see yourself as less than capable- less than worthy? Then you leave our precious communities to lesser goals and flawed stewards.

We must not let this happen.”

Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/ALAVirt-Lankes.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2011/ALAKeynote.mp3

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“The Future of Librarianship” Delaware Library Town Hall, Dover, DE.

Abstract: Take away the librarians, the staff, but leave the books, the computers, and the architecture and for a week you will have a fine sculpture of a library that every day will become more and more a snapshot of the past. But throw out the books and buildings and leave a dedicated corps of library professionals…invite the public in and they will construct the future.

Now more than ever, the future of Delaware, the future of any state is not in riches we pull from the ground or the glass we send streaming into the sky, but in the decisions and talent of the citizens. They are not passive consumers of libraries, or content, or an audience to democracy, but the very reason we are all here. They deserve a new librarianship, a new library that enables radical positive change. That is focused on knowledge and learning, that is focused on a conversation that is Delaware.

Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Delaware.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2011/Delaware.mp3

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“Grand Challenges of Librarianship” Keynote Swedish Library Association’s Annual Conference 2011, Visby, Sweden.

Abstract: Instead of facusing on the future of our communities we all too often seem to chase them through technology hoping to find new relevance for our collections and buildings. In such a world every new tool is a potential threat, any perceived encroachment into documents or services an enemy to be rationalized and dismissed. This must stop. We must first identify Grand Challenges facing our communities and then evaluate our mission in light of these challenges. Only then can we refine, adapt, and create tools to improve society.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Sweden-Lankes.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2011/Sweden.mp3

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“Radical” Keynote Florida Library Association’s Annual Conference 2011, Orlando, FL.

Abstract: We must go further. We must go deeper into our communities. We must bring radical positive change for our members. They are drowning in overpriced mortgages, our students are entering the job market with crippling academic debt, our children are struggling with underperforming schools.

And we must take a deep long look at ourselves. How can we expect radical positive change in our communities if we are unwilling to change ourselves? We must put every function, every budget item, every assumption under the microscope. We do this not to find efficiencies or downsize or “do more with less,” but to see if they meet the test of our noble and radical mission.

Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/FLA.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2011/FLA.mp3

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