Burn the Libraries and Free the Librarians

“Burn the Libraries and Free the Librarians” University of Maryland iSchool Talk. College Park, MD.

Abstract: The days when there was a single model for a library, if they ever existed, are gone. The idea that the library is a storehouse of books and materials is gone. The notion that a library can serve off to the side of the mission of a community is gone. What’s left: the centrality of librarians in meeting the needs and aspirations of the community. This presentation presents a librarianship unencumbered by buildings or a fealty to traditions. It talks about librarians as facilitators of knowledge creation in libraries, and offices, and schools, and classrooms, and the wide reaches of the Internet.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2014/UMD.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2014/UMD.mp3

Screencast:

Burn the Libraries and Free the Librarians from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

Publisher of the Community: We’re All Doomed

“Publisher of the Community: We’re All Doomed” Closing keynote for the NISO Workshop on “Using the Web as an E-Content Distribution Platform: Challenges and Opportunities.”

Abstract: We need to build platforms for scholarship and knowledge development, not information and content delivery. These platforms are not about APIs and eContent, but about people and content. We need to strive not for discovery, but epiphanies.

A special thank you to SAGE for supporting this keynote and the workshop.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2014/NISO-Lankes.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2014/NISO.mp3

Screencast:

Publisher of the Community: We’re All Doomed from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

Mapping the Community

“Mapping the Community” South Central Regional Library Council Annual Meeting. Cortland, NY.

Abstract: Libraries are changing. From a focus on collections to a focus on communities; from spaces of librarians to spaces of students, parents, faculty, and teachers. Of course all of this is just rhetoric. Real change requires tools to define the spate of services (new and old) that are needed to meet the needs of towns, college, and schools.

This session will explore the rhetoric of the new librarianship through a hands on exercise that maps the community you serve. The focus is on demonstrating real skills in the light of a new relationship between librarians and those they serve.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2014/SCRLC.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2014/SCRLC.mp3

Screencast:

Mapping Conversations from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

The Faithful and the Radicals

“The Faithful and the Radicals” Opening Keynote for Expect More, The NYLA-SSL Annual Conference 2014. Syracuse, NY.

Abstract: School librarians must have faith in the work and the work of their colleagues. Yet faith alone will not advance the cause. Advancing school librarianship requires radical action.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2014/CNYSchoolLibraries.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2014/cny.mp3

Screencast:

cny from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

Libraries as Community

“Libraries as Community” Information Resource Center Directors (branch libraries in US Embassies) from East and Central Africa, U.S. Embassy, Kigali (via pre-recorded video).

Abstract: As professional services (medicine, higher education) move to a more participatory approach, so too should libraries. This presentation discusses how the mission of librarians pushes libraries past documents and spaces to conversations.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2014/Embassy.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2014/Embassy.mp3

Screencast:

Library a Community from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

The Bad, The Good, and The Great

“The Bad, The Good, and The Great” 2nd Annual Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference (via pre-recorded video).

Abstract: It is not the collection or array of services that makes a library great, it is the difference it makes in the community.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2014/Wisc-Lankes.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2014/WiscScreen.mp3

Screencast:

The Bad, The Good, and The Great from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.