Well, it finally happened. I’ve been looking forward to this conference for a while and it lived up to expectations. The theme for TEDxLibrariansTO was thought leaders. This was the first conference in a long time that I didn’t tweet as I wanted to fully immerse myself in the conversations in the room.
Amy Buckland started the day with a call to revolution. Thought leaders should take radical action, help move the profession forward and not be afraid of failure. Failure can be a good thing and it should be done quickly – don’t let a project linger if it isn’t working, kill it quickly. According to Amy, the revolution is coming. Librarians wanted. I want to be part of this revolution. Updated: here are the slides for Amy’s talk – read it and be inspired.
Amy’s call for revolutionaries tied nicely with Eric Boyd‘s talk on Maker Culture and hackerspaces. Eric gave a great introduction into something I’ve only heard about (and now I want to know more about both maker culture and hacker spaces). While the work that Eric’s been doing is neat (ex. North Paw), what struck me was that librarians can and probably should be makers. This rose from Eric’s comment that maker culture is about trying all sorts of crazy ideas – librarians need to do this. I saw direct links between Amy’s revolutionaries and makers. I’m still mulling on this idea and I know I’m not the only one thinking about this.
Sarah Grimes gave a passionate talk on the value of games in libraries, asking why we don’t rally around censorship, challenges and ratings of games, the way we do so readily with books.
Siobhan Stevenson talked about labour issues in public libraries – primarily the devaluing and disappearance of librarian work and the rise of users as producers of information. Part of this can be traced to the rise of services that no longer need librarians and a move towards consumer trends (libraries as bookstores and cafes). Sadly, this is not limited to public libraries – academic libraries are going through similar pains. Unfortunately, no solutions were offered.
Mita Williams was both passionate and inspiring with her talk on community engagement. By hosting collaborative events, we can host conversations and initiate change. Mita gave powerful examples of unconferences bringing people together and influencing people. Once we invite such conversations and establish events, it is essential that we continue to support the conversation. An easy way to do this is to mentor others as you plan events so they can lead in the future.
Melanie McBride gave a moving talk on creating heros in the library by supporting gaming in the library. She spoke on the importance of voluntary participation, emphasizing that voluntary is key as it is about choices, freedom and autonomy.
John Miedema spoke of his research into slow reading. He questioned rather technology really allows for slow reading. Needless to say, I’ve added his book Slow Reading to my list of things to read.
Discussions throughout the day were intriguing. Some of us talked about our profession’s tendency towards being insular. We need to stop talking to ourselves, preaching to the converted, and move to influence those around us. Another conversation raised the point that librarians are more than their institutions. We don’t stop being a librarian when we go home – the passion that drove us to this profession continues when we are not at work. The question was raised as to why we don’t do more, collaborate more, outside of work. And of course, there was discussion around what a thought leader actually is. One person suggested that it is the thought that leads, people work to bring the thought to reality. Another suggested that thought leaders may simply give voice to the idea and work as a team to accomplish it – it isn’t always about one person.
Needless to say, I left with my brain full of ideas. I was lucky enough to volunteer for the event, but I want to give a huge congratulations to Fiacre O’Duinn and Shelley Archibald, the event organizers, on pulling together a great group of speakers and participants and for making the day a huge success.
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