Senior Moment

How could I have forgotten to include one of the major presenters at our staff training day?! It can only be explained as a "senior moment." (Sorry, Michael!)

Michael Porter, "Libraryman", gave two excellent presentations: on how technology is providing the means for libraries to enter the virtual spaces inhabited by today's library users, and on gadgets available now that are transforming the way people interact with information. He said libraries are places (real or virtual) where content and community intersect. The question is whether libraries can get it together soon enough to remain relevant tomorrow.

In-Service: Technologies and Trends

Wow! There was lots of energy and excitement at our annual staff in-service training day. It started off with a burst of enthusiasm when Mike Eisenberg, University of Washington, delivered his opening keynote presentation: "What's out there and what it might mean in terms of strengths, weaknesses, oportunities and threats to, for, and by libraries." As an illustration of how much things have changed in just a few years, he showed this YouTube video.

Additional speakers included Stacey Aldrich, Deputy State Librarian, Alma Ortega from UC San Diego, Pat Wagner from Pattern Research, Cheryl Gould from InfoPeople, Walter Minkel from New York Public Library, Sandra Ley from Arizona State University, Lucille Boone and Sandra Stewart from San Jose Public Library, and Sacramento Public staff.

Collectively, they spoke of how social networking services like MySpace, Facebook, Del.icio.us, Second Life, Flickr, blogging sites like Blogger, and the availability of new tools and gadgets are changing the way people expect to find information, and should be changing the way libraries deliver it, in order to remain in the game.

Look for good stuff from your library soon!