Inspiration! Where do we find it? How do we find it? It seems so indiscriminate; so serendipitous. On Google, these are a few of the “define: inspiration” results: arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity; a product of your creative thinking and work; a sudden intuition as part of solving a problem. What role does inspiration play in the world of librarianship? For me, inspiration plays a key role in my profession as a librarian. Inspiration propels my commitment to; and, the excitement I feel about the profession. Here’s some of the chatter I found inspiring at the 2008 SLA Conference in Seattle, WA this past June.
Vint Cerf, vice-president of Google, was the opening Keynote Speaker at the conference. Vint’s job at Google is about identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced Internet-based products and services at Google. Vint was interviewed by Charlie Rose, host of the Charlie Rose interview show produced by the New York metropolitan area public television station WNET. Vint talked about the past, present, and future of the Internet/cyberspace. One of the most interesting developments that he chatted about is the development of the Interplanetary Internet -- way cool. Vint predicts that by 2010, 50% of the world will be online do to the continued innovation taking place in the mobile device arena. This connectivity exudes the expansion of the Internet and the lowering of the barriers to access. I certainly found Vint’s chat inspiring. I wonder: did everybody that heard this session find it inspiring? Perhaps only a few? Is inspiration completely indiscriminate, or are there situations, speakers, or events that we all find inspiring? I don’t know the answer to this question; however, I can say with relative certainty though, that I am clearly not the only one that finds Vint inspirational. In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year's "25 Most Intriguing People."
Another speaker that I have heard over the years, and have consistently found inspiring is Stephen Abrams. In one of the sessions Stephen spoke at during the conference, he talked about how as librarians we need to “remove the boarders inside libraries” (aka – really need to get on the ball and think outside the box); how the dominant space is in cloud computing – human interaction in the cloud (Facebook, My Space, Second Life, etc. – not Google); and, that G3 is already here and G4 is coming – the architecture of this massive platform indicates that current sharing capabilities are bigger than any other invention including the web. Tied all together, the meaning behind all of this is that there is a mosaic of opportunities and possibilities in our profession. Stephen also pointed out though, that are also many challenges ahead. On that note, Stephen noted that 25% of China already using ebooks; the United States is seriously lacking in graduation rates of engineering (40,000 engineers US per 400,000 in India) and PhD students (25,000 short a year) leaving the United States 5 to 7 years behind the rest of the world; and, the state of the US economy and national debt pose serious issues. Ultimately Stephan suggests that librarians shift the focus from traditional role of “transactional librarians” to that of “transformational.” Hmm..., a transformation librarian – this sounds much more inspirational than a transactional librarian!
And lastly Seth Godin, deemed by Business Week as the "Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age," was the conference closing Keynote speaker. Seth is a best-selling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. I am currently reading Survival Is Not Enough, a book about how companies and the people who work there can deal with--and thrive on--the chaos of the business world. I will chat more about Seth’s session @ SLA; and, about the book, Survival Is Not Enough, in my next post.
Ready to embrace the inspiration? The SLA Conference proved an opportune time to launch a variety of tools for its members that allow us to explore new technologies. Here are a few:
- As I discovered, and many of you I am sure already knew, Second Life is not coming, Second Life is here, and it was a hot topic at SLA this year. SLA has an active Second Life experiment currently in the works via the SLA website. There were several second life demos during the conference. A most interesting fact by Gartner about Second Life is the prediction that 80% of people will be using their Avatars for searching by 2012. As I was reading the conference paper submissions I noticed that my friend Scott Brown, Sr. Information Specialist at Sun Microsystems, SunLibrary had submitted a paper about Sun's use of Second Life as a marketing/training tool: interesting, innovative, and inspiring! I am looking forward to creating my Avatar.
- SLA developed an “Innovation Laboratory” for its members. The lab is a place to explore and discover uses for the latest emerging technologies. The Innovation Laboratory offers a wide variety of Web 2.0 software learning tools that can help one become more business savvy and technologically adept.
- "23 Things" is a cool task based learning tool developed to introduce SLA members to Web 2.0 technologies in, go figure, 23 sessions! I have started this program, matter of fact; this is how I started this blog. Some of the applications are redundant for me, but I am sure there is plenty I can learn.
Also noteworthy and inspiring for the library profession is that SLA’s partnership with DowJones has resulted in full page advertising in the Wall Street Journal. The one page ad reads “The right people, information, and decisions. Behind every good business decision is information professional.” I have a copy posted in my office!
Here is my little technology groove: SLA, The Movie: http://web.mac.com/shellmasias/Site_3/Movie.html.
So about inspiration! Is it serendipitous? How important is inspiration in the field of librarianship? Who or what inspires you? Let’s chat!
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