Infoblog

In his latest podcast, Infopeople’s book guy Michael Cart reports on a strangely subdued 2009 Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s annual trade show and convention. And he offers some speculative (and not altogether sanguine) thoughts on the future of the book biz.

Here are cites Michael mentions in this podcast (in PDF format).

In this special podcast, George and Joan talk about something a bit different from their usual content. We’ll let them explain:

Early on we realized that in order to convince librarians to move forward we had to demonstrate a clear connection between our recommendations and established library principles, values, and beliefs. We also recognized that those principles, values, and beliefs are powerful motivators when they are personalized, because everyone has a slightly different take on what matters most about libraries and librarianship.

We found it so useful in our own collaboration to share our professional philosophies with each other that we decided to publish a “This We Believe” statement, in hopes that it might stimulate your thinking as well.

They encourage you to write – and share – your own.

Check out this very cool YouTube video, done in the style of Common Craft, that imagines what the library will look like in a networked world. As the author asks, “What is a library when ‘everywhere is here’?”

In their latest podcast, George and Joan look at the world of newspapers. Circulation is down all over, and many papers are moving to online-only editions. How does this relate to libraries, and what lessons can libraries learn from the decline (and sometimes fall) of print newspapers?

Mentioned in this podcast: EPIC 2014 and the origins of the word “truthiness.”

Do you tweet, or do you twitter?  The new edition of the AP Stylebook may help. Its says the “…verb forms are to Twitter or to Tweet.” So either way is okay. Phew! Other new entries: the Middle Eastern eggplant dish baba ghanoush and texting as a verb.

Appropriately, you can follow the AP Stylebook on Twitter.

In this podcast, Infopeople’s resident book guy Michael Cart reviews the definitive new biography of John Cheever by Blake Bailey and talks about the life, times, and works of Cheever, truly an American master.

Here is a list of cites mentioned in this podcast (in PDF format).

Acting State Librarian of the California State Library Stacey Aldrich will be helping current and prospective library leaders use current tools to explore the future in her Infopeople workshop, “Building Leadership Skills: Planning for the Future,” scheduled in libraries throughout California in June 2009.

“We’ll be looking at what kinds of sources you should be scanning for clues to the future and why; what kinds of triggers you should be looking for; and how you ask the right questions about the future,” she said during a conversation earlier this week. “The key here is that the more tools that you have for thinking about the future, the more proactive you can be about creating the future. This workshop is an opportunity to learn and practice some future-thinking tools and then spend some time thinking about the future so you can find opportunities.”

Included in the curriculum are explorations of scenario planning, a concept explored by futurist in his book The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World; environmental scanning; and top trends which library leaders need to watch.

“We need to look outside of libraries for the forces and trends that are changing people’s expectations about information, technology, and community,” Aldrich says. “If we’re asking the right questions about our future, we can keep developing services that meet the needs of the people we serve.”

Among the sources she cites are the TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) conferences with talks which are archived at Ted.com; the Pop!Tech conferences with similarly archived materials at Pop!Tech.org; and trendwatching.com, which offers a variety of resources including free monthly “trend briefings.”

Using these tools will help library leaders engage in more effective environmental scanning and scenario thinking. Environmental scanning, she suggests, is “taking an interest in observing the world around you…reading and observing things you may never do,” and scenario building, “in its simplest terms, is creating stories about the future to help your library think about possible futures, and then build strategies that will help you thrive in each of them, and to help your library create its preferred future.”

The workshop is the latest offering in Infopeople’s multi-stage Eureka! Leadership Program with its “Building Leadership Skills” series, and it will remain available as a contract workshop through Infopeople for those who are not able to attend the currently scheduled sessions. Registration ($75 per person) for “Building Leadership Skills: Planning for the Future” and other “Building Leadership Skills” sessions is continuing on the Infopeople website; instructors for other sessions in the series include Marie Radford and Steve Albrecht.

Sessions of “Building Leadership Skills: Planning for the Future” are currently scheduled for Buena Park Library District (6/4/2009); San Diego County Library Headquarters (6/5/2009); San Francisco Public Library – Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room (6/11/2009); Belle Cooledge Library in Sacramento (6/12/2009); Fresno – Woodward Park (6/16/2009); and San Jose Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (6/23/2009).

Infopeople’s book maven Michael Cart reports in his latest podcast on the recent Reading the World XI conference held at the University of San Francisco and muses about the importance of multicultural literature.

Here is a list of cites mentioned in the podcast (in PDF format).

In this podcast, George & Joan conclude their three-part series discussing a checklist they’ve developed on strategic thinking.

The first podcast addressed the question, “Will it show?” The second podcast asked, “Can it grow?” This third podcast addresses the question, “Does it flow?”

Questions asked in this podcast:
• Is it equitable (not necessarily identical) across our entire service area?
• Is it conveniently accessible to community members?
• Can most members of the community use it without specialized instruction or extensive assistance?
• Is it compatible with tools – especially non-library tools – the community already uses?
• Is the format based on community demand rather than library tradition?
• Does it value “yes” over “no”?

Here is the checklist they’ve been using in this series.

In this podcast, George & Joan continue a three-part series discussing a checklist they’ve developed on strategic thinking. The first podcast asked the question, “will it show?” This second podcast asks the question, “can it grow?”

How do you decide what activities have a future? And once you make that determination, how can you be sure that you have the staff and resource time to keep the activities going? They ask another important question as well: are you ready for success? There’s a lot of food for thought here.