I always pull over, park the car, and go inside.
Usually, it's my own beloved Bexley Public Library or our magnificent Columbus Metropolitan Library. They are award-winning and deserve every award.
Often, it's when I'm passing through some small town. Or New York City.
Why The Love?
Because I love to go in and ask the librarians questions. They often know the answers. If not, they know where to turn.
They are like Google. But with judgement.
They face disintermediation. As in: we might stop realizing we need librarians and libraries because everything is Googlable. But, you know and I know: the Internet isn't the same thing as a Masters in Library Science. It isn't the same thing as knowing what information is trustworthy and what is just Net Cotton Content.
Don't disintermediate. Talk to a librarian today.
Now I Get To Talk To A Litter of Librarians
Amid all this flurry of travel, I'm looking forward to speaking to the Ohio Library Council 2011 Convention and Expo later this month.
That prompted an interview with Jill Holton Arrasmith, OLC Director of Communications.
Heres an excerpt, as published in the OLC's Access Weekly:
Jill (Q): What do you like best about public libraries?
Artie (A): Well, I like the sharing of information. I like the sense of community. I like the idea that we provide for ourselves and our children and our neighbors and the stranger in our midst a communal gathering place. A place where people can go for betterment, for relaxation, for meeting others that is not mercenary and it’s not retail or designed to prey upon us. It is designed to help us become our best selves.
Q: So, you are new to a lot of the OLC audience. Why is your session a must see/participate for our convention attendees?
A: Well, in the management of a library . . . we need greater creativity and collaboration. My sessions will talk about how to find ingenuity amid a constraint-based life, which certainly describes our libraries. I will also talk about how we can collaborate in a genuine and engaged way with peers, work colleagues, and patrons so that the library is not purely a hierarchical flow of information.
Q: How does creativity not only enhance a person’s career but their entire life?
A: The myth that we eventually see through is that we never really were living to work. We organize much of our personal development around what we think is professional development but in the end, my wife often says, all we really have are our relationships. We need human development. In order to help people personally, I have to masquerade as someone who’s teaching it from a business point of view, but really there is no such thing as a business person. There are only humans. And, I teach creativity because like liberal arts it offers us intellectual satisfaction, it offers us something to think about, and something to work on. We are created, whatever that means to whoever reads the word. We are created and we are creators and there is no greater satisfaction than the simple act of creating, whether it is a loaf of bread or a garden patch or a piece of text. . . . The study of creativity – it transcends the mercenary world.
I Was In California
The interview was over the phone while I was in California. I think that shows. I was talking like I was in California.