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Announcing (and seeking help on) my next book, Expect More: Demanding Better Libraries For Today’s Complex World. At the beginning of the year I said my focus for the year would be on expecting more. That’s what this book is all about. Taking what we know works for great libraries (a commitment to learning, a focus beyond functions, co-owning the library with the community) and explaining that to non-librarians.
While I wrote this book to be read by people outside of the profession, the reason I wrote it was to help fantastic librarians make their case to those who oversee the library. I feel we need to do a better job advocating the power of libraries to our communities, and bringing those communities into the conversation of our future.

First an overview, then the details, then the request.

An Overview

Here’s the blurb for the book:

Libraries have existed for millennia, but today many question their necessity. In an ever more digital and connected world, do we still need places of books in our towns, colleges, or schools? If libraries aren’t about books, what are they about?

In Expect More, David Lankes, winner of the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature, walks you through what to expect out of your library. Lankes argues that, to thrive, communities need libraries that go beyond bricks and mortar, and beyond books and literature. We need to expect more out of our libraries. They should be places of learning and advocates for our communities in terms of privacy, intellectual property, and economic development.

Expect More is a rallying call to communities to raise the bar, and their expectations, for great libraries.

Unlike my Atlas of New Librarianship this one is written to be short (about 130 pages) and small (6×9 paperback) emphasizing examples and geared towards the general reader. It is based on conversations I have with public library boards, provosts, school administrators, and the general public.

The Details

The manuscript is done and is just about to go into final edits. I’m hoping to have the book out early summer in time for ALA.

I will be publishing this one as both a paperback and an ebook (and by popular request, with an index). I’m also looking for a low price point.

The Request

I’ve decided to self-publish the book. I have had a great relationship with great publishers in the past, but I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth was in terms of self-creation and exploring the realities of libraries becoming publishers. Right now my plans are to use CreateSpace for the print version, and an ePub solution for the ebook version. I’m interested if folks have gone this route and have any advice.

Continue reading »]]> “New Librarianship: From Sharing to Lending and Back Again” Tennessee Library Association Brown Bag Series, Webinar.

Abstract: This talk examines a bright future for libraries that can build strong connections with communities. This includes co-owning the library space, returning to a sharing model of libraries, and focusing on the aspirations of the community. Several examples of libraries acting as platforms for community advancement will be discussed.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2012/tnn.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2012/tnn.mp3

Screencast:

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For Immediate Release
Mon, 04/23/2012 – 10:04

Contact: Amy R McGuigan
Conference Services (cs)

CHICAGO — Innovation, thought leaders and technology are keys to transformation, and the 2012 ALA Annual Conference delivers on all those fronts. Energizing, transformative conversations, programs, pre conferences, discussion groups and high-profile speakers are lined up to spark creativity and foster transformative ideas.

Full listings of related events, as well as details about the highlights below, are on the ALA Annual Conference website, where you’ll find the Preliminary Program and other information.

Thought leaders appearing at Annual Conference include ground-breaking thinkers and writers such as Rebecca MacKinnon, David Weinberger, David Lankes, Dan Ariely, Duane Bray, John Jantsch, three amazing young adults–William Kamkwamba, Talia Leman, and Gaby Rodriguez–and many more.

Numerous programs and sessions such as “Cutting-Edge Technology Services,” (Washington Office) and “Top Tech Trends” (LITA) will inform and inspire attendees. In “Cutting-Edge Technology Services,” panelists will share information on innovative services–from QR codes and participatory learning platforms to online and mobile applications–and lessons learned, to help you replicate successful projects. “Top Tech Trends”–always a popular program–features LITA’s ongoing roundtable discussion about trends and advances in library technology by a panel of LITA technology experts describing changes and advances in technology and how the library world can take advantage of these trends.

In the exhibits hall, the Tech Pavilion groups related exhibitors, so attendees can more quickly identify who they need to spend time with and learn about what one librarian described last year as a “panorama of what’s new and exciting in the information industry,” helped by the “awesome vendors.”

Preconferences in the areas of innovation and technology include Mental Model Busting (PLA); Libraries in the Cloud (AASL); Web Content Strategy for Libraries (LITA); Source Code: Digital Youth Participation (YALSA); Building Digital Collections Using Islandora (LITA); Creating Library Linked Data: What Catalogers and Coders Can Build (LITA); and Zines in Libraries (ALA).

Targeted opportunities for conversation include the Library Boing Boing group, getting together to work on what’s cool in the future of libraries and the Networking Uncommons. And ideal for networking and good cheer over lively conversation and excellent drinks is the LITA Happy Hour.

If you need to make the case for attending ALA Annual Conference, these resources may help you. And you can hear more of what your colleagues say–comments like, “It’s the place for new technologies and innovative and creative ideas,” and, “Amazing ideas are born when librarians get together.”

Find out about the many other ALA Annual Conference & Exhibits highlights as they’re added–speakers, events, networking opportunities, and more. And for general information about the meeting in Anaheim, Calif., June 21-26, 2012, visit us at www.alaannual.org. Get the best discount with Early Bird Registration, open until midnight, Sunday, May 13, 2012.

ALA Annual Conference–Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves.

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CHICAGO – The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has added Kristin Fontichiaro and R. David Lankes to the roster of facilitators for AASL’s 2012 Fall Forum, “Transliteracy and the School Library Program.” Fontichiaro and Lankes will join media studies scholar, Henry Jenkins, in providing a comprehensive overview of transliteracy and its importance in education during AASL’s national institute taking place Oct. 12-13, 2012, in Greenville, S.C. More information on Fall Forum can be found at www.ala.org/aasl/fallforum.
Fontichiaro will work with Fall Forum attendees to deconstruct the concept of transliteracy into smaller, more manageable facets. She will focus on the inquiry and rigor of assignments and how to collaboratively work with teachers to empower students with transliteracy skills. With Fontichiaro’s guidance, attendees will build a definition of transliteracy and a supporting vocabulary to take back to schools and use to engage their educational colleagues in the process.

Lankes’ portion of the institute will further elaborate on the collaborative nature of transliteracy. He will advise attendees on how to advocate for and highlight the relevance of school librarians in environment of ever-changing educational priorities. He will guide attendees through building community engagement and cultivating school boards.

Kristin Fontichiaro is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, where she coordinates the school library media program. She also co-teaches a teaching with technology course in the University of Michigan school of education. Her most recent edited volumes are “Navigating the Information Tsunami: Engaging Research Projects that Meet the Common Core State Standards, K-5 and Growing Schools: Librarians as Professional Developers.”

Fontichiaro was named an Emerging Leader by the American Library Association, a distinguished alumna by the Wayne State University library and information science program and a 2012 Library Journal Mover and Shaker. She blogs at http://bit.ly/fontblog and writes the “Nudging Toward Inquiry” column for School Library Monthly.

R. David Lankes is a professor and Dean’s Scholar for the New Librarianship at Syracuse University’s school of information studies, director of the library science program for the school and director of the Information Institute of Syracuse. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference. His more recent work involves how participatory concepts can reshape libraries and credibility. His book, “The Atlas of New Librarianship,” won the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature.

Lankes is a passionate advocate for libraries and their essential role in today’s society. He also seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies can be used to transform industries. In this capacity he has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education and transportation including at the National Academies.

The AASL Fall Forum is a multi-day national institute held during non-AASL national conference years. A more intimate event, the institute focuses on one topic of importance to the profession. Transliteracy and the School Library Program will be held Oct. 12-13, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., and via satellite sites in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Pennsylvania, North Texas and the California Bay Area. More information on programming, sites and registration can be found at www.ala.org/aasl/fallforum.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.

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As promised, here is the argument and my own rebuttal from the Harvard event. Special thanks to Meg Backus, Jill Hurst-Wahl and all the great librarians who helped me put this together. I am putting this up in a sort of drafty form because I am interested in how the argument and counter-argument can be made better.

Libraries are Obsolete

There are few of us who can know the exact moment their career ended. However when a professor of library science argues libraries are obsolete against a Harvard law school professor and the head of the lead funding agency in the field I think that moment has arrived. This was where I found myself April 18th when I took part in an Oxford-style debate as part of Harvard Library Strategic Conversations. The idea was to mix humor with serious debate on the proposition that “Libraries are Obsolete.” I was asked to argue for the proposition.Now this is a rather odd position to be in since I have spent my career arguing exactly the opposite, but in the spirit of playing devil’s advocate, and the fact that I have tenure, I jumped in. After all, if we don’t honestly debate the point, how can we truly be sure we are not headed towards obsolescence [more on my rational see this post].

In looking at most of the cases against libraries many are focused on one type of library. For example, some argue against public libraries because they do not feel it is a wise use of tax dollars. Other arguments that fall apart in the face of evidence such as the editorial from the News Leader (Florida’s oldest weekly newspaper) where Mike Thompson opines:

“While local taxpayers pick up the biggest tab for America’s libraries, most librarians are little more than unionized pawns for the social-activist bosses of the American Library Association (ALA)…Today…ALA controls 62,000 members and, through its czarist accreditation program of many libraries, largely dictates what books are available for the most impressionable members of U.S. society, our children.”

This might be a valid argument is ALA did in fact accredit libraries, or if ALA had any supervisory power in libraries’ workforces – and you know, if Mike wasn’t nuts.

Other arguments have merit, but only from a given political view: libraries are a socialist attempt that interferes in the free market. Tax dollars would be better spent in other ways – namely giving it back to the taxpayers. If libraries are so valuable they should charge for their services and operate like businesses. These arguments are difficult to counter, because you often have to refute a basic tenant of ideology that is not likely to yield to evidence.

So frankly in preparing for the debate I was both relieved that I couldn’t find an argument worthy of Harvard, and dismayed that I was about to stand up before a crowd and have to half-heartedly make these weak arguments. Until I came upon an argument that scared the hell out of me. A very compelling argument that spans library types and ideology.

Libraries are obsolete because they act as institutions of remediation. Libraries were either created to fill some deficit in existing institutions, or over the years have adopted the role of remedying some deficit in the community. While this deficit model of libraries made sense at one point, today many of these deficiencies either no longer exist, or libraries now divert precious resources we should use to solve the underlying problem and/or institutions.

What scared me (and still does) is that the predominant message libraries use to justify their budgets (and continued existence) is as a sort of societal band-aid ministering only to what ails our communities. As with any argument about libraries in the abstract, the argument lacks nuance and parts are easy to refute, but I ask you to look to the core of the argument. This deficit model thinking has big implications for library advocacy, and even the evolution of the institution.

Community Deficiency: Access

So how do libraries present themselves as remediating institutions, and why is that a problem? Take the idea of libraries as sharing institutions. Many public and university libraries were created to pool and share information resources of a community (in the form of manuscripts, books, letters and so on). These libraries filled a need in the community to increase access to a commodity that was rare and expensive. The library, in this case, was a remediation for a larger problem of access.

Today this function is obsolete for two reasons. The first is obvious to anyone who has ever been on the web. There are plenty of sites that let you share resources. From sites like LibraryThing and Goodreads for books; to Flickr (and Instagram, and Facebook) for photos; to YouTube for video there are ample alternative, and arguably better ways to share ideas and resources. The second reason this deficiency argument no longer works is that libraries that began as sharing institutions have become lending organizations.

When Benjamin Franklin and his buddies put together their subscription library in Philadelphia in the 1700′s more members joining increased access and the resources available. As more joined, they brought in more books, so there was more to go around. Today libraries don’t share, they lend from a finite collection owned by the library. As more people join the library (use their services), they add demand, but not more resources. So when four people used the library, there were plenty of copies of Harry Potter to go around. Yet as hundreds of people use the library, demand increases, resources don’t, so Harry Potter becomes more scarce – access is actually decreased.

One clear way to see the difference between library as lending versus sharing comes from a story Eli Neiburger told me. Eli, Associate Director for IT and Production at the Ann Arbor District Library had a member of the library ask “if the catalog can keep track of books for lending at multiple locations (branches), can’t it also include books at my house? I’d be glad to share them as well.” This idea makes perfect sense in a sharing model, it makes no sense in a lending model.

A deficit approach to collections is to say the community doesn’t have access to information, so we’ll fix the community by making stuff available. A sharing model says the community is full of information assets (books, letters, photos, ideas, expertise, stories, music) let’s build a platform to allow the community to easily share with each other. Lending will lead libraries to obsolescence as demand increases, information resources costs escalate, and the library’s collections look more and more like everywhere else instead of like the community itself.

Community Deficiency: Democracy

When Carnegie wrote that “there is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library” he was right. Public and academic libraries had minimal fiction collections, and were one of the few places you could track the workings of government. The advent of the depository library program made up for a deficit in the public’s access to the workings of the federal government.

However today with the advent of the web, the government is often by-passing the depository program and publishing this material directly to the public. Before you say that we can’t we trust the government to be transparent I ask you how housing microfiche of government produced materials is equivalent to advocating for transparency? If anything it is a dodge of the true issues. If indeed public libraries are meant to bring to the masses information that can be used to promote and further democracy, why then do our fiche cabinets full of government documents sit unused as the holds for romance novels and spy fiction grow longer?

Community Deficiency: Internet Access

The focus libraries have on remediation continues in the area of Internet access. The argument is made that libraries of all sorts provide Internet access to the disadvantaged and disconnected. To be sure this is a real problem that needs a solution. Yet rather than divert funding to rural libraries to provide Internet access, why not follow the model of rural electrification and take it to the home where it can be used? Imagine in the days of the Tennessee Valley Authority if they ran a power line to the library and told rural citizens that if they needed light at night or to listen to the radio they needed to go to the library.

The money we spend on libraries would be better spent buying the underprivileged a tablet and expanding eRate to include monthly allowances to buy quality information. Already states and universities are licensing databases for public use…is there something so special about libraries that acquisition of resources can’t be done by existing procurement procedures at these institutions?

Community Deficiency: Literacy

This argument hinges on the belief that our public and school libraries are necessary to promote reading. That might have made sense when universal public education wasn’t so universal. When the color of skin and gender were barriers to accessing education. Libraries were the people’s university. In essence we need libraries to provide remedial reading education to fix our communities.

Today, while racial and gender discrimination are far from gone, the world has changed. Women now constitute the majority population in our college and universities. In terms of race, rather than creating a separate system of education for minorities, affirmative action, minority scholarships, and other mechanisms are integrating minorities into the same high performing educational institutions as white males. Separate, but equal was discarded long ago.

The answer to increasing literacy rates is to improve the performance, and lower the barriers of access to education. The money and time spent on libraries would be better spent on our schools and teachers. Instead of working around a test-driven K-12 schools in the nebulous world of informal education, we should focus our time and talents on getting a “No Child Left Behind” system that actually works. Instead of believing that librarians that have little formal training in reading instruction (and math instruction, and science instruction) can somehow solve the education gap through a do-it-yourself-here-are-the-books model, we should be focusing on enabling teachers to teach.

Community Deficiency: Information Seeking

What about the deficit in people’s ability to find information? We need libraries to make sense of the glut of information now coming at our students and citizens. It is no wonder our reference statistics drop. Who needs a librarian to use a search engines that can traverse billions of pages in milliseconds when we can now do it for ourselves. Has Google become like a new Dialog, where we must have patrons line up to our gatekeeping search abilities? Rather than use librarians as band-aids to bad search tools, let’s fix the search tools.

Community Deficiency: Embedded Librarians

There was one thing that all the speakers agreed upon at the debate – even if libraries are obsolete, librarians aren’t. Rather than dividing our time and effort on compensating for an inadequate educational system, or inequalities in the market place, we should free up our brilliant librarians to work within these organizations to make the institutions better. Why take amazing information professionals and saddle them with leaky roofs, security at the door, and maintaining physical artifacts in often duplicative collections just waiting to be digitized? We see this at the Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts that made the press when they significantly downsized the physical collection of the library. They did so at the same time they hired more librarians. Close the library and hire more librarians.

Real Danger of the Deficit Model of Libraries

If libraries continue to be remedial organizations, focused solely on the problems and deficits of our communities the communities themselves will find libraries obsolete. How long will our communities tolerate being told how they are broken? How long will we be welcome if all we do is highlight what doesn’t work and add little value beyond filling in the gaps of other organizations?

Rebutting the Easy Reactions

Now, if you are anything like me you have been mustering your counter arguments as you have read this. For example, there is a big assumption in here that all information will be digital. And you would be right. But we must be careful of the rebuttals to this argument as well. They often feed right into the deficit model argument.

Fixing organizations is a great idea, but it’s not realistic

So our big argument here would be that life sucks, get used to it (great replacement for the READ posters)? This is also very reminiscent of the arguments that not all information would be available digitally. Then Google started scanning books by the literal truck full. The perception on what is available digitally and what in physical form has shifted in those we serve. More than that, you are still saying the reason for the library is to care take stuff not important enough to be digitized yet, or that we are a temporary organization until the technology catches up.

Supporting democracy is more than just government documents

Being informed in a democracy is more than simply keeping up with the information and documents that government produce. It involves reading newspapers, treatises, even keeping up with pop culture. This is true…have you seen the Internet lately? Where once libraries filled the gap of providing a rich and diverse corpus to enrich our communities’ thinking the Internet now represents a richer and more diverse corpus of thought.

Fostering a love of reading

Literacy is more than just reading you say. Libraries foster a habit of reading and a love of reading. What exactly is it about four walls and stacks that does this better than say a living room? You can read anywhere, and with digital delivery to ebooks you could argue that people are better able to follow their passions with instant delivery.

But use of libraries is increasing

This fact, if arguing a deficit model, only points out that there is need for remediation – not the form of the remediation. For example, in the unprecedented economic downturn over the past years the number of soup kitchens and beds in shelters have probably also increased. I think we can all agree that instead of building more soup kitchens and shelters, we should fix the economy.

You callous careless bastard

First, remember that I am playing devil’s advocate here (and give me another paragraph until I talk about how libraries aren’t obsolete). Second, assuming that wasn’t just an ad hominem attack, this is about the idea that a deficit model isn’t a bad one, because there will always be a role for a safety net. The deficit argument isn’t against the social safety net, but rather that we can fix the net through mechanisms other than libraries.

The Real Rebuttal

The real retort to the deficit argument that libraries are obsolete is not to find new and bigger problems, but to focus on (or at the VERY least include) aspirational arguments for libraries. Now before I dive into this, let me say that most of these approaches are already in full effect, my point is to highlight them and support them.

For example, let us take the deficits and show how libraries add value and have positive effects on communities (rather than mitigating the negative effects):

• Internet access: the library uses the Internet to push the passions and possibilities of our communities to the whole world. Yes folks can use the Internet connection to check mail and apply for jobs, but they can also use it to create businesses, and start global conversations.
• Literacy and Reading: the library allows you to explore the great thoughts and imaginations of the world throughout time, and add to that pool. Come to the library, get inspired, and add your great ideas.
• Democracy: did you know your government came with an owner’s manual? It’s at the library. Help shape the direction of your town, your state, your country – the library can help you learn how.

Like I said, these approaches are hardly unique to me. But there is one point of the deficit model that takes more than just sloganeering – the shift of libraries from places of sharing to lending organizations. To me, this is the real damning argument against libraries. If libraries continue to see themselves as focused on things that can be borrowed or consumed, and continue to build collections for the community not of the community, there is real danger.

Libraries must become true platforms of the community. Want an example? I have been working with Polaris on a community portal to be added to their ILS. With it librarians can add information about community organizations (locations, services, events) directly to the catalog. So now you can search for materials on first aid, and the Red Cross will show up beside the results.

However, the system is built to allow community organizations to add and maintain their own information. Very small organizations or even individual community members (if the library choses) can add their information and get a landing page on the net that they may not have had before. For organizations with their own web sites already, they embed library and community information in their own websites easily. So now the Red Cross can embed books about first aid on their web site.

This is taken one step further, because the same mechanism that allows this embedding can be used by other software and platforms. For example a doc student here in Syracuse is building an iPad app to mount on local busses. At any stop a passenger can find out what events and services are available community wide at within a given distance.

This is library as community platform. The iPad app is not built or owned by the library. The information being presented is not owned by the library. Yet the library is indispensable in making this happen. The library is a platform that helps the community do something new, innovative, and helpful. The most powerful arguments for libraries, aside from the brilliance of librarians, are around the theme of community platform for improvement and advancement.

The people’s university (when presented as a place of knowledge acquisition, not as a bandage to other educational institutions), the agora, the creation space, idea factory, all of these metaphors present a compelling and positive vision of the library that communities can take pride in. Now rather than being associated with the library out of charity, or desperate straights, they are part of an exciting and progressive organization. Rather than trying to fix the community, or bring everyone up to some sort of norm, libraries are foundations for individual advancement.

Let me be clear, I believe both in the necessity and importance of libraries and the social safety net. I know our communities face terrible problems, and our service mission is necessary. However, if you lift someone out of hell and don’t tell them about heaven, how much hope have you given them? Libraries are not obsolete. They serve a vital and important mission in today’s society, and in tomorrow’s society. That mission that has driven libraries for the past 3,000 years is in service of a better tomorrow. That mission is hope through knowledge and the empowerment of the individual.

Libraries as band aids may be obsolete, but that is not why we need libraries. We need libraries so we can fix our education system, so we can fix our economy, so we can fix our democracies yes. But we need libraries even more to discover new knowledge not found in any textbook. We need libraries to create whole new opportunities for innovation. We need libraries to give our communities a voice and power in the working of government. Libraries will never be obsolete so long as our communities dream, and strive, and work to ensure a world of insurmountable opportunities.

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A few weeks back Lane Wilkinson put together a nice thoughtful piece on the Little Free Libraries. While he and I don’t see eye to eye on everything he always makes me think and I have great respect for his point of view. This time he got me thinking about fiction, and the role of recreational reading in libraries.
The following is not really a response to Lane; it doesn’t really need a response. I agree with most of what he says. Also, I’m not hitting every point he makes about stories and shared literary experience (still thinking on that). His noting that my work has “(literally) nothing to say about the aesthetic and cultural value of literature or fiction in libraries” is true. Other than broad strokes that I don’t separate out what we learn from fiction or while we are having fun from non-fiction and when we are doing serious study – I haven’t been explicit. Let me be explicit and ask for your thoughts and reactions. I’ll start with the mission of librarians:

“The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities”

Take a look at the mission again: improving society through facilitating knowledge creation. What ever happened to promoting a love of reading and/or books? Does this adopting this mission mean abandoning reading and literature, fiction and prose? No. The reason reading isn’t in this larger mission is that not all libraries are centrally focused on reading. Where school libraries and public libraries see one of their core goals the promotion and expansion of reading skills (and therefore should include these in their missions); corporate and academic libraries assume the folks they serve already have these skills. What’s more, while reading is a crucial skill to creating knowledge, it is not the exclusive route to “enlightenment.” Some learn through reading, some through video, others through doing (and the vast majority through combining these). We should expect our libraries to support all of these modalities of learning.

When folks ask me about libraries, reading, and my proposed mission they are normally asking “can’t I just use the library to read a good novel or borrow a DVD without worrying about saving the world? Isn’t there value in just reading for recreation?” My answer is yes and that fiction is as important to learning and building knowledge as non-fiction. Stories are how we dream and how we test our ethical bounds. A good novel can often reveal fundamental truth in ways no academic tome of philosophy ever can. What’s more, the ideas and inspirations for great action often come when we least expect it.
Much of library literature focuses on concepts of information and empowerment often ignoring or silently assuming that libraries can still support recreation and reading development. To be sure my work is focused on libraries as places of social engagement and learning. The question isn’t “should libraries support recreational reading.” The answer to that question is dependent on the community — like supporting the arts or parks. The real question revolves around folks who want to turn recreational reading into something social, or geared towards some larger goal.

So I read and love a book. That may be enough for me. But what if a beautiful piece of fiction inspires me to write my own novel, or invent some new device, or form a group of others who love the book and seek to act. It is not the role of the library to predetermine the outcomes of reading (or inventing, or movie making) – that edges too close to telling people what to read and why. Rather it is the place of the library to be a platform for the community member to turn their love and passion into something for the good of the community and/or themselves.

The more we do of something the better we get. So we need to support reading of all kinds where appropriate (in the library, in school, on the playground, on vacation, in the laboratory, in video games). When you read the words “knowledge” and “learning” throughout my work, don’t think I am limiting that to just to the ideas found in textbooks and research articles. Poetry, novels, a good science fiction story all carry equal weight to me in knowledge creation. However, I believe that we should also expect our libraries of all kinds to be ready to support the outcomes of that reading.

Continue reading »]]> You may have seen the announcement that I’m part of a debate at Harvard on the proposition that libraries are obsolete. The twist is (at least it was for me) is that I’m arguing for the proposition – that is that libraries are obsolete.

So why the hell am I doing it? Do I really think that libraries are obsolete? What’s more why should you help me?

First I do not believe that libraries are obsolete. I do, however, believe that it is very worth debating that point. Part of that is my scholarly training. I believe in the Socratic method where you assume opposing sides of an argument (even, as in this case, you don’t agree with the stance) and then argue to the truth. But there is a much more compelling reason I took this on.

We must inhabit the arguments of our detractors if we are to refute them. More than that, to be true to our professional ethos, we must enter this debate with intellectual honesty. If we are here to support conversations, we must support those we agree with and those with which we disagree. Also, if we are to remain relevant we must enter into conversations with the community as whole – whether they agree with us or not.

So that’s why I need your help. What arguments have you encountered against libraries. Why do folks want to eliminate funding, or your library altogether? I promise if you provide them, I’ll make a post (or twelve) doing my best to counter them after my Harvard debate.

Please use the comments below or email me rdlankes@iis.syr.edu.

And in two weeks or so if you see a video of me arguing libraries are obsolete, realize I am doing it out of love.

Continue reading »]]> “World Domination Through Librarianship” Kansas Library Association Annual Conference, Wichita, KS.

Abstract: In an era of battling walled content gardens, disruptive change, social media-enabled revolutions, and truthiness there has never been a greater need for librarians. Sorting through mountains of data, ensuring a civil discourse, repairing the fragmenting commons are vital for our country, and librarians are the right profession to lead the way. However, this is not a simple matter of declaring ourselves prepared, it will take new skills and a new librarianship not focused on buildings and artifacts. This talk lays out a foundation for this new librarianship, and a call to action to save the world.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2012/Kansas.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2012/Kansas.mp3

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