I got to spend my day outside the library at a local library conference today. Minnesota has an awesome statewide resource sharing program called Minitex and every year they hold an interlibrary loan conference at the University of Minnesota. This is the fourth year I have gone and they are generally very good.
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus is spilt by the Mississippi River. On the “East Bank” are the vet school, the agriculture school, and a number of other life science programs that need space. This part of the campus bumps up against the state fair grounds and is not completely surrounded by houses. Which is good because they keep animals on this part of the campus. Right across the “street” from the continuing education center where the conference is held is the cow barn. We lucked out and didn’t get snow in the Twin Cities but the burbs to the south did. Still the day was cloudy and cool. Nonetheless when I got out of my car my first thought was “cows.” The conference has seen some very warm days too on which the cows have been outside the barn lowing and wafting their bovine fragrance into their surroundings. After the initial whiff, I don’t mind the smell of livestock really and I have such an urban life that it is kind of a treat. Yeah, I know, that sounds weird.
But the conference. Very good. We had four speakers. The Keynote speaker was Daniel Rasmus. He is not a futurist, he is a strategist which is very different. A futurist will tell you what the future is going to be, a strategist says the world is too messy and complex to predict the future but there are strategies for creating and planning for different future scenarios so whatever happens, the organization can be ready. In this case the organizations are libraries.
He gave a very interesting talk about strategizing, creating multi-branched narratives that consider complexities instead of seizing on one or two things and building a single, simple narrative. We like simple because it is easier to control, or have the illusion of control, but we need to learn to engage with uncertainties and to stop thinking about the future in a linear way.
The Minitex director spoke to us about her research for a book she is coediting for the American Library Association on the topic of consortia.
A couple librarians from Minitex/the University of Minnesota talked to us about ebooks and resource sharing. They are on a committee made up of librarians from the “Big Ten” universities (plus five others). Their committee is working to figure out ebook resource sharing, meaning borrowing ebooks through interlibrary loans. They are working on convincing publishers it is a good idea as well as the tech side of it — a system that makes ebooks lendable to patrons not belonging to the home library. It will probably be a few years yet before this begins to bear fruit, but it is good to know there are people working on it.
There was one more speaker, Matt Goldner from OCLC. He talked to us about libraries and the information landscape. He discussed cloud computing and how it fosters collaboration. He spoke about how library systems have evolved in a rather piecemeal kind of way and when libraries look at implementing new systems they tend to want the new one to do the same thing as the old one because that is what everyone is familiar with. He wanted to know if our systems were serving us or whether we were serving our systems?
All-in-all a good day that provided much to think about.
Not weird! I like that smell too! It smells “real”! LOL
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I hope the cows got something out of the conference. It seems that your libary conference wasn’t haunted by cuts and cuts and more cuts. New ways of dealing with the challenges of the future surely but there seems to have been a fairly positive vibe there.
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Ian, I think they must be the smartest cows on the the planet given their location 😉 This particular conference is usually rather upbeat which is nice. Not to say there aren’t ever discussions about budgets and other problems, but the focus is on what we can do to provide the best library services we can.
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rhapsody, so glad it isn’t just me! They do have a pleasant earthy smell. Maybe I was a farmer in a past life, or missed my calling in this one!
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Thanks for sharing this … I’m interested to know how librarians are thinking these days regarding all the new technologies around. Helps me when I mark assignments … I wonder if I can make my iPad tax deductible because I’m reading you on it!!
I hope you have that message on your roof as my daughter will be flying into your airport in a few hours!
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whisperinggums, glad to share! I hope I can help you get a tax write-off for your ipad 😉
Darn! I had a little niggling feeling I had forgotten something! Well, we are having snow for her so I am sure that will make things interesting 🙂
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LOL … She’s arrived in hot So Cal and had to immediately change into a flimsy dress.
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Nit-picking: The east/west bank are both on the Minneapolis campus, and split by the Mississippi. Your post refers to the St. Paul campus, which is a mile or two away from the river.
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Curmudgeon, thanks for the geography lesson! I am a California transplant and didn’t go to the U so I assumed the East Bank was the St. Paul campus. I stand corrected!
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Didn’t they last year have a great vegan lunch? Why is it that I always remember food-related items in other people’s posts? I just ate dinner and am not hungry, but… Sounds like a fun conference. My library is one of the ones moving towards a cloud computing environment. It has been a challenging migration! I am sure it will be good in the long run, but loads of work right now!
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Danielle, no, they always have a buffet at this one. The consortium luncheon I go to in December is the one that has a vegan lunch for me. I think library cloud computing is in the early stages yet and the early adopters are unfortunately the ones who will end up to so much of the work and then those who jump on later will find it so much easier I’m guessing. so think of your library as a cutting edge pioneer 😉
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On the Backs in Cambridge, in view of the famous King’s Chapel we often have cattle grazing. Goodness knows where they come from! They’re hardly there to get a degree. They can be seen on Midsummer Common, too sometimes. I find the sight of them uplifting and by far the calmest thing around in exam season. Oh and strategies, I love strategies very, very much. I would definitely have gone to that talk!
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Litlove, maybe the college uses them to keep the grass short? There is definitely something calming about large animals grazing. I like strategies too, they give me a sense of direction and keep me from feeling as though there is nothing I can do.
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