Susi and I attened the annual SOLINET Conference, SAMM09, in Atlanta on May 13-15, 2009
Opening Session SAMM09: Thomas Frey
Dr. Tom Frey, futurist, gave the keynote at the opening of the conference.
Future thinking and product development can be summed up with the idea that we will be recipients of an OPTIMAL TAILORING scheme. Because so much data is collected about us, for example when we purchase online or search Google that machines will deliver what we want without us having to ask for it. The as-yet-to-be-developed machine will know how we like our coffee and tea; it will deliver it to us at our preferred time. We may get stuff, products and services, before we even know we want it.
Dr.Frey explained that the future of education will shift from the teaching axis to a learner’s point of view. Because information is increasing exponentially courses will be created for us to learn while teachers will be less important as course developers. A program scheme called “curriculum architecture” will generate the curriculum TAILORED to the learner’s desire as well as suggesting to the learner what tangential topics may appeal to them. Dr.Frey says that libraries will evolve as labs for this course creation.
He spoke about the Empire of One in which a person will be a home-based coordinator. For example, a person could order product from China, sell it in Brazil and live in Paris. All the accounting, shipping and handling, will be outsourced to other persons. I believe this model already exists. Kimora Simpson, CEO of BabyPhat, does not create or produce the products she has so profitably coordinated. She has a large staff with whom she meets and directs. Her success appears to be based on her ability to motivate and inspire others, [Kim, please forgive my over simplification.] Dr.Frey asks us, “How will the library serve people who work from home?” He suggests that libraries hold a monthly Expert Speaker Panel, a public forum with specific subject agendas. Home-based business people, normally isolated, can meet with others and pose questions to these Experts. The library would provide an inexpensive set up of microphones and a meeting room. In this way, the Library will continue to exert influence by remaining relevant to the public tax base. The Library will empower its public to share knowledge, a good thing.
Participating in the Mass Digitization Collaborative
Presenter Laurie Gemmill
What I learned: This digitization project would be one NSU can use if we had materials predating copyright, pre-1923, or materials to which we own copyright such as yearbooks, school paper, course catalogs etc. Not only would digitization preserve our materials forever, but it harvests our data in NovaCat. Their staff enhances our work by translating NovaCat data into Dublin core. I can see its use for our Alumni association, distance learners, and our University archives, not only text but also photos.
Go to www.archive.org and choose the title Mountaineers or Bottled Sunshine for Blue Mondays
Briefly here’s the overview: clicking in the left hand column launches you into the book. The central top square has hyperlinks to the material in the book which and leads you to other similar items. The bottom square is the technical scanning data.
Digital preservation: the future is collaboration
By Robin Dale
What I learned: Libraries should collaborate if there is something to be gained by this collaboration and not just joining up for the sake of helping another. Alone is ok.
Digital preservation cannot be created without thought to its serviceability and how can someone get at it. What is the point of stockpiling a silo of information without an end use in mind or a way to use it? As with any other material the library collects it cannot be bought and put on the shelf without maintenance and without purpose.
Does NSU have repositories of digital information? What kinds and who for?
Robin described other large repositories Meta Archive Cooperative, Hathi Trust, and LOCKKS; how each operated very differently largely due to
A lot of what speaker said related the vast UC system which has a separate Repository Library to manage the publications the California University system generates. Most of what she said would be useful for me when I find out what digital repositories NSU has and/or what I role I would play in it.
NextGen Librarian Award Winners
This session was a sequence of librarians with PowerPoint presentations talking about a project each did in their workplace; a forgettable hour without application to our department.
Creativity in the workplace by Kathleen Imhoff
Presenter, Kathleen Imhoff, greeted each participant with a choice of pipe cleaners. Selecting one I sat down wondering where this was headed. Her introductory remarks included the shocking fact that by age 40, a person is only using 3% of their brain’s creative capacity. She then instructed us to make something with our 1 pipe cleaner, 2 minutes allotted. The results were funny and cute: a cat, a dog, a bird, a flower, a star, a shoe etc. Kathleen explained that we could use this exercise to open up a meeting where the group had to solve a problem. Participating in an easy, fun creative thinking exercise prepares everyone for a tougher challenge. The pipe cleaner exercise can be expanded to have 2 people work to create 1 item – collaborate and create.
Creativity is forestalled by fear, the “what ifs” that hold a person back from thinking about solutions. In a group, such as a library department, inertia and habit breeds the same old dull answers. Kathleen recommended the book, Sacred cows make the best burgers by Robert Kriegel [ HD58.8 .K75 1996b] which is about employee motivation. She also suggested a few more group games as well as individual mental enhancement practices such as meditation, imagination and rest.
