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...is what its all about for us.
Thank you Becca.
Librarians and their Libraries have shifted and morphed with us since we had papyri and charcoal, flint and bone. It is our contention that, as our world becomes ever more connected and the individual in contrast senses a growing seclusion and remove, libraries will provide a Commons, a safe Place to be together, and a repository of our past, present and future musings - be they on tape, in a book, in bytes in the Cloud or on a Holodeck.
Leave it to the brilliant and out-of-the-Box-Aussies to publish this piece "Libraries of the Future are going to change in some unexpected way", in a Business/Tech section.
Chris Weller in Business Insider Australia reports from an interview with David Pescovitz, (who has not Tweeted yet has 758 followers on Twitter!) , co-editor @BoingBoing and research director at the Institute for the Future , that the Libraries of your Future are going to be there with you.
They might not look like today's libraries but they will fulfill our deep societal need that will expand beyond our imaginings with information we haven't yet dreamed of and provide access to technologies not yet invented.
We change, Libraries change and, because we are libraries, they will keep pace and stay with us no matter where we go.
In a Giant Step forward for all Men and Women this #WomensEqualityDay, @NASA has announced that “(they) are celebrating this opportunity to extend access to our extensive portfolio of scientific and technical publications,” NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman says in a press release. “Through open access and innovation we invite the global community to join us in exploring Earth, air, and space.”
Research funded by NASA from 2016 onward will be available on line to the public through PubMed Central at PubSpace NASA. The only exclusions will be for "patents, publications that contain material governed by personal privacy, export control, proprietary restrictions, or national security law or regulations."
May the #STEM support prosper!
ScreenGrabCred: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc
"Creative leadership isn’t about leaders simply becoming more creative. It’s about individuals leading for creativity." (https://designthinking.ideo.com/?p=1474)
IDEO U has an online course "Leading for Creativity" to tempt you librarians out there on the creative edge. http://www.ideou.com/products/leading-for-creativity
Why does 'Work' = No One Has Fun?
The idea of a workplace that is actually fun to go to and in which I can be creative has long been my special interest. Working in 'the Cubical Culture' of late 80's Government Offices will have that effect.
I like Messrs Brown and Bell's take in their articles because they address tangentially another one of my special areas of curiosity: How can a library be designed to encourage creativity and a culture of acceptance and fun? While their articles gets to the core of how the Librarian leads the library and how that special leadership is crucial to expanding staff's feeling of freedom to be their true creative selves for the betterment of their library. I need to figure out how I will coach the librarians I work with to see how physical spaces affect our behaviours allowing their amazing creative juices to flow.
Once we truly grasp the principle that the buildings we go to each day can influence our interactions and moods, we understand how design decisions become reality: for the positive or the negative.
The Explorer
The Gardener
The Coach
How can I translate these roles of good 'leadership from out front' into touchstones that inspire exciting library design? I'll find my way.
I've signed up for my download of the Tool Kit: 'Design Thinking for Libraries'.
Landscape + Recycling + Childrens' Reading Needs + Community Engagement = The IFLA Green Library Award 2016. The Pequeño Sol Green Library
This is the 'formula' the people of Germinalia A.C., San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico used for their sustainable new library project.
For their brilliant needs assessment; commitment to sustainability; community orgainisation and willingness to do the work - this community has received 1st Place: for “a project where sustainability was in the soul of the project from the first starting of the idea until to the new library”
The design is clear cut and simple in its inception and brilliant in its execution:
Foundation and concrete slab, mixed and hand poured by parents and young adults;
Wall construction: Recyclable containers carefully washed out and stockpiled by families fill cast-off wooden packing pallets, parged by hand;
and a roof of sturdy metal tops off this structure built with love and intelligent design.
But it is the manner in which this library was constructed, by hand and with total community commitment, that impresses anyone who watches this beautifully put together video: El Pequeño Sol ecological library (The Little Sun Ecological Library
Be prepared to never complain about your library again.
See the full details in the Press release from IFLA [English – PDF].
Screen Grab Credit: YouTube Video
'A revolution has been happening (in Somaliland) in publishing books, reading, writing and literature,' says Musa...."
"Hamdi Ali Musa saw her first book when she was 10. Now 25, she's one of Hargeisa's only librarians." (shown in photo)
Somaliland is a self declared state (some sources say 'republic') and an autonomous region of Somalia.
It is also a region of Africa whose roots go back to the Neolithic Period. On the outskirts of the Capital, Hargeisa are the Laas Geel complex cave paintings "containing stratified archaeological infills capable of documenting the period when production economy appeared in this part of Somalia (circa 5th and 2nd millennium BCE)".(Wikipedia)
The capital of this republic is Hargeisa (Somali: Hargeysa, Arabic: هرجيسا is the second largest city in Somalia after Mogadishu. (source: Wikipedia).
And here's a fascinating fact ... for centuries until recent history (the end of the 1800's) when European Imperialist interests turned their attention to the region, splitting it up, negotiating treaties to alternately divide or reunite it and eventually leaving it to handle its own particular brand of civil war ... this country's people passed on their ancient legacy of stories in the Oral Tradition.
That's all changed now for a number of reasons, the need to join the community of nations being one of them. Books and their authors represent the renewed hope of these people who are widely spread across our globe as a diaspora - a country as an idea. Since 1972 the swelling initiative to support books written in Somali has been chiefly lead by the desire to gather together in a literary and a real way, the hundreds of thousands of Somalis that have fled this ancient land during its fight for independence and have not returned.
Somaliland has no passport agency and is not 'officially recognised' by the international community. It has no support from international aid agencies nor funds flowing to it from the World Bank. It does have a Book Fair, (site text not it English) and that's where librarian Hamdi Ali Musa enters this story. "The (Book Fair is the) biggest annual event in Somaliland, drawing 11,000 attendees this year, (is) an advertisement for a republic that showcases itself as a kind of "anti-Somalia."
I can not find any details about Hamdi Ali Musa other than what is reported by NPR (and republished by the online 'Samliland Informer'.) I am encouraged as should we all be, that a young woman is the stewart of this growing body of Somali literature, taking her country with her into her future.
Here is the link to the Hargeisa Library on Twitter. @HargeisaLibrary. Somliland skipped right over the 1900's and scooted right into the 21st with its communications and social media!
Credit: NPR, Wikipedia, Twitter
"As the nation considers our vision for the future this election year and begins to plot actionable steps to achieve that vision, (ALA) offer(s)...
The E’s of Libraries® as part of the solution.
Education,
Employment,
Entrepreneurship, Empowerment and Engagement...
hallmarks of America’s libraries, (these ideas) may not be... obvious to decision makers, influencers, and potential partners."
To this end ALA has made available a whole series of videos to help libraries and library boards get the word out to Americans.
Read the whole dispatch here:
http://www.districtdispatch.org/2016/08/video-series-makes-case-libraries/
This is the link to the VIDEOS on PLA YouTube Page.
So many questions.
Where do we go together as a family?
How do we teach our children the values we want them to take with them throughout their lives?
How do we talk to each other so we can learn new things together ?
How do we pass on our family stories to our grandchildren ?
In what space can we learn new things from our children ?
The first answer might be: Sit around the table together when you share food and talk about everything including topics that bore children to tears.
The second response is more nuanced and perhaps news for some families. Libraries are constantly reinventing their spaces to accommodate the shifting patterns of our society right down to the changing needs of modern families.
http://www.hfrp.org/content/download/4911/128059/file/Public Libraries-A Vital Space for Family Engagement_HFRP PLA_ August-2-2016.pdf
Go to your library together and talk about the books you look at; the recorded books you listen to; the cool videos you make in the Maker Space; the new coding skills you learned together in the Coding Workshop; or just read in the Café or common room.
Just go to your Library.
Together.
As a Family.
ScrnGrbCred: HFRP.org
The miracle existence of the beloved @highlinenyc has injected fabulous energy into the district. This forward leaning proposal by Weston Baker/Koolhaas could be a breakthrough for integrated 'green' / residential design.
It isn't a done deal...yet. It deserves a good look and close consideration. Our only worry is that the High-Line, the sparking idea behind all this inspiration, will literally be over shadowed by development and exclusivity. We will watch the progress of this particular concept with interest.
http://westonbaker.com/#projects/hybrid-farm-apartment
http://inhabitat.com/high-rise-condos-with-10-floors-of-indoor-farming-terraces-proposed-near-nys-high-line-park/?newgallery=false&utm_source=BoomTrain+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=d332531d8a-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_87a7bf0b92-d332531d8a-207288573
Tomorrow we present "Communicating Effectively with Design Professionals - Shaping the Outcome of your Library"; our WEBINAR for @LLAMA_ALA.
Details at this link. Hope we meet you there.
I knew it!
Hold on Death...just one more paragraph / I'll turn off the light at the end of this chapter.
To read is to Join the Divine! ... after we finish... that next sentence.
Ms. Popova succinctly annotates Neil's list ensuring that we have additional offerings representing the other side of our brains. (all noted as Available for Free at Your Local Library). AND as always, my admiration for Mr. deGrasse Tyson continues with abandon!
And... because I believe our Future must evolve from a rich, wild assed, imagination fueled Past, I add: all the works by Robertson Davies http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/m/article/robertson-davies/ and Neal Stevenson https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson .
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/12/29/neil-degrasse-tyson-reading-list/
ScrnGrbCred: brainpickings.com
This really is 'YUGE' news; whether you 'believe' in science or not.
Encryption can't be too far behind (we hope) and then... to the stars and back!
"According to the Joint Quantum Institute at Maryland University, its researchers created a five qubit trapped ion device, which can be expanded up to 100 qubits. The device is described in a paper published in the journalNature.
Unlike the traditional ones and zeros used by digital computers to perform calculations, qubits can be prepared in both states and hence are capable of carrying out more calculations in parallel."
The ZDnet article has a short video that clearly demonstrates the hardware and software concepts and the TEDTalk is an added bonus.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/scientists-crack-programmable-quantum-computer-challenge/
•andhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v536/n7614/full/nature18648.html
SrenGrbCred: zdnet.com
Turns out that librarians and libraries are doing a great job at keeping up with competition from both obvious - box store book stores - and obscure sources - multi national uber-corporations.
In this book review in @amlibraries American Libraries Magazine: "The Purpose-Based Library Finding your path to survival, success, and growth" by John J. Huber and Steven V. Potter, you will read...
"Bill Gates’s quote should have you, as a member of the library profession, doing backflips. Librarians are specifically trained to gather, manage, and use information. If we take Gates’s words at face value, libraries should be the most competitive organizations on the planet."
Turns out that libraries are doing a great job in this regard.
...and that, my library friends and colleagues, should make you all feel very good about your work today!
Here's a sample of the ideas celebrated by Huber and Potter:
"To successfully compete, libraries must embrace the words of Bill Gates. 'Libraries must gather, use, and manage information in a way that large for-profit companies cannot.' So the question is: What competitive advantages do libraries have that these organizations do not? Let us count the ways:
To go beyond survival, to succeed and grow, libraries must embrace and leverage these competitive advantages."
"...the hardest truth: that to be in the middle class, just working hard and playing by the rules doesn’t cut it anymore. To have a lifelong job, you need to be a lifelong learner, constantly raising your game." T. Friedman
All change is inexorable. This change has already swept over us.
As a society we have been too slow to recognise it. Librarians have always designed spaces for people to meet, learn, research and work; for people who view the world as their home and their shared place of business as their own.
Although Mr. Friedman's words make some of us uncomfortable and others even frightened, they are true. We have moved on. We are part of a global economy - a global web of opportunity - that we have never experienced before.
We can't go back. Our children don't want to go back. The globe, our planet is their future; their opportunities are quite literally a world beyond ours. We reside in a world where, as life-long learners already appreciate, libraries will continue to play a pivotal role.
