goblin cartoons

Yesterday, I drove to Wichita to present at the Kansas Library Association/Mountain Plains Library Association conference on “Impractical, Unfeasible, Unfundable Ideas for Libraries.” This was a presentation based on one of the best sessions of Library Camp of the West that I participated in. I expanded the premise a bit to be: in these times of economic uncertainty and hardship, now is not the time to give in to despair or to play it safe. Libraries should be daring, bold, willing to dream big, take risks and make mistakes. Rather than stand up and babble for the entire session, with Powerpoint slides to illustrate my blather, I threw out some wild ideas I would like to see in libraries and then solicited ideas from the attendees. Which was easy, because librarians are full of wild ideas they’d like to see.

Here are the major ideas we came up with:

Libraries stop rolling over for vendors

* For ILS vendors, aren’t libraries their only customer base? They should roll over for us!
* What about database vendors? Why don’t they give us more of what we want? (And what DO we want?)?

Libraries go completely open source

* Open source software isn’t always an easy solution or an easy change
* But the ideals of OSS match librarian ideals
* Going open source could push more librarians to be computer problem-solvers

Bill Gates gives computers, software & money to libraries…

* Why not other companies, like FedEx & UPS?
* Why not other entrepreneurs who may share library values? Like Mark Shuttleworth, the sponsor of Ubuntu Linux.

Librarian travel by pneumatic tube to wherever they’re needed!

Databases controlling the space.

Hybrid engines for library vehicles! Or biodeisel engines from Willy Nelson.

Partner with Meals on Wheels.

Choose something in the catalog & the item starts blinking. Spot where item goes blinks when it needs to be reshelved.

Staff-driven climate control.

Like Loews–patrons push a button & “Help wanted!” would sound out, alerting librarians.

Abolish the reference desk! Reference staff should walk around the library, not sit at a desk.

Everything with a number & up to date.

Magic button that reorganizes furniture and puts it back where it belongs after patrons move it.

Streamlined ILL!

Librarians out of the library! Have librarians on cruise ships! in coffee shops!

Technology that decodes “I want the book with the blue cover” question patrons often have.

Flashing neon signs to direct people to restrooms.

Creating added entries in MARC records for “red book” & “blue book”–tagging items in catalog–browsing by cover.

On www.etsy.com, you can browse by color. Why not in library catalogs?

Abolish the Dewey Decimal System!

Culture shift to play with things that might not work.

Combine libraries with laundromats & the DMV.

Bars in libraries!

Check out an audiobook at one Kansas library & return it to any other Kansas library.

Nationwide library cards. (Or just get rid of library cards.)

Anything marked as library materials goes through the mail for free.

Heather Braum of NEKLS was one of the attendees who also tweeted during the session.  She posted great notes and got some interesting responses.

What wild, crazy, dreamy ideas do you have for libraries? And how can we make these ideas a reality?

EDIT: The notes from the LCOW session have great ideas, too.

Yesterday was the second Library Camp Kansas. We had a slightly smaller turnout than we did last year, but everyone was just as enthusiastic and engaged, and we tweaked the format a little–for the better. And while we had attendees from out of state, just as we did last year, we also had an international attendee: my Australian friend Kathryn Greenhill, who is ferociously smart and adorably energetic.

Last year, we had three breakout session, one of them being lunch. This year, we left lunch as just lunch, and had one breakout session before lunch and two sessions after. Before the first breakout session, we had a session of “lightning talks,” where attendees could come up and talk, in 5 minutes or less, about a particular computer app or website that they really liked. The lightning talks proved to be a great icebreaker, a great way to get people talking and sharing. People liked them so much, they said they want two sessions of lightning talks next year.

The breakout sessions I attended were really good. The conversations could have gone on and on. A lot of different perspectives were shared, and I learned a lot. There was one session I was supposed to moderate, but nobody showed up for it. My feelings weren’t hurt at all, though. I spent the time chatting with my pal Bobbi Newman.

Once again, I came away feeling that I get more out of unconferences than I do from formal conferences. (Although I didn’t get an ugly totebag. Is that better or worse? You make the call.) I’m really looking forward to next year’s Library Camp Kansas.

In just a little over a month, the second Library Camp Kansas unconference will take place. Last year’s was such a success, I’m really looking forward to this year’s unconference.

It’s going to be in Manhattan again (that’s Kansas, not New York, dig?) at the Hale Library. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s educational. So, if you’re a library employee in Kansas (or heck, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado or Oklahoma, if you can drag yourself here), sign up and come join us for loosely-structured learning! What are you waiting for, an invitation? Oh, OK, fine.

The drive to and from Denver was long, but not as boring as I thought it would be. Western Kansas is flat as all get out, but it’s still beautiful to drive through. Denver itself is, from what I saw, a beautiful, vibrant city. The unconference was brilliant, and I’ve written about it on the LSW blog.

I had a great time hanging out with my library pals, but it’s good to be home.

I’m leaving this morning to drive to Denver, CO to attend the one-day unconferece Library Camp of the West. I’ll get to hang out with my friends Steve Lawson and Laura Crossett, as well as some other great library folks. This will also be my first time going across western Kansas and going to Colorado in 30 years. So, I’m pretty excited. Yeeee-hah!

Life has kind of been kicking me in the tush lately (which is one of the primary reasons I haven’t blogged much lately), and to be perfectly frank, I wasn’t looking forward to Tech Day this year. I just wasn’t feeling up to it. I was actually feeling pretty blasé about libraries in general (which is another reason why I haven’t been blogging much lately).

I’m happy to say I had a terrific time at Tech Day, and I’m very, very glad I went. In fact, I think this was the best Tech Day I’ve been to yet. Props to Sharon Moreland, newly established in her position at NEKLS, for her first time at organizing Tech Day. I expected Michael Porter to give a good keynote, but it was even better than I thought it would be, full of inspiring enthusiasm, curiosity and love for libraries, freedom, open source technology. Power to the people!

I had a good time hanging out with my coworkers and friends like Bobbi Newman and Royce Kitts (who deserves many congratulations for finishing library school and getting the job of Director of the Tonganoxie Public Library–both at the same time!), chatting with librarians from all over Kansas, playing video games and talking about the future of libraries. Tech Day was exactly what the doctor ordered for me.

ALA Annual is going on in Anaheim, CA, and while I’m not there, I’m enjoying all the Twittering, Flickring and blogging. The coolest thing? Seeing this:

Somebody gave happy mutant author and blogger Cory Doctorow a Library Society of the World ribbon to wear! How wicked is that! (I devoured his most recent novel, Little Brother, in two days. I couldn’t put it down. Loved it.)

Also, the Library Society of the World team won the California Dreaming contest at ALA. Congratulations to my LSW friends who participated in the contest. I have a big ol’ grin on my face because of you guys!

(This post is very, very similar to a post by my pal Steve Lawson. I make no excuses or apologies for that.)

I flew back to Kansas City from DC on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, I got up and drove 3 hours to Wichita to present at the Kansas Library Association’s annual conference. Erin Downey Howerton, Brenda Hough and I presented on using internet tools to network, to engage in conferences and community building beyond official conferences–blogs, wikis, IM chatting, Twitter and things like the Library Society of the World.

The presentation went well, although we probably could have done the presentation in one hour, rather than stretching it into a two-hour slot. Erin and Brenda are both extremely engaging speakers, Erin bursting with loads of energy, Brenda with a calmer enthusiasm. I talked about how important the LSW is to me and others, and used Laura Crossett as an example of getting professional help from the LSW when designing her library’s new website. (Laura has apparently become the poster woman for the LSW.) The presentation was much smaller, more intimate, more conversational than my Computers in Libraries presentation, which is just fine by me. I prefer smaller and conversational overall. Oh, and getting wifi at the conference was easy, because Wichita has a free citywide mesh network.

After our presentation, I hopped back into my car and drove another 3 hours back to KC. By that time, I was exceedingly glad to be home.

I left Kansas City on a pleasant, sunny day and arrived to a haze of gloomy drizzle in Crystal City, VA. The weather matched my feelings about Computers in Libraries. I just wasn’t feeling excited about the conference–seeing my online librarian friends, yes, but not the actual conference.

I left DC on a warm, sunny, beautiful day and returned to a cold, rainy Kansas City. The weather again matched my heart: while I was happy to be going home to my family, I was sad to leave my conference friends and a great conference experience behind. Computers in Libraries 2008 was terrific from start to finish.

One big highlight: this was my first time presenting at a national conference. I honestly wasn’t nervous before the presentation, but afterwards I was completely drained. During the presentation? I was in a great place, like when you’re doing improv on stage and you feel yourself click with your fellow performers. In this case, my fellow presenters were Steve Lawson and Rikhei Harris, and I would happily, enthusiastically present with them again, any time, any where, on any topic. Our presentation was on the Library Society of the World and it was a glorious mess, complete with inside jokes, non sequiturs and Rickrolling. I had a great time in the presentation, and we seemed to make people laugh, so as far as I’m concerned, it was a success. I’m not objective enough to say more about it, so I’ll link to what other’s have said about it:

• LSW FTW from Kate at Loose Cannon Librarian
• CiL Day 1 from Rochelle at Tinfoil + Raccoon
• LSW goes public by Jenica at Attempting Elegance
• Computers in Libraries (CIL 2008) – My Brain is Full by Meredith at Information Wants to Be Free

I should also give props to the our co-presenters, Hannah, Laurie and Kate of Infodoodads. Not only were they game enough to not denounce us after our ramshackle presentation, they gave a good presentation of their own. And I personally find Infodoodads to be an extremely useful blog.

I attended some other really good sessions which have sparked all kinds of thoughts in my head. But I’m not going to expand on that now, because I think these thoughts warrant a blog post all of their own. Outside of the sessions, I had an outstanding time reconnecting with old friends (including a very old friend, someone I haven’t seen since we were both in elementary school), connecting with new friends, sharing, exploring, bonding with people. Any words I type will not do justice to how crucial the social aspects of these conferences are, but I’ll say this: just before I left to return home, I was on the verge of tears. I was so moved by the generosity of these people, so happy and honored to know them and spend time with them, and so heartbroken to leave them behind. If it weren’t for the fact that I can stay in contact with them through the magic of the intertubes, I’d be crushed.

Was there badness at the conference? Well, the wifi situation wasn’t great. But it was immensely better than the last two years at Internet Librarian, and after talking with some people from Information Today, I know that they really tried to make the wifi situation better. So, as frustrating as it often was to try to get and keep a wifi signal, I have no complaints for ITI.

For more on the conference, I recommend listening to the latest Uncontrolled Vocabulary podcast (and you should be listening to UV anyway, right?).

I’m looking forward to going to DC for Computers in Libraries. One of the great things about this trip is I’ll be having dinner with an old friend of mine that I haven’t seen in person since we were at GenCon in 2001 (when it was still being held in Wisconsin).

Another cool thing about CiL is Gaming Night. Aaron Schmidt has blogged about it, and it sounds like a blast and a half. (He also asked us to spread the word, which is partly why I’m writing this post.) My inside sources say there may even be some tabletop role-playing game action going on that night. Plus, some cool board games (like Ticket to Ride, which is one of my favorite games). I may miss most of Gaming Night to have dinner with my friend, but hopefully I’ll get some gaming in at the conference (even if I have to run In a Wicked Age in my hotel room one night).