On the dissemination of ideas and innovation
A short discussion of sources of ideas in the library community, with special reference to the general framework laid out by Daniel Drezner.
7 min read
Institutions
Libraries are social organizations, entangled in multiple histories, politics and value systems.
420 posts
Libraries and library studies
I wrote this piece on libraries and possible educational responses as part of a longer contribution on the informational disciplines and the iSchool. A principal goal was to suggest that libraries present interesting and challenging research and educational questions, which cross disciplines.
15 min read
Information: a brief schematic history
In a piece on the informational disciplines and the iSchool, I sketched this very schematic and informal overview of information, broadly construed. My focus is pragmatic, related to library interests. I consider several current issues, including the 'apotheosis of the document' in an AI context.
20 min read
So-called soft skills are hard
So-called soft skills are important across a range of library activities. Existing trends will further amplify this importance. Describing these skills as soft may be misleading, or even damaging. They should be recognized as learnable and teachable, and should be explicitly supported and rewarded.
12 min read
The technology career ladder
Library leaders should be drawn from across the organization. Any idea that technology leaders are overly specialised or too distant from general library work is outmoded and counter-productive.
7 min read
Calgary Central Library: combining intimacy and civic statement
The Calgary central library was on first impression the finest public building I have been in for years.
3 min read
Memory institutions redux: pluralizing memories and a stay against forgetting
We are now used to memory institutions as a way of collectively referring to libraries, archives and museums. We also recognize that memory is not univocal or may be contested.
8 min read
University Futures are shaping Library Futures
Libraries are not ends in themselves, but serve the interests of the organizations of which they are a part. As university emphasis varies around research, education and career poles, we can expect to see libraries evolve to support those emphases more strongly.
8 min read
Three challenges: Engaging, rightscaling and innovating
A framework of engagement, innovation and rightscaling is used to talk about some of the ways in which the library is changing. This is based on a model developed by John Hagel and John Seely Brown.
9 min read
Defining the library ... reflexively
Library definitions often emphasize access to or management of information. However, the library has a much stronger generative role in the cycle of knowledge creation.
3 min read
The enterprising librarian ...
The entrepreneur
I participated in an interesting event at the School of Information and Library Science at UNC a while
6 min read
Collections are library assets
Business school writing
I quite like using the word ‘assets’ with reference to library collections. We tend to think of
3 min read
