How “Un” Of Us
March 7th, 2006I have to hand it to Edward Vielmetti (Superpatron - Faster than a speed reader…). Here’s a technology guru who loves libraries, believes in their fundamental democratic ideals, and is taking it to a new level. A non-librarian!Today, he blogs about “Library Camp, a Library 2.0 Unconference”. A bunch have signed up already and I hope they have loads of fun and energy to expend. I also hope that patrons outnumber the librarians at least 2 to 1. If not, I’m afraid that it’ll be just be librarians talking to librarians…again.
Remember my challenge? Present at or (at least) attend one non-librarian conference this year. Has anyone at least attempted to move beyond their comfort zone? We can speak to each other until we’re blue in the “facebook”, but we will not succeed until we expand our user base and “mashup” with other professions. Community building involves more than library communities…
On that note, here’s my speaking schedule for the spring (I love how most of these are on the east coast - Huzzah!):
March 16th - The Law Library 2006 - PLI - New York City
March 20th - Lexis Nexis - Keynote for Government Librarians - Washington DC
March 21st - Computers in Libraries - Washington D.C.
March 21st - 25th - PLA Conference (Blogging for PLA) - Boston, MA
April 11th - PALS Day 2006 - Utica, IL
April 12th - Homer Township Chamber of Commerce - Homer Glen, IL
April 19th - SIRSI/DYNIX Institute
April 26th-27th - OPML Camp - Boston, MA
May 3rd - Long Island Library Conference - Huntington, NY
June 14th - Special Libraries Association - Leadership and Management Division - Baltimore, MD
Two non-library meetings: One to a local chamber of commerce in Illinois, and the other at OPML Camp. Plus, I spoke at a Naional Business Institute seminar in Albany this past January.
Don’t get me wrong. I love library conferences just as much as the next geek (so don’t accuse me of being a self-hating librarian), but we need to talk to other professions. Can you tell I’m passionate about this topic? I need a cool button to display on my blog so that my point can be made everyday…