Library Journal Goodies

September 2nd, 2006

Wow! Go Library Journal for publishing two great pieces in their September 1st issue.

First, the one by Michael Casey (whom I admire greatly) and his colleague Laura Savastinuk write on Library 2.0 (which I’m still learning about - I still don’t “get” a good chunck of it, but I’m getting there, I think)

After you read that one, refill your cup of joe and take a look at Nice Infomercial, Google, by Stephen Bell, who I love because he always speaks his mind, no matter how unpopular the topic. This guy is the real deal. Check out this quote:

“Maybe we should ask Bill Gates to sponsor a different kind of movie, one that promotes libraries and librarians and all the good we do for our communities. I’m aware that neither Microsoft nor Google has the best interests of librarians at heart when they decide what will most please their shareholders, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gives public libraries vast resources to benefit our communities. Google gives us a slick infomercial.”

“I’m saddened that my library colleagues facilitated the latter. Perhaps they thought their participation would benefit the profession. However, we must carefully think through the cascading consequences of our actions when dealing with corporate entities like Google. There will be times, as the Google Book Search project demonstrates, when there are mutual benefits to cooperation. Selling out one’s professional integrity to star in a Google infomercial is, unfortunately, not one of them.”

Wow! I feel the same way about this. I was troubled when I saw that video.

When I next see Stephen Bell (not sure when the heck that’s going to be), I’m going to buy him a glass of Pinot Noir (I hope he enjoys my favorite) and toast to being real.

This is what I mean when I talk about being open, honest, and daring. Love ya Stephen. We can all learn from your work.

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