My first library class is an administration class. To be honest, I enrolled in that one because it was the only one left open, but I think I will like it a lot. What I find interesting is that libraries have a tremendous opportunity to establish a role in the community. The tricky part here is that you have to match the need to the community- so if there are not a large number of people interested in, say, genealogy, it would be unwise to try and focus on that.
Obviously, libraries in large locations and academic libraries have an advantage. I would like to work in an academic setting, but a secret (ok, not so secret) fantasy of mine is to bring the intellectual curiosity that makes an academic library so fun into the mainstream. I look to New York Public Library as an example- by virtue of being so large, they can offer classes and research opportunities to the general public that would be hard to come by at many colleges even. Take a look at a list of classes. Some I find interesting (and wouldn’t mind teaching): Researching an Artist, New Tools in Map Research, Ehagaki: Styles and Messages of the Japanese Postcard, and Introduction to Patents.
It would be hard to have a variety like this outside a major city, of course, but I would hope that a smaller location such as Lincoln could support classes beyond basic computer tutorials.
So back to the topic, creating work. In my fantasy land of a brain, I imagine creating something similar to where I work (that is, a digital research lab), but for and by the community. I would love to have something that involved both scholars and community members, because interactions between them are far too few. I envision a place where citizens could learn:
- How to get correct information about any topic, from genealogy to pet care, and learn how to translate that information into something useful. There would be an emphasis on how to find good, meaningful, correct information and documentation methods.
- How to publish that information in a meaningful way. That might mean contributing to an already established source (eg. wikipedia or other) or creating your own source.
- As a part of the “publishing” aspect, in the beginning this may be simply mean serving as an information source for free web services to make this possible, and good ways to use them and make them useful. While independent free web hosting only services are few and far between anymore, sites offering free space and software for a blog are plentiful, and many blogs can be configured to show what you need and offer automatic RSS feeds, categories, and other capabilities.
- Other workshops could offer advice on getting one’s own web service and software required to make web pages. A large library might even be able to make a deal with a local web host to host community projects.
- Projects involving more than one person – a library could maintain a board for people interested in beginning a larger, focused, research topic. People could then find a topic of interest, and a librarian would be assigned to help guide the group. Obviously, it would be difficult to create anything technologically innovative, but even then you might be able to find a programmer or two interested in lending a hand. Always, proper documentation and knowledge of copyright would be key, so the project could go beyond “just a project.”
- Workshops on other publishing methods- self publishing, zines, etc.
- Use of software to accomplish goals. While it would be nice to have a computer or two with Flash, perhaps it would be better to focus on open source software that community members could download for themselves. Gimp could be installed on computers instead of Photoshop, and other open source equivalents as well. Not only would this be cheaper, but it would allow people to continue work outside the library environment.
I guess what I would love to see is a more information literate community, and also one that encourages more people to share their knowledge and thoughts online. I personally would love to see more blogs by, say, WW II vets, retired schoolteachers, grandparents. There’s a huge number of people out there with interesting stories to tell, whose stories I would love to read, but who have no clue where to start. I would like to help with that.
That’s it for the pipe dreaming for today.