Who is Your Sidekick?

Everyone needs a Robin. Batman simply cannot do it all alone.

Think about who you can count on day in and day out to encourage you. Who do you turn to at a time of struggle? Who do you know you can depend upon?
I have an inspiring sidekick at the Community Virtual Library without whom I am certain the library would not have thrived in a virtual world. Virtual worlds hit a stage sometimes referred to as “the trough of disillusionment” in the Gartner Hype Cycle which analyzes adoption of new technology innovations.

Yet, CVL survived the mass exit of educators after an economic downturn largely because of our head reference librarian, Carla (Suemoon).

Carla, a law librarian in a physical world library, tirelessly persevered through thick and thin to update resources in the Community Virtual Library and train other librarians and volunteers. Carla was Hamlet’s Horatio- a good friend through it all. There are other literary sidekicks we all know and love as well as famous movie companions or real world right arms.

Sidekicks often do not receive the awards or recognition they deserve! But without the involvement, encouragement, and steadfast commitment of a good sidekick, projects can wither, falter and fail.

Think about your sidekick for a minute. Teamwork is crucial to processes of growth in any field. Members of a team work together. Yet a sidekick is an individual. In digital culture, we can connect to thousands of people and communities across the world. Perhaps we need a reminder about the importance of one individual in our lives.

Libraries, Librarians, Literacy- the L Words

“It may be that the great age of libraries is waning, but I am here to tell you that the great age of librarians is just beginning. It’s up to you to decide if you want to be a part of it.” ~T. Scott Plutchak

I have used this quote perhaps more than any other over the past five years when writing or speaking about the future of education and information. As the digital revolution changes education and society, physical libraries and physical books are no longer at the top of the information hierarchy. My role, however, is as relevant as it was in the days of “books” and I am beginning to think it may be even more critical. Information literacy includes so much more than reading and writing.

Plutchak, T. Scott. 2007. The Librarian: Fantastic Adventures in the Digital World. Serials, 20(2), 87-91.

A Library is a Growing Organism

My favorite one of Ranganthan’s Five Laws of Library Science is “the library is a growing organism.”  Circulation of books and materials is similar to the human circulation system.  Another metaphor for the “growing organism” might be a garden, with the librarian tending to healthy plants by weeding and planting (acquisition of new materials).  Books that are unused or unread have no place in a healthy library.  Lev Vygotsky, in Thought and Word, discussed the idea of thought being “alive.”  He stated that a “a word devoid of thought is a dead thing.”  In other words, when a book is opened and read it comes to life.

If we apply the law of the library as a growing organism to the Internet, what metaphors might come to mind?  The resources on the Internet are almost impossible to monitor for maintaining the health of the organism.  Instead of a lovely garden, is this organism more like a growing monster?  Working as a school librarian, I enjoyed my role as “gardener” tending the library.  In the future, will the role of the librarian be more like a knight battling a dragon or perhaps a captain navigating through storms and giant waves to bring passengers to small islands of relevant  high-quality information?  Or, will there be so few passengers onboard who care about the quality and authority of information, librarians will be isolated on those small islands of academia or in the hushed halls of museums?  I do hope they have a garden there.