The presentation New Librarianship by R. David Lankes was a little long to listen to all in one sitting here at the library but nonetheless very interesting. There were some really great ideas/points that he made. Nothing was super revolutionary or new to me, most of what he said, you have probably heard something like it if you have taken any library science classes within the last five years. One thing that he probably could have gone into more was funding and how it needs to be increased inlibraries and how to improve libraries while also having limited funds.
It is always great to hear that libraries won't be obsolete any time soon and the idea of an ideal future vs a predicted future may help people have optimism is the profession versus the fatalism of just doing the same old same old everyday.
A great part was where he talked about how to keep people in the libraries when the recession ends and points out what many have probably see that use statistics do go up when computers are added to the mix of the library.
The most intriguing point he made was about knowledge and that it is not a thing it's how we understand something like with the example of the geologist and the rock. This philosophy is encompassed by his quote, "The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities."
Overall a pretty entertaining presentation that gives you something to ponder about the way you see libraries and maybe yourself.
Write a blog post responding to the video. Do you agree with Mr. Lankes? Is he way off base? What do you think?
