Taoism is, among other things, a philosophy that originated in China in the 3rd or 4th century BCE. It began with Lao Tzu’s writing of the Tao Te Ching and is still around today. It is a philosophy which values balance, moderation, compassion and being pliant and adaptable. There is a wealth of wisdom from the Taoist philosophy that could be applied in librarianship.

Laws Create Lawbreakers (58) – “Where government stands aloof, the people open up.” Instead of constantly trying to control the behavior of your users, see what they do and create guidelines around that. Instead of setting furniture up a certain way and then moving it back when it gets out of place, see what configurations users like and allow them the freedom to make spaces their own. Instead of having strict mobile phone or food rules, recognize that as humans we need to communicate and eat. Outlining numerous strict library policies makes for a lot of broken policies, shushing, and saying no constantly.

Bend, Don’t Break (76) – “When a plant becomes hard it snaps.” Libraries, especially in academia, have done things certain ways for many years. We continue purchasing print journals. We still have items on microfilm. We still tell people to turn off their mobile phones in the library. In order to not become outdated or obsolete libraries and librarians should cultivate an attitude of softness. We should examine services, collections, and policies constantly to see if they are still meeting user needs and if they are still in touch with reality.

Realize When Enough is Enough (9) – “Instead of pouring in more, better stop while you can.” A key concept in Taoism is that one opposite follows another. Emptiness follows fullness. As librarians, we keep taking on new roles and offering new services without dropping other services. This is a recipe for disaster. Instead of doing a few things really well, we fall into the trap of doing a lot of things poorly. By holding onto legacy services and trying to do everything, we are in fact defeating ourselves. There is only so much energy and so many resources that we can provide. We need to think strategically about what we can drop and what is most important to our community. One way is through a great presentation that I saw at ACRL about Planned Abandonment.

Be Like Water (8) – “The best are like water, bringing help to all.” Water helps all people, that’s it’s nature. Just so, we should constantly be thinking about how we can best serve others. Water also is quite adaptable. It can fit easily into any sort of container and it naturally goes with the flow. Librarians too should be able to change themselves, their services, and their resources to meet their community’s needs. They should be able to adjust along with the changes that are constantly happening in the world both technologically and socially.

The Tao is typically translated as “The Way.” It’s a very nuanced concept, but at it’s core it refers to the true nature of the universe. And the point of Taoism is to live in accord with The Way. Instead of struggling against everything all the time Taoism states that humans should try to see how things actually are and live in harmony with them. This can be a very illuminating idea for libraries.

Librarians need the ability to be in touch with reality and not be blind or naive. The job of a librarian does not have to be a struggle against obsolescence or a constant proving of  their value to stakeholders and administrators. Instead librarians can try to understand what is actually of value to our patrons and be leading the parade instead of fighting against it.

The quotes and numbers above refer to chapters/sections of the Tao Te Ching translated by Red Pine, though there are plenty of free translations available as well. 

Photo by thehenryford on Flickr

I’m reading the book (on my iPad) What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly the co-founder of Wired Magazine. It’s an optimistic look at the nature of technology and our relationship to it. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in philosophical, historical, evolutionary look at technology. I can’t say that I agree with all his arguments, but I’m finding thought provoking passages on almost every page. This one from chapter 12 stood out in light of the current issues in the library world:

“We make prediction more difficult because our immediate tendency is to imagine the new thing doing an old job better. That’s why the first cars were called “horseless carriages.” The first movies were simply straightforward documentary films of theatrical plays. It took a while to realize the full dimensions of cinema photography as its own new medium that could achieve new things, reveal new perspectives, do new jobs. We are stuck in the same blindness. We imagine e-books today as being regular books that appear on electronic paper instead of radically powerful threads of text woven into one shared universal library.”

We gravitate to what we know and what we’re used to. An e-book is not a book on electronic paper. It is a completely new medium that will have myriad unanticipated effects, both positive and negative. I’m guessing “electronic paper” and “e-ink” are both going to sound a lot like “horseless carriage” in 20 years. Also the way we consume, share, and interact with e-books is going to be different than paper books. We are inventing the future right now through our action and inaction. We should be mindful of the past, but not so wrapped up in it that we aren’t able to see the future.

This weekend I was walking some trails with my girlfriend. In Vermont the trails aren’t always well marked, so we weren’t sure which way to go. We looked at the map for a bit, but it wasn’t quite clear. Instead of continuing to study the map intently, we decided to just start walking in a direction that seemed correct. After walking for a while, and exploring a few dead ends and things that caught our interest, we eventually found the trail we were looking for.

This mildly boring story can be taken as a parable for how to innovate and go about creating the future of libraries. The first thing you need to do when want to create the future is to start imagining it. Try to get an idea of where it is you want to go. In our walk we had a specific trail in mind. This could mean coming up with a vision statement for your library. It could also mean, for example, saying something like, “In two years I want our library to be completely focused on customer service and be the most welcoming place on campus.” Having an idea of where you want to go is important.

Next, when creating the future some planning is good, but doing is even better. In our walk, the map could only tell us so much. Planning is necessary for success, but it can also paralyze you (I’ve been guilty of this). It is impossible plan for everything, so sometimes you have to give up control. Planning will eliminate some bumps along the way, but other bumps you encounter help you to learn. In a TED Talk, Tim Brown of IDEO says that “instead of thinking about what to build,” we should begin “building in order to think.” He goes onto say that,”it’s only when we put our ideas out into the world that we begin to understand their strengths and weaknesses.”

In addition, don’t forget to explore interesting avenues along the way. This is where you make some great discoveries. In hiking it might be a patch of wildflowers or a great scenic view. In libraries it could be some different perspective you hadn’t thought of, or a solution you had not imagined.

Finally, have confidence you’ll find your way. If you have a vision of where your headed, if you have the ability to explore, be curious, and learn from your mistakes, and if you have the drive to see the vision through, you’ll create a brilliant future.

Laura, a London law librarian, asked in the comments of the post how this idea was working out. So, I figured I would share my experiences.

So far, things have been fairly positive. If I find someone from our college is doing a paper I may send them a link to a possible useful resource, or even just wish them good luck. Sometimes I don’t hear anything back, sometimes I do.

Erik Qualman said in his viral video Social Media Revolution “in the near future we will no longer search for products and services. They will find us via social media.” That’s what’s going on here. Social media, powerful search capabilities, and RSS make it possible to have a form of ESP. We can deliver value to our patrons when they are not even expecting it and maybe even make them say “wow” like in the example above.

Like I said, not everything has been a success. Sometimes I don’t hear back from folks, but hopefully they find the support useful. But the alerts I’ve set up also give me a lot of insight into the research and study habits of students. There’s a lot of talk of procrastination, and a number of late night posts or posts about the rigors of writing papers. Some students post multiple tweets about the paper they’re working on, and you can see that their being  pretty diligent about it.

The value of Twitter, and social media in general, is not just delivering services but also listening and learning more about your users. These alerts are doing both.

I first had to pick up an award won by my good friend and colleague Gary Scudder for the work he is doing on the Global Modules Program. Following this, I presented a poster entitled Technology Leaders on Campus. I really enjoy poster sessions because they allow you to meet quite a few people and hear what they’re working on as well. You can tailor what you’re talking about to their needs and interests.

The plenary speaker was the very engaging Bryan Alexander, a fellow Vermont resident who discussed two emerging technologies in higher education: mobile computing (an awesome Prezi) and gaming. Bryan made me see some of these technologies with fresh eyes.

The following morning (and later that afternoon) I attended sessions on envisioning the future and the new fundamentals of academic support. The presenters made it clear that education is changing rapidly. This was an interesting session because they tried to envision the future in small chunks and then expand it from there. They asked a couple of questions that really got me thinking: “what assignment replaces the traditional research paper in ten years,” and “what does a tenure dossier look like in ten years?” There were a number of creative answers (I’m not gonna give any away though. What do you think?)

In the late morning I attended a session about the ERIAL project which was a massive ethnographic study of the research processes and library usage of undergraduates from five universities in Illinois. They used things like mapping journals, photo journals, and interviews in their methods. The project isn’t completely published yet, but they’re expecting more results and information sometime this summer. Using even some of these methods to better understand your students could be very interesting. A few notable conclusions they reached were that:

• Students worry about being judged for asking “stupid” questions
• Students are confused about what librarians do and it hinders them getting the help they need
• Professors often play a key role in brokering relationships between students and librarians

The conference as a whole was a great experience. I met a number of bright, fascinating people, learned some things and have come up with new thoughts and questions. I’ll leave you with two:

First, education is going to continue to change rapidly, and we have to adjust with these changes. People working in academic support, especially librarians are going to have to be on the forefront of moving education into the 21st century and beyond. We need to lower the barriers to technology for professors. We have to demonstrate the benefits of such technologies, promote them and make them seem commonplace.

Second, there are lots of silos in higher education. Professors often have very specialized knowledge. People like librarians, IT staff, and instructional technologists on the other hand  have much broader knowledge.  This knowledge and their relationships across different departments can be a bridge connecting these silos together.

The response from the library community over this project has been mixed. They have over 2500 fans on their Facebook Page. There has also been a more critical response on Annoyed Librarian (the comments are especially interesting). Whatever your reaction is, I think that this is an opportunity for librarians as a community to think about the future and moving forward as a profession.

The list of 101 skills on their strangely named 101 RTK are links to good resources, but a bit contrived. I think that as librarians we don’t need to focus on whether or not we have Hulu as a skill. We need to focus on the larger issues that they mention like lifelong learning and the ability to quickly adapt and change.

Change is the norm these days. Having the ability and the aptitude to strategically navigate change is the real skill that all librarians need to have. Having the “ability to type” or “handle ourselves during a conference call” are not things that libraries should be focusing on. These skills will constantly change. Hulu is moving to a subscription model. Twitter and Facebook won’t be around forever. Not all librarians need all these skills. There are a variety of skills that people need for their different positions in public, academic, and special libraries. It would be more helpful if we could focus the discussion on which skills all librarians need.

The best part of the Library 101 project in my opinion are the essays. Most of them focus on those basic, overarching skills and bring up some really good points. My question now is “what is the next step?” Now that we have some of these basic skills spelled out, things like fearlessness, marketing, unlearning, and even math, how do we change people? How do we influence cultures of fear at our libraries? How do we help our colleagues develop these skills necessary for a successful vibrant library profession?

I started a discussion on the Library 101 Facebook Page. Let’s come up with some answers.

thanks to dottorpeni on flickr

I really enjoyed reading the Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians. It succinctly puts in perspective the place of libraries and librarians in the world.

It came out of a gathering called: In the Foothills: A Not-Quite-Summit on the Future of Libraries (which I wish I could have attended). This group, composed of some very bright library enthusiasts, undertook the task of thinking about the library in big picture terms. It’s often easy to lose this perspective when you’re going to meetings or sorting through mountains of email, but I find this statement invigorating, and something that we as librarians, archivists, etc. can really draw strength from:

The Role of the Library

The Library:

• Provides the opportunity for personal enlightenment.
• Encourages the love of learning.
• Empowers people to fulfill their civic duty.
• Facilitates human connections.
• Preserves and provides materials.
• Expands capacity for creative expression.
• Inspires and perpetuates hope.

I hope that when I and my colleagues are making decisions about our library and what we should be doing, that we don’t lose sight of this big picture perspective. I know personally I will try to keep in mind that my mission is bigger than just myself or my institution. It is about all libraries together and about humanity.

These words were uttered by our new president-elect Barack Obama. Back in 2005 Obama keynoted at the ALA National Conference in Chicago.  An adapted transcript of the speech is available on Obama’s Illinois senator website.

It is really rad to have a new president that is not only against banning books (Palin I am looking at you), but keynoted at an ALA conference and talked at length about the importance of libraries and literacy.  I’ll just leave you with a few quotes that made me smile and realize that our new president-elect is on the side of libraries.

“I want to work with you to ensure that libraries continue to be sanctuaries of learning, where we are free to read and consider what we please without the fear that Big Brother may be peering over our shoulders to find out what we’re up to.”

And this one:

“We should make sure our politicians aren’t closing libraries down because they had to spend a few extra bucks on tax cuts for folks who don’t need them and weren’t even asking for them.”

I finished reading a study this week titled “Information Behavior of the Reasearcher of the Future.“  It was put out early this year and some of the findings were fascinating.  It once again reminded me of all the barriers that our users face as opposed to getting information from the free web.  These are things like waiting for an interlibrary loan, confusing search interfaces, poorly presented search results, etc.

I see this in my work as well. Yesterday I was helping a student who had found two e-books but she was having problems accessing them.  I was surprised that the student continued trying to access them.  I am sure that many just give it up and go to Google.  Speed seems to be the most important criteria for information these days.

One quote, though, really stood out as interesting and something that I had never thought of.

No private sector corporation would survive on the basis of failing to invest in consumer profiling, market research and loyalty programmes. No library we are aware of has a department devoted to the evaluation of the user, how can that be?

This seems like a very innovative idea.  Innovation can often be just taking something that is commonplace in one arena and applying it in another.  Why aren’t there any user-evaluation librarians?  Or why aren’t there more consultants that evaluate library user groups and make reccomendations for action?

I strongly urge librarians who are charged with the task of education to read this study.  Students are finding information faster, but they are questioning it less and not thinking in depth about it.

What career options are available for those interested in library science?

There are a wide range of career options depending on what you enjoy. I personally enjoy academic libraries, but there are also public libraries and special libraries which could include things like: corporate, medical, news, and art libraries to name a few. There are also options for becoming an archivist or curator. I have a lot of friends on the archivist track. Finally there are a number of emerging positions in research and knowledge management having to do with technology and being able to find and evaluate this great glut of information that we have now. There are a lot of different things that you can do with a Masters in Library and Information Science. You should not be held back by the word “library.” With an MLIS you have highly desirable information skills that can be applied in a number of different fields.

What tasks does someone in your field do?

There is some teaching, evaluating of sources, creating web pages, creating resources for library users, cataloging, collection development, answering questions…there is a lot of variety in the work. But the work is mainly customer service. All the tasks are ultimately aimed at the goal of serving our patrons.

To be successful in your field, what skills do you believe are necessary?

Customer service skills are probably the most important. The ability to learn new things quickly are also key. Librarianship is changing rapidly. It is not all card catalogs and rubber stamps anymore. There is a lot more technology involved and the ability to change and adapt will serve you very well in librarianship.

What aspects of a career in library science do you consider particularly good?

I enjoy the variety of the work and the ability to be constantly learning. I also like that it isn’t like a regular office job where you are rushing around with deadlines or trying to make a sale. You are not going to get your arm taken off in a circular saw. You may get carpal tunnel. It is much less stressful than other jobs that I have had. Moreover I enjoy the customer service aspect of it. When I am doing reference and I answer someone’s question it is very rewarding.

Are there any disadvantages associated with this career field? What are they?

The pay isn’t as much as some other fields but you can still earn fairly decent money depending on where you are working. The average starting salary for a new library school grad is around $40,000.

What particular interests led you to pursue a career in library science?

My interest in academics and learning were what originally led me to the field. Now that I am in it I am really excited about the emerging technologies that are becoming available and that are starting to get used in library science.

What future employment opportunities will there be for those interested in your field of work?

Libraries aren’t going away. They will change though, so you will need to be able to adapt. There are plenty of job opportunities, especially if you are willing to move around. They keep saying there are supposed to be a lot of older librarians retiring, but I haven’t seen it yet. There are a lot of medical advances and people just seem to keep working.

How do you see the jobs in the library science world changing over the next ten years?

This is an exciting time in librarianship. Everyone is speculating about what is in store for the future of libraries. I know that there will be more computer technology involved (e.g. Electronic databases, Web 2.0 stuff, Online catalogs, Library Websites, etc.). I am going to be optimistic and say that libraries by 2018 will have retained their same position in society as keepers, finders, and evaluators of information and probably even move more into creating and amalgamating resources to help their patrons. I think though that this next decade will be a time of rapid change and tough decisions. Some good leaders in the field will be necessary to navigate these changes.

What suggestions would you offer to someone interested in entering your field?

I think that you are doing the best thing right now. Asking professionals in the field is the best way to find out what is involved in librarianship and if you would like it or not. Getting a number of different opinions is good though. Here is a website giving the Top Ten Reasons for being a Librarian. And here is a corresponding blog post from the Annoyed Librarian (a humorous and scathingly honest librarian and blogger…scanning some of her blog posts can give some good insight into the darker side of the field).