in forming thoughts » innovation

off to Monterey!

amy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:51:30 +0000

heading to Monterey today to attend Internet Librarian. not only do i get to catch up with my friends, but i get to hear about all the awesome ways libraryland is taking advantage of the web to better meet the needs of library uses.
tomorrow is the first ever LibraryCamp at IL and i’m really looking forward to facilitating that with Jenica Rogers.
i’m also giving a talk on cloud computing with Kendra K Levine and Laura Harris.
finally, i am participating in BattleDecks on tuesday night with folks who are wicked fun.
this is gonna rock.

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come to Library Camp Monterey!

amy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:46:46 +0000

cc licensed flickr photo shared by kendrak

Internet Librarian is holding it’s first unconference/library camp/barcamp session – and you should be there!

Jenica Rogers and i will be facilitating Library Camp Monterey, the morning of October 24, 2009 in the Monterey Public Library, and we’d be thrilled to have all of you join us.

This will be an interactive discussion about people, technology, and libraries. Bring your war stories and your questions and be prepared to share as this is definitely NOT a “sage on the stage” event. (PowerPoints are forbidden!) This unstructured conversation may range from web development to info commons to everything in between, in all types of libraries.

Head over to the wiki to add your name and any topics that you’d like to discuss.

See you October 24th!

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hello SLA2009!

amy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:53:47 +0000

i’m in town for the SLA Centennial Conference. i love the SLA conferences – it’s always wild to meet librarians who work in “non-traditional” gigs. this year i’m on the boards of two divisions – IT and Academic – so i’ll be getting my first glimpse at the inner machinations of things.

more soon!

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etig library camp – superfunhappytimes!

amy — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:08:34 +0000

there are still spots available for the ETIG library camp this coming May 29, 2009 in Montreal (hosted at my loverly place of work – McGill Unversity).
so come hang out with Jessamyn West, John Fink, Jason Hammond, and a bunch of other really awesome folks for one day.
it’s cheap (40$).
we’re going to talk about fun things.
and there’s a surprise gift for those who attend. (seriously, there is. i’m not just saying that.)

hope to see you there!

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cil2009 – an anniversary of sorts

amy — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:48:56 +0000

just arrived at CiL after a pretty bumpy ride on what must have been air canada’s teeniest plane.

off to a good start as i finally got to meet the awesome Karen Schneider while waiting for our shuttle to the hyatt.

this time last year, i was still in school and decided, on one crazy afternoon, to attend CiL. everyone was tweeting about it and it just sounded like a great place to talk to real live librarians about tech in libraries.

i got a gig coordinating the quickie talks in the exhibit hall in exchange for free registration. the lovely Krista let me bunk with her despite not knowing me (at all). and all the tweeps were wonderfully welcoming to me and let me be their groupie for the entire conference. it was incredible.

one year later a lot has changed, but i am still as excited as i was last year (and i’m still bunking with Krista, and i still feel like a groupie). it’ll be different now that i have a gig and can critically assess ideas and their usefulness at mpow (as opposed to last year when i was just taking it all in becaues i wasn’t sure where i would end up working). i’m really looking forward to stealing everyone’s ideas learning about new services and possibly implementing them chez moi.

oh, i’m also REALLY looking forward to getting my hands on a LSW Shover & Maker button!

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Ada Lovelace, meet Kathryn Greenhill

amy — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:36:49 +0000

it’s Ada Lovelace Day (go read about her, i’ll wait) and i (along with 1694 other folk) pledged to blog about a tech heroine. so i started doing some research. then more research. and though i did uncover a lot of awesome women who have done amazing things, none of them were just right.

and then it occurred to me that i was thinking too hard, that there was someone – a friend even! – who i think would’ve gotten along famously with Ada – Kathryn Greenhill*.

now to be honest i’ve never actually met Kathryn in the flesh (though i will next week at CiL – w00t!) but she is still, without a doubt, my tech heroine.

she tinkers with emerging technologies to see if they might fit in her library.
she wrestles with WPMU installations.
she invited students to build the Murdoch University space in second life with her.
she won a travel scholarship to tour the u.s. for 6 weeks looking at alternative discover layers and open source software.
she encourages me when i am frustrated with libraries and technology and reminds me that sometimes, it’s best to ask for forgiveness, instead of permission.

so, for Ada Lovelace Day, i would like to say a ginormous MERCI to Kathryn.

*yes i’ve aleady blogged about how awesome Kathryn is. she just really is that great.

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barriers to innovation

amy — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:54:47 +0000

this story came through my RSS reader courtesy of the lovely Sarah Hougthon-Jan (the Librarian in Black).
last summer the folks at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre created a team to address innovation within the organization. the results of the analysis were presented in the form of a video, which was shown to managers last month. one of those managers has since uploaded the video to YouTube.
two things struck me after watching this video.
the first – kudos to NASA for investigating this within their organization and actively evaluating how innovation is being blocked.
the second – much of the behaviour in this video directly affects the information-sharing and knowledge management of the organization. No wonder they lost the original moonwalk tapes!

what is your organization, or you as an information professional, doing to increase innovation and remove barriers?

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