Plugging into the conversation

Yesterday was a postless, nerve wracking day–what if I never came up with any ideas about what to actually write about on my library blog? I was sure mine was destined to be a short foray into the biblioblogosphere. All of you library bloggers out there make it look so easy! So I took a deep breath and did some deep digging… well, deeper digging than I had done in the past. I figured the best way to get into the conversation was to take awhile to seriously think about what people were talking about.

How perfect, then, that I soon found myself at this week's Carnival of the Infosciences hosted at Library Garden. So much to digest, so little time. Once I had landed at Library Garden, I found Peter Bromberg's post "Thoughts and ALA Bootcamp: An L20 Manifesto." I've been following the Bootcamp a little bit but I wasn't aware that any controversy had developed until reading this post, so I don't really have any comments about that. What I really grooved on was his vision of Library 2.0 and how I imagined it could help young and future librarians connect with the field. He proposes that we begin to imagine Library 2.0 as "a conversation" that will grow as large and as wide as we let it. That way nobody needs to feel threatened or criticized and an atmosphere of give and take idea sharing can help the good ideas rise to the top and the less helpful ideas become more helpful. His 30-point manifesto, I think, offered a great mental checklist for how to approach all this excitement and change with a purpose, no matter where you currently stand in the library hierarchy.

A sense of purpose is one thing that library school is really making me look for. I had a high school philosophy teacher who endlessly emphasized that all human knowledge is won through cycles of clarity and confusion, each cycle leading deeper into the maze. Well, the same has been true with deciding to become a librarian. You do informational interviews, read articles, peruse career outlooks, and think you have a pretty good feel for what it will be. So you get a job in a library and sign up for classes, and wham here comes the confusion. If I may be so bold, I'd like to call it Student Librarian Schizophrenia (SLS). By day, you scan barcodes, shift shelves by the ton, and make sure the sticky labels stay on (when you're not giving directions to the restroom). By night, your mind is filled with fresh articles and ideas and technological toys that seem to have nothing to do with the library as you know it. Your classes are challenging and the work anything but. On top of that, people give you funny looks when you say you are pursuing not one but two Master's degrees in order to work at a library. Is this really what you want to do with your life?

Don't get me wrong–I understand that my work now is simple by design and that if I hang in there there's some really exciting stuff in store. I care about the detailed, tedious work I do because I value what a library provides and I know it depends on the small stuff as well as the big ideas. So I sweat the small stuff and keep a sense of humor.

Anyway, to get back to Peter's manifesto, I think joining in the Library 2.0 conversation would be a valuable way for any library students to start to develop their own sense of the profession. Keeping in mind that "Anyone can participate in the conversation" but also that "The best listeners extract the most value," we have a lot to gain from plugging in. And if you know some young'uns and new'uns that are plugged in yet, give them a nudge because they might just love it.