Today was one of those days that I wish we did more often in libraries… an exchange of ideas and a bit of show-n-tell among professional colleagues from two completely different library systems. Sean Robinson, Kay Gregg and Melissa Kiser from Allen County Public County were kind enough to make the 3 hour journey to Columbus and even kinder to share some of their insights into cultural issues that almost every library and IT department struggles with. Sean did a 40 minute talk for the Digital Services team that covered everything from the “enable vs disable” quandary to making work “fun.”
Indeed, conversation and dialogue between colleagues from similar libraries is something that we should do more often. You don’t need conferences or a large travel budget to make this happen. Just pick up the phone and make a call … you’d be amazed at how much you can learn … and share … and benefit from with the simple investment in a half tank of gas.
Thanks again Sean, Kay & Melissa. We need to plan a future date to return the favor (& continue the dialogue). Only this time the tank of gas is our investment … and we might even bring brownies too! :)
3/29 UPDATE: Sean just posted the podcast that we did during their visit. If you're curious and wondered what we chatted about, you can find it here - ACPL's Out of Order podcast - episode 5
2 comments:
I wonder if Youth Services folks have just been ahead of the game on this, but I think we've had a lot of interaction with other folks on YS issues. It's exciting, isn't it?
Where did you hear about/meet the Allen County folks?
Loved the open discussion format, and the podcast was great too! For those that don't know Sean and his team, I recommend you invite them to your library.
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