My CIL Presentation: The Phoenix

To finish up my coverage of Computers in Libraries 2012, I wanted to share one of my presentations, which I just put on SlideShare. My presenting partner was the most excellent Rebecca Jones of Dysart & Jones Assoc. Our session was titled "Imagine and Dream Big About Your Library." 

I began by talking about the Phoenix, that mythical bird that lives for hundreds of years, then builds a nest, lights it on fire, and is consumed by the flames. Then it rises from the ashes, reborn to live another 500 years. My premise was this: Libraries seem to be near the end of one life cycle. To survive, we may need to be reborn in a new & different incarnation. So we need to think about the future and decide what to be as we arise from the ashes. How do we need to change to survive? Will libraries become tiny book-sharing boxes scattered everywhere? Will they become info-dispensing machines? Are the hot new "makerspaces" or "fab labs" the answer? Watch the slideshow and start thinking about what your library's Phoenix will be.

Imagine & Dream Big About Your Library (with a little help from the Phoenix)

View more PowerPoint from Kathy Dempsey

Rebecca spoke next, and her talk took my ideas into the practical world and advised on how to do strategic planning by "standing in the future." Envision yourself already in the future, and look around -- what do you see? How can you prepare now to be there? What are the roadblocks between now and then, and which ones can you affect? She's posted her slides as well.

Imagine and dream big about your library

View more presentations from Rebecca Jones

Finally, I want to point you to a post that Rebecca wrote on the Dysart & Jones blog. Since she & I spoke directly after Michael Edson's keynote (see quote & photo in my last post), she tied our talk in with his quite nicely. In this post, she also links to other related CIL pages, including a thought-provoking interview that the team from This Week In Libraries did with Edson just after his keynote. It's well worth 7 minutes of your time to watch while having a coffee break. (Listen especially for the bit about the "extraterrestrial space auditor"!)

Let us know if this helps your Phoenix take flight.