“Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”

June 4, 2009 · Posted in Librarianship, Technology, Training

I’ve never been fortunate enough to hear Jessamyn West speak and based on Jenica’s notes from last week, I’m really missing out. Some of my favorite bits

The digital divide is real, and our system for technology education scales very badly. There are economies of scale in most library work – processing 30 books does not take 30 times as long as processing one book – but teaching 30 people about the internet and computers takes 30 times longer than teaching one person. Libraries have become the social safety net for many Americans to learn what the tech-savvy think of as remedial technology skills, but the project doesn’t scale.

“We are living in a future that they are not that interested in.”

“Librarianship both is and is not sexy. Exploit that. Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”

These are some really good things to think about, but we’re supposed to do more than just think – “Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”