The last day of LITA 2011 started not with a keynote, but with a presentation. As a half day, one round of presentations was first, followed by the keynote. The presentation I attended was made by Margaret Heller of Dominican University and of the Read/Write Library, formerly known as the Chicago Underground Library.
I thought this was a really interesting and unusual session, if applicable to what I do in only the most abstract way. However, even not being particularly useful to me, it was informative since it described something near to where I live that I'd never heard about.
The Chicago Underground Library is apparently a small collection of largely print materials that has Chicago as its single, unifying focus. There are a lot of zines and items with small print runs and limited conventional interest. The library focuses on materials and programs that appeal to the artistic community and is independent of any other libraries in Chicago.
Recently the library has changed its name to the Read/Write Library, referring to the common concept of web 2.0 collaboration sites as the "Read/Write Web." Eschewing conventional librarian wisdom, the library allows anyone to catalog its materials using the library website. Some of the people who work on this have library degrees, but most do not. Furthermore, they use their own Drupal-based catalog system, not the standard record types and cataloging standards used in almost all other libraries.
This whole system works because of the unusual nature of the library, but this vision of the library is something from which other libraries could stand to learn something, and that was where the value of this session was. We have been fixated of late on adding social networking capabilities to our computer systems while the physical locations have remained much the same. Heller made the point that without adding some kind of social integration to the library itself, the social integration on the catalog is largely meaningless. Her unique library has found a way that makes sense to make that happen. Other libraries hopefully can find their own ways.
I thought this was a really interesting and unusual session, if applicable to what I do in only the most abstract way. However, even not being particularly useful to me, it was informative since it described something near to where I live that I'd never heard about.
The Chicago Underground Library is apparently a small collection of largely print materials that has Chicago as its single, unifying focus. There are a lot of zines and items with small print runs and limited conventional interest. The library focuses on materials and programs that appeal to the artistic community and is independent of any other libraries in Chicago.
Recently the library has changed its name to the Read/Write Library, referring to the common concept of web 2.0 collaboration sites as the "Read/Write Web." Eschewing conventional librarian wisdom, the library allows anyone to catalog its materials using the library website. Some of the people who work on this have library degrees, but most do not. Furthermore, they use their own Drupal-based catalog system, not the standard record types and cataloging standards used in almost all other libraries.
This whole system works because of the unusual nature of the library, but this vision of the library is something from which other libraries could stand to learn something, and that was where the value of this session was. We have been fixated of late on adding social networking capabilities to our computer systems while the physical locations have remained much the same. Heller made the point that without adding some kind of social integration to the library itself, the social integration on the catalog is largely meaningless. Her unique library has found a way that makes sense to make that happen. Other libraries hopefully can find their own ways.
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