Abstract: Description from the program:

Empowering Voices, Transforming Communities: join these conversations and leave Midwinter with new tools to become a better advocate. Libraries rely on partners within the community to advocate on their behalf more than ever before. But how can libraries stay relevant to these stakeholders in an environment of ever-changing priorities? Join visionary professor David Lankes, author of “Atlas of New Librarianship” ( (http://www.newlibrarianship.org), in two afternoons of innovative and interactive conversations about harnessing the evolving role of libraries, and strengthening the librarian’s voice to help shape community perception.

Facilitators from the graphic recording company, Sunni Brown (http://sunnibrown.com/), will help create visual images of the plenary conversations that conclude each afternoon. The Saturday, January 21, 2012, session focuses on “Understanding Your Communities.” The Sunday, January 22, 2012, session focuses on “Transforming Librarianship.” Both run from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Sessions are open to all Midwinter Meeting attendees; please add them to your Scheduler to indicate that you plan to attend. Attendees will also receive a coupon for 5% off the price of David Lankes’ galvanizing “Atlas of New Librarianship” (ACRL/MIT Press, 2011) at the ALA Conference Store.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2012/Midwinter-Sat.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2012/MW-Sat.mp3

Screencast:

Abstract: Description from the program:

Empowering Voices, Transforming Communities: join these conversations and leave Midwinter with new tools to become a better advocate. Libraries rely on partners within the community to advocate on their behalf more than ever before. But how can libraries stay relevant to these stakeholders in an environment of ever-changing priorities? Join visionary professor David Lankes, author of “Atlas of New Librarianship” ( (http://www.newlibrarianship.org), in two afternoons of innovative and interactive conversations about harnessing the evolving role of libraries, and strengthening the librarian’s voice to help shape community perception.

Facilitators from the graphic recording company, Sunni Brown (http://sunnibrown.com/), will help create visual images of the plenary conversations that conclude each afternoon. The Saturday, January 21, 2012, session focuses on “Understanding Your Communities.” The Sunday, January 22, 2012, session focuses on “Transforming Librarianship.” Both run from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Sessions are open to all Midwinter Meeting attendees; please add them to your Scheduler to indicate that you plan to attend. Attendees will also receive a coupon for 5% off the price of David Lankes’ galvanizing “Atlas of New Librarianship” (ACRL/MIT Press, 2011) at the ALA Conference Store.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2012/Midwinter-Sat.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2012/MW-Sat.mp3

Screencast:

• Rome
• Florence
• Salzburg
• Visby
• Stockholm
• Munich

This is a list of international cities I visited as part of conferences and meetings this year. They were all spectacular. You know what I learned from this European Tour? Every country’s librarians think another country’s librarians are in better shape. In the U.S. we envy the support libraries in the Nordic countries get. The Italians envy how U.S. public libraries are integrated into the communities. I have talked with librarians in Africa, the UK, in Chile, and throughout the U.S. You know what I learned? The prosperity of your library has a lot less to do with where it is then who is in it.

In Kenya librarians pack libraries onto the backs of camels. In Egypt, the library of Alexandria became a beacon of liberty in the Arab Spring. Across Illinois librarians embraced entrepreneurship and transformation in towns like Eureka and DuPage and Joliet. I found innovation in Delaware, Vermont, and Dallas. I found amazing libraries in urban cores, and rural outposts. I have seen a suburban library take the idea of a newly graduated LIS student and turn itself into a Maker Space. What I learned from my travels? You create your own landscape.

Another list:

• Mainstream Hack
• Communist
• Fascist
• Radical
• Militant, and
• Lacks “self esteem as a librarian”

These are the names I’ve been called this year. The good news in 2011 was that my Atlas of New Librarianship was published. The better news was that the book did what I hoped – started conversations. Many of these conversations were thoughtful, intense, and fruitful. Some, however, were not.

A mentor of mine once said that questions are good. If you present something and it raises no questions, it means it wasn’t interesting enough to comment upon. This year I must have said something interesting. I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t take some of these comments personally. There was a lot of cursing in front of my computer. However, I learned to take a deep breath, and always respond to the substance of the comment, not the vitriol. I also learned that no name stings so keenly as the silence of mediocrity. I have a healthy respect for those who take the time to comment in public regardless of their position. I fear those who disagree, but remain silent. That is not how we move the field forward.

One of those names, however, takes some further comment. One commenter said that “Lankes’ deconstruction of the library profession to an inexplicit pottage of universalistic buzzwords is an indication of his lack of self-esteem as a librarian.” Now of all the criticism I have received in my life, lack of self-esteem is a new one.

The comment implies that by questioning and reimagining the profession that somehow I, and others, either dismiss the value of the profession, or “know not what librarianship is.” I like to think I know what it is, but I admit to being more focused on what it can become.

As Ranganathan enshrined in his 5th law “the library is a growing organism.” That is, to know what librarianship is today does not mean you know it tomorrow. It will change. eBooks and websites in our collections, digital reference and gaming in our services are today’s latest changes, but librarianship HAS ALWAYS evolved and changed. It is the defining aspect of a vital and relevant profession that it evolves and reforms itself.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines esteem as “respect and admiration.” I have an immense respect for the field and librarians. However, the lesson that I have taken away from this year, and that I will carry as a theme into the New Year is to expect more.

For far too long we have treated the innovators and leaders in our field as exceptional. While they are brilliant and brave, we can no longer treat them as the exceptions. We must see their work as the standard. Librarians who have raised their budgets in these economic times should not be treated as fortunate, or beyond the norm; we must see their example as the new normal. We must stop seeing those who create new technologies, or who raise the usage of our services as superhuman, and see them as the benchmark. No longer can we allow the mediocre of our field train the expectations of our communities. No longer can we simply talk about the future of our field among ourselves, sheltered from the withering criticism of the uninformed.

We must expect more of ourselves. We must stop talking about doing “more with less” and start talking about “doing better to get more.” We must expect all librarians, with degrees or without, with tenure or not, to lead and innovate. No more worker bees.

We must expect more of those whom we serve. They are not customers or consumers – they are members of our libraries with an ownership stake in our survival. They are not users that simply take and leave nothing behind….they are our collection – pour ultimate mission.

This is my resolution: expect more, of myself, of you, and of those whom we serve. So let’s give ourselves a huge pat on the back for making it through a very tough year, toast the New Year, and then get back to the work of making the world a better place.

I believe that librarians must be political. That is they must be aware of politics, aid their members in political pursuits, and actively participate in the political process. Now directors of libraries will see this as nothing new, but I believe that all librarians must be politically savvy. Why? Well, let’s start with my definition of politics: politics is the process by which a community allocates power and resources.

Now the obvious link would be thinking about politics related directly to the library. That is funding, staffing, intellectual property, and the policies that shape how the library works. However, the political nature of librarians extends far beyond the library as an institution.

If you seek to empower people, you are talking about how power is distributed throughout a community (the “power” has to come from somewhere). Take reading as an example: why do libraries care about reading? Is it because it entertains and distracts community members from how the community makes decision (i.e., reading is for consumption), or is it to enable the reader to participate within the community (i.e., reading as empowerment)? If you buy into the concept that libraries are enmeshed into the larger concept of democracy, then we are preparing people for democratic participation. That is preparing people to join the conversation of how they are governed…that is political. The same could be said of academic libraries educating students (we are preparing students to be part of a market, but also part of a society). While special libraries tend to focus on helping members participate in markets (industry), they are also preparing the corporation, or non-profit, or government to participate in governance (from lobbying, to shaping regulation).

So libraries are political entities, and librarians are political creatures. This brings us to the real concern people raise about new librarianship -that I am somehow calling for librarians to pick sides. That is that I am either calling for librarians to rally against the tea party and begin a massive campaign of wealth redistribution. Or that I am calling for librarians to take over city hall and shape a community to our vision and definitions of good. The implication is that I am calling for librarian to declare themselves as democrats, or republicans – progressives or conservatives, etc. This leads to a very real concern that in doing so libraries and librarians would lose their status as honest brokers, and so lose their support by their communities. I actually agree.
However, when I call for librarians to be political, I am not calling for them to partisan, that is picking winners and losers. If there is one thing that librarians understand, it is that the world is much more complex than that.

Librarians see many sides of one issue. They may believe strongly in a given idea, but they are open to all ideas, and at least seek the merit in them (realizing they may find none). If librarians were to become partisan, they not only threaten their ability to serve and the communities trust, they would collapse ideas down to simple black and whites and not stay true to their professional ethos.

Librarians need to engage in politics not to reinforce the divisions of us versus them and not to perpetuate all or nothing win or lose ideals. They must become engaged in politics to ease these divisions. Just as librarians facilitate knowledge creation with the individual, they must also facilitate conversations and knowledge across political ideology (I never said that would be easy). Just as we are trusted agents in the land of reading and job searches, so too must we be trusted agents in the land of power and political debate. Think of the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service, State Law Libraries, and agency libraries.

Furthermore, rather than thinking of political involvement as some sort of debate at the national level, realize that political conversations occur at all levels of a community and society. From school boards, to governors, and from Wall Street to the kitchen table, librarians must bring their skills to democracy. Our job is not to win some partisan point, but to ensure the very conversation on how we govern ourselves (in the city, in the classroom, in the business) is fair, open, and informed. This conversation is the heart of democracy. Libraries need to be at the Occupy protests to ensure the power of the people, and the destruction of these libraries is either horrific ignorance, or the worst kind of cynical suppression.

I have heard a lot of talk about the “American Dream” recently. On the radio, on TV, and throughout the political discourse there are questions being raised about is the American Dream dead. Certainly this is in part a reaction to the economic times and a lack of economic mobility. It is definitely due in large part of gridlock in Washington, and an increased polarization of the political debate in the media. However, I have heard all too often that politicians are to blame – when they are there at our behest. Just as a library is product of people (community, librarians, staff), so too is our government. It is the role of librarians to first remind our communities that every citizen is responsible for the performance of our government and that the best elected government is one that is elected in the light of knowledge. This is the difference between citizen and consumer. A citizen is a participant who does not simply vote and forget.

The quest for dignity. the quest for prosperity, the quest for the American dream is neither kindled nor sustained in a mall. Freedom is not bought nor consumed. The quest for a better community and a better tomorrow requires the most fertile of grounds. Our dreams demand libraries and librarians. It is in the potent mix of ideas and reality – of the radical and the mundane – in the glow of both solitude and community – that we care take the dreams of a nation. Librarians are political because we all need to be political and join the debates of how power and resources are divided in this nation and indeed the world. Librarians, however, have a special responsibility to ensure that all participation is informed, nuanced, and ongoing.

Abstract (English): A new librarianship is emerging, taking the lessons learned over that nearly 3,000 year history to forge an approach based not on books and artifacts, but on knowledge and community. This librarianship is based upon how people learn, not how they browse. This new approach to librarianship will require a change in the skills and preparation of librarians, new types of services, and ultimately a new relationship with communities. The problems faced by our communities are too important to wait for people to come into our buildings. This presentation will examine the foundations of new services, and a new role for librarians as facilitators of knowledge creation. It will offer examples of librarians engaging their communities, and challenge each librarian to take responsibility for the future of the profession.
Abstract (Italian): Una nuova biblioteconomia sta emergendo, utilizzando quanto appreso in oltre 3.000 anni di storia per forgiare un approccio basato non su libri e manufatti, ma sulla conoscenza e sulla comunità.Questa biblioteconomia si basa su come le persone imparano, non su come navigano. Questo nuovo approccio alla biblioteconomia richiederà un cambiamento nelle competenze e nella preparazione dei bibliotecari, nuove tipologie di servizi, e infine un nuovo rapporto con le comunità. I problemi delle nostre comunità sono troppo importanti per aspettare che la gente venga nei nostri edifici. Questa presentazione prenderà in esame le basi dei nuovi servizi, e un nuovo ruolo per i bibliotecari come facilitatori della creazione di conoscenza. Offrirà esempi di bibliotecari che coinvolgono la propria comunità, e sfiderà ogni bibliotecario ad assumersi la responsabilità del futuro della professione.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Rome.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/Rome.mp3
Transcript (English): http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/RomeEN.html
Transcript (Italian): http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/RomeIT.htm

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“Empowering Voices, Transforming Communities” features renowned Syracuse iSchool professor David Lankes leading small groups to address questions about transforming our communities and the profession. Facilitators from the graphic recording company, Sunni Brown, will help create visual images of the plenary conversations that conclude each afternoon. The Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, session focuses on “Understanding Your Communities.” The Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, session focuses on “Transforming Librarianship.” Both run from 1 -3 p.m. at the Dallas Convention Center, Room DCC-A1. Sessions are open to all Midwinter Meeting attendees; watch for sign-up information. Attendees will also receive a coupon for 5 percent off the price of David Lankes’ galvanizing “Atlas of New Librarianship” (ACRL/MIT Press, 2011) at the ALA Conference Store.

Lankes’ current focus is on reconceptualizing the library field through the lens of “New Librarianship.” He is a professor in Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, director of the library science program for the school and director of the Information Institute of Syracuse.

Picking up and continuing the conversation as the featured speaker in President Raphael’s President’s Program is Rich Harwood, described as “one of the great thinkers in American public life.” Harwood has become a leading national authority on improving America’s communities, raising standards of political conduct and re-engaging citizens on today’s most complex and controversial public issues. He is the president and founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. The President’s Program is 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Sunday in the DCC Theater.

These Empowering Voices events are part of a range of programming under the Midwinter focus “The conversation starts here …” and begin with Friday’s Advocacy Institute Workshop, “Mobilizing Community Support for Your Library,” on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Omni Hotel Dallas. For more information please visit the Advocacy Events page on the ALA website.

“Empowering Voices, Transforming Communities” is sponsored by ALA President Molly Raphael and her presidential committee, as well as the ALA Public Programs Office and the ALA member initiative group Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement. Special thanks to the ALA Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), co-publisher, with MIT Press, of “The Atlas of New Librarianship” by R. David Lankes.

ALA 2012 Midwinter Meeting is in Dallas, January 20-24. We encourage you to register now, so you don’t miss out on this chance to join the conversation as you enrich your career, your library, and your community. Early bird registration ends Dec. 2, 2011.

Abstract: This is more a recorded conversation than a formal presentation. How can librarians promote social change? Join Professor R. David Lankes from Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies to discuss how today’s global challenges require a new librarianship based on community engagement. Learn why librarians must adopt a mission of transformative social action to help improve society, not simply document it.

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Abstract: There is an old joke that goes “what do you call three librarians at a bar?” “A consortium.” The library field does have a lot of consortia. This is a testament to the openness and attitude of sharing in the profession. For decades libraries have worked across boundaries to better serve our members. We shared through the postal then dial-up, not the Internet. We built the web of knowledge and resources before the world wide web. Libraries have a long and proud tradition of thinking beyond our own walls to serve our communities. We should be proud of that history, but we need to expect more.

We need our communities to expect more of us – not do more with less, but rather show the community that we are truly about transformation not simply information. We need to expect more from CARLI. The paradox of success is that the work that garnered that success is rarely the work that will ensure future accomplishments. We should expect CARLI will challenge us and innovate. However, ultimately we must expect more of our selves. We must look up from the day to day reality of staff shortages, toner cartridges, and cataloging backlogs and become our own future. We must prove to others and ourselves every day that librarianship is not clerical, nor about materials, or about the building. Librarianship is about improving society.

We must now think about sharing more than just our licenses and loaning our books. We must share authority and responsibility with our communities. We must share our services and expertise with each other. Ultimately we must become a truly open market of ideas. You may have joined CARLI to expand your database offerings – use it now to expand possibilities. You may use CARLI to share materials, now use it to share yourselves and the brilliance of your local communities.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/CARLI.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/CARLI.mp3

“I’ve also gotten a sense lately that some working librarians are getting frustrated with constant advocacy, and are starting to believe the hype that libraries/librarians are doomed. How can we change their minds?”

That was part of a comment left on my blog by Topher Lawton, a current (and excellent) student. I share his frustration. Every week I go into my introductory class for librarianship and talk about amazing librarians, big ideas, and the opportunities to shape the future. On a pretty regular basis mostly receptive students tell me “I love it, I get it, but when I go into some libraries, I don’t see it.” There are simply too many librarians that can’t see beyond what they do today to see a brighter tomorrow – or realize that what they do today will shape that future brighter or not.

I am getting tired of the “yeah, but…” questions that seek to ground new ideas and innovations in what those opposed to change call reality. Their reality is in fact their limited view of the world. I am tired of the hand wringing, and committees, and paranoia. I am tired of those who wait for the white knight, or the new app from Silicon Valley that will save us. I am tired of hearing about cataloging backlogs, government bureaucracy, conservative management, the Tea Party, and the other million excuses for resisting change. If your library won’t let you do something, start a blog. If your policy doesn’t allow it change the damn policy.

I am sorry if my frustration is leaking out here, but you have to understand my view. Take every preconceived notion of the library school student – second career woman who loves cats and quiet – and throw it out the window. I see the most amazing people becoming librarians. I see people fresh out of undergraduate degrees (the average age of this year’s class is 25), and lawyers looking to give back to society. I see technologists, and humanists, young and old who have a fever to be a librarian. They are no longer coming to library school to read, or because they are good at crosswords. They are coming into library school to change the world.

Then I see these amazing people run into a librarian who toss the student into the meat grinder of lowered expectations and mediocrity. To be sure not every student will hit this wall. There are a huge number of progressive and supportive library role models, but it only takes one librarian who is pissed off the world has changed to damper the enthusiasm of a new librarian.

Understand if you are a librarian today, these students revere you. They want to be you. You are a role model. I know it’s not your job description, but it’s true. So every snarky comment and your foreboding sense of doom, it has an effect. I am begging you to expand your sense of professional responsibility to mentorship.

I hear, from time to time, that library schools are not preparing graduates for the jobs available. I listen to these critiques closely, and do my best to act upon them. However, understand that you as a working librarian have an equal responsibility here. Are you looking for the skills of yesterday or today? Every conference presentation you give is a classroom. If you don’t get excited about your topic, the students know that – it has an effect. When a student shows up to interview you or look for an internship, you are the most powerful classroom there is. If you don’t think there is a future in the field, get the hell out of the way for those who do.

I have been called (and now wear the title proudly) a pragmatic utopian. I am someone who sees a brighter future, but understands we need to slough through the mud to get there. Here’s the thing, don’t be the mud. As librarians we can and should argue about the shape of the future. We can and should have honest and heated debates on where we want to go now. But if you are convinced that you are the last generation of librarians, that the field is going away, then get on with it and let the folks seeking a better tomorrow get to work.

I have seen glorious librarians. I have seen librarians work in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, and bravely support the revolutions of Egypt. I have seen librarians organize camel caravans to get learning to the remote villages of Africa. I have seen librarians help the homeless, give dignity to the unemployed, inspire students to learn, and save lives of abused women. I have little time for those that would say these librarians are exceptional. To be sure these librarians are brilliant and amazing, but to say that they are exceptional is to say that their work falls outside of the mainstream of our vocation –excepted from the norms. They are not exceptions – they are the yardstick that we must measure ourselves by.

Topher, I wish I had a good answer for you. I wish I had the ability to stop librarians from worrying about their future, but instead go about creating it. I wish I could change the minds of librarians waiting for the end. I can’t…but I will keep trying. And your job is to become a librarian that sees extraordinary as your job description.

Abstract: Imagine libraries are places to learn and create, not consume and check out. Imagine the day when every book published is not only available digitally, but at a very low cost……imagine.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/NYLA.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/NYLA.mp3

Abstract: This is the world we have asked for, this is the world we have worked for. Why showcase culture if we are not enabling contribution to that culture. Why information if not for informed participation. Why educate if not for advocacy. Why is it when we espouse the values and virtue of empowerment, we are surprised they seek power in shaping our destinies as well?

The time for introspection is done. The time for trivia is done. The time for looking for the future of libraries in catalogs, and strategic plans is done. The needs of our communities is too great, and our promise for improvement too large. Already at this summit we have heard about the need for education, jobs, food, and disaster assistance. Many of us, including myself, are returning to riots and civil unrest. Our appetites for energy are unsustainable, and the very memory of our society is eroding behind walls of commerce, false scarcity, and obsolescence.

For too long have we defined the core of our profession – service – as standing ready to serve. No one ever improved the world by standing ready.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Salz3.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/Salzburg.mp3

if you want the longer version with more jokes, ums, and New England references you can find it here. Also, due to popular demand I should be able to post a transcript of the original this week.

I’m in an ancient fortress in the mountains overlooking Salzburgh, Austria. Places like this were necessary to defend against invaders and competing neighbors. To keep what was yours you needed to lock it away behind fortified borders.

In our libraries over the centuries we have also built up many a fortification in architecture, policy, and language. It’s time to realize we don’t need to protect ourselves from our communities but forge strong ties and loose porous borders. So that someday we can thrive and grow beyond our walls.

Due to technical audio problems with the video conference the actual presentation was not captured. The following video is a condensation and recreation of the presentation

Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/PEACE.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/PEACE.mp3

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Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Pitt-Library.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/PittLibrary.mp3

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So grab your copy of the Atlas and join us Monday and start the conversation. Here is the schedule for the different threads:

Mission: September 19 – 25
Knowledge: September 26 – October 2
Facilitating: October 3 – 9
Communities: October 10 – 16
Improve Society: October 17 – 23
Librarians: October 24-31

The first one is on the changing nature of libraries as places:

The next is on the role of the library in relation to the aspirations of the community:

Abstract: The following screencast is a pretty long (2 hours and 45 minutes) lecture on ideas from the Atlas of New Librarianship and how they relate to digital libraries.
Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/Florence-DLL.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/Florence.mp3

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The session was recorded by ALA and should be available soon (I will update this post).

Excerpts: “This then is your collection and what a truly awesome collection it is: more massive and sprawling than anything in ancient Alexandria. It is composed of seniors have seen their expected lifespan nearly double from 40 to 70 over the past century. Imagine that vast sea of experience and unbridled talent and seeking impact and legacy.

Our collection is in children; realizing that our concept of a childhood was only truly born with the labor laws of the 1800′s and the rise of a middle class that did not depend upon the income of youth.

We see the power in the woman of our community collection. From the right to vote to the majority of college degrees including doctorates in under 100 years.

Our collection is in minorities too long ignored and now actively enriching and expanding a culture of opportunity. Minorities that will soon actually make up the majority of US citizens.

This is your collection this is your business.

And what’s more, this collection doesn’t come with a 28 circulation limit. It isn’t beholden to outdated concepts of intellectual property. And, on the bright side, no one will ever question if this collection is becoming obsolete.”

“At the center of all of this richness and amazing diversity of community lies the facilitating role of librarians. Doing as they have done throughout history: helping communities and members make better decisions, to learn and grow their knowledge. For at the root is learning.”

“The time for introspection is done. The time for trivia is done. The time for looking for the future of libraries in catalogs, and strategic plans is done. The need of our communities is too great, and our promise for improvement too large. Our families worry about jobs and the ability to fight their way into a shrinking middle class. Our education system is broken – students unable to learn, or drowning under crushing debt. Our system of government increasingly polarized, our appetites for energy unsustainable, and the very memory of our society eroding behind walls of commerce and false scarcity. These then are our grand challenges, and just as the physicians before us, if we rise to meet them, we too shall be rewarded.

And I know what you are thinking. I know that tomorrow you’ll be dealing with broken printers, and shelving backlogs, and the rising costs of subscriptions. But you must look up. You must never make what you do replace why you do it. And if you can’t link broken printers and shelving to the grand challenges of our society, then you ought to ask why you are doing them. We must stop reacting to the world around us and start inspiring it!

Now these are just words. If all I do is preach them and return to the ivory tower I have committed the sins of hypocrisy and vanity. But you if you cry hallelujah and wait to seize the opportunity than you have committed an equally great sin. The sin of omission. If you stay silent, or wait for change, or take the easy path or see yourself as less than capable- less than worthy? Then you leave our precious communities to lesser goals and flawed stewards.

We must not let this happen.”

Slides: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2011/ALAVirt-Lankes.pdf
Audio: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/pod/2011/ALAKeynote.mp3

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