http://freerangelibrarian.com/2009/12/25/navigating-above-cloud-level/ K.G. Schneider's blog on librarianship, writing, and everything else Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:40:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://freerangelibrarian.com/2009/12/25/navigating-above-cloud-level/comment-page-1/#comment-537269 Free Range Librarian › Reflections on strategic plans that are neither strategic nor plans Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:37:32 +0000 http://freerangelibrarian.com/?p=2369#comment-537269 [...] have been giving a lot of thought to some issues Steven Bell raised in his comment to my last post about the challenges of directing small, private, tuition-driven university libraries.  One of the [...] [...] have been giving a lot of thought to some issues Steven Bell raised in his comment to my last post about the challenges of directing small, private, tuition-driven university libraries.  One of the [...]

]]> http://freerangelibrarian.com/2009/12/25/navigating-above-cloud-level/comment-page-1/#comment-537252 K.G. Schneider Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:58:13 +0000 http://freerangelibrarian.com/?p=2369#comment-537252 Steven, You exactly state what is so very satisfying about this job to me (and was satisfying to me in other libraries and projects where I have been the MFWIC). I think we're on the same page, though, just to clarify, this isn't ARL-bashing. Steven, You exactly state what is so very satisfying about this job to me (and was satisfying to me in other libraries and projects where I have been the MFWIC). I think we’re on the same page, though, just to clarify, this isn’t ARL-bashing.

]]> http://freerangelibrarian.com/2009/12/25/navigating-above-cloud-level/comment-page-1/#comment-537245 stevenb Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:03:34 +0000 http://freerangelibrarian.com/?p=2369#comment-537245 I can relate to your post because not all that long ago I was where you are now - directing (I think you are the director)a small college-becoming a small university-(2500 fte) library at a resource constrained, tuition-driven private institution. I recall those no-brainer revelations for a new resource that we just had to have because we knew it would tremendously benefit our user community and would much improve the teaching and learning. So I am actually glad to hear success stories from libraries of all sizes, despite that I now work at an ARL. One thing I learned about myself from my college director experience is that there is something uniquely rewarding about being at a behind-the-curve institution with a struggling library that needs change badly. When you have even a small victory it makes a huge difference. Before that I worked at a well-resourced ivy league library where we could get almost anything we needed and had a sizable tech staff to implement the latest whatever. But that was the expectation - to be in the cloud looking down at others (what Robert Danton referred to as "lesser libraries" (see http://acrlog.org/2008/09/18/sudden-thoughts-and-second-thoughts-13/). But the ARL I work at is far from the Ivy cloud. We still don't have a repository. We have a bunch of computers, but no commons. We just started dealing with e-dissertations. We barely have anything digitized. We are just working hard to make a better library experience for the community after many years of terrible underfunding and dysfunctional leadership. What I learned is that it is much more rewarding to work at the resource constrained, behind-the-curve library because your small (by standards) accomplishments are more powerful and more greatly appreciated. I would certainly hope that no one at an ARL library would look down on your accomplishments, because we should all remember that we're in this profession together and that a rising tides lifts all of our boats. At least I don't feel your ARL comment applies to MPOW. I can relate to your post because not all that long ago I was where you are now – directing (I think you are the director)a small college-becoming a small university-(2500 fte) library at a resource constrained, tuition-driven private institution. I recall those no-brainer revelations for a new resource that we just had to have because we knew it would tremendously benefit our user community and would much improve the teaching and learning. So I am actually glad to hear success stories from libraries of all sizes, despite that I now work at an ARL. One thing I learned about myself from my college director experience is that there is something uniquely rewarding about being at a behind-the-curve institution with a struggling library that needs change badly. When you have even a small victory it makes a huge difference. Before that I worked at a well-resourced ivy league library where we could get almost anything we needed and had a sizable tech staff to implement the latest whatever. But that was the expectation – to be in the cloud looking down at others (what Robert Danton referred to as “lesser libraries” (see http://acrlog.org/2008/09/18/sudden-thoughts-and-second-thoughts-13/). But the ARL I work at is far from the Ivy cloud. We still don’t have a repository. We have a bunch of computers, but no commons. We just started dealing with e-dissertations. We barely have anything digitized. We are just working hard to make a better library experience for the community after many years of terrible underfunding and dysfunctional leadership. What I learned is that it is much more rewarding to work at the resource constrained, behind-the-curve library because your small (by standards) accomplishments are more powerful and more greatly appreciated. I would certainly hope that no one at an ARL library would look down on your accomplishments, because we should all remember that we’re in this profession together and that a rising tides lifts all of our boats. At least I don’t feel your ARL comment applies to MPOW.

]]> http://freerangelibrarian.com/2009/12/25/navigating-above-cloud-level/comment-page-1/#comment-537227 Julie Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:53:32 +0000 http://freerangelibrarian.com/?p=2369#comment-537227 Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!

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