Participatory Librarianship:

Shaping Conversations to Advocate the Impact of Our Academic Libraries

ALAO Annual 2012 Preconference Roberts Centre, Wilmington, Ohio

October 25, 2012

Buffy Hamilton, Facilitator

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“These are the times

that try men’s

souls…”

Thomas Paine, The Crisis

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shifting landscape of higher education

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budget cuts and funding crisis

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the “fear factor”

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tension in competing ideas between departments on how to best support institutional goals and mission

competing pedagogies and what “counts” as authentic learning

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meeting the needs of many different kinds of learners

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how do we

transform

ourselves and our libraries to have

meaningful impact

in our communities? Original photograph by Buffy Hamilton

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trustworthiness

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likability

fantastic product or service

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enchantment

enchantment: sustained, voluntary delight that is mutually beneficial

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“enchantment transforms situations and relationships” Guy Kawasaki, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

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relationships are the cornerstone of libraries and participation

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library is the shared story of the

human

experience

libraries as communal experiences and “commonplace” texts constructed by participants

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libraries as sites of the experience of self-excavation and discovery through learning

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participatory learning is a lens to

help us see the possibilities and

create a context for crafting a shared

vision of library in learning

communities

relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement

Original photograph by Buffy Hamilton

strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others

Original photograph by Buffy Hamilton

co-expertise and fluidity in roles of experts and novices

members feel some degree of social connection with one another

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members believe that their contributions matter

meaningful

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play

and experimentation

integrated learning space that values connections between home, school, community, and the world

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learning experiences that feel relevant

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People and relationships

Partnerships for Learning

Sustained participation

communities formed around content and information literacy standards

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communities formed around passions, interests, wonderings, and curiosity

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participatory learning and literacy

are scalable to

the needs of a

learning community

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librarians can be the catalyst to spark larger change in a learning ecosystem

how do we grow a culture of participatory culture, relationships, and learning communities as librarians?

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how do we as libraries and librarians make a “dent in the universe” of our community?

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vanishing boundaries

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conversations and idea sharing for learning CC image from

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Co

nve

rsat

ion

Ro

un

ds

Questions to Explore in Our Conversation Rounds

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Who is your library community and what do they need?

How do you know and assess their needs?

How do you assess the points of meaningful impact of the library in the community?

How does the community impact the mission of the library?

Assessing the Current Situation

Existing Connections

What services and programs does your library offer that

foster trust or likability between the library and

community?

What services and programs invite your community to

participate? Think of successes---what created

excitement?

Think of services or programs that did not work the way you expected. What were some unexpected factors?

Did they work for you or against you?

Articulating Our Value

If you wanted to write a TV commercial for your library and have 60 expensive seconds to articulate it s value, what are your key points and what can

you do to make the ad hit home?

What would that commercial say if its primary audience is your

provost/president/academic deans, faculty/alumni?

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Plenary Conversations

What insights did you have as you talked to one another?

What was new to you or challenged your thinking?

What would you like to explore further?

Participatory Relationships

What assumptions and “sacred cows”

might we as librarians challenge to better build community participation and

increased excitement?

Planning for the Future: “If You Build It, They Will Come…”

What are you building?

Who do you want to come?

What will be different about your library in

the future?

What do you need to build these elements of enchantment and touchpoints for participation to create strategic and amplified impact in your community?

What can your community aspire to be?

Envisioning the Future

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embrace the

wobbles

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leave your learning

silo

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embrace pivot points for positive change to build a new vision for librarianship

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change and

understanding=

innovation

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Participatory Librarianship and Change Agents: http://blip.tv/file/1566813

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participation creates enchantment

enchantment is the nectar CC image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/da100fotos/490875588/sizes/o/in/photostream/

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contact information

buffy.hamilton@gmail.com http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com

http://buffyjhamilton.wordpress.com Twitter: @buffyjhamilton