Where Business, Entrepreneurship, The Humanities, Librarianship, and Technology Meet
Ray Hennessey has a great article “Decisions, Decisions: What Separates Leaders From the Rest” in Entrepreneur Magazine. His use of the Teddy Roosevelt quote says it all.
To quote President Theodore Roosevelt: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
What is my most helpful insight from Hennessey’s article? “Just make a decision—unambiguously, and without shame or worry.”
If librarians come across patrons needing to find partners (technical or business) to build a business than librarians should be aware of these two sites which ate CoFoundersLab and founder2be.
What about patrons that just need technical cofounders or technical support?
Jason L. Baptiste (cofounder and CEO of Onswipe) in his book The Ultralight Startup noted the following ways to find tech cofounders on pages 84 and 85:
1) Follow Hacker News at news.ycombinator.com .
2) Look into local tech meetups at www.meetup.com
3) Talk to past or current coworkers who may be knowledgeable
4) Attend Hackathons, for more information see www.StartupDigest.com
5) Check out Startup Weekends at www.startupweekend.org
For other technical assistance, check out sites like the ones listed below:
I recently learned from looking at Lynn Haller’s article in Entrepreneur Magazine about the Chicago based organization called the 3D Printer Experience. Since the American Library Association is also based in Chicago and there is every reason to believe that 3D printing will play a role in the future of libraries, librarians should take notice of the 3D Printer Experience. They do every thing from manufacturing to design to educating to holding events. Their 3D Printing Happy Hour certainly caught my attention!
I love one of the lines in the mission statement, “The 3D Printer Experience exists to foster public awareness of new and emerging technologies, and to help navigate the boundless future.”
Librarians should take a look at the 3D Printer Experience Blog and see what founder Julie Friedman Steele has to say about the organization.
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As a graduate of the University of Maryland MLS (Master of Library Science) program I received and accepted an invitation to attend the 50th Anniversary of the University’s information school known as the iSchool, which took place last Friday.
While there were tributes to past achievements this event was far from taking a mental trip down memory lane. The vast majority of time was spent focusing on the future and what the iSchool is doing to innovate.
Here are the program updates that caught my attention.
Anything else that I should mention?
1 ) A talk by Professor Jimmy Lin in which he noted his two year sabbatical working at Twitter piqued my interest. I also learned about Hadoop and Spark from his talk.
2) The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Reading Group being led by Dr. Ping Wang would be something I would look into if I was a current student. .
3) Dr. Jennifer Golbeck spoke about privacy issues and showcased the website, “Take This Lollipop”. I’m not enclosing a link here as the video presentation freaked me out. You can search for it yourself.
4) Not part of the iSchool presentation, but advertised as being on campus at the business school is the Pitch Dingman event. You can pitch an idea for a business there.
In closing the mantra at the iSchool was that students learn to ask, “Why not?” instead of accepting the status quo. I am excited to learn of their innovation and to see how the iSchool grows from here.
I should note that if anyone from UMD’s iSchool wants to share any or all of the presentation slides I’d be delighted to get a copy. Given time constraints I was not able to sit in on the talks on the Master of Human Computer Interaction and the PhD program.
Last week I had the opportunity to arrange for Library Journal columnist and Associate Temple University Librarian Steven Bell to speak to the Maryland library community in a webinar format. Steven will be giving a workshop at the Maryland Library Association’s May Conference on Remarkable Leadership. Click here for registration details.
It was wonderful to listen to Steven’s comments. Although time was limited you can see Steven’s responses to participants’ questions..Check out his comments on how he created a maker event at his library. Note the use of partnership and assistance from the engineering students on campus.
The articles Steven wrote which we discussed are listed below,Librarian’s will want to take a look at these to get a glimpse into where the discussion on leadership is going.
“Creativity and Failure Go Hand in Hand”
“Learning to be a Remarkable Leader”
“Learning from the World’s Greatest Leaders”
“Thinking Your Way to a More Leaderly Presence”
“Make It a Place They Want to Work”
“Sell Your Ideas Like A Shark Is Listening”
“What’s Your Personal Mission?”
I recently learned about Flipboard. This allows users to track the news stories that matter to them based on topic. If anyone wants to comment on their use of this site feel free to do so.
Last time I focused my discussion of the Knight News Challenge winners on how libraries connected with businesses, I would like to group all the winners into the following categories.If the organizations have a link to their own website promoting their ideas I include that along with the winning entry information on the Knight News Challenge website. Otherwise the link I include just links to the winning entry information on the Knight News Challenge website.
Global Information Access:
Digital Preservation:
Wifi Access:
Privacy Issues:
E books:
Independent Video Games:
Patron Assistance:
BklynShare: Check out an Expert & Borrow a Skill! A new approach to knowledge sharing. ] The Brooklyn Public Library is leading this.
Your Next Skill: The Seattle Public Library is “strengthening the community through a personalized service delivered by public librarians to help people acquire new knowledge and skills tailored to their individual goals and learning styles.”
The Community Resource Lab: Libraries Linking People to Vital Social Services. The DC Public Library is taking the lead on this project.
Maker Tools:
Make It @ Your Library: “We will share DIY, tech, and maker tools – like the kid-friendly circuit building littleBits, 3D printers, open-source electronic programming Arduino kits, easily programmable Finch Robots, and Dremel hand-held tools – with libraries through existing book sharing and delivery systems.” Winning Entry Information
Make the Things that Measure the Future: Libraries & Open Hardware “Develop, deploy, and train librarians to create and use open hardware devices that let libraries more effectively and efficiently serve their communities.”
Innovative Use of Library Space or Promotion of Library Space:
Book a Nook: Activating library workspaces through an open API
Activating the public library as a physical infrastructure for online learning:”We organize face-to-face study groups in local libraries to help first-time online learners successfully take online courses.”
Making the Invisible Visible: “a digital overlay on the in-library visit that combines mobile technology with location based sensors to reveal the full riches of the public library to our communities … in the palms of their hands.”
Promoting Electronic Access to Government and Civic Historic Information:
Culture In Transit: Digitizing and Democratizing Metropolitan New York’s Cultural Heritage. A project of Metropolitan New York Library Council ( METRO), Empire State Digital Network ( ESDN), Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library/ Queens Memory.
NYC Space/Time Directory: Libraries and Communities Working Together to Build Open Historical Data and Tools for Urban Time Travel. The New York Public library heads this up.
This Place Matters: Using Mobile Technology to Leverage the Resources of Libraries and Share the Stories of African Americans in Central Appalachia
Boston’s Open Data Project: The city of Boston seeks to “turn the City’s Open Data collection into a true knowledge resource by working with libraries in our community to catalog the information and provide essential context to citizens and researchers.”
Engaging the Business Community:
101: Coworking at the Public Library:The Miami Dade Public Library is using space as a valuable resource to provide “freelancers, entrepreneurs and innovators a physical place to do collaborative and creative work. These coworking spaces include conference rooms, high-speed Wi-Fi, electronic white boards, virtual conference rooms, and computers and laptops.”
Kent State University Library operates NE Ohio Regional Business Information Bureau:In this proposal Kent State, “would like to establish a Regional Business Information Bureau that could provide quality information to entrepreneurs and small business owners who could not otherwise afford access to these resources. Clients could contact the Bureau directly or be referred by public libraries, Chambers of Commerce and economic development agencies. Research consultations would be conducted by appointment in the bureau, e-mail, Skype or any relevant technology. This Bureau would also deliver various group seminars on Finance, Marketing or Information literacy concepts that would be taught by College of Business and Library faculty. Eventually, these seminars could be adapted for online tutorials.”
I like so many of the finalists of the Knight News Challenge for Libraries. Since I gear a lot of my blogging to the intersection of libraries and business, I’ll start there. So what winning entries from the Knight News Challenge for Libraries stood out for me in terms of library outreach to startup businesses and entrepreneurs?
101: Coworking at the Public Library. The Miami Dade Public Library is using space as a valuable resource to provide “freelancers, entrepreneurs and innovators a physical place to do collaborative and creative work. These coworking spaces include conference rooms, high-speed Wi-Fi, electronic white boards, virtual conference rooms, and computers and laptops.” This is a great idea. It asks the question, what can the library do to help a growing segment of the country’s economic engine and then provides a response using library space. I can’t wait to see how this evolves with Knight News funding.
Kent State University Library operates NE Ohio Regional Business Information Bureau. In this proposal Kent State, “would like to establish a Regional Business Information Bureau that could provide quality information to entrepreneurs and small business owners who could not otherwise afford access to these resources. Clients could contact the Bureau directly or be referred by public libraries, Chambers of Commerce and economic development agencies. Research consultations would be conducted by appointment in the bureau, e-mail, Skype or any relevant technology. This Bureau would also deliver various group seminars on Finance, Marketing or Information literacy concepts that would be taught by College of Business and Library faculty. Eventually, these seminars could be adapted for online tutorials.” A fantastic idea! What Miami-Dade accomplishes with space Kent State accomplishes with information provision and research consultation. Take a look at Kent State’s team. They built a relationship with their College of Business Administration and their lead librarian has an MBA. I’ll be on the lookout for updates on this venture.
Congratulations to Miami Dade Public Library and Kent State University!
Back in October I discussed the Knights News Challenge for Libraries. The winners have just been announced! Want to see who they are? Click here. In the near future I am going to be discussing my favorites. However every project looks great!
I am going back and reading through Simon Sinek’s Leaders Eat Last. This is in anticipation of a librarian book discussion to take place in the spring. One of the things that interested me was the discussion of the Whitehall Studies. This study began several decades ago and was led by British scientists. The findings shocked me. I had thought that the most stressful positions in organizations would be the leadership positions. However, the Whitehall Studies completely turn that concept on its head. The workers in the lower ranks of the hierarchy had the most stress in this study in large part due to their lack of control over their work.
On page 30 in Sinek’s book, Max McClure, of the Standford News Service is quoted as saying, “It’s possible, in other words, that the feeling of being in charge of one’s own life more than makes up for the greater amount of responsibility that accompanies higher rungs on the social ladder,”
Sinek’s notes the following, “The lower someone’s rank in the organizational hierarchy, the greater their risk of stress related health problems, not the other way around. In other words, those seemingly strung-out top executives, in fact, living longer, healthier lives than the clerks and managers working for them.”