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RE: What does the WebJunction mission (story) mean to you?
12:20 PM EDT 9/9/08
as a reply to Emily Inlow-Hood.
Top 2 bullets on the list:
- Libraries play a vital role in their communities
- Library staff have the power to make libraries "vibrant, relevant and sustainable"
are the most important to me. I would add that I believe life-long learning (from birth to death) is critical to vibrant and quality living and that libraries can/should play THE vital role of making that learning happen throughout the community. In turn, we as a learning organization for library staff, play a critical role in building the capacity for libraries to do this work in the community.
I also believe that as libraries are knowledge centers for life-long learning, library staff should serve as facilitators for community knowledge sharing. WebJunction provides the platform for staff to be *stewards* of the knowledge they possess around the strategies they use to facilitate the work in their community. We as information professionals are accountable to our patrons, with implications of a sort of code of ethics, to do all we can to provide access to knowledge in the most efficient, empowering and sustained manner.
so there.
JP
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RE: What does the WebJunction mission (story) mean to you?
7:52 PM EDT 9/12/08
as a reply to Jennifer Peterson.
When I read our vision statement of "relevant, sustainable libraries in every community", my reaction is, that's nice, but what is the dotted line between WJ and that result? The answer to that would be my take on what our mission is, which is to provide the tools that library staff can choose to use toward meeting that goal. The word that I focus on is "empowerment," which I think is key to the success of that vision. We have been empowered, through our grants, our partners, staff, and partnerships, to build and disseminate learning tools. Library staff must feel empowered to use those tools and apply them at their library. There are all sorts of barriers towards empowerment that our community voices: lack of time, lack of money, lack of computer skills, lack of access. We are trying to break down those barriers by, for example, making things as free as possible, making things short and simple, teaching the basics, and working online so that physical location is not a barrier. But there also needs to be a feeling of empowerment by the library community that we are serving: if they are concentrating only on what they don't have and not on what they do have or what is possible to get/achieve, then our social mission will ultimately not be successful. We need to foster the "Yes, We Can" attitude, no matter how grim the context might be. From my limited time spent in libraryland (back in the early 90s), my sense is that we have an uphill climb. But if we can attract those who have achieved a sense of empowerment to WJ, and they can serve as mentors to others, we will have made some important strides.
-Sharon
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