shelfless

I’ve grown rather fond of social networking. The things that they can accomplish is quite impressive. The way sites like MySpace and Facebook have exploded you can’t deny their power and influence. FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted earlier this year that if it were a country it would be the 8th most populus in the world. In. The. World. 150 million denizens. At it’s current growth rate it could reach up to 300 million next year (Slate). That’s a whole lot of people. It makes you wonder. Where’s your library?

A lot of my personal experience with social networking has been directly related to my experience with virtual communities. I won’t rehash that here.

I joined the FaceBook Legion a few months back. Even in just such a short period of time I can see some of the challenges that can arise out of such a social Network. Do I add old friends? acquaintances? Co-workers? Bosses? My mother? In an environment where people generally have the freedom to post any sort of comments to your Wall, or attach your name/account to photos, as a user you really need to make choices about what you are going to use these networks for. I’ve struggled with that myself.

I’ve seen great benefits from some of these social networks. They’ve really changed a lot of my perspectives on ‘identity’ and ‘openness’ in the internet culture. Where I used to use the veil of pseudonym, the relationships and  interactions through these networks have really brought me to the front. Part of the benefit to everybody involved is the open. Through these networks, like FaceBook and Twitter I’ve built stronger relationships with people. With Twitter, I’ve reconnected with people I lost contact with  in a real-time way that makes the distance seem insignificant. I’ve also connected with classmates that otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have been able to. I think these are awesome things.

So… Libraries. Putting your face, somehow, into these environments is absolutely necessary. I have to imagine that the 8th most populous country in the world needs some library interface. Not everybody needs to do what UIUC has done, but that would be pretty cool. Imagine as a user being to jump from your Facebook wall over to a library search. But even having a page that kept patrons up to date on events and activities in the library is a quick and easy way to meet the user where the user is. And, thanks to FB’s simple layout you don’t need to worry about making your mark that way, this means fast and easy implementation. Much easier than designing and updating your website, don’t you think?

(editorial note: the author does not necessarily support the notion of replacing your library website with a Facebook group…)

Tribes not factories. Leadership not management. Risk not safety. Curiosity not complacency. Change. Imagination. Innovation. Communication. Leverage. These are the ideas that Seth Godin’s book Tribes are built on.

The read is simple. It’s almost repetitive. It’s also compelling. With 147 pages, the book isn’t broken down into chapters, like one might expect. It’s a collection of brief vignettes that Godin uses to engage his reader into understanding the ideas he’s trying to convey and instill in them. It’s different, and it works. If the section “Fear of Failure is Overated” (p. 46) doesn’t connect with you, perhaps “How to be Wrong” (p. 107) will.

Godin covers a lot of ground in such a small, accessible read, encouraging his reader to create the ways that they might apply these ideas in their own tribes. To that end, there aren’t really any “checklists, the detailed how-to-do lists, and the ForDummies– style instruction manual that shows you exactly what to do to find a tribe and lead it” (p. 146) As Godin himself finishes the thought “I think that was the point” (p. 146). Godin gives the seeds of the ideas, the examples of how they have been played out in different scenarios. It is up to youto apply it to your tribe. No tribe is the same.

So how could libraries apply Godin’s ideas and encouragements? Well, there’s lots of things libraries can take away…

Change is a central theme in his book. Libraries know full well how change happens. But we’ve been slow to embrace a lot of it. Libraries need to take risks. They need to try and, if need be, fail a few times on the road to success.

The book is called Tribes. Tribes are built around anything and everything. Libraries are full of these things. Our stacks are filled with books on nearly every subject, every genre, every medium. Every one of those elements has a tribe, a tribe that is waitingfor a leader to emerge and bring that them together (p.13). Bringing the tribe together, facilitating their communication with each other empowersthem and makes them more passionate (p. 23) . It makes them work harder it makes them want to make things happen (p. 25)

A central theme to Godin’s idea of leadership is belief. A leader needs faith in what they are doing (p. 14, 80). They need to be a part of the tribe or they and their tribe are doomed to failure. “Leading when you don’t know where to go, when you don’t have the commitment or the passion … That sort of leading is worse than none at all” (p. 87)

That’s not bad news, though. The good thing, though scary thing for traditional management, is that anybody can lead. It does not just need to be the boss (p. 12). Librarians, paraprofessionals, staff, students workers. Find the people that want to lead these tribes. Empower them give them the tools and freedom and they will empower their tribe. As an added benefit, the employees will appreciate the opportunity of working with something they are passionate about, that they believe in. They’ll work hard to make it work.