Yesterday, I tendered my resignation at the Ann Arbor District Library. My last day of employment will be this Friday, the 23rd of February.
To say that working at AADL was a honor would be an understatement. It is a fine, fine institution, filled with bright, intelligent, hardworking, and committed individuals. They have allowed me to grow tremendously, and I feel that I’ve been able to make a significant contribution to AADL in return. So I extend my deepest thanks and gratitude to every last person at AADL.
I am leaving Ann Arbor because I have accepted a position at the Darien Public Library in Darien, Connecticut. My official title will be Head of Technology and Digital Initiatives. I have to say that my pulse quickens when I think about what the Darien Library has in store for the future, and to be part of it is a dream come true. I will be working for Alan Gray, who is currently Associate Director. DPL’s director is Louise Berry.
I will continue to blog here at blyberg.net. I also have no plans to discontinue work on such projects as PatREST, or SOPAC. In fact, they will be crucial components of my future work. Darien Public Library is, like AADL, an Innovative Interfaces customer and I plan to join Darien in their effort to forge a srong and close relationship with III. Though I may have been critical of them in the past, and very well may be in the future, that does not mean that I don’t value a meaningful development partnership with them. I tend to think in terms of “how can what I’m doing now benefit not just my institution, but all institutions?” So you can be sure that I will continue to share our successes, and perhaps more importantly, our failures.
If you currently use my AADL email address to contact me, I suggest you use my posted contact information to get hold of me instead. My personal email address is john@blyberg.net.
I had a great chat with Jon Udell and Ed Vielmetti last week during a recorded podcast that Jon has made available on his new blog. Jon is a great podcaster–he has the ability to make a session feel like a conversation and less like an interview which makes for a very interesting and enjoyable experience as one of the participants.
Anyway, we talked about superlibrarians and superpatrons within the context of Eric Von Hippel’s notion of “lead users.” This is an area that should be of great interest to libraries–specifically, how do we identify those lead users, then enable them to mash-up, remix, and create services, tools, and content. We can learn a great deal more from our users than we are currently used to and Von Hippel shows us how in a series of online videos and papers.
I mostly talked about PatREST–its history, what it is, where it might lead, and my decision to build a patron-oriented API on top of our existing ILS. Ed shared some interesting insights into his perspective as a consumer of PatREST and other non-standard distribution channels made available on AADL’s system.
Because there are so many bloggers out there whom I respect and whose work I thoroughly enjoy reading, I'm going to forgo listing a few and direct your attention to my blogroll on the right-hand side of my page. (RSS folks, you're outta luck, you'll just have to visit my blog, 1.0-style)
I would be lost without the wisdom, insight, silliness, seriousness, frustration, elation, anger, love, intrigue, courage, patience, thoughtfulness, sarcasm, sourness, pettiness, hope, criticism, insight, and everything else that hums and vibrates within this strange coil of technology we call the biblioblogosphere.
So thank you all (and if you're one of the blogs I have in my aggregator, but not on my wordpress blogroll, don't feel bad). And thank-you Meredith for your very kind words.
Until next year...
[tags] BlogDay2006, 310806, 31082006, Libraries, Library, Blogging, Blogs, Biblioblogosphere, biblioblogs, BlogDay [/tags]
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the folks at the Darien Public Library in Connecticut. I believe we'll be hearing a lot more from and about them over the next couple years as their master plan begins to unfold and inflate. Like a number of other libraries, they've begun their transformation by embracing the 2.0 world. Their first step? Putting together a wonderful collection of blogs, staffed by a group of committed and excited people.
While a number of more high-profile libraries have garnered national attention for their blogs, Darien has been quietly assembling their all-star blogging team. What makes their effort truly different is that it has been a top-down initiative that involves staff members representing different parts of the organization. Last week, Jenny Levine took notice of Louise Berry's blog. Louise is Darien's director and she has a prolific and candid blogging style that I find inspiring. She's not the only library director who is blogging right now, but she's clearly the one who enjoys it the most.
I thought I was going to have to pester Alan Gray, Darien's head of technology (and tech services), again to get him blogging as well--no need! Alan has started his blog, "Last Clear Chance." Named after an intriguing legal doctrine, Alan's blog will more-than-likely reflect his tell-it-like-it-is personality. You're not going to find the party-line here.
Another major component of Darien Library's master plan is the construction of a new 45,000 square foot $22 $26 million dollar library to replace the facility they are currently in. In the spirit of keeping the community informed of what's going on with the new building, Darien has started a dedicated blog for the project; they've labeled it, "A Chronicle of Progress Towards a New Darien Library." The blog seems to be staffed mostly by Alan, but I wouldn't be surprised if other voices chimed in as well. For anyone interested in the process behind building a new library, this is the perfect blog for you.
In addition to these three blogs, Darien offers a suite of other blogs, all RSS-capable, all very interesting. From books to technology, they are creating a voice all their own.
You can also catch some Darien Flickr action: Louise Berry, Alan Gray, and the Darien Library itself.
